Bright, versatile lights for bikes

Seattle has a well-deserved reputation as a bike-friendly city, but serious cyclists know they always have to be vigilant about their own safety.

With that in mind, safety-conscious riders should all equip their bikes with lights. Headlights illuminate your path, but just as important, they make you more visible to other riders, and other road users — namely, motorists!

Old-fashioned lights that drew power from generators attached to your wheels were less than effective. Not only did they create a drag on your power, but when you slowed down, the lights dimmed. The good news for today's riders is that one of the leaders in backcountry lighting has decided to use its expertise to assist cyclists.

The designers at Princeton Tec adapted their best headlamp technologies to the needs of bike riders. The Princeton Tec Yukon Bike light couples three bright LEDs with a super-bright xenon bulb to create a versatile light powered by three AA batteries. I found the LEDs perfect for rolling smoothly along trails in the woods behind Fort Ebey State Park on Whidbey Island, and when I popped out on the highway for the road-ride back to camp, I switched to the xenon bulb to throw a powerful beam of light far in front of me.

Using the xenon bulb, the Yukon Bike will project a full 90-plus meters (almost 300 feet). That means you can easily see large obstacles and approaching objects quite a distance away. It also means you are clearly visible to approaching vehicles while they are still far enough away to easily avoid you.

When using the LEDs, you'll get super-bright light in a wide bloom from your front tire out to about 20 meters (approximately 65 feet). When operating the LEDs, a standard set of alkaline batteries will keep you illuminated for 120 hours. Full-time operation of the xenon light will devour your batteries in just 5 hours, though.

The light could be improved with a standard zoom feature on the xenon bulb, so you could easily and quickly pull the beam back for midrange lighting. Still, with the dual nature of the Yukon, you can find perfect illumination for nearly all riding situations.

The Yukon Bike features a quick-release handlebar mount so you can pop it off and take it with you when you lock up your bike. There's also a headband clip so the light can be worn like a headlamp when you are out of the saddle. The battery pack fits into a zippered Cordura case with straps that allow it be tied to the bike frame or handlebars. A 4-foot cord between the light and the battery pack means you can secure the pack just about anywhere on your bike.

The Princeton Tec Yukon Bike light retails for $39.99. For more information: www.princetontec.com.

— Dan A. Nelson, special to The Seattle Times

Freelancer Dan A. Nelson, of Puyallup, is a regular contributor to Backpacker magazine, and an author of outdoor guides with The Mountaineers Books. For the purpose of review, gear manufacturers lend products, which are returned after a typical use of four to six weeks. There is no payment from manufacturers and they have no control over the content of reviews. Contact Dan with gear-related questions at gearguy@adventuresnw.net.