MTB night ride Thursday 17th

[Wal]

My MagicShine 900 lumen bike light has arrived from Hong Kong!

Anyone planning on coming out to play this Thursday evening?

Weather forecast had looked ok but it now looks like we could have a bit of snow...

[George]

I'll be there

[sonic909]

Might crack the merida out...

[George]

see you all there tonight 7.15 should be loads a fluffy stuff from above i do believe

[Grahame]

I will be at the Beastway organisors' dinner tonight.

Let's see what the Excusatron 2000 (tm) comes up with next week .

[Wal]

I'll be there unless the weather's horrendous. If I'm not there by 7.20 you can assume I'm not coming.

[sonic909]

Well i guess i missed it, however its gonna be MTB to work tomorrow!

SNOWTIMES

[George]

Bob, Wal and myself met last night at East Croydon for the night ride.
Over Lloyds to SH and up to the top there was just a thin crust of snow afoot. Bob needed some food so turned off for home early.

Wal and I continued up over spring park where it really started to snow, up through Birch wood which spat us out at the top of New Addington.
It was totally different riding the same trails in the dark where its much easier to miss the correct trail because you just can't see where it branches off.

Wal had his £50 deal extreme magicshine and I had my £250 lupine tesla, first off they looked pretty much almost identical as the outer casings on the lamp housings and the battery packs were of similar size and weight.
The only real difference with the build of the lamp was the reflectors were slightly different as they both had exactly the same LED which is a cluster of 4 diodes.

Onto how well they worked we noticed that the lumins/brightness were almost identical as the light output from both lights is absolutely stunning so much better than most other £400 lights.

The beam of the lupine is just about perfect, a wide spread close to the bike so you can see around you and a bright long beam of white light which easily picked out the trail 100m ahead.

The beam of the magicshine is more of a concentrated spot and not quite as wide as the lupine although still as much throw of brilliant bright white light ahead.

Wal had his light helmet mounted and mine was on the bars.
In conclusion the deal extreme magic shine was almost the same as the lupine,build quality and overall performance of the lupine was slightly superior but for 5 times the cost you'd expect that.
If I were to buy another one I'd get a deal extreme and save the wonga, everyone who's ordered one of these light is gonna have a big smile across their face just like Wal as they are really too good and this is definitely true!
If you haven't ordered one yet what are you waiting for.

We then up past the white bear down and up the big valley where the farmer couldn't believe that we were crazy enough to be out riding, We both puncture on the run in back home.

It was blowing a blizzard up over the golf course before rachels.

Great night looking forward to the next one. Cheers George

[Wal]

Fantastic ride; thanks to George for leading the way in the dark - I'd have gotten lost for sure!

Thrilled to bits with my budget LED light from Hong Kong; as George said it gives very little away in terms of performance to his Lupine at a fraction of the cost - superb! It's definitely not as well made - in particular the waterproofing of the battery and the design of its pouch leave something to be desired - but these issues can be overcome and at £50 I'm not complaining! The light unit itself seems well made though and the light output is absolutely phenomenal. Battery life is good too; I had it on full power for pretty much all of the near 2 and a half hours we were out and the battery indicator had just turned from green to red (as had George's) as we were coming to the end of the ride (although the light output hadn't decreased noticeably).

I too am looking forward to the next ride!

[Marcus]

My Deal extreme lights arrived the same day as wals. I am on family duty today and tomorrow so I am off for a quick spin to test them now need to be back by 0800.

For £50 delivered I think they are an absolute bargain. The battery case wasn't the same as in the picture and will need velcro straps or zip ties to attach to the frame / stem. But for the money..... I have emailed them and am sure they will send a replacement.

It may be useful when ordering to purchase a spare battery, they can't cost toomuch more and will be useful to have.

I haven't ridden this week following two consecutive days of running 5k having not run before. I have found new muscles and my lungs hurt. Won't tell you the times but I think my 7 year old daughter would be faster. She road along side telling me to keep up and kept telling me I was not running right... Show off just because she has a running coach.