Recumbent riders;show us your lights

[jogler]

I am gradually fettling my recently acquired 'bent & now consider front lights need fitting with the imminent arrival of early lighting-up time.
Being cereberally (sp) lazy I wonder how others have made best use of the front mech post to carry front lights.
Your comments/advice/pics would be received with appreciation.
Or you could just say "sodoff yer lazy git & sort it yerself"

[Kim]

IQ Cyo R mounted with the standard fork crown mount and a hilariously large repair washer on the SMGT's bottle-cage braze-on.  The braze-on's aren't aligned perfectly, so some bending of the mount is needed to align the lamp with the axis of the bike.  Star washers are desirable to keep things in place.

If you don't have braze-ons, I'd say P-clips were the way to do it.

Another method, as you can see there, is to use a stem around the post combined with handlebar brackets.  I'm using that for a computer and GPS mount, for lighting it would work better if rotated through 180 degrees.  A stem is preferable to the obvious choice of a Minoura spacegrip for this, as it will happily bear the weight of the bike when some well-meaning person tries to help you unload it from a train by grabbing it.

One thing this weekend has taught us is that it's imperative that the lamp not be the foremost protrusion from the boom.  It will get knocked.

If I were doing it again, I'd get the non-R version of the Cyo.  While the tall beam is advantageous on an upright bike, you have less nearfield view on a bent, so it doesn't really gain you anything.

[Charlotte]

There's a little tab on the front of the bottom bracket shell on my Optima Baron that lets you mount a lamp.

Problem is (as I found to my annoyance at Birmingham New Street last weekend) this leaves it perched vulnerably out at the front of the boom.  

On the upside, the IQ Cyo wasn't damaged at all - it was the metal tab that bent.  That little light is clearly as hard as nails.  I shall now be following this thread carefully as I intend to mount it further back and higher up so it's not the first thing that gets whacked when lading the bike onto a train...

[tiermat]

Just a thought Kim, would one of the thorn accesory bars not be a tidier and more useful thing to use, rather than a stem? Or would you keep fouling it with your legs?

[jellied]

I've got a minorua [sp?] space grip on the Ice Trike - perfect for mounting the Dinotte and GPS.

The down side is that has the word "grip" visible and is ideally suited to people thinking you can pick the front up and wheel out around. It's not that strong alas.

[tom_e]

I got an adapter (from ICE) which essentially links the two bottle-holder type bolts on the front of the post to a short fake handlebar so you can mount handlebar-mounted lights on there.  A similar job can be done with an old stem and bits, I believe:



Good if you already have handlebar mounted lights.  Otherwise the bolt-directly option looks better, just for avoiding carrying unnecessary metal around.

[Kim]

Just a thought Kim, would one of the thorn accesory bars not be a tidier and more useful thing to use, rather than a stem? Or would you keep fouling it with your legs?

Hmm, good question.  It's not something I gave any thought to, the stem was on the bike (though in the forward-facing position, as a light mount) when Charlotte sold it to me...

*gets tape measure*

*peers at SJS website*

The accessory bar on that stem is 100mm wide (though the eTrex sticks out maybe a centimetre further on the left, and isn't a problem).  The Thorn is 150.  That's probably a bit marginal for legs, certainly if you're wearing baggies rather than lycra.  You could of course cut it down, and your legs/cleat position/cranks will vary.

The other advantage of the stem - which I hadn't discovered yet when I took that photo - is that with the computer wiring routed through the handlebar clamp, it forms a perfect lip balm holder.  

[vorsprung]

One negative memory of recumbents is when I was stuck behind one on an audax, I think maybe a Dave Lewis 600.

It was just ahead of me on a climb.  But not so near that it was easy to overtake.  And not so far away that the friggin blinding flashing nuclear powered rear light was not going to blind me.  So I had to put in a monster effort to 1) pass it on the hill and 2) ensure that it didn't catch me on the downhill

So, to summarise.  Please don't mount a large flashing light on your loverly machine if you are entering the same audax rides as me

[Kim]

That's not in any way recumbent-specific though, is it?  If anything, the rear lights are likely to be lower than on an upright (where they're at just the right height for optimal blinding of any following darksiders, incidentally).

FWIW I have my nuclear rear light down at axle height, hopefully below everyone's eye level, and a more restrained, static B&M one on the rear rack.

[Wendy]

Exposure Maxx-D mounted on a terracycle accessory mount on the front.  Dinotte 400L mounted directly to my Velokraft tailbox on the rear.

Vorsprung, you would hate me, except that I'd turn off the Dinotte on a group ride like that, and leave the fibreflare running. 

[arvid]

I have had an Edelux for a while now (probably the first series that didn't have "prototype" on it). And this year I put a homemade Q5 next to it as high beam. The only thing I notice when I turn the Q5 on next to the Edelux is that the beam gets less bright, since both are attached to my SON hub.

[vorsprung]

Exposure Maxx-D mounted on a terracycle accessory mount on the front.  Dinotte 400L mounted directly to my Velokraft tailbox on the rear.

Vorsprung, you would hate me, except that I'd turn off the Dinotte on a group ride like that, and leave the fibreflare running. 

As long as the Dinotte wasn't flashing I wouldn't mind

[Wendy]

I'm slightly afraid that it's too bright even on low, constant.  Here it is on medium, constant:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/WeVOp7_V6QE&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/WeVOp7_V6QE&rel=1</a>

[Cunobelin]

I intend to be seen....

