If you do practical things with a bicycle, like shopping, you’ll know all about panniers – those gloomy bags you can’t live with, and can’t live without.When you need them, they’re usually too small, and when you don’t, they’re invariably too big. So, how about folding panniers? A very A to B solution, we thought.
The theory is admirably simple: a pair of metal baskets with hinged bases and sides. For 90% of the time, the panniers are wind-cheatingly slim, but get to the supermarket and – flick, flick, flick! In a few seconds, you’ve created two rigid containers measuring 18cm wide by 21cm deep and 32cm long. Oh all right – 7″ x 81/4″ x 121/2″ in real units (yes, we’re reverting).That’s big enough for 16 tins of cat food plus a box of Friskies each side – a total load I of around 13kg.
Get home, feed Tibbles and the process can be reversed – the slim-line versions standing out from the rack a mere 2cm each side (just under an inch, gran).
Any disadvantages? The panniers are heavy (2.4kg the pair), and they can be noisy, particularly when empty, but a well placed bungee cord should solve that one. There’s no protection from rain or pilfering either, but no-one ever claimed they were suitable for touring. Longevity? Hard to say, but these are the sort of extras that can be reconstructed with a pair of pliers and a twist of copper wire. Speaking of which, we found the crucial clip that holds the assembly shut needed a bit of tweaking, and the mounting clips were happier on a thin steel-framed rack, although they worked perfectly well on a modern alloy rack with 8mm stays.
One slight grumble on a big-wheeled bikes (or ‘cumbersomes’ in folder-parlance) is that the depth of only 21cm wastes a lot of productive space, but shoe-horn the panniers onto a small- wheeled folding machine and they begin to look seriously space-efficient.
The panniers fit just about anything, and will fold away with the bike on most, including the majority of Dahons, and the Pashley Micro (provided you have a rack, of course).You can only get one on the Brompton T-type (although folded size is unaffected), and we think two could be squeezed on to the Airframe. Besides folding, you also need to watch the heel/pannier clearance, which can be tight. But mounted so close to the ground, even a 13kg load has little effect on handling – another plus for small-wheeled bikes. Need to carry something really long? Simply strap it across the top. Good, eh?
As so often happens, we started sceptical but rapidly warmed to folding panniers, and found ourselves using them on a regular basis.This would be a genuinely useful accessory on a folding bike used as a boat tender, or similar. Wherever storage is at a premium, but there are big loads to carry once in a while.
Folding Panniers Weight 2.4kg (pair) Price £30 (pair) UK supplier eGO Vehicles (UK) Ltd mail egouk@egovehicles.com tel 01483 272222
Security is a headache for cyclists. All too frequently, you return to find either an empty space or a pile of wreckage where your pride and joy had been sitting only minutes before. A major transformation in the attitudes and behaviour of society is the only real answer, so we might have to make do with protection for a wee bit longer.
The Shadow alarm is produced by Evnatech, a small company in Wales, and it’s a brave attempt to solve the problem by making a bicycle too hot to touch, hopefully eliminating vandalism as well as theft. Once upon a time, alarms were relatively hefty devices, but the Shadow is a small cylindrical tube that you shove in the handlebar and forget.To turn the alarm on and off, you insert a small ‘key’ (actually a coded jack-plug) through a small hole in the handlebar grip.This produces a variety of interesting noises – removing it again results in silence if the alarm is deactivated, or a sort of ‘grmmph’ when it’s ready for business. From now on, any movement of the bike will result in a piercing warble, loud enough to give even the most persistent thief a collywobble.
Of course, alarms are not the be-all and end-all of security, as any house-owner or motorist will testify.The exponential growth of the alarm industry has resulted in a world where we no longer take any notice, and false alarms can cause a great deal of annoyance to innocent passers-by. For example, it would be nice to alarm a folding bike on the train, giving protection should someone try to walk off with it. But the Shadow is too sensitive for that sort of environment – it would probably go off if an innocent cyclist tried locking their bike to the same rack too.
That aside, the Shadow is an effective little device. It’s small enough and light enough (40g, or 10g lighter than claimed) to fit and forget, and a welcome deterrent against theft, vandalism or plain fiddling, on those occasions when you pop into a cafe for a cup of tea and a cream scone. It’s also a practical overnight alarm too.With the alarmed bike parked in a garden shed or garage, you’ve effectively alarmed the whole premises.
The bad news (there had to be some, didn’t there?) is that the Shadow only fits tubes with an inside diameter of 17-19mm.Tackling the random sample of bicycles in our workshop, it will fit older Brompton handlebars with an outside diameter of 23.5mm and Pashley Micros, but it won’t fit post-1995 Bromptons, our Giant Lafree, or the new Dahon Vitesse. If in doubt, it would be wise to get advice – the Shadow will fit most mountain bikes or hybrids, provided they have empty, straight handlebars.
Evnatech has been listening to these grumbles, and is working on a version for drop – and other curly – handlebars, including those of smaller diameter, which should deal with our unusual collection. Production is expected to commence in a month or two.
Shadow Bicycle Alarm .Weight 40g . Price £30 . Manufacturer Evnatech Cymru Cyf tel 01545 580128 mail sales@evnatech.com web www.evnatech.com
Even those with no love for small wheels have to grudgingly admit that the Brompton front carrier system is superb, and arguably better than the universal KlickFix system. The Brompton design is based on a frame- mounted carrier block, and a variety of panniers, which can carry big loads and pop on and off the bike very easily.
