Legal lights?

General cycling advice ( NOT technical ! )
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freiston
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Re: Legal lights?

Post by freiston »

Coming from the South Lincolnshire fens, as a teenager, I used to cycle up to the Wolds or to the North Norfolk coast for the hills :D
Disclaimer: Treat what I say with caution and if possible, wait for someone with more knowledge and experience to contribute. ;)
LancsGirl
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Re: Legal lights?

Post by LancsGirl »

mjr wrote: 18 Aug 2022, 2:32pm
LancsGirl wrote: 11 Aug 2022, 12:23pm It's flat. Very flat. Not quite Norfolk, but still pretty flat.
Repeating Noel Coward's stupid incorrect comment (Huntingdonshire is flatter in terms of highest to lowest, while Cambs and Lincs are both flatter by % of flattish land, thanks to Lincs also having some at its north end) really demotivates me from sharing any further useful info.
I'm so sorry to have offended you to the point of "demotivation". It must be terrible to hear your county so grossly mischaracterised. Please accept my most humble apologies. I will try in future not to make such awful geographical errors. I will now go to my room and think about what I have done.
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mjr
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Re: Legal lights?

Post by mjr »

LancsGirl wrote: 18 Aug 2022, 10:51pm I'm so sorry to have offended you to the point of "demotivation". It must be terrible to hear your county so grossly mischaracterised. Please accept my most humble apologies. I will try in future not to make such awful geographical errors. I will now go to my room and think about what I have done.
It's more that "very flat Norfolk" is not only repeating a geographic error by a pompous ass but it's been repeated so often that plenty of fools believe it and it really has become very tiresome, like Somersetters all being drunk on "zyder" or Lancs being full of sarky black-pudding-obsessed wearers of oversize flat caps saying "ecky thump".
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk
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AlaninWales
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Re: Legal lights?

Post by AlaninWales »

mjr wrote: 18 Aug 2022, 11:25pm
LancsGirl wrote: 18 Aug 2022, 10:51pm I'm so sorry to have offended you to the point of "demotivation". It must be terrible to hear your county so grossly mischaracterised. Please accept my most humble apologies. I will try in future not to make such awful geographical errors. I will now go to my room and think about what I have done.
It's more that "very flat Norfolk" is not only repeating a geographic error by a pompous ass but it's been repeated so often that plenty of fools believe it and it really has become very tiresome, like Somersetters all being drunk on "zyder" or Lancs being full of sarky black-pudding-obsessed wearers of oversize flat caps saying "ecky thump".
Indeed, as if that ancient Martial Art was taught to the incoming masses, rather than being kept as a secret of close initiates (and Bill).
Mike Sales
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Re: Legal lights?

Post by Mike Sales »

AlaninWales wrote: 19 Aug 2022, 11:08am
Indeed, as if that ancient Martial Art was taught to the incoming masses, rather than being kept as a secret of close initiates (and Bill).
I'll make you a MASTER of LLAP-Goch ... the Secret Welsh ART of SELF DEFENCE that requires NO INTELLIGENCE, STRENGTH or PHYSICAL courage.
The FANTASTIC SECRETS of the SECRET world-famous method of SELF DEFENCE, kept secret for centuries because of their DEADLY POWER to MAIM, KILL, SMASH, BATTER, FRACTURE, CRUSH, DISMEMBER, CRACK, DISEMBOWEL, CRIPPLE, SNAP and HARM are now revealed to YOU in the English Language by a LLAP-GOCH master AT HIS OWN RISK, PROVIDED you promise to MAIM, CRUSH, DISEMBOWEL and so on ONLY in SELF DEFENCE. (This is just to cover ourselves, as you will understand.)
http://www.llapgoch.org.uk/
It's the same the whole world over
It's the poor what gets the blame
It's the rich what gets the pleasure
Isn't it a blooming shame?
LancsGirl
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Re: Legal lights?

Post by LancsGirl »

mjr wrote: 18 Aug 2022, 11:25pm
LancsGirl wrote: 18 Aug 2022, 10:51pm I'm so sorry to have offended you to the point of "demotivation". It must be terrible to hear your county so grossly mischaracterised. Please accept my most humble apologies. I will try in future not to make such awful geographical errors. I will now go to my room and think about what I have done.
It's more that "very flat Norfolk" is not only repeating a geographic error by a pompous ass but it's been repeated so often that plenty of fools believe it and it really has become very tiresome, like Somersetters all being drunk on "zyder" or Lancs being full of sarky black-pudding-obsessed wearers of oversize flat caps saying "ecky thump".
You seem to have difficulty telling the difference between places and people.

I quite like some of Noel Coward's stuff. I wouldn't call him a "pompous ass" myself. Maybe "takes one to..." applies here.

And anyway all Lancastrians are exactly like that. Bertha is coming round for some Black Pudding this evening, in fact. We'll be dancing afterwards.
LancsGirl
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Re: Legal lights?

Post by LancsGirl »

freiston wrote: 18 Aug 2022, 10:30am
squeaker wrote: 18 Aug 2022, 10:21am
LancsGirl wrote: 17 Aug 2022, 5:31pm I don't particularly like the rubber band attachment thingy. I'm sure it's a top of the range rubber band, but I'd prefer something more secure, and adjustable more precisely.
I'm with you there! Someone making those dreadful rubber straps must have done an ace selling job on several otherwise sensible light manufacturers :(
+1 from me too. A light needs to be securely held and set to the required angle and the only time it will change angle is when the rider wants to change it. As a method of temporarily removing a light, e.g. when going into a shop, they're not as good as a well-executed alternative. Using such a mount to adjust the light on the hoof as a "dipping" feature is moot for the kind of light we're talking about (and imho, a problematic and inadequate solution with other lights).

