00:00 As the temperature drops and the evenings draw in, one of the most important things you need
00:04 to be thinking about when riding outdoors is how visible you are, which is why today I'm going to
00:10 run you through everything you need to know and everything you need to be thinking about
00:14 when buying a brand new set of lights. As with any question in cycling, it's always
00:27 going to depend on a number of factors, but the first and most important is what type of cycling
00:33 are you doing. If you're riding on the road in unlit areas, then you're going to need a front
00:38 light with a minimum of 500 lumens and a rear light of a minimum of 30 lumens. If you're riding
00:45 gravel, you will need a bare minimum of 800 lumens on the front, and if you're mountain biking, then
00:51 you would need a minimum of 1000 lumens. Lastly, if you're commuting and you're mainly riding in
00:58 areas that are lit up, then a set which has around 200 lumens on the front and again 30 lumens on
01:04 the rear will be absolutely fine. Matching how bright the lights are to the riding you're doing
01:10 is the first and absolutely the most important step in figuring out which lights are going to
01:16 be best for you. Everything beyond here is very much about refining what's important to you and
01:22 how you want to interact with your lights. Now of course, with additional features comes ease of use
01:28 and extra layers of safety, but it's also worth mentioning that not all lumens are created
01:34 equally, so be sure to watch on and find out where you should be spending your money.
01:44 As I said, the lights on the market today often have a whole raft of features,
01:48 and one of the best known brands to innovate and incorporate the latest and greatest tech
01:53 is Lezyne. So I have a rather nice range of their offerings here to help me showcase
01:58 what you should be looking for if you were to buy a set of lights. Now, if you want any of the
02:02 details of any of the lights that you see in the video today, then I have linked them all down in
02:07 the description below. Like most electronic devices these days, smart features can now be found in
02:14 lights and it does make for a much easier way to interact with them. For example, with Lezyne's
02:19 Smart Connect, you can now link both front and rear lights together. Now this means that you
02:25 only have to use the one control button to control both lights. And not only that, but you can now
02:31 control both lights via a smartphone app, so you can really get into the detail and really refine
02:37 how you want your lights to be set up. Now this does make it so much easier to switch between
02:42 modes on the fly and it puts an end to fumbling around with your rear light when you're just
02:48 trying to ride along. Lezyne also features Race Mode, which allows you to toggle between the
02:54 brightest overdrive setting and the dimmer economy setting. And a feature like this is really useful
03:00 for maybe when you're out riding on the trails, you're waiting for your mates to catch up,
03:04 you can just drop it down onto that lower setting and save a little bit of battery life before
03:08 popping it back onto that brightest setting before you hit the next run. Alternatively,
03:13 it can be really useful for commuters so that you can drop it down onto that dimmer setting
03:18 so that you don't dazzle other road users and maybe when they've passed,
03:22 you can then step it back up to that brightest overdrive setting. Finally, one last feature,
03:28 which I think is absolutely crucial on any new light anyone buys, is actually just making sure
03:33 that the batteries are rechargeable. Most brands and most lights out there are USB rechargeable.
03:40 There's only a couple of brands out there that have their own proprietary charging system.
03:44 But the point still stands, disposable batteries are very much a thing of the past.
03:49 Since there are so many lights on the market, it needs to be clarified that they do different jobs.
04:00 Some lights are great to be seen by and others will allow you to see where you're going.
04:04 For commuters and riders who ride in lit areas or maybe just on those shorter journeys,
04:09 then a set which allows you to be seen by other road users will suffice. Now, to determine the
04:15 difference, anything below a 200 lumen light on the front would constitute a light to be seen by.
04:21 Any rear light over 30 lumens would also get you seen, but we recommend a rear light which is over
04:27 50 lumens for maximum visibility. To allow you to see where you're going when cycling on the road,
04:33 you would want a minimum of 500 lumens. And as I said previously,
04:37 you'd want a minimum of a thousand when you're off road.
04:40 Something which has become abundantly clear in the automotive industry in recent years
04:50 is the standardization of daytime running lights and the logic perfectly translates to bicycles.
04:57 More visibility of cyclists at any time of day is important, especially as we're more vulnerable.
05:04 Most lights will have several modes and for the daytime, using a short flash will not only prolong
05:10 the life of the battery, but it will also help catch the attention of other road users without
05:15 the risk of startling them. We'd recommend using a flashing mode for both front and rear lights
05:20 to give yourself the best chance of being spotted by everyone around you.
05:24 One thing we've noticed in recent years that's become quite popular is actually running two rear
05:36 lights and it makes a lot of sense. Since they're behind you, if one were to fail, you may not know
05:41 that you're actually riding without a light, whereas running two massively negates this risk.
05:47 Now, as mentioned previously, opt for 30 lumens or more and also consider how much light is escaping
05:54 through the sides of the light. If you're riding on roads, then having some form of side lighting
05:59 will ensure the excuse of "I didn't see you there" isn't used. And your side lighting can also be
06:05 improved by the use of running two lights as you can point both of them at slightly different angles.
06:17 Here in the UK, the law stipulates that you must ride with a front and rear light when you're
06:21 riding at night. And this must be mounted centrally or to the offside and positioned
06:26 up to one and a half meters from the ground and conform to British safety or EC standards.
06:33 Over in the US, the wording does vary from state to state, but if you boil it down,
06:38 you must be riding with lights between sunrise and sunset or when you're in conditions of
06:44 limited visibility. Essentially, you must have a white light pointing forwards and a red light
06:50 pointing backwards. It's the Germans who have the most stringent rules around the lights that you
06:55 can fit to a bike. Any bike light must conform to the STVZO standard. And any brand that sells such
07:03 lights will signpost it, very much like these ones from Lezyne, where it clearly states at the bottom
07:08 that they do. Lumens are used by the bike industry to measure the power of a light. Now, a lumen,
07:19 being a single unit of visible light, this was adopted by the industry when they started using
07:25 LEDs rather than incandescent bulbs, is measuring power in watts doesn't really make much sense for
07:32 LEDs when they consume a fraction of the power the old bulbs used to. The more lumens the light
07:38 has, the faster it will burn through its battery. This is also why lights have several modes,
07:44 so that you can decrease the brightness to conserve power. Of course, using a device which has a lot
07:51 of lumens will in theory create a lot of light, but it's also important how the device emits the
07:57 beam. If there's no spread of light, then you will end up with one very bright spot in front of you,
08:03 but then have very little light to cover the rest of the road. This is why Lezyne spends a whole
08:08 lot of time working on their beam patterns, to ensure that when you purchase a light with a lot
08:13 of lumens, the lumens are put to good use and they will be distributed in a way that it shows you
08:19 everything in front of you. So there we have it, that's everything you need to know and consider
08:24 when buying a new set of lights for your bike. As I mentioned at the start, if you want to find out
08:29 more about the lights that I've shown you today, they are linked down in the description box below.
08:34 If you have any questions, just drop them in the comments and I'll do my best to answer them.
08:38 If you enjoyed the video, drop it a like, subscribe to the channel for more content,
08:42 and I'll see you again very soon.
08:44 [Music]
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