Once you’ve got used to this sort of convenience, traditional panniers look positively Stone Age, and a frequent request from those owning both a Brompton, and a fleet of other bikes, is whether the carrier block can be fitted to other machines.The short answer is yes, but it’s not easy…
On the Brompton, a metal plate is brazed to the frame, and the carrier-block bolted to this plate. If you’re building a new machine, or completely rebuilding an old one, Brompton can supply the plate and you can do exactly the same. But before waving an oxyacetelene torch at your bicycle, check that the luggage won’t foul the handlebars or other parts, as the Brompton handlebars are unusually tall… A little more clearance can be found by grinding the carrier block base so as to angle the block and pannier forward, away from the ‘bars.
If brazing is not an option, the carrier-block can sometimes be bolted in place. Remove the forks, drill through the head tube and bolt the block in place from the inside (the bolt heads may need to be ground down to clear the fork tube). Obviously, all components must be of the best quality, as the Brompton carrier-block is designed for loads of up to 10kg (all on a pair of small 5mm bolts!).We’ve carried twice this weight, but it makes sense to play safe with conversions…
As several readers have noticed, our Giant Lafree takes Brompton luggage. Fitting the pannier to the front proved impractical, but there was room on the Lafree’s rear rack, so we decided to fit the pannier on the left side at the rear.
The finished carrier. Note the large self-tapping screw threaded into the extrusion
Modern alloy rack stays are light and strong, but need to be treated with care (we sometimes carry a child seat on the rack, for example), so it’s better not to weld, deform, or drill them.We decided to make a simple bracket using a length of aluminium extrusion from an old television stand. This useful material is strong, pre-drilled down the middle to accept self-tapping screws or small bolts, and can be easily cut and shaped.This was particularly important in our case, because the extrusion needed to fit snugly between two alloy rack tubes.
Once the extrusion was a snug fit, we drilled a small mounting hole in each of the stays and fitted the self- tapping screws that once held the TV stand together…With the Brompton carrier-block ground flat on its rear curved face, we were able to bolt it straight onto this new mounting plate. In use, we found the screws needed tightening a couple of times as the parts bedded in, so we filled the mounting plate with builders’ ‘expanding foam’, which hardens to a rubbery consistency, helping to spread the considerable loads that are being transferred from the pannier into the rack frame. The rack-mounted Brompton pannier has been very successful.We wouldn’t want to overload it, but the ability to swap luggage between any of our bikes (the Fold-it has a Brompton block too) is a great advantage. If you don’t feel confident to undertake this sort of job, any good cycle engineer should be able to produce something similar.Those with knowledge of Brompton carrier-block conversions include Cyclecare (tel: 0207 460 0495) and Kinetics (tel: 0141 942 2552).The mounting plate is available direct from Brompton (tel: 0208 232 8484), and carrier-blocks, panniers and other parts should be stocked by Brompton dealers (see www.bromptonbicycle.co.uk for a list)
These days we barely seem to finish ooh-ing and ahh-ing at the latest bit of technology before it’s overtaken by developments. Actually, Smart launched its three-LED front light before Christmas, but it seems to have got off to a slow start. And the breakthrough? It isn’t as bright as some, but it’s smaller, neater and cheaper.
One of the disadvantages of ‘white’ LEDS has been their high voltage requirement, making three or even four batteries necessary. The Smart uses only two AA cells, so the casing has been shrunk right down – 8cm long, 3.5cm wide and 4cm high.Weight, including batteries, is just 75g, or105g with the bracket.This twin battery set up does mean the lamp is quite sensitive to battery voltage, so it draws much more power (but produces a similar beam) with a pair of good quality alkaline batteries (nominally 1.5 volts each) than with rechargeables (nominally 1.2 volts each). Estimated battery life is pretty good – we’d say 15-28 hours with rechargeables and up to 30 hours with conventional batteries.The light can be used in flashing mode too, which would broadly double these figures.
For once, the bracket is excellent, fitting any tube from 22-26mm in diameter, with a release fitting that’s well made and quick and easy to adjust.The lamp itself slides on and off the bracket with a satisfying and reassuring clunk. Generally, despite its diminutive size, both the lamp and bracket feel solid and are satisfyingly ergonomic in form.
Is it waterproof? No, in a word, but our test may have been a bit harsh. After a couple of minutes sharing an invigorating shower (don’t get the wrong idea), we found a single drop in the battery compartment. Fortunately, the switch, lens and electronics live beneath a slightly better sealed compartment with a rubber surround that certainly looks water-tight. Let’s say, better than most, but probably not storm-proof.
The BL181 is not road legal as a primary light source, but would make an excellent additional light on the handlebars. And at £16 it’s reasonably priced.
Smart BL181WW white LED light Range (head-on) 7/10 (45 degrees) 5/10 Price £16 Power Consumption 43-86mA Weight (c/w bracket) 105g UK Distributor Moore Large tel 01332 274236 web www.moorelarge.co.uk
As regular readers will know, punctures and/or poor rolling resistance come up all too frequently on these pages – for the latest technical meanderings, see page 17. As a general rule, anything that serves to reduce rolling resistance will make a tyre more prone to punctures and vice versa.The greater part of rolling resistance – at low speeds, anyway – is the result of unwilling tyres and tubes flexing against an unforgiving road, and there’s no escape from that.