I use a Windwrap GX fairing, and have added bar ends. I then attach my lights to these, a road legal Cateye on the left and an Exposure Enduro Maxx on the right. I also use the Exposure Joystick as a helmet light.



At the rear I have a pair or "legal LEDs" and back these up with a pair of Dinottes

This is my standard setup on all my bikes. I have brackets fitted and transfer the lights on the frequently used ones and then transfer the brackets for the infrequent use ones

[Sigurd Mudtracker]

I'm using a Space Grip on the front of my Trice which is holding my "cadence" computer as well as a Cateye EL500 light.  Prior to stumbling on this thread I was thinking about a handlebar stem and old bit of handlebar as a more rigid mounting (I have to bend the Space Grip back into position occasionally), especially as I'm thinking of fitting a pricier light up front.  The Kettwiesel, has a IQ Fly up front that I am delighted to find is very bright even being run by an AXA HR sidewall dynamo (I pine for a SON).

At the back the Kett is festooned with flashing LEDs (Cateye LD1100s) and a B+M Dynamo light with standlight (also remarkably bright, and stays on for 10 mins or more after riding).  The Trice has an array of Cateye LEDs on the headrest and seat back.

[markg0vbr]

12v battery 1ah the rear is a strip of red leds from the brake light from a car, the front ar mr11 leds in two lengths of pipe.

[Sigurd Mudtracker]

UFO alert!

 

[Quint]

On my Q-NT a Minoura space grip with a B&M Ixon IQ and a Blackburn Quadrant for flashing (soon to be upgraded to a lumicycle). People keep saying Space Grips are not strong but I got knocked off a DF and it bounced up the road on the Space Grip and was only slightly warped
                                                                        

[henshaw11]

Another vote for the ICE mech post mounting bracket, on a Speedmachine.
(Tho' I did make up a small bracket to raise it above the chainguard  - I could probably have rotated the guard around enough to miss it, but couldn't be bothered with faffing...tho' I probably paid for the laziness in the number of attempts it took to get some baked-on enamel on the bracket cleanly..)

Smart Lunar 35 on the front (backup/flashing), B&M toplight on the rack, Mars4.0 on the rack pack loop (flashing). Lumi (12 or 20 W, I forget..) on top of the helmet - tho' I'm about to order some bits from Cutter for an led upgrade for more light/runtime.

The Smart's *just* about ok to see rubbish road surfaces, tho' I'd prefer it (and the Mars for that matter) to be able to run at lower power non-flashing for better runtime  - I use both with alkalines since I've got hacked off in the past with recharging AAA/AAs (or more accurately, forgetting to), tho' I s'pose the newer enerloop cells would be worth a try.

[Arch]

You might have noticed mine - I have a SpaceGrip type thing (random brand, picked up at York rally) on the little stub on the mech post, so that I can mount two lights on it, rather than one on the stub. At the moment it's just two Smart 5 or 7 LED front lights - eventually I'll upgrade one to a Hope or something.

I fitted another SpaceGrip type thing to the rear triangle frame of the Dash - the frame tube is quite a wide bore, and most light brackets wouldn't fit. I have another SGtt spare, which I intend to mount on the other side to carry another rear LED - on that Scarborough ride I just used a velcro strap to attach the light on the nearside.

I also have a pair of Skullies:

Skully Ultra Bright Mirco LED Bike Light &pound;7.50 |

which fit to any size of tube with rubber straps. The rear one went on the rear triangle, low down, and the front one around the very bottom of the front mech post - it pointed upwards a bit due to the angle of the post, but actually, it dud a very nice job of illuminating the BB and cranks, creating a rather comforting pool of light between my feet.

By the way, thinking of my side by side lights, a friend told me about a mate of his who used to like to ride his motorbike between cyclists riding 2 abreast, to scare them.  One night (and don't ask why he didn't have a headlamp on or see in time, I dunno), he discovered that the two faint little red lights he was rapiding catching up with were in fact on a rather elderly Bedford van.

[Zoidburg]

A chap of my aquaintance has a bent trike on the go and we were looking at running a lighting boom/pole off the top of the seat support tube to get the lights higher up.

You could also clamp more blinkies up the back of it.

[rogerzilla]

Hopefully Tigerbiten will be along to explain his dual Hope Vision 1 setup, which is just like the "dragon" from Dr. No.

[jogler]

a lighting boom/pole off the top of the seat support tube frame top horizontal bar to get the lights higher up.

I've actually done this on mrs. jogler's Trice & it's very effective for mounting several rear lights/LEDs on one face & front lights on the other face IYSWIM

[rower40]

Similar to the front end of Kim's Streetmachine (in fact she supplied the bolt from her pingfuckit supply), with the following crucial differences:

• 1) My bike isn't housetrained, so not allowed inside
• 2) Minoura Spacegrip to allow extra FRICKIN' LAZERS (Cateye Doubleshot
• 3) Eco-friendly - I'm providing such a habitat for the Cable Monster that it would be criminal to pass up the opportunity to use the word "festooned"

[Kim]

That's got something of a Johnny 5 look about it  

You've reminded me that since that photo was taken I've fitted a second B&M fork-crown bracket to the other braze-on, which will take a B&M or Smart battery light, for the odd occasion where I feel the need for additional badger-repelling lasers.

And while it may not be housetrained, at least it doesn't have a taste for human flesh...