Let There Be Light!

The Night Life!

On really hot days or shortened winter days with limited day light hours, a good lighting system to supplement your bikes headlight may be your best friend!

I have been experimenting with bike light systems on my KTM to see what the possibility would be to extend my riding window. Baja Designs makes some really great bike lights that allow everything from casual trail riding to just about going race speeds. Although like anything else, you get what you pay for. The hot rod go fast light can easily get into the $400 to $500 range in a hurry.

No matter how much you decide to spend on a bike light you cannot go wrong by supplementing whatever you choose with a good helmet light system. Fortunately for you, you are reading this column so you don’t have to spend your money and hope you are getting a decent helmet light. I have done this for you!   Yep, spent my own money and purchased a light to experiment with.  I wanted to see the amount of light, the type of light (white vs. yellow), the pattern (flood vs. spot) and the run time of the battery to give mx43.com readers some info before parting with their hard earned cash.

I purchased a “TASK Racing” helmet mounted system in their ‘Ironman racer pack with extra battery’.  It was very reasonable at $134.95.  It comes with everything needed to mount it on your helmet and an extra battery. I purchased this package because I definitely am suspicious when companies claim to have battery life exceeding 3 or 4 hours, having had experience with past bicycle companies lighting systems. TASK claimed to have a battery life of 5.5 hours per battery before needing recharging. I was very impressed and surprised to see my first attempt go over 4 hours on the highest setting with no dimming of the light at all.

The system allows you to choose low, medium or high for brightness. I only used it on high to tax the battery to the fullest. I carried the spare battery in my back pack and never had to pull it out.

I tried the TASK helmet light with my stock headlight, an aftermarket system by Polisport and a Baja Designs high end light.

With the stock headlight the helmet light made the ride tolerable because the stock headlights on most bikes are not really up to the task of riding off road at night. The helmet light actually overpowered the stocker. While the bikes stock light was a dull yellow light it became instantly obvious the White light from my helmet was doing most of the work and just overpowering the dull yellow headlight.

With the Polisport headlight, better than stock but still putting out a yellowish light, I made it about 45 minutes into the ride when the bike headlight started cutting out intermittently. As the headlight came and went on my return route I realized I could ride without much problem using just the TASK helmet system as long as I rode at a reasonable pace to get home. It turned out to be quite the lifesaver when the bike headlight finally quit altogether. No problem riding casually home.

With the high end headlight from Baja Designs mounted on my bike the ride took on a whole new perspective. It was fun to ride wherever I wanted to go with a well lit trail and the ability to use the TASK helmet light to direct the beam wherever I wanted. I could look into corners before I got there and look near or far as needed. Both lights gave off a bright white light that showed every obstacle I encountered. This is definitely the way to go if you plan on doing much at night.

So if you are considering a helmet mounted light system you should definitely consider taking a look at the TASK setup. It produced a good pattern without being too focused or too wide in its pattern and put out a very white light with a good battery run time and all at a reasonable price. Check them out at  shop.taskracing.com

It is getting late and my batteries are charged, gotta go!
                                                                                                      

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