A thin inner-tube will roll well but tend to puncture, whereas a thick tube (or a thin tube plus a tough liner) will roll badly, but resist punctures. Clever technology can help in either case, but this month we’re looking at a product from the ‘brute-force’ end of the technology spectrum – Raleigh puncture-resistant tubes. We’ve chosen a 16-inch example, because rolling resistance problems are always amplified with smaller tyres.
The principle is simple enough – the tube is made of fairly conventional stuff, except on the top face, which is thick enough to prevent most objects penetrating to the air reservoir inside.The first disadvantage is a weight per tube of 260g, giving a weight penalty against conventional tubes of about 70-100g per wheel, or 140-200g for the pair. Quite a lot, but rather less than Schwalbes’ new puncture-resistant tyres (see page 20).
The other disadvantage is poor rolling resistance. Brompton’s 349mm tyre is usually one of the best in its class, and with conventional tubes, and typical tyre pressures of 55psi (front) and 65psi (rear), we recorded a typical 14.3mph on our test hill.
Fitting is no more difficult than usual, although it’s best to avoid ‘rolling’ the tube in, because if it twists, the thinner underbelly may end up on the top. Once fitted, and back at 55-65psi, we recorded a rather miserable 11.7mph, although inflation to 90psi all round brought this back up to 12.7mph, albeit with a fairly rough ride. If the figures mean nothing, it’s rather like swapping 16-inch tyres for 12-inch examples, or going back twenty years, when most 16-inch tyres performed this way.
Whether you think the extra weight, 11% -18% loss of performance, and rough ride are worth all the trouble depends on your fear of punctures, and just how effective puncture-resistant tubes really are, which we can’t tell you.
Puncture-resistant tubes are available in most popular sizes from 121/2 inch upwards, but Raleigh tell us the 16-inch tube tested here has just been deleted, due to lack of demand. Stocks may still be available, particularly in the smaller, friendlier sort of cycle shop. And the tubes are made by our old friends Cheng Shin in Taiwan, so there might be an opening here for a budding entrepreneur.
Raleigh Puncture-Resistant Tubes (all figures relate to 16-inch tube) Price £5-£6 Weight 260g UK Distributor Raleigh Parts & Accessories Tel 01623 688383
Small wheels play an important role in the alternative transport world, enabling recumbents and fared HPVs to be built sleeker and lower, and folding bikes smaller.
Twenty years ago, most small (ie, sub 24-inch) tyres absorbed energy like a sponge, handled badly, tended to puncture and generally caused frustration and annoyance to all who came across them.Today, thanks to a liberal dose of cutting edge technology, the picture is completely different.Tyre life and general performance is broadly similar to the traditional big-wheel jobs, and rolling resistance is much improved, but there’s a price to pay: vibration. Much of the reduction in rolling resistance is due to more compliant tyre sidewalls, but the rest comes from increased tyre pressures. In the 349mm and 406mm sizes, tyre pressures of 90 and 100psi are now the norm, with the new Stelvio pointing the way to 120psi and beyond. Run a small tyre at this sort of pressure on a bike without suspension and pea-sized road irregularities become pot-holes, and pot-holes gaping, bike- shattering chasms. And, as Professor Pivot notes on page 16, high tyre pressures can actually be counterproductive on some surfaces. All these matters come to a head on the Brompton, which has useful suspension at the rear, but nothing at the front.With rising tyre pressures, this lack of suspension is becoming a problem.
Enter the Pantour hub. Motorcycle enthusiasts may have seen this sort of technology before, in the sprung rear hubs that came briefly into vogue during the 1940s and early ‘50s before swinging arms became commonplace.
How does it work?
The Pantour is a simple device.The slightly oversize hub shell contains two axles held rigidly together and secured to the forks by end caps. In use, the hub rotates around the lower shaft (A), while the upper shaft (B) rests against a polymer block, which gives the springing effect The outer shell of the hub rotates on sealed needle-roller bearings.
The travel of only 12mm is quite small, which is fortunate, because – as eagle-eyed readers may already have spotted – if the hub lifts up, the wheel rims will move relative to the brake blocks. If it moves too far, the blocks may miss the rim altogether. In practice, this isn’t a great problem, because of the way the hub (and thus the rim) rotates rearwards as well as upwards, although obviously the brake blocks need to be set with extra care.
Shafts A and B are fixed rigidly to the fork drop-outs – the quick-release skewer running through A. At rest (left), the primary polymer pushes the hub shell down until the rebound polymer rests against the shell. Under load (right), the hub shell rotates rearwards and upwards, forcing shaft B against the primary polymer.
Despite the limited travel, the Pantour hub offers a number of advantages.Weight is a tiny fraction of any alternative suspension design, the hub adding only 50g against the very light Brompton hub. At 35mm or so in diameter and – more importantly – 100mm between fork drop-outs, it’s bigger than the Brompton hub (it could easily be made narrower, of course), but even though this means fitting wider forks, there is little effect on the folded size of the bike.Where the design really scores is in the rather esoteric field of ‘unsprung weight’. If you think about it, the aim of suspension is to reduce the amount of weight forced to deflect sharply on hitting an obstacle, reducing shock forces to the frame and causing the load (that’s you) to deflect in a more comfortable and dignified manner.The lower the ‘unsprung’ element in the equation, the faster and more precisely the suspension will work. If you fit a Pantour hub to a bicycle, the only unsprung elements will be the tyre, rim, spokes and part of the hub, and you can’t get much lighter than that. Most suspension designs not only add more weight to the bike, but add it in the form of unsprung weight, which is generally counter productive.
