Poor Man's 300 Lumens Lights

I was shopping at Sam's Club and I happen to come across their Element K2 Super Bright LED Flashlight. I had bought the earlier model that put out 80 lumens, but this new generation puts out 150 lumens! For around $30 for two lights, it was a decent buy. Each light was powered by three AAA batteries.

Then I thought to myself, what if I used these as my main lights on my bike? I already had a TerraCycle mount that held two Blackburn Voyager 3 lights. The Voyager 3 lights put out 17 lumens each. It was no contest to replace these with the Element lights that combined, puts out 300 lumens.

The next step was how to mount the flashlights to the TerraCycle mount. TWOFISH Cycloblocks Bicycle Flashlight Holder Cross Channel solved that problem. I bought two from Battery Junction for about $8 each. It's basically a rubber block that is secured by velcro straps.

I installed the two Cycloblocks and the flashlights on the TerraCycle mount. My mount had an extender in order to accommodate two lights. I then took an extra velcro strap and wrapped the two Cycloblocks together so that the one piece on the extender side would not slip off.

The lights were a bit heavy due to the aluminum case and on the bike it looks a little bulky. I took it out that same day to see how it illuminated the bike trail at night.

I also found a great place to attach my two Blackburn Voyager lights! On my Strada I have a Euromesh seat. Under the seat there is a bar that connects the seat frame to the seat mount. With some tweaking I was able to mount the two Voyager lights right underneath the seat.

These lights I aimed at an angle to illuminate the sides of the bike. This setup I hoped to extend the width of coverage.

Now for the field tests. I took my new lighting system to my local bike trail to see how it preformed.

I aimed my bike at a grassy hill to view the coverage. The two flashlights gave a really bright white spot beam and you could see the two other beams of light coming from my lights under the seat. The picture above doesn't really do the lights justice. With the extra lights under the seat, they gave out an extra arch of illumination that started from the hub of the front wheel with a width of about 20 feet.

The picture of the lights on the trail shows that the setup easily illuminates the bike trail. I should have placed the bike in the middle of the trail, but I didn't have anything to lean it against and I had to have a steady hand to take the photo with the flash off the camera. The front lights were aimed at about 30 to 50 feet down the trail.

This is a front view of the bike taken with the flash on the camera. You could see the difference in how much lumens are given off by the Element flashlights compared to the Blackburn Voyagers.

The photo above shows another view of the Blackburn Voyagers 3 aimed at an angle. Blackburn has updated the Voyager line with three LED lights instead of just one.

I also had a light mounted on my helmet, which helped me view my cycling computer and any surrounding areas around my bike. On the way back to my truck I was able to help out some cyclist on the trail. They misjudged the time of sunset and were caught without lights. Riding in front I escorted them get back to their cars.

I may have looked liked a Christmas tree on wheels, but I can surely say my path was well lit. The new lighting setup was a success. Other than the flashlights were a tad on the heavy side for bike head lights and bulky. It worked as an inexpensive way to get 300 lumens down the path.

• $30 for Element flashlights (300 lumens)
• $20 for Cycloblocks (plus shipping)
• Optional: TerraCycle Mount $44 (including extender)

Keep in mind that these lights are not regulated. Once you turn them on the dimmer they become until the batteries die. This is a non-issue for me since I change my batteries every few weeks and use the lights no more than 8 hours a week. Using rechargeable batteries could help in cutting the cost.