Exposure Strada SB front light

Exposure's Strada SB represents the company's latest and greatest front light for road riding. It boasts a good range of settings along with a focused beam shape, low-bulk mount, great build quality and good run-times. The price is pretty steep, though.

• Pros: Concentrated beam shape, good range of modes, bright
• Cons: Much cheaper alternatives

If you're a fan of riding after work then the winter can be a challenging time, especially for those of us in the countryside. The narrow lanes are littered with debris from hedge cutting, tractors and the back end of animals. These lanes are tricky enough in the daylight, but riding them at night is even harder with no sunlight to illuminate the hazards. Personally, I love it, but it certainly requires a decent light to make the ride safer and enjoyable.

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Give £300 to Exposure and you'll get your own little collapsed sun. It has easily made the most difference to my willingness to ride during the week now that the daylight hours are taken by work.

Out of the box, you don't get much. The light is chunky and at 230g, just for the light body, it's not for the minimalist. The mounting bracket, however, is very neat. This compact clamp weighs just 26g and sat on my narrow 40cm bar without interfering with my hand when on the tops. It attaches with a 4mm Allen bolt, much like the K-Edge out-front mount on the other side of the stem. I was more than happy to leave it in place when not using the light.

That mounting bracket will only fit round bars, though. You need to buy a mount for the stem face plate if you've got flat section bars.

Everything is controlled via the one aluminium button at the back. A quick press gives you a status update with the mode selected and the remaining charge. Hold that button and you'll enter the program selection mode. I chose program one as I knew I'd need the full brightness for those dark lanes. Double tap that button and the light comes on. You can cycle through the brightness levels within your chosen program by pressing the button once. Or press twice quickly to enter the flashing mode.

The button is firm and easy to operate in heavy winter gloves and the OLED Status Display (OSD) shows the remaining battery life in the current mode. You can also use the included remote switch. I preferred this to the aluminium button as you can mount it closer to the shifter for quick mode changes.

Taking this out onto the road, I started out in a lit area and chose the low power mode of program one, which is more than adequate for town riding. It has a 12-hour burn-time from full. As soon as I left the illuminated streets, I switched to the medium setting. For larger roads with no potholes, this mode was perfect, but I switched again to the light's brightest setting as soon as I turned onto the lanes.

Road-specific

Here, you can see the benefit of the 'road specific' beam. The main point of light is directed towards the road ahead without too much spill out to the hedges. It provides perfect illumination of the road ahead and I felt comfortable descending at speeds approaching 30mph.

The only setting that I was able to run close to empty was the full beam. The claimed 2 hours is accurate, with my 1hr 48min ride draining the light to 30%, although I did start out on the low power mode to do 10 minutes through town.

Charging is done via the Smart Port +. Exposure has reduced the charge time by up to 40 per cent with this light, but to recharge from flat still takes 9 hours. For me, that's a simple overnight job but you can also use one of Exposure's Support Cells. These can be used to recharge the light, or run the light for longer. You can also use the light itself to charge another device, though you'll need the special connector cable.

The build quality of the Strada SB is one of its highlights, and Exposure has a reputation for being long-lasting. I've used this in the rain, washed my bike with it attached and left it out in the cold. Nothing has fazed it and there are no signs of any water ingress.

You do pay for it, though, and the competition that this light faces from cheaper opponents is fierce. Cateye's Volt 1700 is a very good option for £169.99 and also offers a bit more depth from its 1700 lumens.

> Buyer's Guide: The best front lights for cycling

For the purpose of riding unlit roads in the dark, you've got a choice: external or internal battery. Being a single unit without an external battery pack, the Strada SB isn't as powerful as a battery pack light offering the same stated output, but you do get the convenience of no extra wires. A quick look at the beam comparison engine shows the difference. The Gemini Duo 1500 offers greater depth for the same lumens. It's also £164.99, though you've got to find somewhere for the battery pack.

Overall, the performance from the Strada SB is great and it's solidly built. Exposure has a good record on durability, but you have to pay for it.

Verdict

Bright, with good battery life, and the remote switch is really useful, but the price is high compared to rivals