Tag Archives: Lupine SL Light

HaveFunBiking.com has you covered with our gift guide for the very best holiday ideas. These items have been picked by our staff for the rider on your list. 

The HaveFunBiking Holiday Gift Guide for the riders on your list

by John Brown, HaveFunBiking.com

Thanksgiving is over and the panic of holiday gift buying is in full effect. Don’t get too concerned, HaveFunBiking.com has you covered with our picks for the very best holiday gift guide ideas.

A gift guide for lovers of bikes

A bike waiting for you under the tree will be a thrill at any age. Over my 25 years in the cycling industry, I have found that the excitement of a new bike only increases as you get older. Here are a few of our very favorite bikes.

Marin B-17

Marin has packed a ton of value into these bicycles. Their aluminum frame is comprised of highly manipulated tubing and buttery smooth sealed bearing pivots. All together, it’s hard to find a better value.  As a 120mm travel trail bike, it is at home on almost any trail. The 27.5” x 3” tires offer unparalleled confidence even when the trails get rough. With models starting at $2100 that sport fully tunable suspension, a 1×11 speed drivetrain and hydraulic Shimano disc brakes, there’s very little competition.

gift guide

Tern GSD

“Set Stuff Done” is right! The Tern GSD leaves almost nothing to be desired from a utility bike. It can be easily stored upright and out of the way when not in use, loaded to the gills with cargo, or equipped to carry a passenger. In fact, thanks to the Bosch motor and ability to run two batteries, the possibilities for this bike are nearly endless. Hop over to the Tern site and see what there is to offer.

Gift guide

Focus Bold2

Simply put, this is the best looking E-bike I have seen. It uses a smart component selection that compliments the Shimano XT Motor, making the Bold 2 a dream machine. Ample power will lift you up the hills and the bikes great geometry, Rockshox suspension, and hydraulic disc brakes will allow you to attack the descents with confidence. Buzz over to Focus and read up on this spectacular machine.

Gift guide

Gift guide Accesories

Lupine SL-A7

For the Commuter on your list there is no better or safer gift than the Lupine SL-A7. It’s amazing light output and surgically accurate beam pattern are unparalleled in realm of cycling lights. For more info, take a look at our Out of the box article.

Gift guide

Magicshine Genie in Our Gift Guide

Helmets typically do one thing and one thing only – keep your head safe. MagicShine has infused their expertise in lighting into the helmet to create the very best in safety and visibility. The Genie helmet has a surprisingly bright  350 lumen headlamp, a rear blinker, and remote controlled blinkers. Click here for more info.

Ass Savers fender

I received one of these fenders as a giveaway and never actually though anything about it. That is until one day when I was getting ready to leave for work on my cross bike and it began to rain. Without time to install a complete fender set, I grabbed the “giveaway”, and clipped it to my saddle. While I never thought much about the Ass Saver, the designers sure did. This fender that weighs almost nothing, can be installed in seconds, and packed away easily was an absolute epiphany. As advertised it kept my rear dry and never moved from its place. Buy one for all your friends, there that good.

Manitou suspension

Quietly and persistently, Manitou has been making a name for themselves as a sturdy, efficient, tune-able and high-quality suspension brand. Many don’t consider adjusting their suspension an important feature, and that is because most suspension is not very tune-able. This is not the case with Manitou. In fact they offer more range of tuning adjustment than most brands as well as aftermarket kits to make your suspension fit your needs perfectly. They do this while maintaining one of the most precise steering chassis around.

Lintaman shoes

A lifelong cycling and industry veteran, Chris Lintaman, started the shoe company bearing his name in his new home of Taichung Taiwan. I remember him starting out the brand as a guy with a bag of shoes at Eurobike. Fast forward to today where you can see his shoes under professional cyclists around the world. The reason so many professional riders buy  Lintaman shoes is because they are wildly adjustable for fit, and massively efficient. If you are looking for the most comfortable shoes in the world, look no further than Lintaman.

Sealskinz Socks and gloves

Minnesota winters are tough to say the least. Happily, this winter has been made easier for me by Sealskinz. Starting with there waterproof socks, saving my toes in the fall, and moving into the Halo gloves remarkable warmth into the Icy low teens, Sealskinz has kept me warm time and time again. Check out a few of our reviews for more info, or click to their site to see the whole line.

Vittoria Bomboloni tires

Over the last 25 years, I’ve repeatedly been impressed with Vittoria tires. That same feeling carries into my most recent test of the Vittoria Bomboloni 27+ tires. For your mountain biking gift getter, these tires are awesome!

Tailwind Nutrition

Anyone on your holiday list that rides needs electrolyte replacement at some point. The supplement I would recommend above all else is Tailwind Nutrition. The light flavor and lack of an aftertaste are reason enough to use Tailwind. Now when you couple those reasons with the fact that Tailwind will never leave your belly sour like so many other sports drinks, the choice is easy.

