The nights are starting to draw in and some of my evening journeys are now ending in darkness for the first time in a few months. Time to make sure my lights are in order on all the bikes that might need them, I make that a count of four bikes.
Three of the bikes have a rear carrier rack, on those, I use an XLC rear light (pictured) as my 'main' unit, these use rechargeable AAA batteries which last a long time (weeks), in the remaining bike I have a seat post mounted light. I normally set these to emit a steady light rather than flashing.
The problem is that I will only be aware of a light failure when I get off at my destination and that is a bit too late as I do use some unlit roads with a fair amount of traffic. I supplement these lights with cheap rechargeable ones from eBay which I set to flash to prolong their run time and these are mounted on saddlebags or rear frame stays.
Over the top? possibly but these cheap lights can be picked up for about a fiver and seen to last a couple of years so I figure it is a reasonable thing to do. I usually charge them once a week irrespective of how much the bike has been used.
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