Blackburn X6 review

If there was a prize for indulgent design Blackburn would win by a finned, fancy plastic mile. The twin 5W LED system comes with a spot and flood head to give a reasonable depth and breadth of illumination with both LEDs running, and a long reach for road or a short spread for slow singletrack.

Our rating

3

This is not a slimline choice, by any means.

Guy Kesteven

Published: December 1, 2006 at 12:00 am

Our review

Thoughtful detailing and decent light performance but bulky and heavy battery

If there was a prize for indulgent design, Blackburn would win by a finned, fancy plastic mile.

The twin 5W LED system comes with a spot and flood head to give a reasonable depth and breadth of illumination with both LEDs running, and a long reach for road or a short spread for slow singletrack. With three levels of dimming you can juggle output and run time, while locking battery connectors stop your leads pulling out.

The giant NiMH battery has an expanding Gore-Tex lining for total waterproofing and the whole set comes with a lifetime defect warranty. It's hugely bulky though and you'll struggle to fit it on a lot of frames, which seems to negate all the natural advantages of compact LEDs.

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Guy Kesteven is one of the world's most experienced bike testers. Having started out working in bike shops, Guy moved into journalism in 1996 and has since written for some of the most respected bike publications out there, including BikeRadar, Cyclingnews and Bike Perfect, while also running his own YouTube channel GuyKesTV. Yorkshire-born Guy is a mountain biker through-and-through, and after more than 25 years as a bike tester, knows what separates the wheat from the chaff. Still, Guy is more than comfortable on drop handlebars, too, not least with the rise of gravel riding. Guy is 180cm tall.