I have been working on this for almost 2 weeks now. I purchased a reproduction tail light for a 1933-36 Ford truck, a generic 5 LED flasher, an angle brace, a small piece of metal, and combined it all with some assorted nuts, bolts, and even epoxy. I think the results were very nice, tell me what you think.
Click on photos for a bigger image.
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e158/manuel_f_p/th_light1.jpg (http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e158/manuel_f_p/light1.jpg) http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e158/manuel_f_p/th_light2.jpg (http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e158/manuel_f_p/light2.jpg)
The Bracket:
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e158/manuel_f_p/th_light3.jpg (http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e158/manuel_f_p/light3.jpg)
I drilled a hole in the bottom of the light so I could access the flasher switch:
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e158/manuel_f_p/th_light4.jpg (http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e158/manuel_f_p/light4.jpg)
Lit up. Still early in the evening so it wasn't quite dark out, but it lights up surprisingly nice:
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e158/manuel_f_p/th_light5.jpg (http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e158/manuel_f_p/light5.jpg)
Richard Cranium
07-25-08, 02:05 AM
Nice - but you could paint the bracket black - to match the lamp house.
Very nice. Once you are sure of the location, I would trim the bolts attaching the light to the angle bracket down and cap them off with acorn nuts.
I also agree with the poster who suggested painting the mount black.
I considered painting it black, but decided to leave it as is, I kinda like the look. More acorn nuts sounds like a good idea.
I like the look too as is. I have some chrome hardware like that holding my fenders on and I just think it looks cooler without being painted.
Nice work, take a shot when its dark out :thumb:
That would look really cool on back of a fender.
http://ecom1.planetbike.com/fenders.html
Nice work, take a shot when its dark out :thumb:
I have had the best of intentions to take some better night pics, but something came up. This seems like such a shameless post for me to be doing, but I felt I had to share that my lack of pics of the finished product was due to the fact I asked my girlfriend of 4 years to marry me :love:. Ever since then its been planning, planning, and more planning, lol. I'll admit that a few evenings I felt overwhelmed and I wanted to pull out one of my bikes and ride, but the fact I overstretched a tendon and have my foot in a brace for a month has killed that idea. So, I promise that maybe this weekend when I am not so busy I will give you a picture or two of the light in action.
bicyclridr4life
08-12-08, 01:33 PM
Very Cool. & +1 on a set of duckbill fenders
sunburst
08-14-08, 03:16 AM
I like it! But I'd paint the mounting hardware to match the frame instead of the tail light.
The Frame is flat black primer, and the light is a gloss black, so for simplicity I could spray primer on the bracket, but I think I will keep it as it is. Also, I am going to keep this bike fender-less. When I first wanted to build a cruiser I wanted fenders and a chain guard. Then I started looking at rat rod cars and bikes, and remembered that when kids first started to build hot rods they stripped off anything they didn't need to shave weight. That was the direction I wanted to go, so I pitched the chain guard this bike came with and skipped finding fenders, wanted a stripped down look, something basic. Also didn't want a lot of chrome, so the bars I found for it where painted flat black as well instead of the chrome they had on them (they were pretty beat up anyways, the chrome had seen lots of abuse).
I just now notice this thread. Congrats on proposing to the girlfriend. I do love that light! The unpainted bracket gives the light the "old truck" look which is cool. I love the primer paint job, that gives me an idea for my junker bike.
Ernest
As promised, a few final pictures.
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e158/manuel_f_p/th_100_2665.jpg (http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e158/manuel_f_p/100_2665.jpg) http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e158/manuel_f_p/th_100_2666.jpg (http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e158/manuel_f_p/100_2666.jpg) http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e158/manuel_f_p/th_100_2667.jpg (http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e158/manuel_f_p/100_2667.jpg)
Taking these pictures made me want to take it out for a spin, but my ankle has been telling me no for the last few weeks :( Thanks for all the comments :thumb: