Rr.

Hey folks!

I have a 1980 Nishiki International that I've converted to fixed gear. I'm looking for LED front and rear riding lights that will fit with the aesthetic.

What lights do y'all use on your vintage builds?

RR

roadcrankr

I just strap on my rechargeable lights.
Better for motorists to see you, than trying for style points.

merziac

Good ones, don't worry about the aesthetics on this, there were arguably very, very few effective, robust, even ok looking vintage lights.

You could go with the smallest ones like Bontrager Ion Flare so they are a bit more inconspicuous but I encourage you to get good ones.

I run multiple lights front and rear, cameras too, helmet and GPS 24/7, 365, period.

Any one of these can win the 1 or 10 million $ lawsuit if things go wrong regardless of laws pertaining to such.

Rr.

Fair. I'm curious if there's something out there that uses modern technology (rechargeable LED), but also goes nicely with a vintage build.

DanBikeFan

What about the lamps by Kiley? I haven't use them myself, but they look very nice. From what I can figure out of the website text, the LM-018 was designed with your needs in mind. Not cheap though...

Bianchigirll 

https://www.amazon.com/GOODKSSOP-Cla...7084245&sr=8-5

https://www.amazon.com/Vintage-Bicyc...5&sr=8-16&th=1

I don't use these but just searched for vintage looking LED light or something. I have an old NyteRyder I use if I ride at night.

Murray Missile 

I bought one of those vintage looking LED lights a few years back. You could see it from a mile away but it threw absolutely no useable light on the road. I use a CREE 5 LED rechargeable light I got off Ebay right after that for actual night riding. The light itself is small with a quick release handlebar mount and a remote battery pack I store it in a handlebar bag with the battery when not in use. It has a high and low beam and a strobe function, I have had cars flash their high beams at me on low beam! I use 2 small red LEDs that strap to the seat stays on the rear, I put one on constant on one stay and the other on strobe on the other stay at a different level. They can easily be moved from bike to bike.

steelbikeguy

I can make you a deal on a lightly used Belt Beacon, utilizing that fancy "incandescent" technology!



otherwise, just find a LED light that's small and unobtrusive.
I've been using some little Cateye lights that use a AA cell.



Steve in Peoria

Kontact 

Chombi1 

A good period correct light would be a Wonderlight flashlight/headlight. I must have bought at least four of them for my bikes in the 80's.
It was very popular in the early to mid 80's because the light had a plastic clamp-on bracket that easily mounts on to your handlebar and can fully be removed in seconds from the bike.
IIRC, it might have been made in France. The problem might be the batteries which from my recollection were proprietary to the light. I doubt if they are still available. A bit of .modification to the battery compartment might be neccessary to adapt modern batteries into the light.The brightness of the then, common incandescent bulb leaves a lot to be desired too. There should be equivalent LED replacement bulbs available that would be much brighter.

steelbikeguy

As @Chombi1 says, a lot of the lights available in the 70's were not that great (such as that Wonder headlight) and had some odd details.
Here's the page from a 1980 Bike Warehouse catalog showing the Wonder headlight, the Belt Beacon, and the familiar white/red light that straps to an arm or leg...




Personally, when I think of vintage lights that look good, I'm thinking more of the aluminum or chromed lights that were used on touring or randonneuring bikes... which makes sense, as they are the ones that get ridden at night.
I've still got my old Jos block dynamo, which is a nice, small light. Not at all bright by modern standards, though.




Peter Weigle's flickr pages show some of the neat old vintage lights....

a lovely Ducheron rando bike:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/49353569@N00/15704515395/

a JOS 431c headlight:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/49353569@N00/4682149829/

and another photo by Mr. Weigle, of a catalog page, a business card, and the JOS headlight....

https://www.flickr.com/photos/49353569@N00/8568277307/

The only modern light(s) that I'm familiar with are the Schmidt Edelux lights that are built from aluminum. They are dynamo lights, which isn't a surprise, and use a LED and excellent optics.
https://nabendynamo.de/en/products/headlights/edelux-2/

B&M has a dynamo light with a vintage look too. No idea how it compares to the Edelux.
https://www.perennialcycle.com/busch...headlight.html

I have vague memories of a battery powered light with similar aesthetics, but don't recall any details.

