Headlight bracket hack
12-04-18, 02:18 AM
#1
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Headlight bracket hack
Dont like headlight mounted to the tops, and my handlebar bag makes it hard to mount on front tube. Decided to fashion something from a steel L-bracket. I suspect this will have limited life due to vibration stresses around the unused bolt-holes. Is there already some purpose-built part available?
12-04-18, 02:41 AM
#2
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Necessity is the mother of invention. This is one I did a while back. It was mounted between the fender and the fork crown with a daruma. I used a floor mounting-plate from a set of bi-fold doors, drilled a bolt-hole into the mounting plate to mount the bracket to a hinge from a toilet seat, then bolted it to the light. 
12-04-18, 03:33 AM
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Necessity is the mother of invention. This is one I did a while back. It was mounted between the fender and the fork crown with a daruma. I used a floor mounting-plate from a set of bi-fold doors, drilled a bolt-hole into the mounting plate to mount the bracket to a hinge from a toilet seat, then bolted it to the light.
12-04-18, 08:43 AM
#4
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Your steel bracket will last long enough; dare say it'll probably succumb to rust first. 
Rear rack mounting strip leftovers are my goto for making odd brackets. Most are stainless.
Rear rack mounting strip leftovers are my goto for making odd brackets. Most are stainless.
12-04-18, 11:56 AM
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^^^ +1; it'll rust before it breaks. Paint it,or "coat" with gorilla tape / electrical tape, or a bit of old innertube, and maybe it'll last long enough to break. Better choice would be a flat mending plate with only one hole at each end.
But +1 on the ingenuity; I have near-zero true fab skills, so I'm always finding "creative" solutions like this.
This rack needed a lower point to hook the pannier lower hook. Behind the tape is a strip of metal pipe strap wrapped around the rods, and a stainless bolt/nut. Version 2.0 will use innertube rubber.
(Eek, those pine needles get everywhere.....)
But +1 on the ingenuity; I have near-zero true fab skills, so I'm always finding "creative" solutions like this.
This rack needed a lower point to hook the pannier lower hook. Behind the tape is a strip of metal pipe strap wrapped around the rods, and a stainless bolt/nut. Version 2.0 will use innertube rubber.
(Eek, those pine needles get everywhere.....)
12-04-18, 01:17 PM
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well done! that bracket won't break, looks perfect but I might add a lock washer at the fork crown & maybe a thin rubber washer at the light (or do I see a lock washed in there?) just to keep them from rotating. but see how those connections hold up over the next few rides
12-04-18, 01:24 PM
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12-04-18, 02:54 PM
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I made this from a stainless VO front rack bracket with an added 90 degree twist, and a handlebar simulator from Universal Cycles:
12-04-18, 03:09 PM
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Man, that toilet seat hinge and bifold door stop is great. I was trying to figure out were that hinge came from.
12-04-18, 04:56 PM
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well done! that bracket won't break, looks perfect but I might add a lock washer at the fork crown & maybe a thin rubber washer at the light (or do I see a lock washed in there?) just to keep them from rotating. but see how those connections hold up over the next few rides
Now I just need to get used to the funny shadow cast by the cross bar from the front racks. :-D
12-04-18, 07:44 PM
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I'd be tempted to come up with a way to mount the light on the over-the-wheel hoop on the lowrider. May be too much vibration, there, however.
Are those low-rider braze-ons on the fork? Cooool.....
Are those low-rider braze-ons on the fork? Cooool.....
12-04-18, 10:04 PM
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Yup. 1984 univega specialissima touring— Tange champion tubing, three bottle cage mounts, three sets of fork mounts— IMHO one of the finest touring frames ever made :-D
12-05-18, 02:41 AM
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Last time I had a light with a remote battery-@pack I put the light on one side of my helmet and the battery on the other. I find powerful helmet mounted lights a life saver and they never get broken/stolen/forgotten.
12-05-18, 08:22 AM
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shadows makes me nutz. spent a long time eliminating mine a cpl yrs ago. I was toying with the idea of a headtube mount, but never worked it out. I see you have a brake cable right in front of the headtube, but I'd bet someone really cleaver could raise that light, mounting it to the headtube, with some kind of accommodation for that brake cable
something like this but with a bigger diameter for the headtube & some kind of reach-around to get around that cable
12-05-18, 09:19 AM
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maybe change that front rack to one like indyfabz has in post #12 here?
https://www.bikeforums.net/general-c...pose-bike.html
cuz it has a hole for mounting stuff
https://www.bikeforums.net/general-c...pose-bike.html
cuz it has a hole for mounting stuff
