Rack-bolted tail lights?
 

I have no idea why all the manufacturers have gone to rubber mounting only, but this is getting overly irritating looking for a light that I can bolt to my rack. Been to all the cycle shops in Seattle (most of them anyways) and none have a taillight you can bolt to a rack. Anyone know of a taillamp that I can bolt permanently ish, like the old Bontrager Flare lights? Or am I stuck wearing out elastic mounts?

On my rack there is a bolt hole at the back of it that I had Mcyvered to hold a reflector at one time, but that loosened over time and eventually fell off.

I do have tail lights that are fastened to the bike's tubing via rubber O-rings, but the tubing on the rack is too skinny for this.

I'd be interested in hearing about anything that would work better.

B&M has rack-mounted tail lights. Most are for dyno hubs, but there's also this:
Busch & Müller Toplight Line Permanent & Senso - Harris Cyclery bicycle shop - West Newton, Massachusetts

Awesome! Is it fairly water resistant? The bike doesn't spend much time inside

I've been using B&M dyno lights since fall of 2012 in all kinds of weather nearly every day.

Sorry I don't have a better pic of this - it's a Cateye something on an Ibera rack. I don't trust bolts though, so I added tie-wraps.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/44...=w1024-h764-no

Second the b&m taillight; mine has seen all weather use and just survived a deflected (by taco-ing tire) impact from an SUV's front fender.

I made a bracket. The problem for me is that my lights eventually get banged around and damaged, so I don't want to "invest" in an expensive one. The bracket also allows me to recess the light under the rack, similar to what [MENTION=68015]DiabloScott[/MENTION] shows -- so it's less likely to get banged.

I think, perhaps, the reason so many lights now attach with elastic bands is that they are designed to be taken off the bike for recharging, unlike the old lights that you could load with new batteries while they were still on the bike. (I know...obvious answer.)

Anyway, I agree that lights bolted to the rear rack would end up on the side of the road a lot less often.

I bought this from harbor freight. Had to make a bracket to mount it to my rack. So far it has worked real well. The one it replaced had to be removed to turn it off and this one doesn't. I should buy an extra one so when it finally breaks, I don't have to make a new bracket.Red LED Bicycle Taillight

Attachment 539955

Dinotte taillights

Yes it is. I have had mine since 2011 and it is going strong. Great light. Mine sees all kinds of weather too, and I rode to Washington DC during Hurricane Irene and met up with a wee bit of rain on that trip. :roflmao2:

Here's my setup. The metal bracket is home made, and the light is a Magnic Light which takes the eddy current from the rear rim created by powerful magnets inside the light. No wires, no special attachments, just the light that you see. The supplied bracket mounts to the rear V-brake braze on (road and disk brake versions are available too), but I found that the light was hidden by the rack, fenders and pannier, so I mounted it further back like this. The biggest problem with it like this is that it is vulnerable to being knocked, you can't really see the tape in the picture that holds it together now.

Attachment 539968

I have bolted to my rack a Planet Bike Rack Blinky 5 and two (2) Sunlite TL-L225 lights. They can be found on Amazon very easily, and they do come with a rack mount, though the one with the Sunlite is a little different, but it works.

Here are the lights mounted on my rack:

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...psjnzy3qls.jpg

And here's what I look like from the back at night:

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...psypgbfrwy.jpg

As I said, the Sunlite rack mount is a little different, but works just as well. It allows me to rotate the light in to either a vertical or horizontal stance.

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3rnfsdwh.jpg

Planet Bike, Serfas and a couple others make rack mount rear LEDs that are bright enough for nighttime and dim daylight use, and incorporate red reflectors as well.

I have the same Planet Bike Rack Blinky 5 shown above and it's quite bright within a narrow aperture of view -- directly behind the bike, level with a typical car driver's eye line. Subjectively speaking it's as bright as a typical car taillight, but with a much smaller area of glow. So two or more would probably be safer, as well as giving drivers a better visual indication of relative distance and speed.

I like the lights that run on AA or AAA batteries -- they last much longer between battery changes, compared with my USB rechargeables. But I'm planning to add a Cygolite Hotshot 80 or better -- those are bright enough to be seen in daylight too.

Portland Design Works tail lights such as the Radbot 1000 clip securely into a bracket that will bolt to your rack. As I recall it's the same bracket interface the Planet Bike uses, so those would work too. PDW also makes the FenderBot which is designed to be attached even more permanently to a fender.

