Might as well mention the alternatives to crazy expensive bicycle lights. Today, their is a great variety of powerful, battery-efficient, hand-held flashlights available.

For those who don't have a lot of dough to sink into a bicycle specific lighting kit, some of the available mounting hardware might be interesting.

First, is the old tried and true WALD flashlight holder. These used to be used in the day of the D-cell battery flashlight. Most of us probably don't remember the old paper wrapped acid-leaking short-life batteries of yesteryear. However, WALD still makes these mounting devices for bikes. Here is the deal, there still are flashlights out there that are made to hold in your hand and are big enough to fight off a rabid racoon attack. Today, however, these often have mongo LED bulbs and are powerful enough to flash signals to aliens in other galaxies. I have one and used an old rubber foamed handlebar grip to cover a skinny highbeam flashlight. It fits the WALD perfectly. The WALD weighs nothing and costs less than $6.00. It is sturdy and doesn't come loose. You can get these at Amazon.com or most bike shops can get them.


Next is the TwoFish flashlight holder. This is available at fenix-store.com and on Amazon. Amazon is $9.95 for one or Fenix-store offers a three pack for about $15.00

This is for smaller flashlights maybe 1/2" in diameter or less. It uses a rubber molded piece that fits the handlebars and the flashlight. The fasteners are velcro straps. This is an OK rig, but it is hard to keep the velcro tight enough to hold the flashlight in place. Eventually, your flashlight ends up hanging upside-down on the handlebar with the light pointing back at you.


Finally is the Ultra-Cost-Efficient tire inner-Tube flashlight holder. Using slices of old bicycle inner tubes as rubber bands, you slip the band around the front end of the flashlight, then wrap it around the handlebar, then slip the back end of the flashlight through the loop. I use big diameter mountain bike inner tubes. You use a folded slice of inner-tube between the flashlight and the handlbar to act as a support and prevent slipping. (for you collectors, YES, that is an original 1976 Schwinn Continental with original bar tape that to which the light is mounted).

Hey mike,

Thanks for this thread. I ride in mostly urban areas and a Cateye Opticube has been sufficient, but I started looking at more intense alternatives, and they really are expensive, particularly to get into the range of recommended lumens, greater than about 200 as I read it. Any recommendations from you or others as to flashlight models and where to get them? I don't currently do E-commerce for products (as opposed to services, e.g. event tickets).

Thanks again so much.

Check out the Electronics forum, but if you aren't wiling to buy online your choices will be extremely limited.

Sorry Mike, off topic but couldn't help notice you've been around these forums since 2000?

Back on topic, don't underestimate the value of a good old rubber band especially when mounting a light to the helmet.

There are so many good and inexpensive flashlights available today that I hardly know where to start. A trip to a good hardware store would be a lot of fun for you if you are looking at lights.

I should mention that Fenix-Store.com has a good variety of powerful flashlights and they support BF.com, but they are online and you said you didn't like online shopping.

I hate to mention Walmart and Sams, but for around $30.00, there are a number of good options.

First, for about $30.00, Maglite has some powerful LED lights with C-cell, D-Cell, and AAA cell battery users. Generally, the bigger, the better, but you have to decide for yourself what weight you are willing to carry around. Maglite is known for their reliability.


Walmart has a Brinkman 3-watt 2-cell LED light that is said to be good. Two D-cell batteries and an alumnium body means this is not a light for weight weenies, but if you want to see where you are going for about $20.00, this would be reliable. I guess that D-batteries would last forever with LED lights. https://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=8586475


Sam's has the Luxeon LED with 150 lumens for about $30.00. Reviews are that the light is good, but the guts are flimsy. https://www.samsclub.com/shopping/nav...=5&item=425248

Yes, I joined BF.com almost ten years ago. I think it was just getting started about then. It has improved a lot since then in many ways and it has grown. Lots of folks have come and gone and some have come, gone, and returned.

There is an enormous amount of information available through BF.com Whenever you are stuck with a mechanical problem or need some touring suggestions or an opinion about products, this is a great forum.

Besides that, BF.com is a great way to meet cool people. I have been lucky enough to meet some members in real life and bike with them. They are every bit as nice, friendly, and fun in real life as they are on the forums.

There is a thread in the Electronics forum about a flashlight from either Home Depot or Lowe's, think that it was called Task Force.

Put it under the handlebar and it won't move. JensonUSA sells the 3-pack for 12.95$. My flashlight is about 3/4" and it fits well, better than a smaller flashlight actually.

Thank you for posting this. I am still looking for a WALD flashlight holder locally (shipping costs can be a killer) for my utility/cruiser bike.

