{"id":2446,"date":"2016-10-10T10:00:46","date_gmt":"2016-10-10T15:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.foell.org\/justin\/?p=2446"},"modified":"2023-04-17T10:10:38","modified_gmt":"2023-04-17T15:10:38","slug":"specialized-stix-comp-tail-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.foell.org\/justin\/specialized-stix-comp-tail-light\/","title":{"rendered":"Specialized Stix Comp Tail Light"},"content":{"rendered":"

As you already know, I’m a fan of Topeak’s rack systems. They work great for carrying kids<\/a>, groceries, panniers<\/a>, etc. I’ve gone through a couple iterations of tail lights from Ax-Man Surplus<\/a> that I usually just stick to the back of the rack with 3M Very High Bond (VHB) double-sided foam tape<\/a> and some 3M adhesion promoter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The foam tape, when used with adhesion promoter, works great for all bumps, jumps and falls. The cheap Ax-Man lights however, left something to be desired. One quit after some moisture got into the housing, the other quit because it was just plain cheap – I’d never paid more than $5 for any of them at Ax-Man.<\/p>\n

Since I’d already invested over $100 in my front light<\/a>, I figured it was time to give the back light some love. The sales rep at my local bike shop<\/a> recommended a Specialized Stix light. I’m hesitant to buy anything from “The Big S” but the size and specs were good\u00a0and they had several mounting options. The model I got is the Stix Comp Tail Light<\/a>. The only difference that I could tell between it and the Stix Sport Tail Light<\/a>\u00a0is the Stix Comp\u00a0has 3 LEDs instead of 2 and a larger battery for longer runtime. Leave it to Specialized to label them with nonsense marketing names\u00a0like\u00a0sport<\/em> and\u00a0competition<\/em>. On sale you can get the Stix Comp Tail Light for around $30.<\/p>\n

I doubted the rack-mount option would work on my Topeak racks, but I took a chance and bought it anyway since I recalled my rack has a couple of mounting holes:<\/p>\n

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I figured I’d have to drill a new hole to get the spacing right, but the Stix Reflector Mount<\/a> turned out to be a direct bolt-on fit.<\/p>\n

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The Stix lights are rechargeable and charge via USB. They conveniently attach to the mount using the USB plug and it’s\u00a0secured\u00a0by a rubber hood.<\/p>\n

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Here’s an animation of how you take install\/remove it from the mount:<\/p>\n

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Also, it has a useful\u00a0feature where it indicates the charge whenever you shut it off. As you can see in this video, when you do a long press on the button, it shuts down. But before it shuts off, the LEDs will light at half-brightness indicating the charge level. The video shows two LEDs solid with the third blinking, so it’s approximately 83% charged.<\/p>\n