Forward Lighting

By the beginning of November, the nights are well and truly drawn in and I was determined to keep riding my faithful Swifty Zero, despite the lack of daylight. However, scooting away from the well-lit streets and footpaths of my home town and out into the forbidding  countryside was not quite so easy. What I needed was some decent lights.

Actually, I already had decent lights, a pair of Hope Vision 2 led lights that I bought some years ago for cycling and never really used, having upgraded to a pair of Magicshine MJ-872 lights. Both sets of lights were actually more than adequate for kick scooter use but are lumbered with large external battery packs. I really wanted something smaller and neater for the Swifty Zero, something more self-contained.

As usual, research on the Internet came up with plenty of options but I eventually settled for a pair of Knog Blinder Road 400 LED lights, small and compact with rechargeable batteries built-in. Measuring only 53 x 30 x 75 mm, they fit neatly onto the handlebars and offer a range of no less tha 11 modes. The output was less than the Hope (480 lumens) or Magicshine lights (1600 lumens), with only 400 lumens stated but again, at low scooting speeds this would not be an issue.

Out in the field, the lower brightness setting provides plenty of illumination, even in pitch dark woodland trails and the strobe mode is ideal when scooting at lower speeds along urban footpaths and trails, although I do find it rather distracting. For faster trails, I would recommend either the middle or highest settings for additional light output. Run times are between 7 and 2 hours depending on brightness and modes selected. Generally, I use a single light, set to spot mode and the lowest brightness setting, more than adequate, giving me up to 7 hours of use, with the second light offering the same.

I use them on both the Swifty Zero and the Swifty Air, only requiring some duct tape to pad out the smaller diameter handlebar cross-brace on the Swifty Air to get secure mounting points. A few wraps of black duct tape on the handlebars is much simpler than trying to change the rubber straps provided with the light units.

One down side to mounting lights on the Swifty handlears is when the Swifty falls over, as they are prone to do if you are not careful when parking, the lights can get scratched, possible damaged. Just in case, I’ve bought a second pair of these lights to keep as spares just in case.

Copyright ©2020 Gary Buckham. All rights reserved.

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