Silva PAVE bicycle light reveiew

Silva Pave Bike Light

                                             550 lumen output and only 50 grams in weight                

The Pave is Silva's top of the range light designed specifically for bikes. The Silva Pave is ultra lightweight, compact and astonishingly bright.

Powered by 2 ultra bright LED bulbs the Pave delivers 550 lumens of output, and thanks to Silvas Intelligent Lighting system the light is directed to exactly where it is needed.

The light can be easily mounted on the handlebars of your bike, or if you prefer on top of your helmet. Mounting the light is a simple process that needs no extra tools, as it is all done with the integrated rubber strap that comes with the light.

The Silva Pave comes supplied with an externally rechargeable battery pack, which can be easily mounted on the frame of your bike. The Pave has also been designed with cold weather in mind, as all of the controls and adjustments can be carried out while wearing gloves. 

Our Verdict

• Having used exposure lights for donkeys years I thought going back to the faff of wires and batteries would be to much, but I was wrong this light is faff free, It take 10 seconds to attach and 2 to take off.
• Ultralight weight.
• Battery life survived some blinking cold rides around  minus 10  and I didn't notice much reduction in burn time.
• Astonishingly powerful on full power mode. 550 lumen output. With 2 hours 30mins  battery life.

If you need a lightweight powerful bike light then this is the one to get. At only 50 grams and with a 550 lumen output the figures speak for themselves. Not the cheapest bike light available, but with excellent build quality and its amazing specs you wont be disappointed..

Silva Pave Bike Light Product Features

• Lightweight
• Portable
• Attaches to Handlebars or Helmet
• Easy to attach / detach (when going to the pub for post ride pint)
• Large on / off button

Stuff we would like to see as an option

• Silva do a Running version of this light with a elastic headband, we would like this head band to available aftermarket as we at www.Backcountrybiking.co.uk come from a bit more of an adventure slant and the option to wear the light around the campsite appeals.
• Another option that would be amazing would be the option of a battery pack that takes standard batteries, this would mean on prolonged tours finding new power would be easier.

Silva Pave Bike Light Product Specifications

Light modes
                                                                    Max, Min, Wide, Blink
Batteries / type
                                                                    2,5Ah 7,4V Li-ion
Discharge time                                               ( Max / Min / Wide / Blink )
                                                                   2h 30min / 10h /10h / 20h
Light distance 
                                                                   90 metres
Waterproof
                                                                   IPX6 
Lumens
                                                                   550
Weight ( excl Batteries )
                                                                   50 grams
Bulb type
                                                                   2 x High power LED
Beam pattern
                                                                   Silva Intelligent Light
Temperature operating range
                                                                   -20°C -  -  + 60°C

www.backcountrybiking.co.uk would like to thank Silva UK for enabling us to test this awesome new bit of kit.

Andy

---

A week of pushing my bike up big bloody mountains part 1

It's been just about a year since we went to Knoydart. You may think that it's taken me a while to get over it, but no, I've just had other stuff on.

It was probably the hardest 5 days I've spent on/beside/underneath a bicycle. During the the "planning" phase we were all giddy with ideas: "What if this pass goes?" and "Oh look that'd only be a 2km hike through that bealach".  All the time underestimating the seriousness of the terrain!

So myself, Rob & Phil set off early on a Monday morning  to get to Mallaig for the first ferry over to Inverie. We planned to meet our fourth compadre, Dawid, in Inverie as he had cycled there over the weekend from Aviemore (because he gets car sick). Oh, he also decided that he didn't need a map because it was such a short distance and all he needed do was head west.

As oftens trips go, we arrived for the ferry 10mins before it departed, so cue unpacking of the car, packing the bikes, last minute faffing oh and trying to find Dawid. Then, Phil running along the pier just as the boat was leaving.

The ferry journey really started the adventure in our heads. As we turned towards Inverie and the magnificent vista opened up before us we just sat there and soaked up the beauty of the landscape we were about to immerse ourselves in for the next 5 days.

Arriving in Inverie amongst the 'standard' tourists, it was cool knowing they were just here for a spot of walking or whale watching but we were about to set off unsupported into Scotland's last great wilderness for 5 days of bikepacking.

We faffed a little more once the boat had unloaded. Phil stashed his skinny jeans in the bushes and we rolled out of town and into our unknown.

The trail climbed gently out of the village  but this was the wake up call that I had not expected. 5 days of food/water camping gear and other bits and bobs really makes your bike pedal like you've got your brakes on! But I soon adjusted to it and manned up. The terrain opened up once we left the trees and and wow this place is truly rugged, real mountains with pointy tops and everything. We cycled on towards Gleann Meadail and started the long ride/push up to Mam Meadail. Now, at this point I think I should mention that we had just experienced 5 weeks of wall to wall sunshine and this day was the first rain we had felt in that time. As we reached 3/4s up the hill it pissed down on us and started blowing hard, but as we made the col the weather eased up and presented Sgurr na Ciche in all it's glory across the glen. But that was nothing compared with the alpine-esque switchback singletrack descent from 550m to sea level. See video up there.

Unfortunately, half way down this first descent in a bloomin' remote place, Rob binned it.... super slow over the handle bars style and he seriously thought that he'd broken his leg! Fuck, what now? The pain eased slightly and he hobbled down the rest of the descent. This brought home the seriousness of what we were doing and so we all put on our grown up heads and gingerly continued towards Sourlies bothy.

Riding across the beach at the head of Loch Nevis at low tide perked us up again, and spying the bothy from a distance really lifted out spirits.

We set up camp and ate some food and then still giddy with our new adventure, skimmed stones and drank whisky till it got dark.

Surly Moonlander, Surly Pugsley photo shoot

First off A massive thanks to Paul Masson from Cycletherapy who kindly gave up a bluebird day and came and took some awesome pictures of myself and Rob riding fat bikes.

Enough from me I'll let Paul's work do the talking.

Enjoy  

Monadhliath Traverse Photos

A few photos of our latest 3 day snow biking trip.  And yes, the weather is always like this.  Enjoy!