Rear lights to fit on a rack

[Somnolent]

I tried the Cateye rack mount on my pomp.

Holes wrong spacing.  So used the supplied cable ties.  Light rattles a lot and fell apart twice. Now one of the cable ties has snapped.

The cable tie approach to using those mounts seems a bit naff at best.  Luckily all of my mounts have holes with the right spacing, and they are pretty solid mounts when fitted like that.

I just got a Cateye rack mount for the OH's commuting set-up.   Really didn't like the look of the screws into plastic approach, so drilled out the two holes to take M5 bolts... the heads of which then had to filed down, otherwise the LD-1100 would not go on. 

[Bledlow]

Wybe Pol, owner of Altaflex Fiets + Techniek, sells the Pixeo for €8.50 & will post to the UK for €9.95. Lower price for any order of more than 10 -

Battery with on/off switch € 5,95.
Battery with on/auto/off switch  € 7,95
Dynamo with stand light  € 8,95

His English is adequate (i.e. a lot better than my Dutch) & it seems like a pretty good deal. He also sells other stuff, of course, & apparently BOVAG (trade association of car, bike, & motorbike business) rated him the best bike mechanic in the Netherlands last year.

www.altaflex.nl
Altaflex Fiets + Techniek
Schoolstraat 48a
9581 GC Musselkanaal
0599-61 75 34
info@altaflex.nl

I suspect that shopping in the USA is done because of language, but with online translation of websites it's almost as easy to shop across the Channel nowadays.

[Biggsy]

Is $40 under the UK tax threshold (which last time I read about it, noone could agree on) ?

Not for VAT, which is £18 including postage.  $40 = ~£25.

Royal Mail's handling charge for VAT/duty collection is £8.  Some other couriers charge more.

[mattc]

IMHO the last 4 posts are of no interest or use to anyone bar the 2 posters.

Could you 2 agree-to-disagree or take it offline? This was a really useful topic, please get back to posting the constructive stuff.  

[saturn]

Why is it that rack lights are so tricky to come by? There are plenty of racks available at most of the popular UK retailers, some of which have the fixing plate for a light but there doesn't seem to be the lights to go with them. Reading above, people seem to get around this in various ways but with the choice available in general back lights you'd think some would be good for rack mounting. Am I missing something amongst the detail?

[Biggsy]

Why is it that rack lights are so tricky to come by?

I suppose because racks and rack plates aren't standardised enough.  You'll find a suitable bracket if you're lucky.

[Bledlow]

It's an unfortunate truth that many rack manufacturers don't give any thought to the ease of fitting lights. Blackburn racks, for example, have nothing to fit a light to.

I now have a rack which I don't much like in some respects, but is good enough, and has a bar with holes in at the back to which I can fit lights or light brackets. If all racks had such a bar, I expect that more light manufacturers would make lights or brackets to fit it. Cateye does.

AFAIK, reviewers rarely criticise racks for not having light mountings, or praise those that have them. That annoys me.

I think the plates are relatively standard (there are two horizontal hole spacings, & the traditional two vertical holes as in the old reflector bracket), but many manufacturers don't provide any plate at all, or anywhere to fit one.

[andrew_s]

Light plates on the back of racks are standardised with 2 pairs of holes at 50mm & 80mm separation, and lights to fit are common enough.
The thing is that most of the lights to fit are dynamo lights. It's because the 50/80mm standard is a German standard, dynamo lights are compulsory in Germany except on racing bikes (<11kg), and racks aren't generally fitted on lightweight bikes.

There are a couple of battery versions of the dynamo rack lights eg this one
Smart do a bracket to fit one of their Superflash etc lights centrally using the 50mm holes, and I think Cateye may do one for the LD600 fitting

[fuaran]

Anyone tried the RSP TourLite? Its rack mounted, and includes as reflector. There's a few places selling it for about £11.
Mountain Bikes | Road Bikes | Cycling Accessories & Clothing | Cyclelife

[Bledlow]

Smart do a bracket to fit one of their Superflash etc lights centrally using the 50mm holes, and I think Cateye may do one for the LD600 fitting

Cateye do sell a bracket (available from Wiggle, among others,http://www.wiggle.co.uk/cateye-rear-carrier-mounting), which the LD1100 & various other lights fit. Avenir racks mostly have light mounting plates, as do Topeak & Tubus. The RSP lights should fit anything with the old British vertical hole fitting, & I think maybe the 50mm holes.

