I just found myself reading an article in the Radavist about single colour (monochromatic) bike lights. And it got me thinking…

What are monochromatic bike lights?

Well, it’s not about the colour they are painted! Pretty much all bike lights are black or grey these days – with a few exceptions for those that like to match their bike lights to their crash helmets or whatever (looking round the group, I seem to know most of those exceptions!).

Monochromatic bike lights are the idea that rather than output white light, they output something else, like red or green.

In fact, standard white LED lights are not simply white. Most deliver something that has quite a lot of blue light in it, leading to a ‘cold’ cast to their output. It looks brighter but… isn’t always ideal. After all, humans are evolved to see in daylight which is a much warmer colour temperature and ‘back in the day’, halogen lights naturally happened to do the same.

They just didn’t last long enough or have enough power for our night riding adventures.

So the fundamental idea that a different colour or colour temperature might suit real world conditions better makes sense, as you can read in the Radavist article on monochromatic Outbound Lighting lights.

Except… I’ve been here before.

When Four4th Lights started out, Derek also experimented with LED lights with a green cast and gave me a set to try out. He was well ahead of the curve there! It wasn’t a pure green-only output but there was a definite green hue.

The idea was similar but the intended effect was to increase contrast rather than blind the rider with pure white-only light. Personally, I didn’t feel it made a massive difference to me, but you can buy Four4th lights to this day with a white or green LED option.

Obviously for some people there is an appreciable benefit and it is certainly a much more restful light that could suit endurance riding better.

Anyhow, I just thought I mention all this as it made for an interesting read. Interesting as in ‘I’m glad someone tried this so I don’t have to!’ but also; it’s not a new idea and might just be a ‘big up’ for Outbound Lighting!

While single colour bike lights probably aren’t the way forward, it’s clear that some of the thinking and understanding about them can feed through into making better products for us all.

Photo credit: The Radavist

About the author

Matt is one of the founding Molefathers of the Muddymoles, and is the designer and main administrator of the website.

Having ridden a 2007 Orange Five for many years then a 2016 YT Industries Jeffsy 29er, he now rocks a Bird Aether 9 and a Pace RC-627.

An early On-One Inbred still lurks in the back of the stable as a reminder of how things have moved on. You can even find him on road bikes - currently a 2019 Cannondale Topstone 105 SE, a much-used 2011 Specialized Secteur and very niche belt drive Trek District 1.

If you've ever wondered how we got into mountain biking and how the MuddyMoles started, well wonder no more.