More On Lights

As I was riding to work this week (even colder: 9˚) the bulb on my Specialized Vegas headlight burned out. Not a big problem, as I had the Cateye el300 in reserve for just such an occasion, but it do present me with a dilemna: What to do about the Specialized light? It hasn't been made or sold in years and years, and you can't just go down to Ace Hardware for a 4V, .6A xenon bulb. (At least, I don't think you can.) A search on the web did turn up a source for replacement bulbs: http://www.reflectalite.com/, located in England. Pleasantly low-tech web site listing model numbers, descriptions, prices, and shipping costs, which you use to calculate total cost by hand. Arrange money transfer through PayPal, mention model number, etc, and cross your fingers (at least that's what I did). Shortly after I sent payment, I received email confirmation that my bulb was in the mail. At little over $9, which is a lot cheaper than replacing the light would have been.

I have been using the Cateye in the meantime. It works, in that it casts some light ahead of me, but not really. Better than nothing, but not much better. I'm going to experiment with mounting it at the fork crown, to see if I can make the light spot a little longer. Unfortunately, it really needs to be a little wider, and I can't figure out a way to do that. Perhaps a six-foot pole off to the right of the bike.

Update: I take back some of the bad things I said about the Cateye EL 300. Turns out the batteries that came with it were low on juice. (They pooped out on my ride home last night, after only a few hours of burn time.) When I replaced them with nice new Energizers, the light was actually quite nice. Not a lot dimmer than the halogen. (I'll use rechargables when the Energizers give out; I bought the disposables at a convenience store on the way home.)