Review: Cheap Bike Lights at Ace Hardware

by Robert Leone

Editor’s Note: Bike San Diego does not typically post product reviews, and we do not accept unsolicited reviews. However, this piece by frequent contributor Robert Leone seemed especially useful and worth sharing with our readers. Many San Diegans ride without lights, either because they cannot afford them, or because are unaware that they need them. We hope that by spreading word of the affordable options available, we can help correct this situation.

While strolling about downtown San Diego, I stopped into the Ace Hardware on Sixth. Near the cash register, with the other inexpensive “impulse” items, were inexpensive bike lights. The rear red LED blinkers were not exceptional — larger than most, running on two AA batteries, no mounting brackets (just clip on), and priced at $1.95. I am not a fan of clip-on rear lights (see Page 6 of linked PDF). What I saw for front lights was intriguing, though.

Here, for comparison, I have a CatEye EL-135 in the shot (pictured without its handlebar mounting fixture). The EL-135 has three bright white LEDs running on two AA batteries. Below is the light from Ace. It is larger, a nice friendly yellow plastic, and is pictured with its included handlebar clamp. The observant may note the lanyard running off the back of the Ace light. This betrays its origins. Instead of a purpose-built bike light, its internals are from a relatively common, inexpensive form of flashlight construction. Output power comes from numerous small, low-powered LEDs. The batteries are three AAAs mounted in a carrier that is integral with the LEDs.

The Ace light is a bit awkward in relation to battery replacement. The front lens dismounts by twisting to one side, then pulling off. The carrier slides out (some gentle appeals to inertia were necessary while at the Ace Hardware counter, to which the long-suffering cashier raised no objections). One can then put new batteries in (they don’t all go in the same way, but when I stopped to look for them, the orientation markings on the carrier were nicely visible). The hard part is getting the registration right when reinserting the carrier. The switch on the carrier has to be in the same position as the little black dome (rubber switch point) on the top of the light.

This is as good a place as any to address water resistance. I wasn’t bold enough to borrow a bucket and dunk either light right in the middle of the hardware store. However, I did notice the Ace headlight is solid except in two places. The first is the on-off switch at the top . The second is the lens at the front. If you’ll look closely, you’ll see a black ring around the rear of the clear plastic lens. This is a flexible o-ring, which not only provides the friction to hold the lens in place, but should also serve as a gasket to keep out at least some moisture.

While I am at it, there is a little toggle on the rear of the light mount that allows the light to slide off the mount while leaving that mount on the handlebars. One need not use the front toggle at all to remove the light from the bike. This has two utility features:

• It allows a quick, easy, relatively unobtrusive light removal while parking for longer periods (I am surely not alone in having lights stolen off my ride while it was parked).
• One can also slide the light off the bike, or simply off the bracket, and pocket it for a nocturnal walk (or circuit breaker box expedition) — which is handy if you have a dog who likes to go for walks at night.

Our next image is a sort of beam comparison. Please note, a head on shot may be dramatic, but it is hardly the best view for comparing beam patterns.

Again, this isn’t fair to either light. I’ll assume the Ace headlight has fresh, or relatively fresh, batteries installed. My CatEye does not. It’s about due for a change. By the way, if you think I ride with small bike lights, the CatEye EL-135 is the smallest of the three headlights on my commuting bike. Also, you can’t see the light beam dispersion pattern, or get a good idea of visibility to other road users from the side. That is an issue that is sometimes under-appreciated in light design and comparison testing.

Both lights have a steady beam and a blinking beam. Neither have adjustable high or low power use settings. That makes sense — neither have enough power to make a low level setting meet the legal requirements for bike headlights that they be visible 300 feet ahead and to the sides (see California Vehicle Code 21201 subsection d, sub-subsection 1).

While I’m not replacing my CatEye EL-135, or the generator headlight, or the helmet lamp, with this unheralded item from Ace Hardware, I would be derelict if I didn’t mention the price — $4.95. Batteries included. This is a quarter of the typical retail price (link goes to the REI website) of the CatEye EL-135. Yes, I know there are less expensive options and “e-tailers” out there, but this isn’t a general light pricing and comparison survey article. I’d also be an incompetent reviewer if I didn’t mention Ace Hardware stores do not have identical stock. Your local store may not have these lights. It would be a pity if they didn’t — here’s an inexpensive light that is adequate to meet legal requirements, has a decent handlebar mounting system that allows transfers between bikes, and has a low price that puts it in the same price range as “buy a plain flashlight and a roll of duct tape.” The only excuses left for riding without a headlight at night are now:

• Poor planning and preparation
• No income at all
• Fashion statement A: “real [fill in the blank] don’t use lights because they just don’t”
• Fashion statement B: “I don’t want the rubber shim in the clamp to scratch my handlebars”

I’d also be remiss in my reviewer duties if I didn’t mention the gentleman of uncertain residence whom I met outside the downtown Library the same day I noticed these Ace lights. I complemented him on a very effective battery headlight arrangement. He’d taken two inexpensive, but according to him quite high-powered, LED flashlights, and used metal hose clams to secure them to the underside of his front rack.

This gave him low light placement that was out of the way of the duffel bag he’d secured to the handlebars and front rack. The kicker, for me, was his statement that he’d found the hose clamps by the side of the road. Those aren’t something I normally see at roadside while riding. Busted bungee cords, shredded tire treads (“alligators”) and torn cargo straps are most of the unintentional road rubbish I roll past.