bike lights

here's the good news and the bad news. 

Good news:  good red-blinky lights are inexpensive ($20) and cars will be able to see you.  Also- wear reflective clothing- it's even better than lights.

More good news:  new LED technology has drastically improved the headlights in the last few years.  you can get amazingly bright headlights that really allow you to see well, they're light weight and the batteries are rechargeable and last for hours.

Bad news:  these new headlights aren't cheap.  Think $100 and up.  I've got a LightMotion 360, which at 115 lumens is about the minimum you'd need for good visibility.  The faster you ride or the rougher the road, the more light you'll need.  200-1000 lumens is great.

I like mine because:  Mounts on my helmet so the light goes where I look.  It's tiny and lightweight.  it's got bright flashers that are visible from all directions.  Being on my helmet gets them up higher than if they're under my saddle.  On the downside- there are brighter lights out there- which you may desire. 

I'll let others comment on other specific models.  there are a lot of good ones out there these days.

I've got this one too. It's great. Totally recommend it. I also like that you can swivel it on your handle bars and it's pretty adjustable for a variety of handle bar widths.

Also USB rechargeable is great.

I live in the city and most of my routes are fairly well lit or there is just a lot of ambiant light so for me using a light is mostly for the traffic to see me.

I've started mountain biking and I've been doing this at night. A helmet mounted light seems like a must in this case. It's important to me to be able to see where I'm looking. I cheaped out and bought a pretty good mini flashlight and taped it on my helmet.

I got this Cree 1200 Lumen light off of Amazon and have been using it for about 4 months.

Works awesome for less than $40 !!

http://www.amazon.com/Lumen-Bicycle-HeadLight-Flashlight-Headlamp/dp/B006QQX3C4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1353729092&sr=8-1&keywords=cree+bike+light

Wow- that's a great deal.  I might just add a second light to my bike for some extra visibility with this.  Question- will it mount to tri bars?  i.e. a handlebar that is parallel with the direction of travel, rather than the normal perpendicular handlebar?  

I have to order and try this one.  Trying to work my way into this sport and cycling without breaking the bank.  Can't beat the price based off the others I have seen.  Hope it works well!  Thanks for the advice!!!

I have this light and LOVE IT!  Could NOT be happier.  Performance is on-par with lights costing hundreds of dollars.  Except if/when I break this one; I won't cry cuz it was only $25-30.00.