I have used the Two-Fish light holder for a few years now and think it is a worthwhile. I originally picked it up because my bike-specific lighting was giving me problems and needed some kind of light for my rides home from work. Turns out my Wally-world flashlight was 1/3rd the weight and nearly as bright. Plus, if the flashlight's charge went out on me it was a simple matter of having an extra set of batteries in my bag (or stopping at any grocery/drug/liquor store if I didn't have any on me).

Any LBS in your area that normally stocks Wald products? They could probably just add that to their regular order and avoid the s/h. Down side is you have to pay sales tax. It's what I did to get my Banjo Brothers backpack.

Here's a link to the Wald: https://waldsports.com/index.cfm/flashlightholder.html

And now a question about it: What exactly is a standard sized flashlight? Do they mean a 2D or 2AA or 2AAA or ???

Hey Mike,

Thanks for your generous post in reply to mine asking for flashlight advice. I'm just a kid when it comes to BF (over one year) but I have been cycle commuting for about 25 years, and touring before that, including a cross-country trip. I agree with your comments about BF. BTW, just a few minutes ago I read the post below and considered it at first discouraging but on re-reading it is pretty thoughtful. Then I realized you were the author, whom I never recalled reading until this morning.


PS: I forgot to mention that I'm a year round commuter, but only this past year due to the tutelage of various Bike Forum subscribers, I now ride in rain, and I bought studded tires for icy roads. Active lightning will hold me back, and a recent post from Buffalo suggested that winds of > 45 mph should be a cause for concern.

Do a search for dealextreme.com and you'll find many discussions of lights that are super bright and super cheap (as well as a number of flashlight brackets; I think the one I bought cost $1.5 shipped)

OMG!!! Thanks for that link. It is like The Dollar Tree store for bicycle stuff - and other junk. Uh Oh. I think I feel my pockets getting lighter already.

It is funny you posted this today. Today I went to Lowes and bought a $25 flashlight. It is like a 2.34 max watts. It is way brighter than my old light of 1 max watts. I then went over to the plumbing area and bought two 3/4' pvc split tees and a close nipple thread. I threaded them together and mounted 1 tee to my handle bar with a piece of innertube liner so it wouldn't slip. I also fastened it with 2 hose clamps. I then mounted the flashlight in the other tee with a piece of innertube liner so it wouldn't slip. It works awesome. The mounting parts cost me about $5. I am attaching 2 photos.

Oh that is VERY clever indeed and it looks professional! Nicely done Aardvark!

I always wondered how I might make a handlebar pirch to mount lights and other stuff.

Coleman Max from Walmart ($25) with 2 o-rings from the hardware store ($1). A leftover piece of bar tape for noise prevention. Works great! 1 o-ring would be enough, but the other is there as a backup.

Be careful with DX as the quality can be total crap, the specs are often different than listed, and shipping can take forever. I used to buy a lot of stuff from them, but I got burnt too many times to find them a good value.

Even though I love my bike light set up, I like this thread, anti-mugging device anyone? Jag410 how easy is it to pull the torch out at quick notice?

(For those of us that don't live in a country with access to firearms).

I use and old reflector mount and a conduit holders.

So how would I mount this? https://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...ndingMethod=rr

For that one, you'll need to start off with a romantic dinner at a nice restaurant...

Aardvarks - paintthe holder black and will look even better!

I'm going to build one to hold the flashlight I got from lowes - except I'm going to use walnut - something like the $9.95 that is posted above - but should look pretty nice...just need time to do it...

Michael

Thanks for the pictures. What holds the flashlight in the split tee?

I've been looking for low-cost solutions for lighting so that I can see my way down unlit sections of the MUP now that it'll be getting dark sooner. After much reading and searching on the electronics forum, here's what I think I'm gonna do.

The Terralux 220 lumen flashlight (https://www.terraluxcorp.com/index-retail.htm#3), available on eBay for less than $30 including shipping. Runs on AAs, too, which will make life easier. It doesn't have a flashing mode, but it'll be my "see where I'm going light" go along with the Planet Bike Beamer 1 "be seen" light anyway.

For mounting, the solution presented in this youtube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrfZhEzjWwg seems just brilliant!!! And it's free assuming you've got an old tube laying around like I do. And it doesn't look half bad either. Better than some other DIY suggestions I've seen...

Seems like the best way to get 200+ lumens for less than $30. The Terralux has gotten some very good reviews from BFers and avoids the issues of quality concerns and shipping time issues that seem somewhat common with Deal Extreme.