Are you sure it isn't so thieves can rid you of the unnecessary clutter on the back of your bike? (which is a good excuse for the stores to sell you more lights).

Do you have a reflector mount on your rack?

I kind of like the looks of this with reflectors and the rack mount.
Sunlite TL L505 Tail Light Rear Rack Mount City Commuter Urban | eBay

I'm seeing a few like this with the rack mount.
PB Grateful Red 28 Bike LED Flashing Tail Light Reflective Lens Rack Seat Mount | eBay

I'm seeing a few of those T-Shaped rack mounts being sold separately from lights too.

Strangely enough, the only light I've ever had end up on the side of the road was bolted to my rear rack. The back came off on a particularly nasty railroad crossing. All the others stopped working and I tossed them (another reason to have two or more tail lights at any given time!)



Same here, since early winter 2010. I don't know of any reason the battery light should be made any less robust, weatherwise, than the dyno version.

Planet Bike sells a rack mount that many taillights will attach to. I've used it to attach PB Superflash and Portland Design RadBot lights and I'm sure that it fits others.

Taillight Rack Bracket

A few days ago at a local hardware store, I saw a guy tying one of these to his load (car trailer).

Emergency 39 LED Triangle Worklight

http://www.harborfreight.com/media/c...58_zzz_500.gif

It wasn't very big, (maybe 4" sides) but I've been meaning to buy a couple for bike trailers and etc.

It doesn't appear that there is a direct stud mount, but I'm sure I can jerry-rig something.

I have these Portland Design Works rack brackets on several bikes. I use the PDW Danger Zone tailight.
https://www.amazon.com/Portland-Desi.../dp/B003Z7WIQY

I absolutely will not buy any light that mounts with a rubber strip. No way, no how. I have 4 Cygolite Hotshot lights (2 of the Gen2 models, 2 of the Pro80 brighter models), and have 2 different bikes with the Hotshot rack mount bracket. The Hotshot rack mount bracket is sold separately, unfortunately, but they work great. I've never lost a light out on the road.

[MENTION=301784]PatrickGSR94[/MENTION] beat me to it.
Came to recommend the Cygolite Hotshot Bracket.
https://www.bikeshophub.com/cart/ima...shot-stock.jpg and light.
It's great if you have a Hotshot and a reflector mount on your rack, and worthless otherwise :-).

PB sells a version of that for their superflash too. Although I have definitely converted from superflash to cygo hotshot over the last couple years.

If you're ok with changing a AA battery, and don't need a flashing mode, I love the Busch & Müller Toplight Line Permanent -
Busch & Müller Toplight Line Permanent & Senso - Harris Cyclery bicycle shop - West Newton, Massachusetts

http://thetouringstore.com/wp-conten...oplight-44.jpg

It puts a straight line of light across the back of your bike which is the best non-blinking solution I've seen by far. Bolts onto your rack. Drawbacks are that it doesn't blink, and that it requires taking the AA battery in and out to recharge it.

I needed to buy a light for a family member, where I'd put a USB charger next to the light so they could plug it in after every ride and not end up with a dead battery because they forgot to recharge it. It also need to bolt onto the back of the rack, because they had a trunk bag on their bag.

I got them the Planet Bike Blinky Superflash USB 0.5W Tail Light and it's work very well for that:
https://www.amazon.com/Planet-Bike-B...lanet+bike+usb

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CtU9Ys7VIAA82Sk.jpg

You also need the planet bike rack mount -
https://www.amazon.com/Planet-Bike-T...ike+rack+mount

And if you have a modern cell charger, the mico usb to mini usb adapter:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Buying all this stuff has been kind of annoying, but after that it's been rock solid reliable. Because it's all one piece the light cannot have the back fall off (something I've heard can happen with the AAA battery version). It locks into place well on the back of the bike. Since it's left plugged in it's always charged when they go riding. My only complaint is that it's flashing mode is kind of obnoxious, so it has to be left on steady for group rides. But it's been very reliable and doesn't jump off the bike.

I don't know of a light with a blink mode any more that bolts on directly. Planet Bike used to sell a rack blinky, but they discontinued it and replaced it with another similar looking model which requires the adapter to use with a rack. It wasn't a great model anyways - I had issues with the batteries jiggling loose inside the light and it stopping working (without me knowing) in the middle of a ride, so I wouldn't recommend it. That's not an issue with the usb version.