Just curious, how do those of you without handlebars mount lights for night riding?
I bought this inexpensive USB rechargeable set off Amazon because they looked like the only kind that could mount to the seatpost while not hanging off the side, off centered, and being bumped by knees. Mounted, they are not completely centered inline with the seatpost, and are slightly off centered (not bad) but the bigger issue is they point straight out instead of down at the ground.
I tried putting some self-adhesive foam on the back to angle it down but it didn’t help the angle much and the foam won’t stay put.
I think it needs to be mounted to a horizontal bar so it can be angled up/down vs sideways only on the vertical seatpost. It has a belt clip built in that will grab a ~1/4 inch rod (like a Philips screwdriver shaft) reasonably securely… Perhaps there’s a way to mount such a rod/bolt using some L brackets using the front saddle bumper/handle bolts, or some off the shelf clamp of some kind?
I have a Club 24" with the Club Saddle FYI.
Eventually I suppose I will probably add a handle of some kind for mounting items like this and/or a computer, but right now I feel like I still need my arms free to flail about
I put my headlight on my head (helmet) with a battery that I keep in the backpack as it is a very strong bright light. I normally don’t ride with a back light but at some point I had a cheap one that I attached to the frame. It just fell off after a few UPDs and I didn’t bother putting it back on. I don’t generally ride in the dark.
I MTB at night or before sunrise often, and a good quality light setup is a must, typically 1000 lumens is the minimum per light, much less and they don’t work well enough. This may be less important with uni as the speed is much slower and if you are sticking to city riding then probably less of an issue. Generally, you want two lights, one constantly shining forward(attached to bike) and one attached to your helmet.
Most new helmets come with a gopro mount on top, this is where you mount a light that will obviously track with your eyes, you can also buy a strap that weaves through the helmet to make an older helmet work.
In my experience this is enough for a uni since speeds as so much slower than MTB. My next night ride I will experiment with mounting a second light to a GoPro chest mount and see how that works. I haven’t seen a good light mount to attach to a uni frame yet, and doubt it would be a great solution as the frame is constantly oscillating forward and backwards.
This is what I have. Xeccon. Had bought it in an LBS in DK. It is very bright, but does need the battery continuously which is annoying with the cable.
One issue I’ve found with red lights mounted to the frame below the seat is that on a wet day they can be drenched with water from the tire spray. I had to disassemble one and let it dry for two days after it got soaked and stopped working.
I use a wrist mounted light, personally I feel more natural using my left hand to hold the saddle so the torch goes on my right wrist. There are diving torches, or I got a cheap watch with a built-in torch on ebay which worked for me, nothing too technical but bumpy, potholed gravel roads on my 24" muni.
This is not my idea I found it online where someone else had done it and it’s genius. The ring that the flashlight is mounted directly to can be substituted for a bike handlebar flashlight mount but this is not necessary. Most people should be able to set this light up with items already on hand
Nice, is that PVC pipe that has been painted silver? I do have some zip ties and PVC pipe laying around, probably worth a try.
Sticking out in the front like that looks a little prone for being struck or breaking, but then again it probably keeps your knees from messing with the light and maybe zip ties are flexible enough to just let it get tweaked off to the side where you can put it back easily after a upd or whatever.
Thanks for the idea!
It’s funny you mention that. I have a GoPro and I was thinking how those mounts would be perfect if only hey were only for a light…
You can stick those mount bases almost anywhere reasonably flat where the adhesive can stick and then the camera piece has a pivot that you can tighten to lock in place once you have a desired angle.
Thanks for the idea! I will definitely go looking at what kind of options I can find with those.
its aluminum pipe but PVC would work just the same! your right about being tweaked after a UPD but i doubt any damage could come to it as its unable to stike the ground
EDIT: i guess it depends on how durable your flashlight is. most tactical lights similar to mine are pretty bombproof though
The wrist light is a very versatile solution, you could use that for quite a bit of activities: walking, skating Etc. I don’t know if I have enough skill yet to manage aiming that where I need to yet though
Do you get tired holding your arm at the right angle when riding for longer distances?
@Blueblade : does you front saddle handle bumper has a hole? If it does, you could try to attach it there and see if you can have a satisfactory angle. For the red on the back, I personally prefer attaching it to my backpack because I am lazy. But the warning about wet situations and mud/splash guard is important to keep in mind if the light does not have a gasket.
@Maxence: I had a cheap light like @Setonix and I was able to quickly adapt it to a gopro mount by using the regular camera adapter. But finding a ready-to-use adapter is even nicer! It feels like the last few years a large amount of lights are leveraging the ubiquity of gopro mounts and non-gopro items that are compatible.
Unfortunately, no…
But the saddle underside is fairly flat, and there are 4 bolts on the handle section that could be used to mount a bracket of some kind.
Flikr keeps hanging while trying to upload photos right now, so I will have to add those later to show what I’m talking about
EDIT: photos added:
@JimT did a clever system for adding some brackets to hold a saddlebag on the same type of saddle, I was thinking of doing that, and clipping the red light to that.
Not really, I tend to have my left hand on the saddle handle and my right arm out for balance anyway, and it didn’t take long to get used to pointing it in the direction I want. And the one I posted pictures of has a reasonable spread of light too. I live outside town with no street lighting too, so it’s quite useful to always have a light handy in winter too!
The only issue I had is that the strap is too short to go round my wrist when I’m wearing my Kris Holm gloves, so I had to extend it with a piece off an old, broken watch for riding!
I had a similar setup on my G29 before I put a handle on it, it’s supposed to be for adding a gadget extension to handlebars but it came with an attachment to go in the place of a handlebar spacer - fits round a Nimbus seatpost with a shim:
(helmet) with a battery that I keep in the backpack as it is a very strong bright light. I normally don’t ride with a back light but at some point I had a cheap one that I attached to the frame. It just fell off after a few UPDs and I didn’t bother putting it back on. I don’t generally ride in the dark.
