Light & Motion

Urban 1000 Fast Charge Front Light

While we'd prefer to do all of our cycling in 70-degree weather under fair, well-lit skies, life often insists otherwise. This is especially true when commuting—be it to work in the pre-dawn blue or home after dark from a late night of karaoke. Since it's as bright as most car headlights, Light & Motion's Urban 1000 Fast Charge headlight is built specifically for those scenarios. And it's built to reward impulsiveness, too. Its fast charge technology lets it juice-up in about half the time of a normal charge, so even if you don't find out about karaoke night until the night of, you'll still be able to ride with full illumination.

During late returns while you're still singing power ballads in the saddle, the light's 1,000 lumens are potent enough to illuminate dark roads. During the day, a pulsing mode reverses the dynamic by drawing the attention of motorists and other road users to you rather than revealing the path ahead.

Softer amber side lights extend the light's attention-grabbing to the sides, which is a nice feature while navigating city streets during the lunch hour but really earns its keep by establishing more of a presence at night. The forward-facing light is so bright that the Urban 1000 may come off as a disembodied, floating orb after sundown; the addition of amber side lights helps re-establish the position of your body in the eyes (and minds) of motorists. When it comes to safely cycling in low-light conditions, awareness like that can make all the difference, and you can't rely solely on your hair-metal falsetto to do the trick. Well, not always.