Recommended light for front wicker basket

[burroc]

A friend of my wife has a Pendleton bike with a front wicker basket, for pootling in and out of the nearby village. She lives down an unlit rural lane and finds the front light on her bike will not illuminate the numerous potholes. Presumably the easiest way to fit a light to a wicker basket is to get one with a back plate. I wonder if anyone could suggest such a light that will be reasonably effective in lighting the way. A possible alternative would be to attach a light to the front fork, but the basket seems the more sensible location. Many thanks.

[Brucey]

if you are going to actually carry stuff in a wicker basket then it will need to have a support of some kind. (Various popular bikes from Pendleton and Pashley etc have flimsy baskets that are not well supported; they look pretty enough but in use they are rather disappointing).

Anyway the best place to mount the front light is to the RH leg of a basket support; you won't see the potholes as clearly if the lamp is mounted too high up; it needs to be able to cast (visible) shadows into the potholes, so something attached to the top of the basket is usually too high. I favour fork crown height or a touch below this.

This is a traditional support



the current Adie version of this comes with a short length of dummy handlebar instead of the traditional lamp bracket. In most cases a little engineering is required to get the lamp mounting 'perfect'.

In addition to the above setup I would -if you plan to carry any real weight in the basket- recommend that the load in the basket is spread somewhat (the bracket otherwise punches its way through the bottom of the basket) and also that a stay is added between the fork crown and the bracket; this will make the whole thing a lot more sturdy.

cheers

[tim-b]

Hi
The problem with front lamp mounting is that the "official" basket frame seems to be a round section, and the forks are a rounded, tapered section as well and a clamp can rotate into the front wheel with disastrous results. I guess that's why you opted for the basket
You might be able to add a bracket to the basket's rearmost support that comes from the fork crown, but that'll depend on clearance.
My choice would be a helmet-mounted lamp (link) hung upside down from the reinforced bottom of the basket; you can find a range of makes and prices if you hunt around, or just buy a bracket and add your own choice of lamp
Regards
tim-b

[PT1029]

Wicker baskets have a thicker rim around the top of the basket. If at the front of the basket you prise open a gap in the basket strands/sticks just below the thicker rim bit, you can fit a handle bar light bracket around the thicker rim part of the basket. You may/may not need to add rubber shims under the bracket when you do this. Aim for the middle bit of the basket, as the sides tend to curve round, so pointing you light sideways to some degree. This means the light is at the front of the basket, so it won't be obscured if you have a tall pile of stuff/bag in the basket.
Mounting a light on a helmet (if you wear one) could work, but won't comply with the lighting regs small print if it is your only light (lights must be fixed to the bicycle, an extra light on your helmet is OK). That said, you are unlikely to be stopped by the police for a light on your helmet (or stopped for anything else for that matter these days...).
Twice each winter the local police to a clamp down in Oxford (pull over anyone with out lights on a major route out of the city center), on this occasion they also pull over people with helmet mouted lights but no lights mounted on their bike. Those stopped get a fine, which is cancelled if they turn up at the police station within 2 weeks with a receipt from a bike shop showing that lights have been fitted. The fine is more that a lot of lights, but a large % end up paying the fine. Too much money or too little time I guess!

[philsknees]

An ebay link to Brucey's recommended approach:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Adie-Bike-Ba ... .l4275.c10

[mr_mark_sid]

Another note on mounting directly beneath the basket....

... I had several *very* near misses with farm lorries with such a mounting on a similar country lane to that described. I realised before something worse happened that mounting a light directly beneath the basket (or handlebar bag in my case) creates a blind spot for lorry cabs, which prevents them seeing the front light.

My solution was to mount the light as Brucey suggests but also to use a secondary helmet light. The extra elevation on my helmet optimises visibility for lorry cabs. I have had no near misses since taking these measures.

[cyclop]

Carbide lamp?

[Brucey]

re mounting the light under the basket; there may indeed be a problem seeing this from an elevated position, if the light is set well back (eg on the fork crown). However with the basket support mounting, the lamp is usually well forwards and isn't obscured in the same way.

FWIW I don't much like front lamps which are mounted well down on the fork leg; they are also obscured from some angles.

In any event if you are riding at night then you can decorate the bike with reflexite and this can mitigate some deficiencies in the lights themselves.

cheers

[burroc]

Many thanks for the varied and helpful responses. A successful outcome, making use of the front support suggested by Brucey. Not entirely straightforward though, as the rack proved to be about 3 inches too short. All sorted now though, so thanks again to all.

[Brucey]

glad it worked out OK in the end. Do you have a photo of the end result? I'm sure folk would like to see it.

cheers

[burroc]

Apologies - I returned the bike without taking photos.
The support was excellent and if it had not been for the post from Brucey I would never have known such a thing existed. At first glance I was somewhat disappointed. One of the bolts was missing, one of the holes for the front axle was smaller than the other (and too small for the axle), and the lamp holder bracket was loose and would not tighten. Not to mention the 3 inch gap between the support and the underside of the basket even after I had refixed the basket attachment such that the basket was as low as possible. This gap was no doubt because it was a sit-up and beg type bike and was not a fault of the support though. Luckily all came good in the end. I painted a 3 inch strip of wood (multiple coats) and used screws to connect it to the support and the basket using the metal strip provided. Hence no bolts necessary. I don't expect the bike to be used in the rain. The wiring for the light was neatly tucked away and the separate rechargeable battery pack (much smaller than expected) sat snugly under a band of cut up inner tube in the bottom of the basket and beneath the bag used to line the basket. The dodgy light bracket was sorted once I had managed to get the end plug out so I could access the screw inside.
The new front light came with a small but bright rear light too (the bike owner had ordered the bits I recommended, the rear light was unexpected). A small bracket later and it fitted really neatly using the same screw attachment as the rear reflector, attached to the rear rack.
The bike's owner did not notice the strip of painted wood nor did I point out any of the other minor modifications I made. They were pleased with the result - a 1200 lumens rechargeable light to see the potholes and a much sturdier basket (and now horizontal too)

Aplogies for the length of this: next time I will take a photo instead.