Namida12

I was looking at these lights - Made for upside down mounting - But @ $400+ for a pair think I will choose different lights with battery power.
https://www.compasscycle.com/shop/co...light-hanging/

Image of light mounted
https://www.flickr.com/photos/7516215@N03/16336896914/

If I understand correctly mounting a light upside down the lens needs to be rotated 180 degrees because a lot of headlight beams that have lens designed with a sharp cutoff, similar to modern automotive headlights, to reduce the chance of blinding oncoming traffic or other cyclists and should not be mounted upside down.

I would like a pair of lights with 600-900 lumens to be seen and have road surfaces illuminated to ride my road bike at night.

Suggestions

JR

Looigi

Very few lights have sharp cutoffs, except in Germany (and maybe other EU countries) where lights are required to have sharp cutoffs. The large majority of lights available in the US have circular or elliptical beams so can be mounted upside down without affecting the beam.

Namida12

Looigi,

Thank you, now that opens the field for lights, as i thought lens were designed to disburse light on the road, and turning them upside down would easily blind other cyclists and pedestrians on bike paths...

Still not certain of what lights to use 300 to 450 lumens in a pair...

JR

Looigi

I use a Cygolite Expilion, but any of the commonly available bike lights will work. Lezyne, Light and Motion, CatEye, PDW, etc... Mounting them upside down will mean having to reach underneath to work the switch for most of these. There may be models that have a rear mounted switch which would be easier to actuate. The switch often doubles as an indicator light, so that's a consideration too.

If you look at the business end of a light, circular symmetry with a centrally located LED emitter often always means a circular beam. LED lights that have sharp cutoff almost all employ an angled design where the LED is out of sight in the top of the light and the beam is produced by an angled reflector.

Recumbentracer

Hey Namida,
I'd recommend my lights (DS-1300) if I had any more since they have a low-profile under bar mount option, but you might also like the Specialized FLUX Elite or Expert models. I haven't tried one myself but they have a nice looking mount that allows the light to hang low, under the bars, AND it has a cut-off beam reflector. Pretty slick little design. FWIW

Looigi

Good call on the Spec Flux. It mounts below the bars but not upside down. It aint cheap, tho.

MileHighMark

All of the lights that I recently reviewed can be mounted under the bars. If you look closely at the photo below you'll see a CatEye light mounted upside down on my commuter's rack.

caloso

I didn't care for the mount that came with my Knog Blinder so I detached it and use a TwoFish universal light mount instead. I prefer to keep it under the bar because I can still use that part of the bar to put my hands. And it just looks cleaner.

MileHighMark

I'd like to see that--do you have a photo?

caloso

Not at present. I'll try to take one tonight.

stdlrf11

I mounted both my minewt and my cygolite metros upside down, under my handlebars. I actually preferred the beam pattern that way.

Namida12

caloso and stdirt11,


Was looking forward to photos of your upside down light mountings. If you have time, please post.


JR

caloso

Marcus_Ti

Here's my NiteRider GoPro mount:

NiteRider Light - Album on Imgur

Purchasable off Amazon Prime.

stdlrf11

That thing is wicked cool!!

As for me, I just clipped the lights upside down off the handlebar. Nothing spectacular.



When I ride that bike at night, I still use the NiteRider(s) like that.
With the other two bikes, I use the mid-fork braze ons.

Marcus_Ti

Damn. TWO NiteRiders? You trying to land aircraft or something?

The adapter block is milled aluminum, it was Amazon Prime...made by some no-name in China and probably violate a dozen patents...but does the trick. Like most products listed on Amazon they list is Prime and cheap (I paid $15USD for it) until someone buys one, then they remove Prime and jack the cost up:

Robot Check

That alu block takes the NR slide that unscrews off the standard NR mount on one end....then it becomes a GoPro that can plunk right into a standard K-Edge GoPro/Garmin mount. Keeps the light pointed exactly where I set it and it doesn't move ever, unlike most handlebar mounts...and even better it doesn't take up handlebar space that way.

b0wz3r108

I use a Minoura bracket that goes in the headset spacer stack for my light, a Fenix BC30. It not only gets the light off of the bar and makes more space (very important on road bars), but also lowers the light and creates more shadowing as a result, allowing a better read on the road surface.

Here are a couple of pics of my on-bike light set up.

Namida12

Here is my solution so far: Two ebay 5 LED lamps, one received second one apparently not shipped yet. One Sony HDR-AZ1 Camera, and one Garmin 705.

I purchased a Glub G-559 (ebay dual CNC Clamps for handle bar, and a 22.2 mm forward bar/tube). This is a sweet solid mount, but should be manufactured with a 31.8 clamps on both ends and not 22,2 mm on one end.

The Forward Bar/Tube is to small 22,2 mm in diameter. I had a custom GoPro mount made. (3D printed, to mount Sony Cam with GoPro converter mount - also 3D printed).
Have one light attached mounted upside down, Sony HDR-AZ1 Camera is mounted, and the stem mounted Garimn needs to be a lower mount, but for the moment not pretty, but it should work once I can get the rubber band light mount tighter for a solid mount.

See attached mount photos.






JR