[saturn]

This looks OK too
   Wiggle | Cateye TL-LD560 Reflex LED Rear Light Rear Lights


"Supplied with Cateye's own lockable rack adapter "

[saturn]

apols for double post, looking for cheaper supplier of above led to amazon, not cheaper but which led to some further options.....

Amazon.co.uk: Cateye Reflex TL-LD560 Rear Bike Light: Explore similar items

[fhills]

On the subject of racks (and apologies if this is merntioned above - can't wade through the bizarre arguments that erupted) Tortec racks are also good for light mounts. Also they are excellent good value racks with very good fitting adaptors - they must be if cack-handed me can swap them between bikes now and again.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Posts removed as requested.

[saturn]

looking for cheaper supplier of above led to amazon, not cheaper but which led to some further options.....

Amazon.co.uk: Cateye Reflex TL-LD560 Rear Bike Light: Explore similar items

Probably clever Amazon marketing as a result of my looking at the above a while back - I just received an email from Amazon entitled " Parkers Pannier Mounted LED" including all the rack mounted lights and related stuff that Amazon sell.

[Bledlow]

Has anyone mentioned the Basta Zoom? Auto on/off rack mounting, 50 & 80mm fitting.

http://www.parkersofbolton.co.uk/p-431-basta-zoom-auto-rear-pannier-mounted-led-light.aspx

Most mainland European firms seem to do both dynamo & battery rack mounted lights: Basta, Spanninga, etc.

[Bledlow]

SJS is selling an unbranded rack fitting light for £9.18 (£11.68 inc P&P), & a Chinese (An Lun) LED rear light to fit on mudguards for £6.12. The latter is out of stock, but expected in on February 5th.

http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/rear-carrier-led-light-prod23693/
http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/an-lun-3-led-rear-light-for-mudguards-prod23754/

[Feline]

I've just bought 2 of their mudguard lights, one for my daughter's bike because she has insufficient seatpost showing to mount a light on, and one will be my backup light on PBP. They strike me as a good anti-theft light since you could only undo their bolt by taking the mudguard off first. They feel very lightweight and replace the rear reflector that would go there.

[Bledlow]

Tempting. Good that you way they're very light.

I fettled the rear light on my Brompton when it failed last September due to internal looseness & slight corrosion, but now it's gone again, & I think finally, so I need a not particularly tempting to thieves (as I often leave the Brompton locked outside rather than carrying it round supermarkets) replacement with two bolts 50mm apart. The mudguard light could replace the mudguard reflector on my (sadly underused until my health is fixed) best bike, giving me a permanently fixed emergency light in case of loss, failure, or leaving at home of the main light.

Spread the postage across two cheap lights & suddenly it doesn't seem to add much to the price.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

I've got one of the SJS mudguard lights (Anlun). Pretty useless IMHO because the three LEDs are aimed perpendicular to the mudguard. That means they are aimed into the eyes of a following rider and not horizontally. The Pixeo blows it out of the water from a driver's eye POV.

[Bledlow]

But unless you happen to be visiting a country (e.g. the Netherlands) where the Pixeo is sold for less than £[obscene rip-off & large multiple of proper price], it's a hell of a lot cheaper.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

A light is a waste of time if it is crap, no matter the cost.

[Bledlow]

No: any light is better than no light. Did you miss the bit about permanently fitted emergency back-up light?

Also, it would be better to compare it with something that is sold in this country, rather than something that has to be bought from abroad at silly cost.

Instead of the An Lun, what would you advise? Imagine you're advising someone with a tight budget, not someone who doesn't mind paying a multiple of the standard retail price just because it's nice.

[Biggsy]

What about mounting a light to the rack?  That can be done on a low budget - when you find an appropriate light/bracket/bodge.  Presumably we all have racks for the bikes in question, since this thread is about lights to fit on a rack.

This is my solution for my Brommy, since I didn't have a bracket directly suitable for the rack at the time, and also wanted to place the light further back to clear any overhanging bag.

I would have used the seatpost instead, if I didn't have a bottle cage in the way.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Bledlow, do whatever you like. I have an Anlun and I think I have thrown my money away. I advise getting something that at least points in the right direction.