Long Distance Competition/Ultracycling, Randonneuring and Endurance Cycling - Lights: mount them low as possible.

I like to know whether people prefer their lights mounted on the fork or the handlebar. I saw bikes with generator lights are mounted on the fork's rack mount.

What's your preference? Mount them low as possible?

I like to know whether people prefer their lights mounted on the fork or the handlebar. I saw bikes with generator lights are mounted on the fork's rack mount.

What's your preference? Mount them low as possible?

My instincts tell me mid-fork is best so that most of the light hits the ground but not directly in front.

I'm curious about mounting systems, I recently ordered two issimo nob XLs but the order fell through so I created my own system using PVC and zip ties but I have yet to try it on the road (I have a bladed carbon fork so no mounts like on many steel bikes).

What got me interested is this picture. I currently have 700 lumens battery powered handlebar mounted lights.
http://img.stimpy.net/pics/bike/creeled/1024x768/IMG_2412.JPG
Seems like a better option if you are using handlebar bags.

The write up. The dual led light is brighter than the guy's own HID at 15mph.
http://joegross.net/2007/08/14/schmidt-hub-dual-cree-xr-e-led-light/

Low mounts tend to show the road surface a bit better, bringing imperfections into relief. They do cause your own front wheel to cast shadows, though. Some people find this annoying. Rack mounting is the best compromise, IMO.

I prefer fork over handlebar, too.
For the reasons stated above.

http://img.stimpy.net/pics/bike/creeled/1024x768/IMG_2412.JPG

The guy seems to be a man after my own heart
http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x74/RaiynStorm/StealthReflectorConceptexecuted.jpg
(http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=297284)

My light is mounted on the rack/brake mount.

I know long distance cyclists use lights, but I'm wondering if you meant to post this here or in the Lighting forum.

My beam is strong enough I need it as high as possible to avoid blinding oncoming vehicles. If bolted to the rack braze-on on a front fork and aimed parallel to the ground too much light would go up into peoples' eyes. A RAAM rider I knew had her light attached to the fender eyelet on the front fork. Can't get much lower.

My light is mounted on the rack/brake mount.

I know long distance cyclists use lights, but I'm wondering if you meant to post this here or in the Lighting forum.

My intention was to post this here as oppose to the lighting forum. I'd figure long distance cyclist would have better experience mounting dynamo powered lights at the most optimum height.

I like mine mounted near the bottom of the headset or a bit lower. Handle bar mount is too high IMHO. Sheldon Brown (http://sheldonbrown.org/raleigh-international/index.html) has one mounted on a bracket that put the beam about half way up the wheel. I have an old Dawes Galaxy with a boss on the right hand fork blade about 1/3 of the way down for mounting a head light on. I suspect there may be an optimum location but it may vary a bit from person to person.

Aaron:)

here's my schmidt e6 lamp setup:

http://bp3.blogger.com/__tyOVt3GW-E/R7v1VylHUZI/AAAAAAAAATQ/uZ539RXnvkA/s400/DSCN2288.JPG

some randos mount their lights at the skewer-level, but it seems to me that cars might have a hard time seeing that in the city.

so yeah i think lower is better, to a certain degree.

Its nice to have them off the bars. Here is my old setup ready for a 320 last november, home made dual led on fork crown and minewtx2 on a handlebar sized knob mounted to fork braze on. Previously ran two hot rodded cateye el530s on the fork braze ons, having two made the shadown cast by the tyre less annoying.
http://idisk.mac.com/timonz/Public//2lights.jpg

New setup, triple LED dyno on fork crown. Since photo the mount has broken so its still a work in progress. It might end up on my aero bars.
http://idisk.mac.com/timonz/Public//dyn1.jpg

If you have a narrow beam, mounting it low stretches the light out, making the light more useful. The cateye el530s benefited a lot from the low mounting.