Fitting requires replacement stretched forks (supplied as a kit by UK importer Kinetics of Glasgow), a quick-release skewer, repositioned mudguard (37mm tyres can contact the stay as the suspension flexes, but not the new 28mm Stelvio), and fine-tuning of the Brompton lower stop mechanism to keep the bike folding properly.The Pantour can be set in the forks at one of three angles, effecting the degree of verticality of the motion (and thus the relative hardness), and the hub comes with a choice of two grades of polymer.We chose the softest and the most vertical action, which suited the Brompton well, although other bikes (or heavy luggage) might require different settings.
…the suspension feels nicely damped, exhibiting little or no ‘po-go’ effect on hills…
How does it perform?
With suspension movement of only 12mm, you won’t turn your Brompton into a downhill racer, but that’s not the point.What the hub will do is more or less eliminate tiresome high frequency vibration, no matter how high the tyre pressure. Pot-holes are little changed, but – perhaps surprisingly – rocky tracks and trails are noticeably easier to negotiate.The overall effect, with a rider of typical weight, is a slightly softer feel than the standard rear suspension.
The suspension feels nicely damped, exhibiting little or no ‘po-go’ effect on hills.You’ll be pressed to find any side-effects – the rearward movement seems to introduce a tiny rearward shimmy under some conditions, but that’s about it.
Longevity is hard to judge. In winter use, the shell is bound to fill with water and grit, but there isn’t much to go wrong inside. Our only long-term worry would be the ‘sealed for life’ roller bearing assembly, which looks expensive.
Conclusion
At first glance, the Pantour is prohibitively expensive – £135 for the basic hub, plus £35 for wheel building, and a further £45 should replacement forks be needed (yours can be modified free of charge, on an exchange basis). But on the other hand, this is the only practical way to build suspension into the front of a small-wheeled machine, and fitting takes less than a couple of hours.
The Pantour is one of those rare bolt-on accessories that leave you wondering how you survived without it. At first sight, the ride and performance of the bike are not radically transformed, but in practice – particularly on longer rides – higher tyre pressures and subtle suspension compliance work together to produce a taughter, more sophisticated, and – according to Professor Pivot – freer-running machine. If you ride any distance on an unsuspended small-wheeled bike, this device could be worth every penny.
Incidentally, it’s possible that the vertical wheel movement would have a beneficial effect on rim life, although no-one yet seems to have measured this. If nothing else, the movement between rim and brake blocks will help spread wear over a greater rim area, but it might also reduce the tendency for deep tram-lines to form in the alloy surface. That’s quite unproven, we hasten to add, but if true, the Pantour could pay for itself in a few years in rim life alone. Reduced vibration should give spokes, bearings, fingers and luggage an easier time too. Invaluable if you carry a lap-top computer in the front pannier.
We’ve tried the Pantour on a Brompton, because that seemed the most obvious application, but the hub would work equally well on recumbents and other unsprung folders, such as the Bike Friday.The Pantour is obviously designed to fit a conventional bike too – presumably giving the same step change in comfort. Suspension of this kind would be useful anywhere sprung forks would be too heavy or bulky, or where greater suspension travel is simply unnecessary.
Pantour also produces a front disc-brake model offering 25mm of travel, and a rear hub (12mm travel) designed around a standard Shimano 9-speed derailleur system. Long- travel rear suspension is reported to be on the way too.
Specification
Pantour 2002 Prolite Suspension Hub £135 Weight 160g Net Weight (against Brompton
hub – less hub nuts, but including quick release assembly) 50g Polymers (red) rider weight 100-200lb (blue) rider weight 200-300lb UK Distributor Kinetics web www.kinetics-online.co.uk tel 0141 942 2552 . mail ben@kinetics-online.co.uk Manufacturer Pantour tel +1 760 739 9058 mail pantourhub@yahoo.com web www.pantourhub.com
A to B must be the only bicycle magazine in the world that knows next to nothing about quick-release skewers, because they’re rare on small-wheeled machines. If you don’t either, they’re the little rods that stop bicycle wheels falling off, with a handy lever on the end to help thieves make off with ‘em. So why are most (non-hub gear) bicycles fitted with quick-release skewers? Fashion alone, it seems – outside the racing world quick- release wheels serve little purpose.
One way to stop folk half-inching vital components from your bike is to fit some species of locking skewer, and in our limited experience of such things, the German Pitlock is a super-duper example.
These devices are available in a number of shapes and sizes to lock the obvious things, like front and rear wheels and seat posts, plus a couple of things we wouldn’t have thought of – ‘Ahead set’ forks and brakes.The pattern for each of the skewers is the same – all stainless steel, with a tamper-proof cap on one end and a shaped nut recessed inside a stainless recessed-thing at the other. On our examples, the nut is shaped like the Isle of Wight, and there’s a special tool provided which only fits Isle of Wight-shaped nuts so you can take things on and off.
