New Bontrager Flare tail light flashes extra bright for daytime use

Written by Tyler Benedict Apr 02, 2015 3:55 p.m. ET

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I tend to do all my road rides with a blinky tail light, hoping it makes me a bit more conspicuous in this world of distracted drivers. Apparently the fine folks at Bontrager were thinking the same thing when developing their new Flare R.

Their stats showed that 80% of car-on-bike accidents occurred during the day, and that 40% of those were cars striking the cyclist from behind. To remedy that, the new light features a powerful 65 lumen CREE LED, which they say is brighter than automotive tail lights. They also built in two distinct “daytime” modes – a random flash pattern meant to capture drivers’ attention at the full 65 lumens, and a 25 lumen constant on for riding in groups.

“We’re cyclists and we share the same concerns and experiences as all riders,” said Bontrager’s Brand Manager & Marketing Director Michael Browne. “We’re in a unique position to create something that can benefit all cyclists, and that’s why we’ve spent such considerable R&D resources on Flare R. This is a light that should be on every bike, every ride. A helmet is a great thing, but not getting hit by a car is even better.”

For night time use, there’s a separate random blink pattern with intermittent pops at full intensity, plus a low level 5 lumen constant on. Run times range from 4.25 to 23 hours depending on mode.

It’s USB rechargeable, weight is 36g, and retail is $59.99. Available now in Trek bike shops.

Bontrager.com

Tyler Benedict

11,186 articles

Tyler Benedict is the Founder of Bikerumor.com. He has been writing about the latest bikes, components, and cycling technology for almost two decades. Prior to that, Tyler launched and built multiple sports nutrition brands and consumer goods companies, mostly as an excuse to travel to killer riding locations throughout North America.

Based in North Carolina, Tyler loves family adventure travel and is always on the lookout for the next shiny new part to make his bikes faster and lighter.

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26 Comments

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anonymous

9 years ago

Judging from the first picture showing it in action, it doesn’t work very well.

satisFACTORYrider

9 years ago

it’s for the heli to spot your carcass in the canyon after the hit and run

Nick ET

9 years ago

That girl has no time to pay attention to red lights. She is too busy taking multiple selfies and will have to promptly review them afterwards.

Jeremy

9 years ago

Typical VW drivers…

Michael Plakus

9 years ago

Is this an opening shot in an another round of lumen escalation? 65 lumens is LESS than the LOW power mode of my Dinotte 400R taillight that idles at 80 lumens and flares to 320. It’s been available for years. I’ve had one so long I wore out the original battery.

wako29

9 years ago

we just got some of these in the shop. They are BRIGHT. For sure the brightest rear I’ve ever seen. Bontrager did good here!

Brian S

9 years ago

The Planet Bike Super Blinkie does a great just in the day. I’ve had motos thank me for wearing the light while riding in the mountains.

Nice stereotype showing a woman texting. [Eye roll]

Roy

9 years ago

A stereo type? I think not! I drive a tallish truck in heavily populated urban area and the hugest number of texters is women, ratio not even close.Since I am up higher I can see down into most cars, and the number of texters is scary. Rarely do they hold it high like the posed selfie shot, but they are looking down at their legs instead of up the road. I think this is a great step ’cause when they DO look up occasionally they get a light flash and it’s gotta help. At least drunks are TRYING to stay in the lane and looking up the road.

Michael

9 years ago

@anonymous: Judging from the first picture showing it in action…someone didn’t remember to embed the animated gif into the title picture showing it in action.

Adam

9 years ago

The Specialized flux rear light is 110 lumens.

andrew

9 years ago

Just got one of these. First time I saw the 65 lumen burst up close it gave me headache. Definitely visible during the day!

Antipodean_G

9 years ago

@Brian S “Nice stereotype showing a woman texting. [Eye roll]” yea, right? I see just am many guys playing with phones while driving as I do women, and holding it just like the woman in this pic!!

