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-   -   Headlight bracket hack (https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vintage/1161543-headlight-bracket-hack.html)

panzerwagon 12-04-18 02:18 AM

Headlight bracket hack
 
Dont like headlight mounted to the tops, and my handlebar bag makes it hard to mount on front tube. Decided to fashion something from a steel L-bracket. I suspect this will have limited life due to vibration stresses around the unused bolt-holes. Is there already some purpose-built part available?

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...1ee546ecf.jpeg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...af67327f7.jpeg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...ff3a726f3.jpeg

jj1091 12-04-18 02:41 AM

Necessity is the mother of invention. This is one I did a while back. It was mounted between the fender and the fork crown with a daruma. I used a floor mounting-plate from a set of bi-fold doors, drilled a bolt-hole into the mounting plate to mount the bracket to a hinge from a toilet seat, then bolted it to the light. https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...82a4d0c755.jpg

panzerwagon 12-04-18 03:33 AM


Originally Posted by jj1091 (Post 20690070)
Necessity is the mother of invention. This is one I did a while back. It was mounted between the fender and the fork crown with a daruma. I used a floor mounting-plate from a set of bi-fold doors, drilled a bolt-hole into the mounting plate to mount the bracket to a hinge from a toilet seat, then bolted it to the light.

Brilliant! Now I don’t feel so bad about my Frankenstein bracket.

Tamiya 12-04-18 08:43 AM

Your steel bracket will last long enough; dare say it'll probably succumb to rust first. :)

Rear rack mounting strip leftovers are my goto for making odd brackets. Most are stainless.

madpogue 12-04-18 11:56 AM

^^^ +1; it'll rust before it breaks. Paint it,or "coat" with gorilla tape / electrical tape, or a bit of old innertube, and maybe it'll last long enough to break. Better choice would be a flat mending plate with only one hole at each end.

But +1 on the ingenuity; I have near-zero true fab skills, so I'm always finding "creative" solutions like this.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...ea6e8d8c4a.jpg
This rack needed a lower point to hook the pannier lower hook. Behind the tape is a strip of metal pipe strap wrapped around the rods, and a stainless bolt/nut. Version 2.0 will use innertube rubber.

(Eek, those pine needles get everywhere.....)

rumrunn6 12-04-18 01:17 PM

well done! that bracket won't break, looks perfect but I might add a lock washer at the fork crown & maybe a thin rubber washer at the light (or do I see a lock washed in there?) just to keep them from rotating. but see how those connections hold up over the next few rides

rumrunn6 12-04-18 01:24 PM

or buy this? Bike Front Light Extender Mount Fork Light archmount Extension

Dfrost 12-04-18 02:54 PM

I made this from a stainless VO front rack bracket with an added 90 degree twist, and a handlebar simulator from Universal Cycles:

https://photos.smugmug.com/Bicycles/...IMG_4972-L.jpg

Velo Mule 12-04-18 03:09 PM

Man, that toilet seat hinge and bifold door stop is great. I was trying to figure out were that hinge came from.

panzerwagon 12-04-18 04:56 PM


Originally Posted by rumrunn6 (Post 20690752)
well done! that bracket won't break, looks perfect but I might add a lock washer at the fork crown & maybe a thin rubber washer at the light (or do I see a lock washed in there?) just to keep them from rotating. but see how those connections hold up over the next few rides

Thanks, there’s already a lock washer on the light side. My commute is pretty bumpy, so hoping there’s enough rigidity there.

Now I just need to get used to the funny shadow cast by the cross bar from the front racks. :-D

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...a115232bd.jpeg

panzerwagon 12-04-18 06:28 PM


Originally Posted by rumrunn6 (Post 20690759)

Thanks for the link, nice concept.

madpogue 12-04-18 07:44 PM

I'd be tempted to come up with a way to mount the light on the over-the-wheel hoop on the lowrider. May be too much vibration, there, however.

Are those low-rider braze-ons on the fork? Cooool.....

panzerwagon 12-04-18 10:04 PM


Originally Posted by madpogue (Post 20691291)
I'd be tempted to come up with a way to mount the light on the over-the-wheel hoop on the lowrider. May be too much vibration, there, however.

I tried that already— fantastic visibility but the old Blackburn racks vibrate the light beam enough to give me seizures.


Originally Posted by madpogue (Post 20691291)
Are those low-rider braze-ons on the fork? Cooool.....

Yup. 1984 univega specialissima touring— Tange champion tubing, three bottle cage mounts, three sets of fork mounts— IMHO one of the finest touring frames ever made :-D

Johno59 12-05-18 02:41 AM

Last time I had a light with a remote battery-@pack I put the light on one side of my helmet and the battery on the other. I find powerful helmet mounted lights a life saver and they never get broken/stolen/forgotten.

rumrunn6 12-05-18 08:22 AM


Originally Posted by panzerwagon (Post 20691101)
just need to get used to the funny shadow cast by the cross bar from the front racks



shadows makes me nutz. spent a long time eliminating mine a cpl yrs ago. I was toying with the idea of a headtube mount, but never worked it out. I see you have a brake cable right in front of the headtube, but I'd bet someone really cleaver could raise that light, mounting it to the headtube, with some kind of accommodation for that brake cable

something like this but with a bigger diameter for the headtube & some kind of reach-around to get around that cable

rumrunn6 12-05-18 09:19 AM

maybe change that front rack to one like indyfabz has in post #12 here?

https://www.bikeforums.net/general-c...pose-bike.html

cuz it has a hole for mounting stuff


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