If you plan to ride your new ebike in the morning or even within a couple of hours of sunset, you should view good lights as indispensable safety accessories. If you are shopping for bike lights in 2021, you are fortunate to have a massive variety of options available. At the same time, however, it can be difficult to choose the best options for you when so many different choices exist. Here’s how to find the best lights for your electric beach cruiser or hybrid.
Identify Your Needs
If you plan to and from work every day at sunset and sunrise, you need as many brightness options for your lights as possible, and you may also want to buy multiple devices. If you mostly ride for fun during the day but might get stuck in the rain every once in a while, you can probably get away with cheaper or dimmer options.
Lights for bikes serve a variety of functions, just like car lights. Headlights illuminate obstacles and road markings in front of you while tail lights let others know that you are traveling in the same direction as they are. Directional lights signal to others what you are about to do. Alternative products, like monkey lights, provide a distinct visual pattern that drivers can easily recognize. Do your best to understand which products you need for your uses.
Understand Your Charging Options
Modern lights mostly use highly efficient LED technology that requires relatively little power to produce strong beams of light. Still, all lights generate power through an internal charge or external battery. While internal batteries can last a while and provide good energy output, it can be expensive and frustrating to replace them. Rechargeable batteries are convenient and have begun to rival external batteries in lifespan.
Choose Your Ideal Brightness
When riding through most residential places, the power output of your lights is an important consideration. For headlights for city biking, 300 lumens is generally considered a minimum. Some lights in excess of 500 lumens, however, can be blinding to other people, so lights between 300 and 500 are usually best.
Because most urban environments feature at least a scattering of public streetlights, having a bright headlight may be less important in highly populated areas. If you plan on cutting through a park or riding where other lights are uncommon, having a clear view is very important.
Serious products sometimes feature “bright” modes above 500 lumens that work similarly to brights on most cars. Some products also blink, pulse, or otherwise change so they are more visible to motorists. Before making a purchase, make sure you understand the kind of beam your chosen light emits. A broad beam that still delivers plenty of brightness is usually preferable to a narrow one.
Aside from your helmet, your bike lights are the most important safety accessories you can purchase for your ebike. Whatever hybrid or beach cruiser lights you choose, remember to obey all of your local safety laws. Also, check your area’s requirements regarding electric bikes, and purchase an appropriately powered motor.