Rear light mounting problems

[roubaixtuesday]

When I had a similar setup, I simply attached a battery-powered rear lamp to the back of the wedge bag.

The clip on type?

I've tried 3 or four different and always find they end up falling off - others seem to use them routinely. The fabric tab to clip them too always seems to be very thin...

Any tips?

[simonineaston]

Get what you're saying... the wedge pack I had back then, I still have. I've just looked at it and it has a thick, fabric band, onto which the lamp clipped. see below I'm thinking that's quite within the scope of a keen amateur sewer Bit of spare black webbing would do the trick, especially if doubled. Wenzel thread is your friend.
This location would be excellent from the point of view of protecting the lamp from walls or knocks.

fabric tab on rear of small wedge bag

[simonineaston]

thread here no horse required...

[roubaixtuesday]

Cheers!

[tatanab]

thread here no horse required...

Same stuff available from your bike shop. Sold as tubular tyre repair thread. Somehow it is more expensive than that for horse owners, but you might bundle it up with other parts. For several decades I have kept a supply, mainly for repairing small leather goods.

[simonineaston]

Me too! It's one of those products that most peeps don't seem to know about, but comes in useful, infrequently-but-very-usefully Funnily enough, my horsey chums hadn't heard of it and used to fix up tack with butcher's twine, which is great for boning & rolling a joint, but doesn't seem to last that well, once exposed to the elements. I think Wenzel is linen and maybe already waxed?

[mjr]

One I've been impressed with on a Friday Night Ride to the Coast ride before was a fibre-flare attached to the seatstay.

It was very visible.

But usually illegal because it is visible from the front because it is thicker than most road bike stays, so should be amber not red, but they only made them in red and white when I checked. They then made the second generation brighter not thinner, still missing a useful market.

[9494arnold]

I have used a second Mudguard loop ( the bit that usually sits under the Mudguard that the stays fit in) on the end of the stays above the Mudguard with an LED attached.

Also stopped a clip on LED escaping with a zip tie and a small drill .

And punched a hole in a wedge bag and introduced a zip tie to hang an LED on.

And you can get those little LED's on a rubber strap on the stays. Not spectacular but better than nothing.

I have seen runners recently with LED ankle straps. (And dogs with LED collars ! Not riding bikes though)

Probably illegal but even as a retired Police Officer I would much rather see a light than nothing.

[LollyKat]

I have a Smart rear light with a belt clip (like this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00VMGAV7S/ref=dp_prsubs_3) mounted on a pannier loop - a thin slice from a narrowish inner tube stretched over the light and the hook of the clip is enough to stop it jumping off.

[David9694]

I'd recommend one of these mudguard mounted lights (B+M Secula)
https://www.spacycles.co.uk/m12b0s39p44 ... -Permanent

There's also this mount that allows 50 mm rack-mount rear lights to be fitted to the mudguard.
https://freshtripe.co.uk/mud-guard-moun ... t-bracket/
(DIY of something similar is fairly simple, provided that you have a suitable chunk of aluminium)



Note that you should take care to get your rear light aimed pretty close to horizontally.

It's fairly common to see lights aimed upwards at around 10° or so, which looks great when checked from 2 or 3 m behind the bike, but because most LED lights have a fairly narrow beam, generally looks much dimmer when viewed from 50 m behind, which is about the distance you want a car driver to find your light obviously bright.
For example, I often see the Cateye LD610 mounted vertically on a seatstay. It looks good, and is low-profile enough to avoid knocks well, but on most bikes it's not possible to aim it correctly, as the mount pivot point isn't far enough out from the seatstay to allow the light to be tilted enough, without the lower end of the light hitting the seatstay.

I’m having to ditch a Secula because it is continually short-circuiting batteries.

Beware any rear mudguard light that has the switch pointing horizontally backwards - it’s too easy to flip it on by mistake if your bike lives with others.

[cycle tramp]

I fashioned a bracket fixed to the mudguard using a bent L shaped plate (bracket) and fixing the lamp holder to it, leaving the seatstay clamp intact. I don't use it regularly - I put it there as a back-up to my rack-mounted rear dynamo lamp. Also, I sometimes use it when luggage is obscuring the dynamo lamp. I'm not sure that the bracket would last long with a light permanently mounted - I would worry about the mudguard stressing and splitting.

Hey, that's a really smart mount - can I ask what thickness alloy you used?

[freiston]

I fashioned a bracket fixed to the mudguard using a bent L shaped plate (bracket) and fixing the lamp holder to it, leaving the seatstay clamp intact. I don't use it regularly - I put it there as a back-up to my rack-mounted rear dynamo lamp. Also, I sometimes use it when luggage is obscuring the dynamo lamp. I'm not sure that the bracket would last long with a light permanently mounted - I would worry about the mudguard stressing and splitting.
https://live.staticflickr.com/4452/37451843610_77d9c1f154_b.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50605897631_1c5f610893_z.jpg

Hey, that's a really smart mount - can I ask what thickness alloy you used?

Thanks
It's a steel flat "L" bracket with two holes on each "leg", about 1.7~2mm thick (I haven't anything to measure it accurately with). As far as I can remember, it came in a pack of assorted brackets/braces from Aldi

[Brucey]

IIRC those brackets are commonly known as 'flat corner plates' or 'flat corner reinforcements' by ironmongers.

cheers

[freiston]

IIRC those brackets are commonly known as 'flat corner plates' or 'flat corner reinforcements' by ironmongers.

cheers

Cheers - I did suspect they had a proper name that I wasn't using. "L" bracket doesn't do the job because of the confusion with a non-flat L shaped bracket.

[mattsccm]

Pinch a front mudguard mounting bracket from some old gourds and rivet in on.
That has me thinking and I bet the slide on one for rear SKS would work as well. The fabric loops on small bag always allow the light to illuminate the floor very well but a cable ties can adjust nicely.