anastrophe

Has anyone made a DIY bracket to mount stuff on your fork (such as a Cateye or any other normal light)? I know you can buy one but I don't want to spend $10 on something that looks like it should be easy to rig up. What would you use? A hose clamp and....? I'm totally out of space on my handlebars and think a lower angle would give better projection anyways.

bmike

buy a 'nob' or 2 and be done with it. not sure how a hose clamp would work - you'd still need something to clamp the lights too...

2_i 

By the time you finish the project, $10 will sound awfully cheap...

anastrophe

Yes, but then I have to pay $12.50 (including shipping), and wait for it to arrive (via truck) in the mail. Whereas there's a hardware store .5 miles from my house, which I can stop at on the way home from work today. I'm not opposed to purchasing from shops, but if someone's done it at home and it's easy, why not?

e0richt

if you want a "do it yourself" nob, go to home depot and get a length of pvc pipe (1/2 inch I think...)
and use a hacksaw and cut a ~ 2 inch piece off of it... use the hack saw to notch it on both sides...


get a pipe clamp, and a small piece of tire tube. wrap and tape the tube onto the fork... put the knob
onto the fork using the pipe clamp and your set...

I have been thinking along those lines for my current commuter and I did use it on another bike that I
eventually sold...

uh I said "pipe clamp" but I meant "hose clamp"...

e0richt

actually, it worked pretty well because you could see the road better due to it being closer to the ground...

CliftonGK1

Heck, 10 footer 1/2" PVC pipe is only $2.00, and small hose clamps are under a buck. Make a bunch of these things for the $12.50 you would have spent on one Nob, and sell 'em on Ebay for $5.00/each. You can come out of this having fork mounted lights and make a few bucks.

Kabir

Fascinating. If not too much trouble, would you mind drawing a simple picture? I am a little challenged on the imagination.

Kabir

Would it look like this?

https://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?sku=13291

Nashbar is selling it for $8 now.

anastrophe

yeah, pretty much. basically, you just need a short length of pipe, dowel, something roundish, with two slits which you can run a ziptie or hose clamp through.

kokomo61

I have a Topeak White Light mounted, one on each of the front fork legs. Since it's a steel fork, and the legs are round, it works pretty well. I use those primarily as flashers during lower visibility conditions, where I have NightRider MiNewt X2's on the handlebars, and a L&M halogen for my helmet for when I need to see, as opposed to be seen.

On the back, it's a Cateye flasher on the helmet, a Blackburn Mars 2.0 on the trunk bag, and a PB Superflash for the rack. When I've got everything going, it looks like Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind....

n4zou

An EMT conduit hanger works great.

They cost less than a dollar at any hardware or building supply store. Glue bits of inner tube rubber on the inside surfaces to prevent scratching your fork and promote a firm grip. Bolt them back to back with a short 1/4-20 screw and nut if your going to use a flashlight.

anastrophe

and then, what, you jam a piece of dowel through the hole? or something similar with a bit of pipe bolted on, with the nut to the inside near the fork?

Kabir

I wonder if something similar can enable me to mount the lights where the front reflector is, just like the dyno light mounted on Bromptons.

e0richt

here is a diagram of how it would fit... (haven't tried to attach before so it may not be right...)

of course this will look like a "do it yourself" job compared to buying one of the other "nob"'s online....

but it worked and the other hanger might make it look better...

supcom

The Minoura Besso is the thing to use so long as you do not have a carbon fork. It's very secure and certainly looks better than a piece of PVC with a hose clamp run through it. BTW, If you go the PVC pipe route, be sure to notch the end of the pipe so it fits against the fork a little better.

n4zou

Here is a photo of a conduit hanger bolted to a plastic handlebar clamp.

You could attach a wood dowel of the size you need for your light by using two wood screws. One in the 1/4" hole and another one in a hole you would drill next to the 1/4" hole to prevent the wood dowel from turning.

diesel_dad

Fork mounting is a great option. I have an Arkel Big Handlebar Bag on my Surly LHT -- it's so big that a bar-mounted light just lights up the bag!

I have tried both the Nob (buy the XL) and the Minoura Besso LH-50. I prefer the Minoura because it's more secure than the Nob, but they are both likely more secure than homebrew.

Be really careful though; I have my Minoura mounted above the front pannier mounting screw, so if it slips down it will stop on the screw. If you don't have something like that on your fork, is the mount and light slip down they will probably hit the spokes and it would not be pretty.

I also saw a cool Nitto mount that replace the end cap on the Shimano QR and provided a handlebar-size mounting surface, of course in standard well finished Nitto style. Haven't tried it yet but it looks promising.

bikecopp

Nitto makes one that replaces the skewer nut on your front quick release. Kind of expensive but nice.
https://www.benscycle.net/index.php?m...oducts_id=3760

anastrophe

I saw that axle-mount too, it seems like it might be a little too low to be useful for traffic riding--perhaps it would work better off-road when you really need to see the ground.

Thanks for the pointer about the danger of sliding--I don't have a front pannier mount (road bike...) so I'll make sure to rig up some kind of stop in case it slips.

vik 

Here are some ideas:

QR Mounts

Mid-fork mounts

Cadfael

Ain't life strange?

At one time most bike came with a threaded boss on the fork to fit your light to... now we need special brackets and so forth.

Just an observation.

vik 

Well 95% of bikes these days are not ridden at night or in the rain and don't carry luggage/cargo - so it isn't surprising they aren't outfitted to do these things any longer.

Cadfael

Still... on a Commuter bike you would think there would be some common sense? I fully agree on a Racer, or a MTB it may not be the thing... but a commuter bike? To have some form of dedicated light mount?

CliftonGK1

Those threaded lamp mounts are mostly for dynohub lamps, I thought. So even if they were still present, they wouldn't do much good for most riders.

Check out the randonneur and porteur racks from Nitto: They still have the threaded lamp mounts on them.