There are 255 other replica islands available, so a thief would be very lucky to unfasten yours. Should you loose the special tool, the box contains a code number for reordering, unless, of course, you threw it away with the other packaging…
Not only is the Pitlock system a theft deterrent, but the skewers are almost certainly lighter than the ones you have already – the seatpost design weighing a mere 28g, against 40g for a more conventional pattern. Even the chunky rear wheel skewer weighs only 50g. Besides the price, our only slight grumble is that disassembly yields lots of fiddly little parts that would be irretrievably squelched into the mud during a night-time roadside calamity. But that aside, Pitlock skewers probably make a good investment, even at £20 for the front wheel, or £36 for a three-piece set including front wheel, rear wheel and seat pin (available in two lengths – 36mm or 60mm). Other special order bits include extra long skewers for tandems or bikes with ‘extra-thick drop-outs’. Sounds to us like troublesome teenagers, but we’re told it’s the bit the rear wheel fits into.
Pitlock anti-theft skewers £20-£36 Weight 28-50g UK distributor Orbit Cycles tel 0114 275 6567 mail sales@orbit-cycles.co.uk web www.orbit-cycles.co.uk Manufacturer Pitlock web www.pitlock.de
In a fast changing world, legislation sometimes gets left behind.Take bicycle lights for example – not so long ago, cyclists were obliged to use old-fashioned filament bulbs, even though red ‘light emitting diodes’ had been around for years in rear lamps, and they did a better job in most respects. Light emitting diodes (generally known as LEDs) consume much less power than filament bulbs for the same light output, and are compact, light, cheap to produce and virtually indestructible in normal use.
LEDs are now legal in bicycle rear lights, and some are produced to British Standard (or the European equivalent – usually German). However, technology has marched on yet again, and the white LED front lamps predicted by Professor Pivot (see A to B 28) have finally arrived in the market place. None of the front lights tested here (and few of the rear lights) are certified to British Standard so they should not, technically, be used as the sole source of light, although you’re quite entitled to use them as secondary lamps. Flashing lights (most of the examples below feature some sort of flashing mode) are illegal when fitted to the bike, but accepted to be permissible when fixed to the rider, or even luggage. Opinions vary as to the effectiveness or otherwise of the various flashing modes. What makes all this particularly daft is that although LEDs are bright, the beam tends to be very narrow or ‘directional’, so a proper mounting and careful alignment are particularly important. Someone should tell that to the manufacturers – most of the lights below have rather poor mounting brackets. A misaligned LED lamp is next to useless.
If you decide to carry non-approved lamps, it’s unlikely that the police will trouble you these days, but a word of warning – motor insurers have been known to refuse damages to injured cyclists where a bicycle was equipped with non-approved lights. In the eyes of the law, the brightness and effectiveness of the light are irrelevant.
The irony is that the new breed of cycle lights are extremely powerful, outperforming all but the very best filament lights. In really dark conditions, both the front and rear lights can be seen for well over a kilometre, and the front LEDs will pick out road signs, ‘cat’s eye’ reflectors and white markings at quite a distance.They’re also powerful enough to cut through fog and murk, and economical enough to treat as day-running lights in poor weather. Legal or not, they’re a terrific safety asset.
We’ve tested the lights for brightness at a range of 1.2km (3/4 mile), both head on, and at an angle of 45 degrees to the viewer. Even at this range, the best front lamps look almost as bright as a car headlamp, but don’t expect the same sort of light output.White LEDs produce an intense, eye-catching blueish light, but there isn’t much of it.
Cateye EL200 (WHITE)
Our star buy in the front light department. Although boasting only three LEDs, the EL200 scored ten out of ten for long-distance visibility, giving an even more intense beam than its larger more powerful stablemate, the EL300. It also did better at 45 degrees, with a reasonable score of 3/10.This lamp was rated best on the road too, producing a tunnel of intense light, but with enough scatter to illuminate hedges and verges close by, giving information on road position that some of the others lacked.
Battery life is claimed to be 35 hours, but our figures suggest that good quality conventional batteries would give 24 hours, and rechargeables anything from 8hrs – 20 hours. That’s still pretty good, but we’re talking four AA cells here, so replacements can be expensive, and a spare set rather heavy. When the batteries begin to run down, the light reverts to a weaker ‘back up’ beam, which is claimed to last for a further 75 hours.This is much less effective, but does mean you won’t be left completely stranded with flat batteries.
The EL200 slides onto a neat handlebar bracket, but for some reason, it’s allowed to swivel, making precise aiming a hit-and-miss affair. The bracket is held to the bike with a quick release too, so if you leave it, you could come back to find it missing. In any event, constant fiddling is not a good idea with lights that need precise adjustment, so we’d recommend ditching the quick release and fitting a nice conventional screw instead.
Worth mentioning in passing are the EL110 (single LED, at £17.99), and the MC200 at £19.99.This comes with a filament bulb, so the run time is only three hours, and and it isn’t even British Standard approved. No chance – the EL200 wins every time.
Range (head-on) 10/10 Range (45 degrees) 3/10 Weight 150g Price £24.99 Power Consumption 76mA – 112mA A to B rating 9/10
Cateye LD260 (WHITE)
This, we’re told, is a revised version of the LD250 – a single LED handlebar- mounted front light. Problems with lack of endurance have resulted in an unusual three-battery design, giving a claimed run time of 100 hours in continuous mode, or 200 hours flashing. As usual, our experience is rather different – up to 30 hours with good conventional batteries, but just six to 15 hours with rechargeables.