If you have >400lm you can mount them anywhere and you will have plenty of light, but as mentioned above mounting them higher means you can angle them down to avoid blinding cars. Yes, cars flash their lights at me if I don't dim mine.
The fork crown seems like a good compromise position wise. Under the handlebar bag. Probably less drag too. Can be a fiddle mounting around the brakes.
http://idisk.mac.com/timonz/Public//oldlight.jpg
And if mounted too low you get a shadow from the front tyre...
http://homepages.inspire.net.nz/~epiphany/Enter/Lights/dualbeam1.jpg

On my MTB mounting low lets you see the bumps in the trail, the shadows cast help a lot... but you can't see over moderate humps so a helmet light is needed too.
http://homepages.inspire.net.nz/~epiphany/Enter/Lights/MTB7.jpg

http://homepages.inspire.net.nz/~epiphany/Enter/Lights/MTB8.jpg

low for me... mid fork seems to work. i can't put them lower as i need to turn them on and off...

http://lh6.google.com/mike.beganyi/RSpJT_fAABI/AAAAAAAAAIA/4ljCG63FjnA/s800/IMG_1967.JPG

You never miss an opportunity to show off that nice bike! :lol:

Mounting height comes down to two things:
Light strength and where you want the light to hit the road.

As you lower the light, the light pattern will start closer and brighter to the bike.

If you mount higher up, the light will hit the road farther away, giving you a longer look ahead.

If the light you have cannot provide sufficient illumination for the range it has been set at, aim it closer until the light is providing a useful amount of light. If you need more light or look ahead after that, get another light or a brighter light.

You never miss an opportunity to show off that nice bike! :lol:

nope... :)

bikeforums is lucky - i just post my bike. friends and family now get bombarded with pics and video of our little one...:D

Mounting height comes down to two things:
Light strength and where you want the light to hit the road.

As you lower the light, the light pattern will start closer and brighter to the bike.

If you mount higher up, the light will hit the road farther away, giving you a longer look ahead.

If the light you have cannot provide sufficient illumination for the range it has been set at, aim it closer until the light is providing a useful amount of light. If you need more light or look ahead after that, get another light or a brighter light.

this really isn't a function of how high you mount it - i can mount the lights on my bars and have it angled to hit the road 1" in front of the wheel, or i can mount lights on my quick release and have it point to the moon...

the reflector size and shape also plays a role in this - the e6 lights on my bike (pictured a few posts back) have a specifically designed reflector which throws more light 'up' the road (when angled in a reasonable position) i have my primary pointed a bit closer to the bike (good for slow climbing), and the secondary (which i use when moving faster) pointed a bit further up the road.

mounting low stretches out the shadows due to differences in the pavement - a high light shining straight down (think noontime) creates a flatness making it difficult to differentiate the texture of things due to the light (sun) being directly overhead. a lower light will highlight these differences - also allowing a lower powered light to accentuate the texture differences in the road - making potholes, cracks, broken beer bottles - etc. - easier to see. a high powered light mounted too low will make pebbles look like mountains due to shadow stretch.


lights mounted high (on bars but especially on a helmet) also make it more difficult (for me) to see in the rain or snow - as the light reflects off of raindrops and snowflakes inches in front of your face - in my case screwing with my sense of depth perception and messing up my night vision.

I have a few setups, including the current one here (http://mgagnon.net/velo/eclairage.en.shtml).

Basically, I don't like wheel shadows, especially when I can't use dual headlights (i.e. at least half the time), and I found that the light needs to be higher than the tire if I don't want to have it full of dirt, snow... thrown by the wheel.

I don't like handlebar mounting for three reasons: aesthetics, handlebar overcrowding, and interference with the handlebar bag.

The best place for a light is on the top of your head. Handlebar mounts are the next best.

Mounting a light in a low position has more drawbacks than benefits. By the way, understand that there is a difference between in lamp and mount life depending on location.

The best place for a light is on the top of your head. Handlebar mounts are the next best.

Mounting a light in a low position has more drawbacks than benefits. By the way, understand that there is a difference between in lamp and mount life depending on location.

I don't think so. Why not get a 50-foot pole and put a super-bright light on top of that? Because then the light would cast no shadows whatsoever, so you couldn't see obstacles in the road.

I have my E6 mounted about halfway up the fork, so it is easy to reach and switch off and on while riding. And I have a Luxeon-LED headlamp on my helmet, so that I can easily swivel it to follow the curve of the road ahead.

The one and only time that I commuted this winter with only a helmet lamp, I got a flat tire hitting a sharp-edged stone that had been invisible with no shadow. With a fork-mounted lamp, as well, that stone would have been easy to see and miss.

The best place for a light is on the top of your head.


Maybe riding on the road solo, or on trails where you need to see around every little corner.

Ever ride in a large group at night with a headlamp only? When you are in front everyone behind will hate your light, as they try and focus it and their eyes follow every bob of your head, back and forth and up and down from hoods to drops and left and right.

