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Bike lights buying guide 2023-2024 - Hit the road safely!
Bike lights are important for every cyclist. Why? Firstly, because you have to be able to see where you're going. And secondly, you want to be clearly visible, so others on the road can see you, too. Whether you have a city bike, e-bike, mountain bike, gravel bike or road bike: quality bike lights can be the difference between getting home safe and an unpleasant cycling experience. But how do you know which light is right for you? And how do you recognize the right bike light? We'll tell you in this blog!
What does Dutch law have to say about bike lights?
Om te beginnen is de werking van fietsverlichting wettelijk vastgelegd. Nu denk je misschien dat een goed fietslampje dus aan allerlei eisen en wensen moet voldoen, toch? Niets is minder waar. Plat gezegd: als het lampje aan en uit kan tijdens de zonsop- en ondergang is het volgens de Nederlandse wet een goed lampje. Let daarbij wel op: je mag volgens de wet de andere weggebruikers niet tot last zijn. Verlichting die dus knippert of meerdere fietslampjes op je fiets kun je beter niet doen!
First of all, how bike lights should work is coded into law. Perhaps you now think that means that bike lights should adhere to all sorts of requirements, but this isn't true at all. Put bluntly: according to Dutch law, a quality bike light is one that you can turn on at sunset and turn off at sunrise. Do be aware that you're not allowed to bother others on the road with your bike light. That means flashing bike lights aren't a good idea, and neither is installing multiple lights on your bike.
The official rules summed up
To keep things simple, we'll list the official rules for you below:
Bike lights are mandatory between sunset and sunrise.
Bike lights are also mandatory in case of low visibility during the day.
Your front light must be yellow or white. Your rear light has to be red.
Bike lights have to be clearly visible, so you can't hide them behind a basket or bag.
Only one front lamp and one rear lamp maximum: no other lights are allowed.
Bike lights aren't allowed to be set to flashing mode.
Your lights have to emit light straight ahead or straight back.
Bike lights aren't allowed to bother others on the road.
Are you riding with a bike trailer? Then your trailer also has to have a rear light.
Bike lights don't have to be on when you're standing still, but it is allowed and increases safety, of course.
Aside from bike lights, it's also mandatory to have (orange) reflectors on your pedals, wheels, tyre edges (white) and on the back of your bike (red).
STVZO certification
As you can see, the rules in the Netherlands aren't exactly strict. That's a lot different in Germany. Our neighbours to the east have stricter rules in terms of bike lights, and they've even introduced a bike light certification known as STVZO.
Lights with this certification are flattened somewhat at the top of the lightbeam, so they can't bother or hinder others on the road. This does have a drawback, mostly for off-road cyclists: you won't see as well in the dark. This is immediately obvious when you're cycling in places with little ambient light, such as forests and gravel trails.
Examples of bike lights with an STVZO certificate:
Which bike lights are suitable for me?
A wide range of bike lights is available nowadays. That's because cycling safety is becoming more and more important to many people. That's in part why road cyclists, mountain bikers and city cyclists are increasingly buying quality bike lights for their bikes. But how bright should your headlight be? What does lumen mean? And how long should your light's battery last? We'll answer those questions in this blog.
What does the amount of lumen say about your bike lights?
You'll find that the brightness of bike lights is indicated in lumens, which is a measure of how bright light is. While this is a reasonable indicator of how powerful your bike light is, it doesn't indicate anything about the width of the light beam or your lateral visibility. Lumens are a useful indicator, but they don't tell the whole story about the functionality of a bike light.
As a general rule, a bike light with more lumens will produce a brighter light beam. Brightness doesn't tell the whole story, though: the width of the beam is also important. If a light beam emits a lot of light onto a very wide area, you'll see light everywhere, but not very much. If the beam is concentrated and too small, you'll see one very brightly lit dot. However, the width of most modern bike light beams has been optimised for cycling use.
What does terminology like lumen, candela and lux mean?
We've covered lumen above, but you might also run into the words candela and lux. Candela indicates how many lumens are emitted at a certain angle. One candela equals the brightness of one standard candle.
The term "lux" is even more precise. One lux is the amount of light shining on a surface a metre away from the light source. In practice, lux doesn't indicate much about the width of the lightbeam. Based on all of this information, we've divided our headlights into the following categories:
Visibility in an urban environment
Illumination of the road surface and environment
Illumination of unpaved roads
How would you like to mount your bike lights on your bike?
Another factor to consider when buying bike lights is how you'd like to attach them to your bike. There are various options, depending on what type of bike you own. If you have a city bike or e-bike, you can often easily install a light on your front mudguard or pannier rack with a bracket or clip, or your bike might already have integrated lighting.
Lights you're supposed to install on your city bike's mudguards or pannier rack are often powered by batteries, but modern bike lights are increasingly designed to be rechargeable. That means you won't have to think about buying batteries, because you can just plug your light in when it's empty. In the end, deciding which bike light you need for your city bike or e-bike is a personal thing. Of course you'll want to choose the best bike light for your needs, but that's completely dependent on your bike and how you use it. If you're only commuting for a few kilometres over well-lit bike paths, a bike light powered by batteries or a rechargeable light will be more than good enough. In this case, being visible on the road is more important than illuminating it!
Examples of city bike and e-bike lights:
How do I install a bike light on my road bike, mountain bike or gravel bike?
