The Daily Grind
By Rob Manning

Light Up The Night

I have a love-hate relationship with this time of the year. There's loads of things happening, from Octoberfest to the wonderful chow-time known as Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, these events always mean that Daylight Savings Time is short lived and we're going back to 4:30 sunsets. No longer can we sneak out of work early and still get an hour's worth of riding in before the sun dips below the horizon. That luxury is certainly gone with the demise of DST. That's not necessarily the end of the riding season though, and the night can add a whole new dimension to an ordinary trail.

Of course, if you're going to ride at night, you'll need something to light the way. Skip the outdoor headlamps with their weak beams and elastic mounting straps, they're not worth the time or the money. They will get you out of somewhere in a pinch if your light goes out, but don't bother using it for a primary light. Look for a reasonably decent bicycle light system to get you started. Halogens are the basic kind of lighting system you'll find. They are cheap, bulbs are cheap and easy to find and the light they throw off is a pleasing yellow/amber color that gives great depth perception and is easy on the eyes. They are also quite robust and cheap to repair if they should be damaged. The problem with halogens is that they aren't nearly as bright as some other systems on the market. They will also tend to use battery power relatively quickly (although a lot of this depends on the battery that is supplied with the system) and can run quite hot.

HIDs, on the other hand, are the kings of the hill in terms of brightness and power. A good HID will rival (and often times exceed) multiple halogen systems being used simultaneously. They give off a blueish/whitish light that penetrates fantastically well, but depth perception suffers a little bit. And speaking of suffering, don't ever shine your HID in one of your riding buddy's eyes, otherwise they will know the meaning of suffering as you burn their retinas out. On the downside, depending on the light, your burn times can be pretty short and replacing a bulb can be almost as expensive as an entire halogen system. They should last for a long time though, so that's not a huge negative.

LEDs are the new kid on the block, combining both a pleasing blueish light with exceptional burn times. They run nice and cool, have nice tiny light housings and the bulbs last forever. If for some reason the bulb should die, they are stupidly cheap to replace. They are still somewhat pricey though and they just don't have the lighting power that a HID does. Because of that reason the HID is still the best choice for night riding at the moment. If you've got the cash, you can't go wrong with a good HID system to split the darkness. You never know how thrilling it will be until you give it a shot.

Questions? Comments? Love letters? Send 'em to Techeditor@mountainbiketales.com.