When you are in the pack your bobble head will wreak havoc with the shadows of the riders in front of you... throwing tall bikes up the road hiding obstacles in ever shifting shadows.

Then when you turn around to "chat" - you'll blind everyone in your group.


In my experience headlamps are OK for trails and mtb riding... but I'm not a fan of careening through the woods in the dark. For road and brevets I prefer a headlamp for cue reading only - and at that I try to use a red LED so as not to mess with my night vision or those around me - esp when a bright white LED reflects off of the white of a cue sheet. They definitely have their place - I used one as an emergency light when I had a problem with my e6, and very useful for rummaging through bags and dealing with mechanicals.


When commuting solo on the road I will use a headlamp as extra light - and I use it to read signage and to flash drivers.

Mounting a light in a low position has more drawbacks than benefits.


Drawbacks? Elaborate please...

Maybe riding on the road solo, or on trails where you need to see around every little corner.

Ever ride in a large group at night with a headlamp only? When you are in front everyone behind will hate your light, as they try and focus it and their eyes follow every bob of your head, back and forth and up and down from hoods to drops and left and right.

When you are in the pack your bobble head will wreak havoc with the shadows of the riders in front of you... throwing tall bikes up the road hiding obstacles in ever shifting shadows.

Then when you turn around to "chat" - you'll blind everyone in your group.

I have once, never did it again. Definitely not recommended.


In my experience headlamps are OK for trails and mtb riding... but I'm not a fan of careening through the woods in the dark. For road and brevets I prefer a headlamp for cue reading only - and at that I try to use a red LED so as not to mess with my night vision or those around me - esp when a bright white LED reflects off of the white of a cue sheet. They definitely have their place - I used one as an emergency light when I had a problem with my e6, and very useful for rummaging through bags and dealing with mechanicals.

When commuting solo on the road I will use a headlamp as extra light - and I use it to read signage and to flash drivers.

For MTB and trails, headlamps are preferred more than handlebars, being able to see around corners and over rocks and shadows casted by handlebar light is a must. For commuting, headlamp is extremely useful at flashing signages.

Any extra weight on the helmet adds to fatigue. A spot light also forces your neck into a single position, which I imagine is hard work after 4-5 hours.

I like a small headlight to supplement my primary. It's nice to be able to shine some light into the corner before I get there, so as to avoid surprises. And to tell the truth, I like being able to flush the boogie men out of the bushes as well. Hey, it's lonely out there!

The best place for a light is on the top of your head. Handlebar mounts are the next best. Perhaps, I should qualify that by saying the best way to "see" where you are going is by using a head mounted light. I would never use a "head" light without using a handlebar mounted light as well.

A more accurate way of stating my case for lighting would be to state that "manually controllable" lighting is far more useful than bike mounted lighting. I also believe in wrist or arm mounted lights.

Low mounted lights are just plain less effective. There is no logical way to argue in their favor.

Low mounted lights are just plain less effective. There is no logical way to argue in their favor.

Is there a logical way to argue how they are less effective? Or is this personal opinion?

Here's a thought: If your light is real low or near the fork where the fender would mount wouldn't it get splashed by water and potentially get wet within? Just a thought. I use the the "under" the handlebar method. I really love those dual mid fork mountings I see in the above pics.

Light placement comes down to a couple of questions:

What kind of lights do you have?
How far ahead do you want to be able to see?

Placing a light low makes it very easy to direct light very close to the bike. You get a very close hot spot light a car's fog light. It will be very bright close to bike and fall off rapidly as the pattern gets farther away from the bike.

Placing a light higher up, such as on the handle bars or on top of the helmet allows light to be thrown farther down the road with a more even distribution. This is important because if you are trying to throw light farther down the road, you can't have a bright spot right in front of the bike, the close bright spot with wash out the long range.


You also have to be aware of what kind of light you are using.
If you have a small one-led light that doesn't throw very far: it is probably best to mount it low and get the most of it in a short range pattern.
If you have a high power light (more candle power): you can mount the light higher and try to look farther down the road.

It is sort of like on a car, you have high beams and low beams. The low beams are used for close and slow driving, the high beams for looking farther away.

So you can look at the lights you have and decide the best way to use what you have or you can decide what you want to do and then get lights to fit that activity.

