texasdiver

With the ortlieb handlebar bag on my bike I don't have a good way to mount lights on the handlebars as they are blocked by the top of the bag.

However I notice that my forks have pre-drilled threaded eyelets for front pannier racks that I do not have or use. That seems the perfect mounting place for a good headlight. Might be a bit low but should be functional I think. I don't have a dynamo hub so I'm looking for some type of high powered headlight designed to mount on forks or that has an available bracket that will allow it to neatly mount to the rack mounting points on the fork blade. Either a light that contains its own battery, or one with a separate battery pack. I just want to explore all the options.

Anyone else mount a light on the fork blade? What lights do you recommend for this?

Commodus

This is very common. Any light will work. I make my own mounts, but there are various companies out there who will sell them to you. Paul's has one:

https://www.paulcomp.com/ginolightmount.html

10 Wheels

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https://www.amazon.com/Minoura-4-5-In...d_sim_sbs_sg_3

ATTACH=CONFIG]302980[/ATTACH]

Chris Pringle

+1 on this doohickey. As mentioned, many front lights will work with it. For long distance riding, I found these two lights offer very nice runtimes and no wires to mess around with:

1. This one made by Serfas.
2. This one made by Lezyne. Looks like this one hasn't made it to North America, yet.

I went for the Lezyne as it comes with an extra battery pack (it also looks awesome in silver!) Wiggle in the U.K. offers free shipping to the U.S. I was expecting to pay duties & taxes. To my surprise, it was delivered duty free in San Diego. I will be picking them up next week, so I can't report on performance, yet. Seems to me that combo packages like Lezyne's with super efficient and powerful lights plus the inclusion of extra battery packs (all at a reasonable price) will start giving dynamo lights a run for their money.

BTW, this light mount will work with many mini front racks which is how I will be mounting mine.

rowebr

Any tips on how you make your own mounts?

texasdiver

Thanks guys. I think that little paul mount is exactly the thing.

Commodus

I make mine on the lathe.

curly666

I have a mount hanging down from the stem for mine.

rodar y rodar

A lathe would make quick work of it, and a pretty job, but you could always just hack off a short piece of 1 inch aluminum or plastic and hand tap a 5mm hole in one end for a long set screw.

EDIT: recalculating...

...provided you already have the tap, tap drill, and a material, that would be cheap and easy. If you had to shell out a few bucks for each of the tools and pay the cut fee for a PITA little purchase at a local metal supplier, you might as well throw in an extra nickle and pay the exhorbitant price for that nicely finished Pauls piece. Maybe there`s a common PVC or ABS size in your local hardware store that just needs a cap glued on and a simple bolt hole drilled through said cap?

Commodus

Wow I'm such an idiot. I have one of those mounts at home, and just today I was trying to figure out how to get my light down into that position. I'm so doing this as soon as I get home. Thanks for the pic!

KINGS HOCKEY

A couple of ideas from Problem Solvers

https://problemsolversbike.com/produc...d_light_mounts
https://problemsolversbike.com/images...01-150x150.png

https://problemsolversbike.com/produc...ut_light_mount
https://problemsolversbike.com/images...00-150x150.png

rowebr

Some good ideas here, thanks everyone!

ThermionicScott 

I'm considering a mount like the "NOB" so that I can place my headlight on the fork without putting it out of reach. Any positive/negative experiences?


(Picture stolen from Peter White Cycles.)

Thanks!

Chris Pringle

The fear with fork light mounts such as this one (not screwed to an actual fork braze-on) is that they might get loose over time and will slide down the fork. If it (the light!) gets caught in between the spokes, it could cause catastrophic damages to the bike, or worse, injuries to the user. Don't know how this one is designed to avoid that from happening.

fietsbob

Hub dynamo light and a bracket up and over the front brake is made for the front light
The Schmidt eDelux is quite small.

Paul also makes a stem cap substitute for the top of the steerer tube & stem

I have ( want to Sell) a Dual Halogen Schmidt E6 primary-secondairy pair ,
Say, one low . and the 2nd high to turn on when decending fast and not wanting to outrun your lights.
so as to switch on , then .. conveniently done if up high.
beam aimed further ahead.

dwmckee

I use 'The Knob" on several bikes and it is great! there are two band lengths available and the shorter is definitely not long enough to go around steer tube. It will conform to non round things like shaped seat stays, etc. I also have a Paul-like mount I made myself out if a section of tubing cut from a bent set of handlebars. The problem with the Paul setup is it can want to twist around on you when you hit bumps. If you tighten it enough to not twist you can risk stripping aluminum threads. Both work but I like Knob better as you can put it anywhere, it does not twist and it is lighter.

dwmckee

The KNOB can be tightened extremely snug and I have not had any problem at all with slipping, twisting or shifting, even on a tapered fork. It tightens almost as well as a stainless steel radiator hose clamp, but is soft, tough nylon-like material. Very dependable and durable. The Paul is cool looking, sort of works, but is not as effective as the KNOB. I own and use both so am not just commenting on impressions from pictures. The NOB is better in almost all situations. The Paul is superior where you have a threaded hole in an area where there are otherwise few options such as mounting a rear light where a pannier covers most of the rear rack and seat stays, here you can attach the Paul with a longer bolt through the rack mount hole and have a solution; The only place you could use the NOB back there it would be covered by panniers, cargo, etc.

Nakedbabytoes

Thanks for this! I rode one time with my new Fluxient light and decided I wanted it down lower on my front rack but couldn't figure out how to attach it onto the skinny rack rails. The Paul mount fit the bill, and while pricey, was the best looking option for being prominently on the front of my new Salsa Casseroll. 3 days later, I'm rolling with the new mount and it is great! Works fab, was easy to install and move to my other rides, and looks pretty sweet too!

WMcCready

tex, Have kicked around this idea a while, and recently bought a superbrightled.com AA, LED flashlight for fork mount. Light $ 15. Used 3/4" electrical pipe support, (Mini) from garage stock. I had 1 in SS, @ home D they a .89 or so. Used correct pan head ,mm bolt, small rubber washer and bolted to frame, at fork mount. I also used cork piece to cushion, and protect flashlight housing ,( it is Alum. ) held cork on with contact cement. Last closed clamp with bolt & wing nut. Hope you can fig. from photo's. Have yet to test on long ride, cold here.

.

Tourist in MSN

I used a piece of wooden broom stick handle about an inch long, drilled a hole thru it, used a long M5 bolt and some nuts and toothed lock washers. The lock washers help hold it from rotating.

If I had used a longer piece of wood, I could have put one lock washer between the wood and the fork, but I was not thinking too brilliantly and cut the wood too short. Thus, I have two lock washers and two nuts showing between the wood and fork. But since it worked I did not bother to cut a second one.

Some day I might make a new one, if I do I might paint it black or silver so I do not get so many questions about that little piece of wood sticking out of the side of my fork.

Commodus