Light output is good, considering the size of the lamp and the single LED. At 1.2km, the brightness was rated at 4/10, but this fell to 1/10 when viewed at 45 degrees.
The mounting bracket is a little cleverer than usual, being adjustable in two planes – more or less essential when setting up these very directional lights. Battery replacement is a bit tricky though.The casing can only be removed with a coin, and the whole operation is fiddly and frustrating.
This light is also available as the LD260BS – a British Standard approved rear light. We’d say it was a bit weak, and it would certainly require a separate BS approved reflector, but if the authorities say it’s up to the job, far be it from us to argue.
Range (head-on) 4/10 Range (45 degrees) 1/10 Weight 60g Price £12.99 Power Consumption 32mA – 40mA A to B rating 3/10
Cateye EL300 (WHITE)
This is the one that’s making all the headlines. The EL300 is the only LED lamp specifically designed to replace a conventional filament lamp, but it remains technically illegal on its own. Power comes from four AA cells, and light is generated by an array of five LEDs, each with its own powerful lens. Welcome to the future – the EL300 makes all current cycle lights look like Edwardian acetylene lanterns.
So much for expectations. In practice, we rated the long-range brightness at 9/10 (yes, less than the smaller EL200) and visibility at 45 degrees at no more than 1/10.The EL300 produces a well focused beam, but unlike its 3-LED cousin, there’s very little scattered light, despite side lenses.The lack of scatter made the EL300 less popular on the road too – great for illuminating road signs on the horizon, but less useful for spotting pot-holes, branches and other road hazards close to.
Running time is claimed to be ‘up to 30 hours’, plus 80 hours on ‘back up’, but we’d suggest 17 hours at full brightness with conventional batteries, or five to 121/2 hours with rechargeables. Never, ever put your faith in manufacturer’s figures.
On the positive side, the EL300 has a proper cover secured by a proper screw capped with a knurled knob, so battery replacement won’t destroy your fingernails or leave you searching for small change.The mounting bracket is identical to the EL200, with all the pros and cons that implies.
Range (head-on) 9/10 Range (45 degrees) 1/10 Weight 295g Price £32.99 Power Consumption 120mA -160mA A to B rating 6/10
Cateye LD500W (WHITE)
This light makes no pretence of being a sole light source, but it’s often used this way, so we decided to test it anyway.Three LEDs are mounted within a British Standard reflector (this doesn’t make it a British Standard light though), and power comes from a pair of AAA batteries. Long distance light output is poor, at 4/10, but there’s a great deal of scattered light, so the brightness at 45 degrees is a reasonable 3/10.
The bad news is hopeless road illumination and a fashionably transparent casing that allows light to escape in all directions, destroying your night vision. Burn time is claimed to be 50 hours in continuous mode, or 100 hours flashing… Not in our experience.With good batteries, you should see 14 hours, or a rather disappointing 21/2 to 6 hours with rechargeables. Battery replacement is awkward and fiddly, thanks to a stiff ‘quick’ release, a neoprene seal with a life of its own, and a casing that clips feebly into place.
The LD500W does nothing that’s claimed of it, it’s over-priced, and extremely irritating.We probably wouldn’t use it if it came free with breakfast cereal.
Range (head-on) 4/10 Range (45 degrees) Weight 60g Price £18.99 Power Consumption 65mA – 83mA A to B rating 1/10
Cateye LD600 (RED)
This long, thin lamp contains five LEDs and is arguably the brightest on the market, scoring a full ten brightness points viewed head on, but a slightly disappointing 3/10 at an angle of 45 degrees.As well as constant illumination, the light can be set to one of three flashing modes if you like that sort of thing.
Batteries are two x AAA, which are claimed to last 15 hours, although our results suggest 14 hours with good conventional batteries, or three to eight hours with rechargeables.The batteries live behind a sliding panel on the back of the lamp, making replacement easy, even in the dark.The only real weakness is the bracket, which clamps vaguely to the bike, fastened by a plastic ratchet thing that makes accurate positioning almost impossible.We’d suggest making a bracket of your own.
Mounting apart, the LD600 is both light and powerful. It’s directional, but still brighter than most BS approved lamps at 45 degrees.The batteries are easy to change, and AAA cells are small enough and light enough to carry a spare pair in your pocket.
Range (head-on) 10/10 Range (45 degrees) 3/10 Weight 55g Price £16.99 Power Consumption 64mA- 83mA
A to B rating 9/10
Basta SL6 (RED)
The Basta is one of the best British Standard approved LED rear lamps, and available in battery, dynamo, or dynamo/standlight variants. It’s also worth checking out this helpful site https://www.wundermold.com/. It’s also fitted as standard to the Brompton, where it has a tendency to water ingress. On the positive side, the SL6 gives a good spread of light, it has an excellent reflector and with the full complement of four AA batteries (it can be used with two), it will run for 46 hours, or 14 to 36 hours with rechargeables.That’s a couple of weeks use for a regular commuter – for the rest of us, the batteries are more or less fit-and-forget components. Against the Super LEDs, light output is modest – 4/10 head-on and 2/10 at an angle, but it’s in a different league to the bulb-powered jobs.
