What are my options? I want to attach my headlights and tail lights to bars or devices which I can quickly disconnect.

I have four lights, I don't want to mess with four crappy plastic qr mechanisms that come with the lights.

I don't think the product exists, so I'm ether hacking or going 100% diy.

uhhhh...whats wrong with the "crappy plastic QR mechanisms" that come with the lights again? what lights do you have? planetbike superflash and Portland design works radbot 1000 share identical clips (which, by the way, you can buy separately to put multiple mount points on different bikes)

I hope the problem isn't that you don't want the plastic mounts messing up the "lines" of your "tight whip" when you aren't using them. If that's the case, it's time to trade your pretty little fixie in for a beater MTB with some slicks and start throwing as many accessories as you can think of on that thing!

light and motion Stellas don't use a bracket type mount.

What's wrong with the crappy qr mechanisms is that they are hard to operate with gloves on and they brake when the mercury dips below zero.

Thanks for the feedback genius. You are not only a genius, you are clairvoyant. You probably typed that with your mind. A real brain trust.

Oh yeah - I have a Lumotec N Plus head and Toplight Flat tail. The backup battery lights are a variety from the cateye 450 to generic LED flashers.

Crappy plastic mechanisms are light. Metal is heavy. My bars are cluttered with an array of plastic, light, map holder, computer, and one I can't identify, it just appeared one day.

I get it.

I park on the street. Downtown Minneapolis. I need to take my stuff off the bike. Also - my bike goes on and off busses and trains all day.

I want to mount and dismount with either one qr lever, or a few turns on a sizeable wingnut or handle.

I want to walk out to my bike, reach into my bag, and pull out two contraptions. One for the bars, one for the seatpost. Attach. Plug into the dynohub, and ride. Then, when I park, unhook from the dyno, release the two contraptions, drop into bag, and go inside.

One specific kind, or have you tried a variety? I have PB lights on my bike and have used them in a variety of conditions well into the -30s without issue. I do, admittedly, have very thin gloves for the level of insulation they provide.

I did break one QR mount (in the summer) when the bike fell over indoors and yanked the light off. Better the $2 bracket than a gouge in my wall, though.

Bat56: If you had given some of the reasons why you didn't like the quick releases earlier, perhaps people wouldn't have asked "what wrong with them?" I know they didn't answer the question, but to be fair people didn't understand why they were "crappy" in their experience. If your experience is they break in freezing weather (something I know nothing about), then that's pretty important to point out to the people who haven't seen that problem with their mounts/weather. Mounts are of course dependent on the light being mounted, so including that information would have made it easier for people to help you. Also, of course, sarcastic responses belittling the people trying to help you probably won't help you, either.

Oh, and I totally sympathize with the desire to have simple, durable quick release mounts. I think mounts (along with connectors) are the hardest parts to get right in a lighting system.

When I asked a somewhat similar question someone pointed me to https://www.shiningbeam.com/servlet/t...Bicycle/Detail but I don't think it'll work for you because you're not mounting a flashlight. It's also plastic (but maybe if it doesn't have little quick release tabs that break it's ok?), and the knob looks a bit small for glove use unless you glue something over it.

Oh, what kind of bike? Where are you mounting? For front: fork or handlebars? Rear: seat stay, seatpost, rack...?

Most people seem to permanently mount the dyno-powered lights; I don't envy you the task of finding the right mount. There's some interesting info on mounts at https://www.peterwhitecycles.com/light-mounts.asp which you've probably already seen, but they're not quick-release. They seem to recommend the Busch & Müller HD caliper bracket for your light, if I'm reading it right (but it's rambling--like this post--so I'm not sure).

I think in your situation I'd consider using some sort of security screws to mount the lights and leave them on permanently, but that may not be an option for you.

If I had dyno powered lights, I'd mount them permanently on the bike. The electrical connector between the lights and dyno will eventually break, and you can assume it will do so at the most inconvenient moment possible.

