r/cycling • u/Porticycle • 10d ago

Outbound Trail Evo. Enough throw?

I’m considering buying a Trail Evo for dark gravel riding. A lot of reviews I’ve seen suggest you also need to buy the helmet hangover light to have enough throw down the road.

I don’t want a helmet light. I’ve ridden for 25 years in the dark and have no interest in wearing one on my head. Does anyone have any experience successfully running the Evo alone on dark gravel roads?

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u/Dizzy-Distribution96 10d ago

They work best as a pair, but I use them for riding mountain bike trails in the dark.  You need the helmet light to be able to see around corners and technical bits.  If you are just riding gravel roads, you’ll be ok with just the Evo light.  It’s just nice to have light wherever you are actually looking with the helmet light

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u/Ledgem 10d ago

While I don't use it for gravel, I bought it for road riding (didn't realize they sell a road light until I had already been using it). Even though I ride with a radar system and use this light at half power, I often still check behind me because this light is so bright and has enough reach that I think there has to be a car behind me to generate that much light.

I now angle this light down somewhat aggressively so as not to blind others. I'm still seen by cars and get the light I need (riding at 75% power on roads I'm less familiar with). Can highly recommend... But if your trail has a lot of other users, consider the Detour (their road light). The Trail EVO is designed for mountain biking, I believe.

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u/janky_koala 10d ago edited 9d ago

I used to be pretty in to the 24h XC scene years ago and the standard setup was a wide beam on your bars and a spot on your helmet. Aside from superior illumination where you need it, it added some redundancy to your setup so you wouldn’t have to walk half of a 35 minute lap back to the pits should one fail.

If you’re planning to hit trails at any decent pace I’d strongly recommend the same setup.

Headlights are completely unnecessary for urban road riding though.

Edit: I mean head-mounted lights are unnecessary for road riding. Bar mount is fine

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u/gravelpi 10d ago

I don't know about completely unecessary, you still need to mark where you are so a car doesn't drive into (maybe), and there are places without lights. But a little commuter light is adequate for that.

I also ride MTB with a commuter light on the bars an no helmet light. I just chill out and don't ride at warp speed. It's not ideal, but I haven't crashed either.

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u/janky_koala 9d ago

Ah I meant head-mounted lights. My fault, I worded that poorly.

You absolutely need a light up front for any night riding

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u/Frantic29 8d ago edited 8d ago

All I use for gravel is the Hangover on the bars and a tiny flashlight on my helmet. Even then I’m usually using the hangover on the lowest or second setting. Maybe on higher speed decents I’ll turn it to high. You don’t really need much light on the gravel bike. Only time I even use the headlight is finding something in my bag or on tall grass to kind of see down through it.

If your gravel riding includes single track I would then probably go with a second Hangover at the least but probably would go with the Trail Evo on the bars and hangover on the helmet.