As we head into winter looking to upgrade my lighting as my rides are extending into the dark. Anybody have any ideas? Looking for options that are brighter than an MR11 bulb. Open to modding the numberplate to suit

 

Probably be better off fitting some LED bicycle lights and clamping them to the bars / fork legs.

For mountainbiking we find a helmet mounted lamp is good as it illuminates what you are looking at (and so going to tackle) rather than what the headstock is pointed at.  I agree with rcgods - the new generation LED MTB lights are very good.  You will find lots of reviews of different makes on the MTB sites.  Get a rechargeable li-ion battery with a long cord so the light unit is lightweight for helmet mounting.  From memory they are a couple of hundred for a decent one and if you look hard there are some half decent cheap ones at about 110 ish.