Jay

9 years ago

@Adam Specialized one isn’t bad. Lumens aren’t everything however. A good lens can make the difference. The Specialized model doesn’t last as long, costs more and at least in theory is visible only 1/2 as far as the Bontrager model.

Dinotte has had a 140 Lumen up to over 400 lumen tail light for years, but costs much more.

This Flare R seems to be a good little light.

Sean P

9 years ago

I have new Dinotte Quad tail light. Yes, it is expensive, but it has a much longer battery life and is much brighter. I was a little confused when I saw the “flare” name as Exposure has had a Flare rear light for a few years.

Ryan

9 years ago

Cygolite Hotshot continues to keep me extremely happy with my taillight choice.

muf

9 years ago

i commute by bike everyday. it doesnt matter how bright the light is, ppl on their phone will NOT see it. Its a false assumption.

Heck, more often than not, if they’re on their phone and do something stupid (like push me on the side walk), i look through their window to tell them to wake the f*ck up.. an i see them on the phone, they still haven’t noticed me at this point.. sad, very sad. (and I just go on my way – disappointed).
For the record ive a hiviz jacket, front and back lights (2x front, 2x back) of reasonable brightness w/ non-blinding glass.

What I ALSO see is a bunch of bikes with EXTREMELY bright front lights with regular glass, and when they cross my way (and Im on my bike) i can’t see SH*T. I can’t see where they exactly are, i there are pedestrians nearby, or another bike without light. Or the path for that matter. Blind.

So f*ck this trend of super bright lights, its dumb, doesn’t work most of the time, and dangerous.

Cars ALL have non-blinding glass on their head and backlights.

Bruce

9 years ago

Please also consider featuring dinottelighting.com. I use their brightest daytime only, but external battery, tail light and most drivers give me a wide birth when passing. I would not ride without it.

word

9 years ago

Exposure blaze is 80 lumens and made of metal

James S

9 years ago

I used to wear a high viz yellow vest in urban traffic. My personal experience is that it made almost no difference. The people who are paying attention will see you with or without the vest, the other drivers will not see you even if you are lit up like the 4th of July. Their brains are in a distracted reptilian mode that only recognizes other cars as things to avoid and does not register pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, dogs, cats, circus elephants or anything else as being worthy of attention.

Psi Squared

9 years ago

There are a lot of tales on here, yet none of shown that a bright tail light wouldn’t grab the attention of some drivers. Let me know when an n=1 sampling is sufficient for drawing conclusions.

Frippolini

9 years ago

@ James S, + 1 on that comment. 🙂

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=P3uZHJppMTs

Milessio

9 years ago

@ James S, exactly:

Good luck anything, including bright flashing rear light v https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cs0iwz3NEC0

anonymous

9 years ago

Cagers get mad at you when you wear bright obnoxious high vis clothing and throw soda cups at you.

alistair

9 years ago

Several people have made the point already but im just going to throw it out there again, there are already a host of much brighter tail lights out there. trek/bontrager has billed this as their most important product release of the year but what it actually is, is a joke.

Vic

9 years ago

I like bright lights for night time i think they make a bigger difference. I do know that some people even ones paying attention will drive very close to you. I live in Nice, France where i see pros around quite often riding on the road. Most people will give you a nice wide birth. The scooters and motorcycles around here are more dangerous then cars. On back roads though its not even a contest cars completely move to the other lane. I dont even use the bike path here cuz pedestrians are even worse then cars believe it or not. I saw some guy over take another bike and go head on into a woman on the bike path haha.

Mike Jacoubowsky

8 years ago

The point to a super-visible tail light isn’t to improve visibility when someone is getting close to you. If a drive is zoned out, they’re still going to miss it. Rather, the idea is to attract their attention from a distance, greatly increasing the amount of time where they might just happen to look up and pay attention and see you. The theory being, once they see you, they’ll keep tracking you until they pass. –Mike Jacoubowsky