The best mountain bike lights for 2018 night riding

Here’s our test of the best lights on the market

Bombing around the woods in the dark may seem like a mad thing to do, but night riding is great. And you can’t do it without a proper beam – so here’s our pick of the best mountain bike lights.
There isn’t a huge amount to look forward to with winter mountain biking in the USA, but night riding must rate pretty highly on that diminutive list. Hitting the trails when everyone else is tucked up at home watching trashy telly, seeing the stars, startling the wildlife and getting your exercise in through the week is all part of the joy, but you will need some pretty serious hardware if you want to ride at anything like your normal pace.

Where to mount your mountain bike light?

A light on the bar is essential; running well below your eyeline it creates shadows in the trail ahead, generating texture to read and facilitate line choice. For fast riding you will need around 2000 lumens plus, less for more straightforward, less technical riding.
A helmet mount on its own is positively dangerous, beaming out virtually in line with the eye to flatten any shadows, rendering the view virtually two dimensional and impossible to judge.
The best setup has a bit of both – a powerful bar light for trail reading, backed up by a helmet light that allows tight corners to be negotiated, obstacles to be peered over and, of course, it lets you turn to see what the hell that rustling was in the bushes just off to your right a minute ago. Around 600-1000 lumens for a helmet mount will allow you to see far enough without overpowering those all important shadows created by your bar mount.
We have chosen bar and helmet mounted lights to test and, although just about all of them come with enough mounting hardware to do either job, they generally fall clearly into one category or another according to characteristics like power, beam pattern and weight.

The best bar-mount mountain bike lights

Alpkit Hadron mountain bike light

2,000 lumens. A very impressive performer for those looking for a bar-mounted light system on a budget that still performs admirably out on the trail.
Read our full review of the Alpkit Hadron
Get the Alpkit Hadron direct from Alpkit here

Exposure Maxx-D mountain bike light

3,300 lumens. The Maxx-D is everything that Exposure know about mountain bike lighting. Which is a lot, in every sense. A joy to ride with and to live with.
Read our full review of the Exposure Maxx-D

Hope R4+ mountain bike light

1,500 lumens. Exquisitely made and sure to be a winner with the myriad Hope fanboys and fangirls out there. Rather expensive for the illumination though.
Read our full review of the Hope R4+

ITUO Wiz-XP3 mountain bike light

2,300 lumens. You may not have heard of this brand before but don’t go thinking this is a tinpot light. It’s impressivley well made and kicks out lots of light.
Read our full review of the ITUO Wiz-XP3

Light And Motion Seca 2500 Enduro mountain bike light

2,500 lumens. This is very nearly a perfect mountain bike light. It’s only the niggling issues with cable layout that stop it fromclaiming full marks.
Read our full review of the Light And Motion Seca 2500 Enduro

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Lumicycle Explorer Plus Enduro mountain bike light

3,000 lumens. Venerable UK light brand Lumicycle take their well-reviewed Explorer and tweak its output modes for improved power and burn times.
Read our full review of the Lumicycle Explorer Plus Enduro
Get the Explorer Plus Enduro direct from Lumicycle here

The best helmet-mount mountain bike lights

Blackburn Central 650 mountain bike light

650 lumens. This is a bargain helmet light even though we reckon you will almost certainly need to add the cost of a better helmet mount to the price tag.
Read our full review of the Blackburn Central 650