Range (head-on) 4/10 Range (45 degrees) 2/10 Weight (c/w 4 batteries) 270g Price £17.00 Power Consumption 82-116mA A to B rating 8/10
Cateye LD500 (RED)
This one is superficially similar to the LD500W, but houses five red LEDs instead of three white ones, and costs a reasonable £9.99 against £18.99. Unusually, the LEDs receive full power when flashing, but reduced power when continuously on, so power consumption is broadly similar in either mode and maximum brightness is not all it could be. However, we awarded it 4/10 when viewed directly and 3/10 at 45 degrees, which is better than most. Despite using only two AAA batteries, the reduced power consumption means a battery life of 41 hours (conventional batteries) or 7 to 18 hours (rechargeables). Goodness! Not far off the 50 hour claim!
Just like the LD500, there’s a fiddly sealing strip, grotty bracket and all the rest, but with batteries lasting 41 hours, you won’t be changing ‘em too often, so it’s not half as annoying as it might be. If you’re intending to use this lamp on its own, it incorporates a British Standard reflector and gives a very reasonable spread of light. But we’d suggest bolting it firmly to a proper lamp bracket.
Range (head-on) 4/10 Range (45 degrees) 3/10 Weight 60g Price £9.99 Power Consumption 28-29mA A to B rating 8/10
Cateye AU100BS (RED)
This is another rare LED light certified to British Standard, so you can use it as your sole source of light, but only if you purchase a BS approved bracket.Yes, this lamp comes with the same diabolical mounting supplied with the LD600, which – needless to say – is neither British Standard (nor A to B) approved.
Against the latest turbocharged models, light output is modest at 3/10, but brightness is little reduced at 45 degrees, giving a score of 2/10.With six LEDs and a complicated array of prisms, the AU100BS gives much the same brightness when viewed from almost any angle – even from the sky, thanks to a vertical LED.These certification people think of everything.
This one uses a pair of AA batteries. Fitting is a bit tricky thanks to the usual coin arrangement and wayward rubber seal, plus batteries that need to be prised out with a screwdriver, whereupon they fly like bullets into the nearest drain. Battery life is claimed to be 40 hours, but 25 hours would be nearer the mark with conventional batteries, or eight to 20 hours with rechargeables.
Range (head-on) 3/10 Range (45 degrees) 2/10 Weight 110g Price £14.99 Power Consumption 73-110mA A to B rating 7/10
Our thanks to Avon Valley Cyclery for their assistance – ring them for a free catalogue on 01225 442442 Cateye lights are available through most good cycle shops – the Basta SL6 from Brompton dealers.
Pedal reflectors are a legal requirement in most western countries and the majority of pedals are fitted with them.These little yellow reflectors are extremely effective when caught in the lights of a car – the rhythmic motion catching the eye and transmitting the unmistakable signature of a bicycle. Unfortunately, on most roads under most lighting conditions, the reflectors do very little.
Flash Pedals are an attempt to get round this problem – they’re perfectly conventional but have light emitting diodes mounted in the reflectors.The clever bit is the power supply – no batteries, but a small generator on the pedal shaft. As the pedal turns, an alternating current is fed to the diodes, causing them flash on and off.
Although pedals revolve comparatively slowly, the effect is quite good – highly visible at night and noticeable even in low light conditions during the day.The mechanism sounds complex, but adds only 25g to the pedals, which weigh a fairly typical 190g. More of a problem for some people is the width of the generator. If you’re used to pedalling with your feet on the inboard edge of the pedals, the curved generator housing will annoy. And we should point out that the lights are technically illegal on two counts (in the UK, at least): firstly because they flash, and secondly because they’re red, and red lights should not be visible from ahead.That said, yellow versions would be easy to produce.
Flash Pedals work well in most conditions, from unlit country roads to city streets – especially in gloomy conditions when other lights are off. As a last resort, they continue generating light where all other sources have failed, which has to be better than nothing.
Being particularly effective at high pedalling speed, Flash Pedals would be well suited to children’s bikes and BMX machines – the sort of bicycles that rarely if ever carry lights, but have a tendency to appear from nowhere after dark. If they become a fashion accessory, the roads will be a lot safer.
Flash Pedals are not currently available in the UK, but retail and trade enquiries are welcome. For details, contact Margaret Kim, Bizmate Technology Co Ltd tel +86 20 8139 6047 fax +86 20 8139 6143 email bizmate@vip.163.com
Sound good doesn’t it? A torch and/or bicycle light that recharges itself for free from the sun – no more batteries, no more dynamos, no more fuss.You get to save lots of lovely money while saving the planet. Unfortunately, the reality is a little more prosaic, and it’s worth explaining why.
To generate a reasonable amount of power, you need quite a large solar panel – 11cm x 5cm in this case, giving overall dimensions of 17cm x 7cm. Even with a panel of this size, output is quite small.The exact figure depends on the latitude, the season, the time of day, and the degree of cloud cover.We measured a low of 0.3mA at 3pm on an overcast November afternoon in England, and a high of 20mA in the sun-drenched tropics.Well, no, actually we created that one with a 40 watt light bulb on the same afternoon, but the effect is much the same.
With so little power available, the torch bulb needs to be small by bicycle standards – 600mW in this case, or about a quarter of the brightness of a typical front light. Running at 2.4 volts, the bulb draws current at the rate of 250mA, or somewhere between 12.5 and 833 times faster than the solar panel can supply the juice.Thus, the torch will need to sit in the sun for somewhere between 12.5 and 833 hours for every hour of use. In the sun-drenched tropics, you could realistically expect to use the torch for an hour or so each evening, but in an English winter, the same charge would take months…Well, you get the picture.
