00:00As the temperature drops and the evenings draw in, one of the most
00:03important things you need to be thinking about when riding outdoors is how
00:08visible you are, which is why today I'm gonna run you through everything you
00:12need to know and everything you need to be thinking about when buying a brand
00:16new set of lights.
00:24As with any question in cycling, it's always going to depend on a number of
00:29factors, but the first and most important is what type of cycling are
00:33you doing. If you're riding on the road in unlit areas then you're going to need
00:38a front light with a minimum of 500 lumens and a rear light of a minimum of
00:4330 lumens. If you're riding gravel you will need a bare minimum of 800 lumens
00:49on the front and if you're mountain biking then you would need a minimum of
00:521,000 lumens. Lastly, if you're commuting and you're mainly riding in areas that
00:59are lit up then a set which has around 200 lumens on the front and again 30
01:03lumens on the rear will be absolutely fine. Matching how bright the lights are
01:09to the riding you're doing is the first and absolutely the most important step
01:14in figuring out which lights are going to be best for you. Everything beyond
01:19here is very much about refining what's important to you and how you want to
01:23interact with your lights. Now of course with additional features comes ease of
01:28use and extra layers of safety but it's also worth mentioning that not all
01:32lumens are created equally so be sure to watch on and find out where you should
01:38be spending your money. As I said the lights on the market today often have a
01:47whole raft of features and one of the best-known brands to innovate and
01:51incorporate the latest and greatest tech is Lezyne. So I have a rather nice range
01:56of their offerings here to help me showcase what you should be looking for
02:00if you were to buy a set of lights. Now if you want any of the details of any of
02:04the lights that you see in the video today then I have linked them all down
02:07in the description below. Like most electronic devices these days smart
02:12features can now be found in lights and it does make for a much easier way to
02:16interact with them. For example with Lezyne's Smart Connect you can now link
02:21both front and rear lights together. Now this means that you only have to use
02:26the one control button to control both lights and not only that but you can now
02:32control both lights via a smartphone app so you can really get into the detail
02:36and really refine how you want your lights to be set up. Now this does make
02:41it so much easier to switch between modes on the fly and it puts an end to
02:45fumbling around with your rear light when you're just trying to ride along.
02:49Lezyne also features race mode which allows you to toggle between the
02:55brightest overdrive setting and the dimmer economy setting and a feature
02:59like this is really useful for maybe when you're out riding on the trails
03:03you're waiting for your mates to catch up you can just drop it down onto that
03:06lower setting and save a little bit of battery life before popping it back onto
03:09that brightest setting before you hit the next run. Alternatively it can be
03:14really useful for commuters so that you can drop it down onto that dimmer
03:18setting so that you don't dazzle other road users and maybe when they've passed
03:22you can then step it back up to that brightest overdrive setting. Finally one
03:28last feature which I think is absolutely crucial on any new light anyone buys is
03:32actually just making sure that the batteries are rechargeable. Most brands
03:37and most lights out there are USB rechargeable there's only a couple of
03:41brands out there that have their own proprietary charging system but the
03:45point still stands disposable batteries are very much a thing of the past.
03:54Since there are so many lights on the market it needs to be clarified that
03:58they do different jobs. Some lights are great to be seen by and others will
04:03allow you to see where you're going. For commuters and riders who ride in lit
04:07areas or maybe just on those shorter journeys then a set which allows you to
04:11be seen by other road users will suffice. Now to determine the difference
04:16anything below a 200 lumen light on the front would constitute a light to be
04:20seen by. Any rear light over 30 lumens would also get you seen but we recommend
04:26a rear light which is over 50 lumens for maximum visibility. To allow you to see
04:31where you're going when cycling on the road you would want a minimum of 500
04:35lumens and as I said previously you'd want a minimum of a thousand when you're
04:40off-road.
04:45Something which has become abundantly clear in the automotive industry in
04:50recent years is the standardization of daytime running lights and the logic
04:54perfectly translates to bicycles. More visibility of cyclists at any time of
05:00day is important especially as we're more vulnerable. Most lights will have
05:05several modes and for the daytime using a short flash will not only prolong the
05:10life of the battery but it will also help catch the attention of other road
05:14users without the risk of startling them. We'd recommend using a flashing mode for
05:19both front and rear lights to give yourself the best chance of being
05:23spotted by everyone around you.
05:30One thing we've noticed in recent years that's become quite popular is actually
05:35running two rear lights and it makes a lot of sense since they're behind you
05:39if one were to fail you may not know that you're actually riding without a
05:43light whereas running two massively negates this risk. Now as mentioned
05:48previously opt for 30 lumens or more and also consider how much light is escaping
05:54through the sides of the light. If you're riding on roads then having some form of
05:58side lighting will ensure the excuse of I didn't see you there isn't used and
06:04your side lighting can also be improved by the use of running two lights as you
06:08can point both of them at slightly different angles. Here in the UK the law
06:18stipulates that you must ride with a front and rear light when you're riding
06:22at night and this must be mounted centrally or to the offside and
06:26positioned up to one and a half meters from the ground and conform to British
06:30Safety or EC standards. Over in the US the wording does vary from state to
06:37state but if you boil it down you must be riding with lights between sunrise
06:41and sunset or when you're in conditions of limited visibility. Essentially you
06:47must have a white light pointing forwards and a red light pointing
06:50backwards. It's the Germans who have the most stringent rules around the lights
06:55that you can fit to a bike. Any bike light must conform to the STVZO
07:00standard and any brand that sells such lights will signpost it very much like
07:05these ones from Lezyne where it clearly states at the bottom that they do.
07:14Lumens are used by the bike industry to measure the power of a light. Now a
07:19lumen being a single unit of visible light. This was adopted by the industry
07:24when they started using LEDs rather than incandescent bulbs. Measuring
07:29power in watts doesn't really make much sense for LEDs when they consume a
07:34fraction of the power the old bulbs used to. The more lumens the light has the
07:39faster it will burn through its battery. This is also why lights have several
07:44modes so that you can decrease the brightness to conserve power. Of course
07:50using a device which has a lot of lumens will in theory create a lot of light
07:54but it's also important how the device emits the beam. If there's no spread of
08:00light then you will end up with one very bright spot in front of you but then
08:03have very little light to cover the rest of the road. This is why Lezyne spends a
08:08whole lot of time working on their beam patterns to ensure that when you
08:12purchase a light with a lot of lumens the lumens are put to good use and they
08:16will be distributed in a way that it shows you everything in front of you.
08:21So there we have it that's everything you need to know and consider when
08:25buying a new set of lights for your bike. As I mentioned at the start if you want
08:29to find out more about the lights that I've shown you today they are linked
08:32down in the description box below. If you have any questions just drop them in the
08:37comments and I'll do my best to answer them. If you enjoyed the video drop it a
08:40like, subscribe to the channel for more content and I'll see you again very soon!
08:51you
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