Wow, I See The Light

Today was my first ride to work on my bicycle using my new Busch & Müller Luxos U IQ2 lighting system described in a previous blog posting. It is rare that I am overwhelmed by a product that I purchase.  To say that my expectations were exceeded by this head light would be an understatement.

I am use to riding down two lane roads in darkness where the only light is on my bike.  My battery powered Niterider Pro 1800 is a great light for cycling, but when I run it at 1800 lumens the battery life is only 1.5 hours.  most of the time I ride with it at 700 lumens and the battery life is 4 hours.  I bought an extra charger so that I could leave one at work and charge it when I arrive after my morning commute so that I will have enough battery life for my ride home.  My normal commute is 25 miles one way which takes about 1.5 hours.

The beam on the Niterider Pro is bright, but narrow.  I can see a little in the distance, and right near my wheel, so it is a good light for riding in the country.  There is a lot of drop off to the sides where I really want to see if thee are deer or hogs waiting to dash out in front of me.

Today I was amazed at how bright and wide the beam spread was with my new light.  The light lit up both sides of the road so that I could see into the gullies where the deer like to stand waiting for a chance to dash out in front of me.  I could at the same time see far into the distance in front of me as well as see the pavement in front of my wheel.  The downside of all of this light is that it is going to be difficult to know when a car is coming up behind em because my light is so bright that I can almost not see the car's headlights making a shadow of me as it approaches.  I kept looking in my mirror to see if there was a car behind me and there was not a car in sight, it was just me on the road with this bright light.

When I got closer into Albany crossing HWY 91 on Lily Pond Road where there are street lights my head lamp automatically adjusted to a lower beam strength.  This was really cool.  I knew about the feature, but I was not sure when it would work.  as there was more day light the beam gradually dimmed.  When I stopped at the only traffic light on my commute the rear tailing stayed on as did the headlight.  The Secula Plus tail light is not switched so it will stay on for a few minutes even when my ride is done and I turn the headlight off.

When I look at the construction of the Busch & Müller Luxos U IQ2 headlight I can understand how the beam gets so wide and bright. The LED lights are aimed out the front and to the rear and the rear lights reflect off a series of mirrors that cover the back of the inside of the light housing.  I will take a better photograph of the light soon.

Bottom line, this light will get my down many dark roads and I will never have to worry about a battery going dead.  I love riding at night.  I use to trail run at night and i think this is what hooked me on riding my bike at night.  I was in a 24 hour mountain bike race when I lived in Portland.  I am looking to do a 24 hour road ride this year.