If you buy a light that is optimized for low-placement on a road bike, like an E6, then it works well to place it low. You can read all about it on Peter White's site. Mid-fork is where mine sits. It shines a substantial amount of light onto the road, probably about 35 feet ahead. It lights up the road just fine for 35mph night-time descents. I do need a head-mounted 1-watt Luxeon to be able to track the road and help see into corners on descents like that. My Luxeon is in a NiteHawk Emitter lamp, which does not have a lens that is optimized for the road, and which isn't as useful when I mount it mid-fork. If I put it mid-fork and angle it far enough down the road to be useful, I still have a spot that's too bright too close to the bike and not bright enough at the end of the light's throw. So the bottom-line is that where you place lights has to depend on the beam. Low placement optimizes for seeing the texture of the road, but you need something with a beam that is designed properly like the E6.

Here's a thought: If your light is real low or near the fork where the fender would mount wouldn't it get splashed by water and potentially get wet within? Just a thought. I use the the "under" the handlebar method. I really love those dual mid fork mountings I see in the above pics.

A properly designed bicycle light is adequately sealed and unaffected by rain or splashing water.

Speaking of bicycle mounting. I have moved mine from the handlebars down to the fork. I am using a Minoura Water Bottle Cage Mount, $6.44 at Amazon at the moment. I have a 240 lumen light, and it seems I get a better light spread when it is mounted lower.

This figure confirms my gut feel. Lower the light from 36" to 24", increases light spot on road. The tire shadow can be annoying though, so I dont think I would lower my light much further, without dual lights.

http://pic40.picturetrail.com/VOL362/677161/15775683/313650814.jpg


http://pic40.picturetrail.com/VOL362/677161/15775683/312180639.jpg

Low mounted lights are just plain less effective. There is no logical way to argue in their favor.

There is no logical way to argue with Richard. :rolleyes:


If your light is real low or near the fork where the fender would mount wouldn't it get splashed by water and potentially get wet within?

No. Water is splashed upward by the contact patch and runs down the inside of the fender. A light mounted near the front dropouts is located forward of both these points. Theoretical fluid dynamics aside, I used a low-mounted Lumotec E6 at PBP. The light is not very well sealed, the ride was, ahem, a bit rainy, but the light neither filled with water nor failed.

Lighting is personal, and therefore defies "logic" to a certain extent. Some folks have very good night vision and actually prefer lights that are not excessively bright, to preserve vision outside the lit patch. Some prefer the color of LED's over incandescent bulbs, or vice versa.

I like them low. Yes, I've tried them elsewhere.

Last year I had 2 Cateye EL500 lights and had both mounted on the handlebar. One headlight died, now I have only one and I had it mounted on the fork. I can see the road if not better but the same with one Cateye EL500 mounted on the fork than 2 same lights mounted on the handlebars. It does have a long beam and I could see the shades of potholes better with the light mounted lower.

This year I have one Cateye EL500 mounted on the fork low and Dinotte 200 mounted on the handlebar or on the headtube(great 'O' ring mount), love high and low option. I also have 1watt light mounted on the helmet. It is great to light up the cue sheet or computer plus it lets you see better where you look. It is annoying though to other riders when you talk to them.

What got me interested is this picture. I currently have 700 lumens battery powered handlebar mounted lights.
http://img.stimpy.net/pics/bike/creeled/1024x768/IMG_2412.JPG
Seems like a better option if you are using handlebar bags.

The write up. The dual led light is brighter than the guy's own HID at 15mph.
http://joegross.net/2007/08/14/schmidt-hub-dual-cree-xr-e-led-light/

What kind of reflectors are on the wheels? And where can get them?

Likely just reflective tape. Black until you shine light on it.

Yeah, reflectors look great in "flash" photos - just because there's daylight doesn't mean the there's no flash used.

Yeah, reflectors look great in "flash" photos - just because there's daylight doesn't mean the there's no flash used.


What point are you trying to make? Reflectors, by nature, return light toward its point of origin, be it a camera flash or an automobile headlight.

On topic, I vote for mid-fork mounted light, for all the logical reasons previously mentioned.

Joe Gross, the owner of the pictured bike had give the info elsewhere.
I was planning to order some of this reflective tape, too.

It is from here:
http://www.identi-tape.com/hi-intensity.htm


What kind of reflectors are on the wheels? And where can get them?

What point are you trying to make? That this photo doesn't reflect the real-world view of the "wheel tape." (yuk yuk)

Car head lights are not "flash strobes." The tape won't look like the photo in real life. Dim?