I do like my Garmin rubber band mount though - horses for courses!
Anyway, back to the subject on the card, after some county based hyper-sensitivity...

The rubber band based mounting thing does come off, so that the Go Pro mount can be attached. But I daresay that as it looks like a machine screw attaches it, it shouldn't be beyond the wit of woman to use that to attach to something more substantial and/or adjustable. But given the gazillion GoPro mounting devices available, one of them should do.
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freiston
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Re: Legal lights?

Post by freiston »

Sounds good. Please let us know how you get on with it :)
Disclaimer: Treat what I say with caution and if possible, wait for someone with more knowledge and experience to contribute. ;)
Bmblbzzz
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Re: Legal lights?

Post by Bmblbzzz »

I'm not entirely sure I know what you're referring to as a rubber band mount. Any chance of a pic or link?
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Re: Legal lights?

Post by Bmblbzzz »

Oh, and the only bit of Norfolk I've been to is Norwich, which I recall being on a slight hill, while Lancashire – or at least Manchester and Merseyside – are both notoriously flat. Now, it's time for lunch, so I'm off to have some smashed avocado on sourdough before inhaling a nitrous cannister, then throwing something in the docks, because that's what everyone does every day in Brizzle!
LancsGirl
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Re: Legal lights?

Post by LancsGirl »

Bmblbzzz wrote: 19 Aug 2022, 1:37pm I'm not entirely sure I know what you're referring to as a rubber band mount. Any chance of a pic or link?
It's a very glorified rubber band:

https://ride.lezyne.com/products/lite-d ... zo-pro-115
Bmblbzzz
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Re: Legal lights?

Post by Bmblbzzz »

Okay, thanks for the link. I realise I actually have a light with a rubber band mounting, but it's a very small "be seen" Cateye light, which probably weighs a tenth of that.
LancsGirl
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Re: Legal lights?

Post by LancsGirl »

So, to report back on mounting options.

Caveat, I haven't used this light in "anger" yet. By which I mean in the dark. But it might be a long time before I do that, and nights are drawing in, and other posters may be making commuting purchase decisions.

The light I bought was this:
https://ride.lezyne.com/products/lite-d ... zo-pro-115
There's a + version, which as far as I can make out is the same but with twice the battery capacity.

It's StVZO compliant, so has an upper "cut-off".

It comes with that rubber band attachment. OK, it's probably polybondasynthathene, but you know what I mean. I'm sure it's very strong etc. And it's convenient for rapid attachment. But as has been pointed out, useless for repeated accurate installation.

So I bought one of these:

https://www.lezynestore.com/led-parts/l ... -5204.html

The rubber band thingy is attached with a single hex bolt (you have to take the assembly apart to get at it). After unscrewing the bolt, the same bolt is used to attach the GoPro adapter. It comes with an O ring to seal it against water (I assume). It feels very strong.

The advantage of it being a GoPro mount is that there are tons of GoPro mounting devices.

My phone mount came with the other half of a GoPro mount, along with all sorts of other things. I attached it to the Lezyne mount on the bottom of the light and it slips onto the bike mount. So far it seems perfect. I can use the screw that joins the two halves together to adjust the light up or down, and once set it stays the same when I take it on and off the bike.

If you don't have any sort of bike GoPro mounting thing, GoPro's own looks like the best option:

https://gopro.com/en/us/shop/mounts-acc ... M-001.html

As it seems to allow easy demounting. And also accommodates a very wide range of bar diameters.

The GoPro official mount also allows rotation in the horizontal plane, but read carefully, it will be in 22.5 degree increments (if my maths is correct). I think if you want to line it up precisely, maybe to shine a little to the left (?), you probably need to do that on the bottom of the light.

There are plenty of cheap and cheerful GoPro mounts on eBay, but a lot of them seem to be "fixed". For security/recharging I don't want to be messing about with a hex key. There are also copies of the GoPro one, but they tend to get poor reviews. Also the cheap ones are often 31.8 only, so shims etc.

Anyway, hope that helps somebody.

EDIT: By the way, some users of various Lezyne lights have commented that it's awkward to attach the "rubber band". It is, if you leave everything pointing in the same direction. Lezyne's own recommended method is to rotate the lamp and the mount in different directions in order to attach the rubber band to the hook (on the bike), then twist the lamp back into line again:

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0043/ ... 1.pdf?3412

This is sub-optimal. Because:

1. It won't be reliably mounted the same way each time.

2. There may be restricted room to do this on the bike - that was the case with me, it interfered with the phone.

3. Eventually that repeated twisting might wear something, or encourage water leaks.

"My" method, the GoPro mount, solves all three of those problems.
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freiston
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Re: Legal lights?

Post by freiston »

Although not relevant to my lighting set-up, I find this a very informative and potentially useful post. Thank you very much.
Disclaimer: Treat what I say with caution and if possible, wait for someone with more knowledge and experience to contribute. ;)
LancsGirl
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Re: Legal lights?

Post by LancsGirl »

freiston wrote: 6 Sep 2022, 2:25pm Although not relevant to my lighting set-up, I find this a very informative and potentially useful post. Thank you very much.
No worries. I've had useful info from people who know about what I can only describe as "stuff", and post the info in forums like this. Often I've come across the info via random searches. There's a chap here (Bruce?) who crops up a lot.

So I thought I ought to do the same, having done some research, thinking (if you can call it that!), and made some discoveries.

Given that the retail price of the Lezyne GoPro adapter is a whole £3.00 (plus postage), it would be better if Lezyne just threw one in the box. At least then buyers would know it existed.
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