If you’ve only just found out that bike lights are expensive and have been pondering the reason for this, we’re here to help enlighten you. Bike lights aren’t like your typical torches; there are multiple details that go into making bike lights irreplaceable. Along with other safety gear used for cycling like helmets, bike lights are considered to be one of the most crucial of them. Whether you cycle at night or day, regularly or often, you need bike lights. Let’s look at the reasons why they’re more expensive than you would think and why it makes sense.
Should I Put Lights on My Bike?
In all of the states in the U.S. and most countries around the world, you are required to have both lights and reflectors on your bike. As most, if not all, bikes come with their reflectors, you’ll only need to purchase the lights. Even in the daytime, it is recommended to have them on for safety reasons. A lot of accidents involving cars turning in a street might happen if you do not have your light on to reflect and let drivers know there is a bike nearby.
What Lights Should I Have on My Bike?
As mentioned before, you must have both lights and reflectors. The reflector at the rear of your bike is so cars can see you, and the light in the front of your bike is for you to see the road, especially when it’s dark. Your bike light should have a beam cut-off, which is a mini visor for your light. The reason is to not flash the light directly in people’s eyes or at other bike riders. The beam cut-off will still provide the same luminous light, but it will direct it towards the ground, where you need it.
What Is a Decent Bike Light?
Bike lights are measured in lumen. So for a good bike light, it should be at least 200 lumens when commuting in the city during the daytime and above 400-600 lumen for roads during the nighttime. A decent bike light should be able to have the battery on-off switch visible for you to easily adjust as well as the lighting settings. It should not be too heavy or hard to set up on your bike as you might cycle on off-trail roads, and you don’t want it to fall off.
But most importantly, a decent bike light should also not be ridiculously expensive; there are plenty of affordable bike lights that do the same job.
Special Features Bike Lights Offer
Bike lights offer features that other standard torches just don’t offer. You might think that you could easily find a cheap replacement that will do the job just fine, but there are special features in bike lights that you will absolutely need on your bike ride.
Secure attachment
By now, you’ve caught on that the bike lights don’t come with the bike, so you’ll need to purchase them, which means you will need to attach the light to the bike. Bike lights come with their own frame that can easily be attached to the bike. This way, you’ll have no problem riding on off-trail roads while the light is safe and sound. If you purchase a regular light, you will have to attach it with brackets onto the handlebars, which will most likely fall off when you’re not driving slow and on proper roads.
Secure lighting
The most important feature is the lighting part and how much it can offer. Bike lights are designed to flood with light, even the darkest roads, and longest rides. While regular lights might seem intensified at the beginning but they would not last for a long time. Bike lights also come with special lighting effects. Most bike lights automatically go into low power mode during the daytime so the battery doesn’t run out quickly.
Secure durability
Bicycle lights are made from aluminum or other thick plastic materials which makes them endure even the bumpiest roads—even if the bike falls down the light is unlikely to break. And if you maintain it well enough it could last you for a long time without needing to buy a new one.
Why Are Bike Lights so Expensive?
Now getting to the big question. So why are bike lights so expensive? They seem simple enough, right? If you think about it in that sense, yes, bike lights are still lights and it might not make sense that they are more expensive than your regular torches. What makes bike lights expensive is the low demand for them. There are still people that look for and shop for the best bike lights there are, especially cycling enthusiasts. Still, most people would rather spend less money and buy a standard light that will probably do the job just as well.
How Do I Maintain my Bike Light?
Like every part of your bike, maintaining your bike light is a must. From all the cycling, especially in the woods or long rides, it will eventually be covered in dust and even small rocks might get stuck in the mounts of the bike light. What you should do is from time to time, depending on how often you ride your bike, take a slightly wet wipe and just wipe the dust off the light. Make sure to also check for small rocks not just in the mounts of the bike light but in any part of your bike. One other thing you could do to prevent damaging your bike light or even getting it stolen is to take it with you inside the house when you park your bike. It is easy to set up and take off and you can never be too careful.
Some things in life, although seemingly simple or maybe not worth spending money on, are actually quite important. If you cycle regularly or are looking to start, you need to make sure your bike abides by safety standards. And this means getting a proper bicycle light that will help and maybe even encourage you to go on bike rides more often.
