Gravel Bike Lights
A gravel ride is rarely just gravel. It's pavement out of town, dirt roads for hours, and traffic again on the way home, often after the sun is gone. So the setup we point gravel riders to is the same one we'd put on a road bike: Detour on the handlebar, Hangover on your helmet, and Blade on the seat post. All USB-C, no wires, no battery packs.
Gravel Bike Light Specs, Side by Side
Three lights, three jobs: see the road surface, see into the corner, and be seen from behind.
| Light | Mounts On | Output | Runtime | Weight | Job on a Gravel Ride |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Detour | Handlebar | ~1,200 lumens | 2.6 hours (Adaptive Mode), 8.5 hours (Low) | 150 g | Wide, even cutoff beam that shows you the road surface |
| Hangover | Helmet | 900 lumens | 1.6 hours (Adaptive Mode) | 105 g | Points where you look, for loose corners and descents |
| Blade | Seat Post | Up to 300 lumen peak | 8 to 120 hours (by mode) | 125 g | Tail light for the paved stretches and the ride home |
One Setup for Pavement and Dirt
Detour uses automotive style optics to make the low beam of a car, but for your bike: a wide, evenly lit pool of light from your front tire out to where you're looking, with a sharp cutoff at the top. On dirt that even light is what lets you read the surface, the loose stuff, the potholes and the washboard, instead of staring into one bright spot. On the paved sections it keeps the light out of the eyes of drivers and other riders.
It's self contained and slim enough to fit in a pocket, and it charges over USB-C with pass-through charging, so a small power bank turns it into an all night light. Sticking to pavement? See road bike lights. Singletrack after dark is a different job, and that's what our mountain bike lights are for.
Gravel Bike Light Questions
What are the best bike lights for gravel riding?
A handlebar light with a wide, even beam, a light helmet light, and a tail light. For us that's Detour, Hangover and Blade. If you're only buying one to start, make it Detour. Add the helmet light when you start riding loose corners in the dark, and the tail light the first time your route touches a road with cars on it.
Do these work as bikepacking lights?
Yes, and the reason is charging. Detour and Hangover both charge over USB-C and support pass-through charging, so you can run them off the same power bank that charges your phone and GPS, while you ride. No proprietary battery packs to carry. On its own, Detour runs 8.5 hours on Low and 4.2 on Medium, and Blade runs anywhere from 8 to 120 hours depending on mode, so the tail light will usually outlast the trip.
Will the battery last a long gravel ride?
Detour runs about 2.6 hours in Adaptive Mode, 4.2 hours on Medium and 8.5 hours on Low. Outside of Adaptive Mode every mode is a solid output, so what you get at the start is what you get at the end. For an all night event, plug in a small USB power bank and keep riding. It's how people get through 24 hour races on one light.
Do I need a helmet light on gravel?
It helps more than you'd think. Your handlebar light points where the bike points. On a loose corner or a fast descent you're looking through the turn well before the bike gets there, and a helmet light puts light where your eyes are. Hangover is 105 g, light enough to forget about on a long day.
Can I use a mountain bike light on my gravel bike?
It'll work, but a trail light has no cutoff, so on any stretch with traffic you'll be blinding drivers and other riders. Most gravel rides include some pavement, which is why we point gravel riders to Detour. If your rides are mostly singletrack, look at our mountain bike lights instead.
Will the mount hold up on washboard and rough roads?
Yes. Detour uses a bolt-on quick release clamp made from fiberglass reinforced nylon, not a rubber strap, so the beam stays where you aimed it and the light clicks back into the same spot every ride. It fits 31.8mm and 35mm bars. Want it tucked under your bike computer, or running a non-round bar? Use the Action Camera Quick Release Mount.
Do I need a tail light for gravel riding?
If any part of the ride shares a road with cars, yes. Blade is our rear bike light: steady red to the rear, amber out to the sides for when a car comes alongside, and 8 to 120 hours per charge depending on mode.
What happens when I crash and break it?
Tell us what happened and we'll sort it out. Every light has a three year warranty, plus our Don't Be A Dick lifetime extension. Two rules: be kind, and be honest, even if it was your fault. Details are on the warranty page.
Who Makes These
We do. Outbound Lighting is a small, independent company based out of Chicago, with an office in Bellingham, Washington as well. No private equity, not publicly traded. The lights are designed, engineered and assembled by our own team, and they ship straight from our production floor.
We started in 2017, out of automotive lighting engineering and a lot of frustration with riding behind glorified flashlights. Every beam pattern here is designed the way a car headlight is: put the light exactly where it's needed and don't waste the rest. Power is nothing without control.