Get those night lights now!

[gopherhockey]

So the longest day of the year is approaching.. you know what that means right? Yup - soon we'll be back to night riding again!

Not wanting to take away from local businesses it is a good idea to check there first before buying online.

For those looking for lights or to upgrade their lights - I saw an ad for some good priced Niterider BlowTorch 2.0 HIDs today:

$299

http://www.beyondbikes.com/BB/ItemDesc.asp?IC=AC%2DLIG%2DBlow2%2E2&Link=6/14/2006_ProductList

Lowest Price on and H.I.D Ever..!The BlowTorch 2.0 is a great choice for 24-hour mountain-bike races and any other excuse you have for riding after dark. The 2.0 HID light burns strong and bright for up to 4 hours.... bla bla bla

Get your lights now before all the fun starts up again... watch for night rides to start up soon. We plan to do a few in the summer, but then get on the regular schedule again this fall...

[nigel]

I have an exra flat pack and an extra bottle battery for the storm/blowtorch lights.....any reasonable offer gets em. They are like new.

D

[Sevadari]

I have an exra flat pack and an extra bottle battery for the storm/blowtorch lights.....any reasonable offer gets em. They are like new.

D

Is the flatpack a NiMH battery? What are the specs on it? Can it be used with any other light systems, or does it have to go with a Niterider?

Thanx

[nigel]

Is the flatpack a NiMH battery? What are the specs on it? Can it be used with any other light systems, or does it have to go with a Niterider?

Thanx
They are the niterider surelock system. Im sure you could change the wire attatchment to your needs, but i'll leave that to Bob S and gang to answer. Its a 13v if i recall. Ill dig up specs and post em after work.


*Edit to add spec*

Bottle type battery for a Niterider Flamethrower/Blowtorch 13.2v NiMH ($160 new)
Flat pack battery for a Niterider Cyclone/Storm 13.2v NiMH ($150 new)

Both are indeed surelock but can be adapted for older Niterider lights with the poplock, just need to get the adapters.

Best offer gets em, all they are doing is collecting dust.

[soupboy]

For those looking for lights or to upgrade their lights

If you want values on top notch lights look no further than my man Larry. He's my favorite LBS this side of Planet Lovetron.

[crux]

Is the flatpack a NiMH battery? What are the specs on it? Can it be used with any other light systems, or does it have to go with a Niterider?

Thanx

By definition a true flatpack would be a prismatic lithium polymer cell which are only a few mm thick and if used for cycling lights would be extreamly light weight and powerful, trade off is cost.

Next down is a lithium ion cell which when ever exposed to a overcharge condition decided to rapidly disassemble or vent with fire. Don't even think about crushing a cell while riding as they fail in a short condition and can reach thermal runaway conditions in a few seconds. Reason why these are the most common lithum cell is mainly due to cost and time on the market.

Both lithium packs when built up will measure in the 14.8V range with a basic configuration in comparison to the NiMHand NiCD packs.

NiMH does have several advantages over NiCD, but that is another can of worms.

Battery I'd like to see used is a Lithium Sulfer pack, currentyl has 2-3 the energy density, 6 hour night ride on a single small pack would be common, as Li-poly, but no where near the capability to source as much current (could be an issue for Bobs homebrew lights). Unfortunatly this technology is still under development and will not be avaliable for several years.

Currently the best that $$$ can buy are the Li-poly packs which are much safer than the previous ion technology. Polys can source insane ammounts of current (120A @ 11.1V) for several miniutes before the connectors, wires and solder fail. If crushed they do not explode and are considerably lighter than the Ion cells. With the Chinese rapidly gaining the capability to mass produce these cells with higher quality control the price is dropping and will be near the cost of ions shortly.