OK, some more info.

Bikes - Road bike from the 80s. Typical Italian frame. This is my daily driver. Rain bike is traditional mountain bike frame with the exception that I have a Surly 1x1 fork so I can run 26" or 700c tires. The mtb is also the grocery getter and trailer puller.

The dyno hub is on a 700c wheel, and it will move between the bikes, depending on conditions and activity.

Rear - I want to mount to the seat post. I do not ride with a rack. I am thinking of a short bar with two lights attached which crosses the seatpost like a T. I can have a permanent device attached to the seatpost, it will be on both bikes.

Front - I want something like the Minoura Swing Grip. Again, I will have a receiver on both bikes.

Wiring - the wiring into the hub and the lights will be soldered. The connectors will be in line, just some plugs, couplings, whatever.

QR - the B&M lights do not have QR, they are designed for permanent mounting, which is why I want to permanently attach them to by sub-structure which then QR-attaches to my bars and seatpost. Scratch the comment about the plastic breaking. I'll stick with the gloves problem and add a snow problem - when I get my bike off of the bus in the winter it will be dark and the mounts might be ice or snow packed from sitting on the bus for thirty minutes. I don't want to be cleaning the ice out, especially if I have a big solid metal options.

This probably isn't what you're looking for since they aren't dyno lights, but I've been very happy with my Blackburn Fleas both front and rear. Quick velcro on/off so no plastic to break. The set I have recharges through a USB drive. Since each light came with its own charger, I keep one at work and one at home so I can recharge my lights whenever I need. They're also extremely light. They each weigh as much as the human soul (21 grams).

My head light is attached to my helmet, and my tail light, along with whatever other blinkies I carry, are attached to a belt around my waist. No lighting on the bike to worry about or get stolen.

That doesn't work so well with dyno driven lighting...

You're gonna have to fabricate something yourself, as I don't think a commercial solution exists for you.

What's wrong with permanently mounting the generator powered lights?

For dyno lights, I think the Supernova headlight can be mounted with a QR tab and cable disconnect. Their taillight is hard to spot at a casual glance, so I wouldn't worry about it.

It seems you know exactly what you want, and that nothing like it is made commercially yet. This calls for a homebrew job.

Mount helmet lights.

https://www.supernova-lights.com/en/e3pro2.html
https://www.supernova-lights.com/en/e3_tail_light.html

Unclip and unplug the front, undo the O-ring mount for the rear, and you're good.

I tell ya, if I ever switch my road bike away from the Eastons it has now, it's getting a dyno setup.

I am coming to grips with that. That is largely the purpose of this thread, to solicit input and perhaps see the homebrews which have gone before me... none yet.

I'm digging the central handlebar mount that Supernova has available. I'm thinking the bolt can be replaced with my skewer...

Bat:

Have you tried 259 - Electronics, Lights and Gadgets? Gearheads there could be pretty helpful.

I get it - cold could be very frustrating. I would forget the bike and light up the rider

Anyhoo - ride safe and have fun.

SF

Good call, I posted this in the wrong forum. I'll let it ride for a few days before cross-posting.

He said that they tended to get packed in snow when on the bus' rack for a half hour. Makes sense.

Maybe you could cover them? If you have to park it in the cold (do you?) that would help too. It's another thing to carry, true. But in that kind of weather I imagine you're carrying a lot anyway.

I'm not too familiar with those lights (or snow), so forgive me if these aren't good ideas, but wouldn't you have problems with your mounts or connectors getting somewhat snow packed too? Seems like clearing the snow to mount the light would be about the same pain as clearing the snow off a mounted light.

A quick release for this might work, but it sounds like you'd have to come up with the quick release on your own.

I'd rather clean snow off the light than pick at snow and road crud that got wedged into the rails of a mounting bracket. For a mount to work, the tolerances between the light and its bracket have to be really tight, and contaminating it with gunk isn't a good thing.