Headlamp for night riding

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MrHermit
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Headlamp for night riding

Post by MrHermit »

What do you guys do for riding at night, use a headlamp? If so do you have any suggestions? I heard some guys ordered some off eBay and had good luck but spoke to some others that had some that really struggled with battery life (20 minutes). This will be more for 2 stroke trails than high speed.
J
2014 KTM 500EXC
2012 Husaberg TE300
2006 F650GS Dakar
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cerealkiller
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Re: Headlamp for night riding

Post by cerealkiller »

I bought a visionX Solstice 900 lumen 2x2 pod for my helmet for about $100. It could easily be mounted to the bike too (I have other LEDs mounted to my bike).

VisionX-branded batteries come in 2 varieties, a NiCd 1.5hr for $179 and a LiPo 6.5hr for $300+.

I was offended by the price tag, so I asked the guy at batteryworld if he had other options. He could have built me a longer lasting NiCd for about $90, but sold me on a sealed lead acid instead. Yeah, it's kind've heavy and a little big for my backpack, but a 4.5hr battery was $20 and I could charge it with my regular charger.

It's not that bad actually. I'd say 5"x3"x2. Still fits in my hydro pack. It's about the same overall size as the $179 visionx battery, but a less convenient shape (visionx version is really tall and skinny, so easier to fit in a backpack).

If you aren't going to be riding that long at night, there's other smaller options too. I saw a lead acid battery there that was like 1"x3"x2" that would be good for 1.5 hrs.
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malcolmzilla
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Re: Headlamp for night riding

Post by malcolmzilla »

If your TE has the oem halogen mask, a cheap upgrade is a higher wattage bulb on the AC circuit. The bulb design has to be suitable to the mask reflector pattern, several vendors online sell upgraded bulbs.

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Dobi
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Re: Headlamp for night riding

Post by Dobi »

good call on battery world for batteries. I need a replacement for mine.

I run this one http://www.action-led-lights.com/collec ... -light-set" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; for my daily commute to work. When the battery was new I would get a full week with no issues with about an hr of commute time a day. It is now 5 yrs old.

the helmet lights are great, but I would also look at a 6" LED bar to mount off the handlebar or top triple clamp. If you go to the timbersled page on facebook you will see tonnes of good examples.

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