Best case to be made for a fully enclosed, 1-piece system: Years ago, a buddy and I embarked on a night ride. The cold, drizzly parking lot prep for a north shore night ride is always a confusing gong show. Setting up a multi-wired light system in the dark just adds to the stress level. To maximize run-time, we would use the little cheapie MEC handlebar lights for the climb, and then switch to our proper systems for the descent. We climbed all the way up to 7th and got ready to descend. Imagine the confusion, surprise and inevitable laughs when my buddy fished into his pack for the battery, and pulled out the charger instead. No battery. An honest mistake made in a cold, dark parking lot, as the charger and battery looked similar and had the same cable and connector. It was a slow and interesting ride down for him.
The look on his face, at the top of Fromme, flooded by my own 1000 lumen headlamp, holding his charger in both hands still cracks me up to this day thinking about it.
Nov. 1, 2020, 8:56 a.m. - Ryan Walters
Best case to be made for a fully enclosed, 1-piece system: Years ago, a buddy and I embarked on a night ride. The cold, drizzly parking lot prep for a north shore night ride is always a confusing gong show. Setting up a multi-wired light system in the dark just adds to the stress level. To maximize run-time, we would use the little cheapie MEC handlebar lights for the climb, and then switch to our proper systems for the descent. We climbed all the way up to 7th and got ready to descend. Imagine the confusion, surprise and inevitable laughs when my buddy fished into his pack for the battery, and pulled out the charger instead. No battery. An honest mistake made in a cold, dark parking lot, as the charger and battery looked similar and had the same cable and connector. It was a slow and interesting ride down for him. The look on his face, at the top of Fromme, flooded by my own 1000 lumen headlamp, holding his charger in both hands still cracks me up to this day thinking about it.