Personally, I'm tinkering with retro-fitting LEDs into my old Jos dynamo light, and hope that it can be a guide for others to upgrade some of their vintage lights with better performance. It would be nice to see some of the really cool old lights be used again instead of just gathering dust on a shelf.

Steve in Peoria

Catnap 

Kiley lights are great and perfect for vintage bikes. I have their rechargeable LED “silver bullet” style headlight on my & my wife’s randonneur bikes. They look perfect and are very bright. At around $100 a piece they aren’t cheap, but there is no alternative that makes such a classy-looking light that’s also rechargeable LED.



I buy mine direct from Kiley’s Japanese website because they are often out of stock at other online retailers. Shipping takes around two weeks. https://kiley-japan.com/en-us/products/lm-018

as a cheap alternative, the Chinese dollar stores in my neighborhood sell old-time style flashlights, the type made from shiny silver metal with ridges, that use LED lights and batteries. They look the part but are fairly heavy since they use C or D batteries. Example:

DanBikeFan

Love the Chinese dollar store solution--it really looks similar to the old French flashlights on Herse and other randonneur bikes. Super cool!
If you want to pay much more for a similar look, this is also available:
Kimura lighting
I'm sure the quality is outstanding.

Markeologist

Get a modern helmet mount light since I assume your helmet is modern…won’t affect the aesthetics of the bike and you can use on multiple bikes.

tiger1964 

Pretty sure I have a Schwinn-Approved version of that WL-TB in one of my parts boxes; the OP is welcome to it, but IIRC it puts out about the same number of lumens as taping some fireflies to your head tube.

Catnap 

Worth noting on the Chinese dollar store flashlight - it's attached to the front rack using a two-piece mount that doesn't come with it. The front is a locking clamp and the rear is held with a spring tension clip. It bolts to the rack. These mounts can be hard to find. Not expensive (maybe $25-45) but rare. There's some eBay right now.



Good call on the Kimura lights; I wasn't aware of those before. This one is quite nice, about $100 with shipping. It's designed to bolt right to the rack, which save you the need for an additional mounting clamp, but would also make it kind of hard to remove from the rack when you're on the road. https://cyclesgrandbois.com/SHOP/kimura_LH11C.html

ThermionicScott 

Busch & Muller has a few very classic-looking models. If you're open to running a little bit of wiring, a dynohub would eliminate the need to recharge them, too.


https://www.bumm.de/en/products/dyna...einwerfer.html

Markeologist

If you are contemplating a flashlight, go with a DKG (they are still around) mount for a maglite which can be converted to led…some probably are but I haven’t looked. You have an 80s bike and these came out in 80s…here is one I have on my 86 Rodriguez tandem…I had the matching but no longer available seat post mount too but some a$$#ole stole my wife’s Brooks pro, Suntour XC seatpost and the light when parked at our Paso hotel following Eroica a few years back. Still chaps my hide…they stole our Scott cantilevers too.

Chombi1 

Arrrggghh!, see the Binda Extra toe straps for just 6.95 in that Bike Warehouse old ad page??! They're now ike close to $100 in NOS condition at Ebay, minimum, these days! The Wonderlights were a very cheap, less than 5 bucks each!

kvnclu

Another in the "silver bullet" category - the Rindow silver bullet bike light is a simple beautiful shape that IMO blends in nicely with an older build (especially with silver parts). It's my backup light on an '89 Bianchi Volpe.

RB1-luvr

On another bicycle forum (gasp!) I've seen guys take apart inexpensive LED flashlights and put the guts into vintage bicycle light housings. You would likely need some mild fab and soldering skills. I've seen some nice lights made this way.

Rick_D

I assume most olde tyme bike lights powered by traditional batteries used incandescent flashlight bulbs. Common flashlight bulbs have direct LED replacements that, when paired with NiMH batteries would make an easy non-destructive conversion retaining the original light's battery holder and lamphead. Might be a fun project!
One source:
https://www.tek-tite.com/products.ph...%26+Conversion

52telecaster

I use a couple of old dynamo tail lights with led bulbs I get from peter white. The version he sells have super capacitors so they act as stand lights.

Caliwild

Lezyne makes a few of their lights in polished silver....

https://www.jensonusa.com/Lezyne-MIN...iABEgI_WfD_BwE

bark_eater 

These are pretty cool be-seen lights. They came with rotten batteries and a mess of corrosion inside, but I think their big enough to gut and install a small modern led lamp inside.