If you are looking for the best bike lights, then you’ve come to the right place. This guide will cover lumens, colors, blinking patterns, visibility and more. It also includes the best bike lights for mountain bikes, road bikes, and night riding lights.
All quality bike lights have lumen ratings. The more lumens, the brighter your light will be. Remaining visible is the easiest way to stay safe on a bike. Your bike light needs to be bright enough to be seen from over 200 meters away, or more. A helmet will save your brain once you’re in an accident, but a good light setup will help you avoid accidents all together.
The best bike light regardless of riding discipline is the Bontrager Ion Pro RT. The battery lasts for days, it is extremely bright, casts a wide beam, and it has multiple light pattern settings for daytime visibility. The price tag is steep, but if you want durability and quality the Ion Pro RT can’t be beat. It’s a $140 headlight, which is understandably not in the budget for many cyclists.
Being able to see farther down the road or trail will keep you safer and allow you to have more fun. With the Ion Pro RT you get a light that casts an extremely wide beam allowing you to see better in your peripheral vision. This is why lumens are not the only thing that matters. Below you will find the best alternative to the Ion Pro for mountain bikes, road bikes and night riding.
Best Mountain Bike Light
The best mountain bike light will have two key features. First, it will cast a very wide beam of light. The trails are constantly changing directions for mountain bikers, so having good vision in your peripherals will help you see better around corners. The second key feature is lumens.
NiteRider’s Lumina 900 casts a nice wide beam of light. You don’t get the extreme distance visibility of the Ion Pro RT, but it’s still really good. A price tag near $50 (Check Current Price on Amazon Here) makes this light the best alternative on the market for mountain bikers. You can use the Lumina 900 in all weather conditions thanks to its IP64 water resistant rating.
Best Road Bike Light
The best road bike light will be bright with different light pattern settings. Those light pattern settings will make the headlight blink in random patters to increase visibility during the daytime. In addition to being bright with daytime running light settings, the best road bike light must be waterproof and durable. The Bontrager Ion Pro RT checks all of those boxes, but there’s another contender at less than half the price.
Touhuhot’s Super Bright LED Bike Light is $50 (Check Current Price on Amazon Here) and it is even brighter than the Ion Pro RT. The drawback to this light is the battery life. In the brightest setting you get roughly two hours of light before recharging is required. Aside from battery life being about a fourth of the Ion Pro RT, the Touhuhot outperforms all other lights in it’s price range.
Best Bike Lights For Riding At Night
The best bike light for riding at night is the 1,300 lumen Bontrager Ion Pro RT. A two headlight, one tail light setup is a minimum for night riding. If you want more info read this guide to biking in the dark. For now, a headlight on the handlebars and a headlight on your helmet will give you the best experience when riding at night. You don’t need two 1300 lumen lights, but at least one of your headlights needs to be bright.
O-Light’s 1,500 lumen headlight casts a somewhat narrow beam of light. Its great for cyclists riding familiar trails and paths. The O-Light is $50 cheaper than Ion Pro RT at just $79 (Check Current Price on Amazon Here.) Its the best value bike light, but mountain bikers exploring new trails will prefer a wider beam.
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