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IB13: Seamless Light Integration from Sparse

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Sparse Lights Front LightFor every five or so dumb kickstarters, there is usually one gem. Take Sparse Bicycle lights for instance. They’ve created a set of commuter lights which seamlessly integrate into your frame, making it incredibly difficult for thieves to snag…and they’re beautiful!

We covered their kickstarter launch almost a year ago, when they raised more than 20k over their original 45k goal, and they are now shipping orders. Jump past the break for more about their cool products

Sparse Lights Headset spacer and charging portThe lights have not changed much since we first spotlighted them but they’re so cool it worth talking about them again.

The front light mounts directly under your stem. The rear of the aluminum case tapers down to the same size as a headset spacer and an additional stepdown spacer makes the 3 watt, 220 lumen,  headlight compatible with both 1″ and 1 1/8″ steers.

The front light has a claimed 4 hour running time and comes with a  6ft micro usb cable for easy charging.

Sparse Tail LightThe 1 watt rear light (which is 30-50 lumens depending on how you measure) comes with three different spacers in order to fit the majority of seat posts on the market.

Sparse Lights packaging

Front and rear lights retail independently for $64.99. You can pick up a front and rear set for $139.99. They’re available in three different colors – matte black, brushed chrome, and gloss white.

For more, visit Sparse

 

 

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19 Comments
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AlanM
AlanM
10 years ago

Is there any way to adjust where the front light is aimed or is it just set at a fixed point?

David
David
10 years ago

The rear light on the bike, and the graphics, looks mounted upside down.

John
John
10 years ago

Design looks lacking on headlight, see pictures at company website. Hardly any room to plug in the charger cable when the headlight is slammed to the top of the headset. Why no pictures of the front of the headlight?

DerHoggz
DerHoggz
10 years ago

So it is cheaper to buy separately?

vectorbug
vectorbug
10 years ago

DerHoggz – its $10 cheaper to buy f/r. Bikerumor didn’t include individual prices. Front is $85, rear is $65.

DerHoggz
DerHoggz
10 years ago

Ah, it says both retail independently for $65. Not interested anyway, I need negative spacers.

Psi Squared
Psi Squared
10 years ago

Any light that can’t have it’s angle adjusted is sub-optimal. both in terms of seeing and being seen.

Damien
Damien
10 years ago

I swear, its like Pinkbike here. Nothing but consistently negative comments. Having held these lights in my hand and see how awesome they are, I can’t wait for mine. They are designed as never take off be-seen lights. If you need a really bright front light they are out there in spades, and they start around 200 bucks for a nicely made one. The charge port is easy to access even if the light is slammed. And the rear light is mounted correctly. The beam is directed at a car drivers height.

Micah
Micah
10 years ago

It is designed to be permanently mounted to your bike, but uses USB to charge? I don’t park my bike next to a computer…

Cheese
Cheese
10 years ago

*lumens

Mark
Mark
10 years ago

@Micah. Just plug a mobile phone charger somewhere in a wall next to your bike and charge the light. Seems to me like a quite obvious solution. For example the latest SRM cranks also use a USB port to charge them and I assume no one is going to take of the SRM of the bike to connect it to the computer every couple of days or weeks.

PaulM
PaulM
10 years ago

Crying out for a dynamo-powered version, surely?

yogibimbi
yogibimbi
10 years ago

Just saw some front- and rear lights by Taq the other day. USB-chargeable, to be fixed easily on handlebars or seatposts with integrated rubber band thingy, and costing around 15 euros (12 euros discounted – yay, I’m gonna get myself one of each!).

lonefrontranger
lonefrontranger
10 years ago

yea as a tiny rider who needs negative stack height and likes to mount a mudslide fender on my barely-showing seatpost for crappy commute days (when I would most need a rear light also), there’s simply no real estate available for these on my bike. Must be nice to be six feet tall and not have these problems…

Stephen
Stephen
10 years ago

It is nice to be 6′ tall and not have these problems. As the song says, “Short people got no reason to live.”

Tywin
Tywin
10 years ago

yogibimbi – Thanks for that insightful comment. Why buy these well-made lights with a decent output when we can get cut-price garbage lights made of plastic? Spot on with your feedback there.

Josef
Josef
10 years ago

For every five dumb kickstarters, there are usually five turds.

Clearly whoever desgned this doesn’t understand function.
Unadjustable… Yeah, that was really bright.

lms
lms
10 years ago

I really liked the looks of these lights, so much that I pre-ordered them months before they shipped. This allowed me to save x amount of dollars, and since my bike was still being built, I was fine with that. Fast forward to an email I received from sparse stating that they are removing my order based on the fact that I did not respond to the invoice they sent me via paypal. No harm or foul I thought, maybe it went to junk mail, who knows?? But I respond that I still want them, they then say ok and bill me full price. I ask why since I was one that had ordered them way back when? He then goes on about margins and so on and so forth. What a croc of crap! What really happened is that he never invoiced me, cancelled the initial order and tried to screw me out of more money. Great business guys, now get lost.

jeff Skinner
jeff Skinner
9 years ago

Just got mine. Beautiful, bright and secure against theft as long as you have locking bolts on headset, saddle stem. switch on and off very nicely – better then other lights. Like the way that light clearly seen from side (more than many lights). Very happy. only gripe is that it’s very difficult to get USB cable provided into front light charging port. Small other gripe – amber flashing when charging turns blue when charged. Found this out for myself. Not mentioned anywhere in instructions (though a lot of other trivia was!. Expensive but 10/10 for beauty and ‘be seen’ brightness.

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