Lumicycle Race Enduro Pack

Lumicycle's Race light is ideal for fast training on unlit roads thanks to a max output of *1120 lumens and decent burn times. A narrow and far reaching beam wrapped up in a versatile package gives you no excuse not to get out in the dark lanes.

It's alright having massive lumen or lux figures but it's what you do with that available light that makes the difference and it is here that Lumicyle obviously know what they are doing. The beam pattern (as you'll see from our comparison table) is more of a spot light than the flood style more often used for off road riding.

Thanks to the reflector design and 'eyelid' on the CNC machined body the 4 CREE LED equipped Race pushes that light up the road without dazzling oncoming road users when setup with a small amount of angle below horizontal.

Out of the five modes only two were really needed on unlit roads. The 'mid' level puts out 400 lumens (11hrs burn time) which was plenty for main roads with painted lines and cats eyes up to speeds of around 40mph thanks to casting a pool of light from just in front of the tyre with the main spot being far enough up the road that you could see potholes or any other danger in plenty of time.

The 'high' mode was perfect for country lanes with the 800 lumens (4.7hrs burn time) output allowing you push on at day time speeds on all but the hairiest of descents. For those you've got the 'boost' mode which'll give you 1120 lumens for three minutes after a flick of the lever or if you want it longer just hold the switch for two seconds. You'll get an impressive 2.6hrs burn time from a full battery as well.

Changing modes is taken care of by a toggle switch on the back of the head unit, flick it up to go brighter and down to dip. If you are in one of the top two modes I found it was best to drop down to the 'mid' level with oncoming traffic and it was easy to do this even when wearing winter gloves.

At the opposite end of the scale is the flash mode putting out 100 lumens for 50 odd hours which is ideal for making you seen in urban areas especially when filtering. There isn't a backlight like the strobe mode on exposure lights so the on/off flash of the Race can be irritating in drivers rear view mirrors if you are behind them for any amount of time. If I wasn't filtering but going with the flow I'd tend to use the 'low' mode which at 200 lumen is bright enough to be seen and okay to see by at lower speeds on unlit roads.

The modular design of Lumicycle's lights is a great advantage, you can basically build up various systems just by buying the main light unit and use one battery between them. This is how we tested the Race and the Apex (review on that coming soon), the quick release bracket making switching over lights a thirty second job.

Battery wise the choices are the 2.6Ah Enduro that we've been using here and achieves the burn times mentioned above. If you want to double those though you can choose the Extender kit which uses a 5.2Ah bag mounted battery or you can go for a water bottle version of the same capacity.

Build quality is brilliant and the entire light is manufactured in the UK. The rain was lashing down for the last couple of weeks of testing and there were no issues whatsoever in terms of waterproofing.

Previously an optional extra a glow ring now comes as standard on all Lumicycle lights and really helps with side visibility. The eyelid on top of the casing stops any light escaping upwards into your eyes as well.

When it comes to price the £224.95 is a reflection of the all round package of build quality, performance and a two year warranty. Comparing it to the Exposure Strada (my usual light) the Race stacks up well. Forty quid cheaper and matching the Strada at 800 lumen you get almost 1.5 times the burn time. It is heavier though due to its external battery and I do prefer the wider beam pattern of both the Exposure and Lumicycle's own Apex.

Overall the Race is a great light with regards to output, beam pattern and burn times compared to its competitors for the price but the narrow beam compared to other road specific beams means its better suited to roads you know well or main routes. It has got the range for really high speed riding but I think the Exposure Strada has a slightly better beam pattern for all kinds of riding, Lumicycle's own Apex is even better though.

The build quality is second to none and certainly feels you with confidence that it's going to last for years as well making it a long term investment. The ability to upgrade head units as well or run differing set ups without having to purchase batteries and chargers means the Race is pretty much future proof.

*All lumen figures are manufacturer's claims

**No drivers were blinded in the making of this review

Verdict

A cracking light for night time racers who want to travel at speed, up against some stiff opposition from its big brother though, the Apex.