Should anyone have the patience, the internal rechargeable battery will give a theoretical run time of about 2 hours 20 minutes, but if you get fed up with waiting, there’s room for a couple of conventional AA batteries too.That rather negates the environmental advantages of course, as does the fact that the internal batteries are nickel cadmium, which require careful disposal.
Don’t write off the idea of solar powered lights. Replace the bulb with state-of-the- art light emitting diodes, and the inefficient solar panels with satellite-grade jobbies and you’d have a truly practical device. Unfortunately, this isn’t it.
But we shouldn’t be too negative. If you live somewhere sunny, the Solar Torch will work well, and even in the UK, it could provide self-charging emergency cover, as long as you don’t use it too often.There’s an array of flashing LEDs in the tail (not sure what for, though) and it floats, which yachtsmen will find useful. Particularly in the tropics.
Multi-purpose Solar Torch . £15.99 . Centre for Alternative Technology tel 01654 705959
If you do practical things with a bicycle, like shopping, you’ll know all about panniers – those gloomy bags you can’t live with, and can’t live without.When you need them, they’re usually too small, and when you don’t, they’re invariably too big. So, how about folding panniers? A very A to B solution, we thought.
The theory is admirably simple: a pair of metal baskets with hinged bases and sides. For 90% of the time, the panniers are wind-cheatingly slim, but get to the supermarket and – flick, flick, flick! In a few seconds, you’ve created two rigid containers measuring 18cm wide by 21cm deep and 32cm long. Oh all right – 7″ x 81/4″ x 121/2″ in real units (yes, we’re reverting).That’s big enough for 16 tins of cat food plus a box of Friskies each side – a total load I of around 13kg.
Any disadvantages? The panniers are heavy (2.4kg the pair), and they can be noisy, particularly when empty, but a well placed bungee cord should solve that one. There’s no protection from rain or pilfering either, but no-one ever claimed they were suitable for touring. Longevity? Hard to say, but these are the sort of extras that can be reconstructed with a pair of pliers and a twist of copper wire. Speaking of which, we found the crucial clip that holds the assembly shut needed a bit of tweaking, and the mounting clips were happier on a thin steel-framed rack, although they worked perfectly well on a modern alloy rack with 8mm stays.
A to B must be the only bicycle magazine in the world that knows next to nothing about quick-release skewers, because they’re rare on small-wheeled machines. If you don’t either, they’re the little rods that stop bicycle wheels falling off, with a handy lever on the end to help thieves make off with ‘em. So why are most (non-hub gear) bicycles fitted with quick-release skewers? Fashion alone, it seems – outside the racing world quick- release wheels serve little purpose.
Our star buy in the front light department. Although boasting only three LEDs, the EL200 scored ten out of ten for long-distance visibility, giving an even more intense beam than its larger more powerful stablemate, the EL300. It also did better at 45 degrees, with a reasonable score of 3/10.This lamp was rated best on the road too, producing a tunnel of intense light, but with enough scatter to illuminate hedges and verges close by, giving information on road position that some of the others lacked.
This, we’re told, is a revised version of the LD250 – a single LED handlebar- mounted front light. Problems with lack of endurance have resulted in an unusual three-battery design, giving a claimed run time of 100 hours in continuous mode, or 200 hours flashing. As usual, our experience is rather different – up to 30 hours with good conventional batteries, but just six to 15 hours with rechargeables.
This is the one that’s making all the headlines. The EL300 is the only LED lamp specifically designed to replace a conventional filament lamp, but it remains technically illegal on its own. Power comes from four AA cells, and light is generated by an array of five LEDs, each with its own powerful lens. Welcome to the future – the EL300 makes all current cycle lights look like Edwardian acetylene lanterns.
This light makes no pretence of being a sole light source, but it’s often used this way, so we decided to test it anyway.Three LEDs are mounted within a British Standard reflector (this doesn’t make it a British Standard light though), and power comes from a pair of AAA batteries. Long distance light output is poor, at 4/10, but there’s a great deal of scattered light, so the brightness at 45 degrees is a reasonable 3/10.
This long, thin lamp contains five LEDs and is arguably the brightest on the market, scoring a full ten brightness points viewed head on, but a slightly disappointing 3/10 at an angle of 45 degrees.As well as constant illumination, the light can be set to one of three flashing modes if you like that sort of thing.
The Basta is one of the best British Standard approved LED rear lamps, and available in battery, dynamo, or dynamo/standlight variants. It’s also worth checking out this helpful site 
This is another rare LED light certified to British Standard, so you can use it as your sole source of light, but only if you purchase a BS approved bracket.Yes, this lamp comes with the same diabolical mounting supplied with the LD600, which – needless to say – is neither British Standard (nor A to B) approved.
Pedal reflectors are a legal requirement in most western countries and the majority of pedals are fitted with them.These little yellow reflectors are extremely effective when caught in the lights of a car – the rhythmic motion catching the eye and transmitting the unmistakable signature of a bicycle. Unfortunately, on most roads under most lighting conditions, the reflectors do very little.
Sound good doesn’t it? A torch and/or bicycle light that recharges itself for free from the sun – no more batteries, no more dynamos, no more fuss.You get to save lots of lovely money while saving the planet. Unfortunately, the reality is a little more prosaic, and it’s worth explaining why.