Kryptonite Avenue F-70/R-35 Dual

Kryptonite's new two-in-one Avenue F-70/R-35 Dual light is bright enough for an emergency backup or secondary light. Its ability to work as front or rear is definitely handy, but the mounting system makes it less appealing than it could be.

• Pros: Can be used as front or rear, memory mode
• Cons: Mounting limits/faff; short run-times

The light has 10 modes in total, five for the front and five for the rear. These are cycled through via one rubberised button which is slightly raised and easy to find, even when wearing gloves. There's a memory feature, allowing you to instantly pick up the mode you prefer.

> Find your nearest dealer here

The modes are as follows:

Avenue F-70: Run Time (Hrs) Lumens

• High Steady 1:30 70
• Low Steady 4:00 30
• DayTime Pulse 6:00 70
• NightTime Pulse 7:30 10/30
• Economic Flash 20:00 10

Avenue R-35

• High Flash 1:30 35
• Low Steady 2:00 15
• DayTime Pulse 3:00 35
• NightTime Pulse 5:00 5/15
• Economic Flash 10:00 5

As all of my commuting is on unlit lanes, I found myself mostly using it as a rear light, in DayTime Pulse mode, mounting it on the seatstay on the drive side. I coupled this with a more powerful constant light mounted on the seatpost.

I did use it as a front on some daytime training rides and found the DayTime Pulse to be the perfect visibility aid at 70 lumens. I didn't trouble the six-hour battery promise, even leaving the light on at the cafe and while cleaning the bike after the ride.

Other run-times are a little disappointing, though. Should you need to use this on full power, its hour and a half limit probably means one use per charge.

You can obviously use different modes to preserve battery life. I used it as a rear light on the DayTime Pulse mode on the way to work and then the High Flash mode on the way home, which gave two hours of riding.

Mounting

The ability to use this as a front or rear light is its standout feature. Having a single affordable light in my bag that will fill in for any light on my bike is useful; I have been known to forget to charge lights.

What's not so useful is the light's inability to simply swivel on the bracket. You do get an adaptor so you can mount it vertically or horizontally, but you have to unscrew the adaptors to change them – a slightly fiddly process that requires a Phillips screwdriver. I found the only realistic option was to choose which way I wanted the light mounted, and leave it that way.

> Buyer's Guide: 14 of the best rear lights for cycling

Choosing the shorter mount means it sits either horizontally on the bar or vertically on the seatpost/seatstay. This means the side visibility ports are a bit wasted – they point up and down at the rear, unless you can find a horizontal position to mount it (I couldn't), and at the front the shifters and my hands get in the way. It also takes up a little too much room on the bar.

The other mounting option means the light sits vertically on the bar, which is good for space, but the side visibility windows shoot light straight up into your eyes.

Using a mount you could rotate would cure many of these issues. It's a shame because it really lets the light down.

On a positive note, the band that secures the bracket around a tube is strong and easy to use. There's also some angle adjustment that helped when mounting the light to my seatstay. It also comes with a slim mount for attaching to clothing or a bag, which is handy.

Waterproofing

The light has seen steady rain, plenty of road spray, and also a thorough soaking from the hosepipe. Nothing has troubled it. It's also picked up a surprising amount of oily grime from being mounted low on my drive side seatstay. It's come up clean after every wash.

Conclusion

For an emergency light, I'm happy that this would get me home, working well as a rear light, and as a front light on flashing it was good in daylight and in a lit environment.

> Need things brighter up front? Check out our 55-light beam comparison 

For this to work easily as either a front and rear light, though, the mounting bracket really needs to be rotatable. For a tenner more I'd go for the Moon Aerolite COB. The battery life is better and, while boasting fewer lumens, the mounting options are, I feel, more useful for the purposes of an emergency blinker.

Verdict

The absence of a rotatable mount spoils a robust and potentially very handy emergency commuting option