A sports bike is of course a different beast than a city bike or an e-bike. Sports bikes are designed for speed on a specific terrain. They're often made of materials like aluminium and carbon, to keep their weight down as much as possible.
That's why you won't find any chain guards, mudguards or skirt guards on sports bikes. You don't need these for speed or competitions, so you can do without these just fine on a sports bike. But how do you mount bike lights if you don't have a mudguard or pannier rack?
Elastic straps or clamps
Elastic straps and clamps are the easiest ways of installing bike lights on your sports bike. Brands like Lezyne and BBB cycling include these with their bike lights, but you can also purchase them separately. These mounts allow you to install a front light on the handlebars of, for example, your road bike, mountain bike or gravel bike. Sports bike handlebars are often round (or flat or oval for improved aerodynamics), which makes an elastic strap or clamp an easy way of installing bike lights on them.
Plus, high-lumen bike lights often have an integrated mounting strap or clamp. That makes them ideal for hitting the road with your sports bike in low-light conditions!
Helmet mounts
Another way of mounting a bike light is by attaching it to your helmet. You won't have to add a bike light to your bike's cockpit, so it'll still look clean. Plus, a light mounted at a higher point will allow you to illuminate more of your surroundings than with a bike light mounted on your handlebars.
Of course, this system also has its drawbacks. You won't be able to adjust your light while you're cycling if it's installed on your helmet, and your light beam will move to the side if you move your head. That means you'll have to make sure to always look ahead. In practice, a helmet mount is most useful if you cycle over bike trails lit with an average amount of light, and in case you want to keep your bike's cockpit as clean as possible.
Bike light mounts for underneath your bike computer
These types of headlight mounts are a relatively new concept. How do they work? Simple. Install a handlebar mount for your cycling computer on your handlebars, install your bike light in the mount and then install your bike computer on top of it. Your cockpit will keep its clean look, and you'll enjoy plenty of visibility. The only drawback is that, at the moment, there are no high-lumen bike lights for this type of mount yet. That means you can use these lights to get home safe, but we don't recommend heading into dark woods with them.
How many lumens should my bike light emit?
Nu we je hebben uitgelegd wat lumen is en hoe je je lampje op je fiets kunt monteren, hebben we hieronder nog een handige tabel voor je. Hierin zie je welk aantal lumen geschikt is voor verschillende situaties. Kijk gerust even om te zien welk getal het beste bij jou past!
Now that we've explained to you what lumens are and how you can install bike lights on your bike, you can have a look at the useful table below. Here you can find out how many lumens are suitable for which situations. Have a look and see what works for you!
Situation | ||||
Well-lit environment (city) | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
Badly lit environment (city/town) | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
Unlit environment | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
Unlit, high speeds | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ |
Unlit, high speeds/hilly terrain | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
Which bike lights are the best choice for me?
Let's start by saying there's probably more than one bike light that would work for you, but there's some questions you can ask yourself to figure out which one suits you best. Things like: what's your budget? What do you usually use your bike for? And: what do you consider the most important thing about a bike light? These questions help you to narrow your scope.
To get you started, we've made an overview of some bike lights you could consider!
Simple bike lights to safely get home with
Suitable for: being visible
Lumens: up to 250 lumens
Price: between 10 and 60 euros
Do you commute to school or work? Do you always cycle over well-lit cycling paths? Do you cycle through the city at night, and do you want to be clearly visible to others on the road? Then the lights listed below are your best choice. These lights have an internal battery that you don't have to worry about replacing, and they have a maximum output of 250 lumens. They'll make sure you're visible just fine, but they're not bright enough to illuminate the road ahead of you.
The best bike lights for short to medium-long bike rides
Suitable for: illuminating the road ahead, even when there are no street lights
Lumens: up to 1000 lumens
Price: between 50 and 100 euros
Are you a sports cyclist? Do you like cycling in winter, even during twilight? Do you sometimes ride over bike paths that have no lights at all? Then these bike lights are for you! They're designed to make sure you're visible in the dark, and to illuminate the road ahead of you. You'll be able to see where you're going: ideal for bike paths without street lights. You can use these bike lights for your city bike or e-bike, but they're mostly intended for sports cyclists who'll still hit the road at sunset with their road bike, mountain bike or gravel bike.
Plus, these bike lights come with integrated batteries, making them rechargeable. They have battery lives ranging from 2 to 100 hours, and they come with flashing modes to make you stand out even more!
The best bike lights for adventurers who hit the road even in the dark
Suitable for: cyclists who even hit the road in the depth of nigth
Lumens: more than 1000 lumens
Price: between 100 and 150 euros
Are you going bikepacking with your sports bike? Taking part in an ultra-endurance competition? Or do you often hit the road with your sports bike when the sun has already set? Then these are the bike lights for you. First of all, they each have a light output of more than 1000 lumens. That makes them suitable for the darkest conditions, like in the wood where there are no street lights, or in the desert and in any other location without artificial light.
Plus, these lights are (of course) rechargeable, have flashing modes, and sometimes last up to 100 hours at the least bright setting! They're universal, too, so you can use them on your road bike, mountain bike, or gravel bike.
Any bike light is better than no light
Unfortunately, there's no such thing as "the best ever bike light". That's because your choice of bike light depends on your budget, personal taste, your needs and the way you want to mount it on your bike. Hopefully this blog helped you get some insights into the bike light options that exist, so you can choose the one that suits you best. Still find it hard to choose? No problem! We can always help you choose your best bike light in one of our stores.
Jeffrey Hage
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