Bike lights fall into two categories: lights to see with, and lights to be seen with. And when it comes to the latter category you’ll be hard pushed to beat the Bontrager Flare R rear light.
An RCUK 100 inductee last year, the Flare R remains one of our go-to rear lights, thanks to its first-class visibility – not only at night but in the day, too.
Riding with lights in the day is nothing new, but Bontrager took the bold move of making a light specifically for that purpose – after all, it’s not just at night the extra visibility offered by a good rear light will get you noticed out on the road.
And the result is a brilliant little light. It puts out 65 lumens at its brightest, which is more than sufficient for a rear light, and offers side visibility on a 270-degree arc. If you’re using the Flare R, there’s no excuse for vehicles behind not noticing you.
In creating a light suitable for daytime running, Bontrager have honed in on focussing (and amplifying) the light’s beam, installing an interruptive flash pattern and increasing the range as a result. That ensures the Flare R can be seen from up to two kilometres in daylight (and even further when night falls), according to Bontrager.
There are four modes in all – brighter flash and constant settings for daytime riding and the slightly dimmer flash and constant settings for night. Battery life on the brightest, daytime constant mode is four-and-a-quarter hours, which improves up to 23 hours for night flash.
Therefore, there’s no excuse to let the battery run down, particularly as it’s USB-rechargeable, but if you do end up on an epic ride Bontrager have also included a battery save mode – turning down the lumens to get you home safely when your battery level hits five per cent.
As you might expect for such a feature-packed light, it is more expensive than other rear lights at £45, but the RRP is definitely a price worth paying for one of the best rear lights on the market.
Even if the merits of a daytime-specific rear light don’t have you fully convinced – or your riding simply doesn’t justify it – the Bontrager Flare R is still a powerful option for night riding with a good battery life.
With an easy-to-use mount to boot, there is little to complain to about, hence why the Flare R earns a spot in the RCUK 100 for a second successive year.
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