Athlos clothing

What do you get the rider who has everything? Something custom! Athlos is new to the custom clothing game, and are making some serious waves. Custom used to mean you needed to buy huge quantities, and settle for low quality. With Athlos, you can buy one jersey and the quality is on par with the best cycling brands who charge three times the cost. Additionally, Athlos has a team of designers waiting to convert your thoughts and concepts into a real-world design.

Rocky mounts Carlito lock

For students, commuters, or rides who just love to have their bicycles well secured, RockMounts locks are a great gift. Over the past few years, RockyMounts invested heavily into their lock designs and came up with some really cool product. I love their Carlito lock most of all because it is light, tough, and easy to use.

Darn Tough socks

Why not stuff stocking with stockings? Darn tough is a sock company out of Vermont with a lifetime sock warranty. Yes, you read that correctly. Forget an everlasting gobstopper, you can buy someone socks that will last forever! When I met with the sales group at Darn Tough, and pressed them about their warranty, they couldn’t have been any clearer – Lifetime Waranty! “what if I have a air of 15 year old socks?” I asked, “Lifetime warranty” they replied. “What if I wear only one pair of socks through a six month Appalachian Trail hike” I asked, “Lifetime Warrant” they replied. After a few months of wearing the Darn Tough Socks, I must say they are super comfortable, and as tough as the namesake.

AutoRack Tail light

We all need to get our bike from point A to point B. What nobody thinks about is the inherent danger in traveling with your bike on the back of your car. Bikes can obscure the tail lights from other drivers and make it difficult to see when you are stopping. Enter AutoRack to the rescue. This light setup weighs almost nothing and mounts to the last bike on your rack by way of a few straps. This gift is perfect for any rider!

The Auto Rack is a tail light extension system that offers motorist behind a clear view of the operators intentions.

The Lupine SL-A4 Road Light is by far the brightest, clearest, and most capable 900 lumen bike light I have ever used. Read on to learn more.

Lupine SL-A7 Road Light, out of the box and amazing first impression

by John Brown, HaveFunBiking.com

I really didn’t know what to expect when I heard we were going to be reviewing Lupine’s new SL A7 light. You see, Lupine is a brand I always hear excellent things about, but until now have not had the pleasure of trying one myself. This is by far the clearest and brightest 900 lumen light I have ever seen. It turns out the light uses a custom reflector and lens to focus the light exactly where you need it. Hearing amazing things about their quality and durability as I researched the light. My first experience with their product reinforced everything I have heard and more. Read on to learn more.

Lupine road bike light out of the box

What I did know as I opened the box, Lupine is a German based company. They do all the development and production in house and the light comes in a robust box with ample foam padding. The padding is precisely cut to fit the components and hold them firmly in place. based on their excellent packaging, I would say it’s unlikely your light could arrive damaged due to shipping. In the box you will find the lamp, battery, charger, two straps, mounting hardware and a pair of small wrenches. Overall, the light looked great and was rather light weighing just over ½ a pound. After reading about the light I was saddened to see its output was only a 900 lumen. Typically,  I find most lights below 1000 lumens to be rather dark for my commute. Turns out, I was way totally wrong as you will see.

Lupine

The SL A7 mounted to my handlebar.

My first impression

Like I said, 900 lumen lamp isn’t usually a lot of light. What I have learned with the SL A7 is that the amount of light is not as important as how that light is used. Turns out the light’s lens is as important as the light’s final output number. We will touch more on this later.

First, I mounted the light to my bike. The light uses a handlebar mount that appeared to be delicate. That elegant mounting system is easy to use and surprisingly holds the lamp firmly in place. I then secured the battery with the shorter of the two supplied straps and it showed no signs of moving.

Lupine SL A7

Detail of Lupine’s SL-A7 elegant mounting hardware

First Ride

Upon kicking off for my first ride with the SL A7, I could not believe what I saw. This is by far the brightest, clearest, and most capable 900 lumen light I have ever seen. The light uses a custom reflector and lens to focus the light exactly where you need it and not waste any of the beam.  It is difficult to explain, but the beam almost appears to be a solid bar of light, running horizontally, across your field of vision. In addition to Lupine’s mastery of the beam location, they seem to also offer a better color than I am used to seeing. Again, it’s hard to explain without seeing it, but the light has a color that seems to eliminate excess glare and shadow. I was able to see more than I typically can, and see it clearer.

The battery run time is published to be 3 hours. In my initial test, received every minute of that 3 hours before recharging. The battery itself was really keen with a push button charge indicator that worked well.

Lupine SL A7

Detail of the 6.6 Watt Hour battery included with the SL A7

Future tests

Although designed for on road purposes, I plan to take this SL-A7 light off road for a test. Our trails are pretty smooth, so I don’t think vibration will exceed the lamp’s mounting capabilities. Additionally I want to see exactly how much light this thing can throw in the woods. Another big concern of mine is to see how the light handles cold temperatures in the upper Midwest. So expect a lot of sub-freezing rides comments in my next review. All in all, if this light continues to perform like it did initially, I see a very good final review coming. Stay tuned.