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Best bike lights for country roads
If you’re a bit of a scaredy-cat like me, then you’ll be convinced that the local axe murderer is waiting round every turn of the dark roads I commute along, just ready to pounce on me with his freshly-sharpened blade. Shiver…
Whether or not you also have axe murderers hiding out at the side of your local roads, it’s useful to arm yourself with some good quality bike lights. They’re great for deterring bad guys and even better for lighting up the road in front of you and letting other road users know you’re there.
Unfortunately, there’s lots of bike lights to choose from and, if you search around for a time (like an axe murderer looking for his next victim), you can quickly become confused by the sheer variety of options.
So, I’ve done some research online and tracked down the best bike lights for unlit roads, in terms of light, value, and eco-friendliness.
Let’s take a look and see.
Quick Answer: Victaben bike light set
Reviews of bike lights
Broadly speaking there are three main types of bike light: front lights which have a white light and are either steady or flashing or both, rear red lights (flashing or steady or both), and helmet-mounted lights.
There’s also a new type of light which is particularly awesome and attaches to your wheel spokes. More on these Monkey Lights in a moment.
Let’s take a look at the three types of bike lights now.
Best front bike light for unlit roads
I’m a big fan of this light set from Victagen.
First up, you get not one but two lights for your money. There’s a free rear light that Victagen includes in the set. ‘Free’ often implies ‘Not Very Good’, but in this case, the little rear light is very powerful and useful for letting road users behind you know you’re there.
It’s the front light though that I get most excited about. Do your research and you’ll see lots of lights that have a brightness (measured in Lumens) of 400-1200 lm. How does the Victagen light measure up? Well, it pumps out a whopping 2400 lm! Powerful enough not only to light up the road in front of you, notify your presence to drivers coming towards you, but it will also literally burn the retinas of local axe murderers and allow you to cruise past them in safety. Phew.
It’s also worth knowing (as if that wasn’t enough) that the front light is USB-rechargeable. So you can plug it into your laptop (with the supplied cable) during the daytime to top it up and, similarly, plug it into a wall socket when you get home. That way you’ve always got sufficient juice in the li-ion battery for the journey ahead.
Best rear bike light for daytime
I’m a big fan of bike lights that helps you stand out. You can go super-bright like the Victagen front light we’ve just looked at. You can go wild and crazy like the Monkey Lights you’ll see in a moment. And you can go a little bit different like this rear light from Canway.
First up, it’s USB-rechargeable, which I think is a very useful feature. Back in the day, as a kid, I remember the pain of spending all my pocket money on massive batteries for my bike lights that seemed to only last 5 minutes, and didn’t give off much light anyway. Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries make these a totally different experience.
The lights have a flashing or steady setting, take about 3 seconds to fit with the easy rubber strap and are incredibly light at 0.79 oz or 22.5 grams.
For me though the best feature is that you can change the light from red to blue. Why is this so good? Well, you’ll find that most drivers hit the brakes and slow down when they see a blue flashing light, don’t they? Very handy for us cyclists.
Best helmet light for road cycling
Bike helmet lights are great for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, they give you light whichever direction your head is pointing in. So, they’re useful, for example, for seeing around the bend ahead without having to point your handlebars in that direction just yet.
They’re also good because they give you light to be seen by higher up away from the road. Bike lights are generally quite close to the ground and therefore may be less noticeable for other road users. Put a light high up on your helmet and it becomes more easily seen.
These Topside bike lights are a great option as they have both a front and rear light. Front light for seeing the axe murderers lurking around the bends, rear light for showing drivers coming up from behind. It’s nice and bright at 100 lm, USB-rechargeable, and has easy tool-free mounting to your helmet with the supplied kit. A great choice.
Programmable bike wheel lights
A quick head-up on one of the coolest sets of bike lights that I’ve ever seen. The Monkey Lights from MonkeyLectric are just awesome. I can’t do them justice by describing them, so take a look at the video below and you’ll see how amazing they are.
Best night riding bike light
Thanks for joining me to look at bike lights for unlit roads today. I hope that this article gives you the info that you need in order to make the right decision for you and your bike on which bicycle lights are best for your setup.
There are some fantastic bike lights out there – front, rear, and helmet lights – but it can get very confusing, very quickly. Hopefully, this guide has helped narrow down the options for you.
Have fun and stay safe on the roads.
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