light mounting tips
 

I mounted a Cateye EL530 http://www.cateye.com/en/product_detail/345 on the front handlebars, and am having trouble getting it to stay level. The vibration from the ride causes the light to point closer and closer to the ground, and I'm reluctant to try and tighten the mounting strap up more for fear of breaking it. I bet I'm not the first one with this problem, what have others done to solve this problem?

I've run across this problem before on an 'EL-300' light. You need some kind of soft rubber material, like rubber splicing tape, which was what I used. You could also try a section of old cork tape, or anything grippy to act as a spacer between the bars and the inside of the mount.

Rubber splicing tape can be found at electrical supply houses, or look around at electrical departments in Wal-mart, Lowes, Home Depot.

Buy enough head- and tail-lights and you'll soon have enough extra shim pieces to make anything fit tight.

I've seen people suggest pieces of old inner tubes working well for this type of thing on other posts. I haven't done it yet myself since I've only been commuting about 5 weeks and just got my first flat last Thursday :)

Man I forgot all about that. Old inner tube strips would work great on something like that. I would wash the strips with soap and hot water, to get rid of any slippery stuff that may be on it.


Congratulations on joining the ranks of us commuters. :D

I have used the inner tube pieces with great success. Once you have your first flat, you will be set for life on old inner tube pieces.

old inner tubes and old bar tape can be used for a variety of things such as these. Always good to hang on to a bit of each.

And as JanMM pointed the rubber shims for other lights, pump mounts, and bike computers can be useful, never throw those things out. Stick all your extras in a drawer, never know when they might come in handy.

Doesn't the 530 come with the "flex-tight" bracket where all you have to do is turn the knob? You can clamp that thing down pretty darned tight without any worry of breaking.

+1 for piece of old innertube. You could also use one of the older style 'clamp' mounts,they're interchangable with the newer lights(the mating pieces are identical between the older clamps and newer flexes).

Tangentially, anybody know of options to mount headlights farther down from the bars, like on the headtube or fork? I'm thinking of new lights to put down there, not jury-rigging my existing cygo halo (but that would be fine too)

I have a CatEye headlight on the bars and a Rayovac 4 LED flashlight mounted underneath my front rack. (between the rack and the tire) So far so good

I'm considering the Nashbar Elite handlebar bag for my commuter, but I'm not sure how to deal with the problem of mounting my L&M Solo so that it isn't blocked by the bag.
What kind of mounting work-arounds has anyone else come up with for this problem?

I don't want to helmet mount my light.
It's not a threadless fork that I can flop an extra stem onto and mount the light lower.

Drop by a hardware or building supply store and find EMT conduit hangers. They sell sizes to fit conduit from 1/2" all the way up to 2" inches. Just select the size required to clamp around the tubing where you want your light. I use peaces of inner tube rubber glued to the inside surfaces of the conduit hanger to prevent scratching the paint and provide a firm grip. Below is a photo of a Mag-Lite 2AA 3-watt LED flashlight with two conduit hangers bolted back to back ready to clamp on a bike.
http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/3053/pict0074xc1.jpg

I had the same problem with the el530, they are front heavy. I found if you made it REALLY tight it would hold but I had a lot of trouble getting it off. I had to squeeze in the screw ring and pop it off. Solution was to use inner tubes.

I have two el530s mounted on the fork braze ons for training at night. Just find a broomstick or tube the right diameter and drill a hole on it for a mounting bolt. I run these with a nighthawk emitter on the handlebars or helmet. Works ok but I miss my 7 degree 12w halogen (but not its big battery and 2hr run time!). Its a nice tidy setup and I think they work better being close to the road.

I put one EL530 bracket onto my commuter and I'm waiting on two more flex-tight brackets for my mountain bike. I wouldnt swap brackets between bikes.

If you clean and wax your bike, the bars may be very slippery there due to wax. Try a little windex on the bar right there. Nothing too strong, it may damage the paint. Just see if it gets better traction when clean.

Cut a peice of old inner tube. Wrap it around the bar then mount the light strap around that. Works great.