 Nighttime skating for me is sometimes the most soulful and relaxing skating time I get. A problem skating at night is that some of the best runs don't have streetlights, which makes riding them at night a bit sketchy...
Even though I know the curves in the road, the cars unfortunately don't know I'm going to be around the next curve.  For the past couple weeks I've ridden a Sector 9 "The Nine" with NightGrinders instead of standard riser pads. NightGrinders are aluminum risers with two bright LED's on the front (the kind of LED you see on key chain flashlights sometimes) and a red one in the back.
I think the main advantage to using the NightGrinders is the increased visibility they give you to cars. At twilight, a longboarder is practically invisible until you are about 20 or 30 feet away, with the NightGrinders cars can see you from a couple blocks away. For casual carving and pushing, the NightGrinders are great-they make a big enough difference to make a street that would otherwise be too dark to skate without them bright enough to comfortably skate. The light shines about 10 to 15 feet, which isn't extremely far if you're going 20+ mph and on a moonless night with no streetlights, they don't provide enough light on their own to carve a hill. However, they do help if there is a full moon and you are mainly using them to avoid potholes, rocks or other obstructions. In addition, when you are walking back up the hill they provide a great flashlight.
The nine volt battery is lasts 50 hours, which is great, and since they are made of "6061 Aircraft Aluminum" they are pretty light weight-I didn't notice any significant change in the weight of my board with the NightGrinders. They raise the board slightly higher than most risers. I had half inch risers on before and the night grinders say they are 9/16" of an inch high, but to me the seemed closer to 10/16"-just enough to make the screws I had on before too short. NightGrinders won't light up a jet-black hill, but they will improve your visibility to cars and make casual nighttime skating safer and more fun-functionality aside, they look very cool. 
UPDATE:
This just in from nightgrinder: (03/19/2002)
NightGrinder has developed 3/8" riser pad light, we are proto typing the product tonight. We will have pictures "at night"' on the website by Monday morning. We are selling this product as singles; they should retail around $29.00. We will be selling it from the websiteas well.
Brian Rogers
NightGrinders |
Gear & Accessories 
