GrainOfLight

Thanks so much for such a great response everyone. It's been very helpful hearing all your thoughts on what measures you take.

The reason i asked is because I am building my own LED bike light and was wondering how i should secure the mount to my bike. I am making the 'light' of the bicycle light detachable from it's mount, but I am not sure if i should secure the mount part permanently to the bike using screws etc or have it attached via a silicone strap.

Initially I was thinking to use the silicone strap method, but it seems pointless because I can detach the 'light' from the mount.

This is my next question: Do you think there are any benefits to having the silicone strap when the light is detachable or should I just make it permanently attached my screws.

I have already made the mount with the silicone strap and have included some images for you below. Once again, I really look forward to hearing back form you.



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joeyduck

Since you have already made that go for it and use it the way it is. I think that looks really nice and will be easy to remove. Can you adapt it and put your light on that mount? That's what I would do if I already had that.

GrainOfLight

Thanks joey D! I was pretty happy with the result. Yeah, my bike light will clip into the circular section of this mount with a unique quick release, this is why I think it might be better getting rid of the silicone strap and having this mount permanently fixed. Because the light will be the part that is easy to remove from this mount, can you think of any benefit of having the silicone strap?

Robert C

I loosened the base a little and then ran some zipties between the light and the base. Then I tightened the screw between the light and the base so it would stay secure.

I then zip tied the light to the handle bar.

joeyduck

What kind of quick release? Make sure it's secure so it won't jostle out, that would be ny concern.

Are you having an imbedded battery or pack? I'm very intrigued.

GrainOfLight

I'm glad you're intrigued The quick release will hold pretty tight, will probably take approximately 15 lbs of pressure to remove so, should definitely stay quite secure!

Yeah, the light will have a Lithium Ion rechargeable battery that is USB rechargeable and built within the light. It is mainly for urban use so the charge should hold on high mode for approximately 1 hour. Its quite a small light, one day I might make a larger one with a bigger battery, but for now this will be fine.

If you want to see some discussion of the actual progress of building the light part you can go to this forum I started a while back: https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...l#post17802962

Cheers!

CliffordK

Is this for personal use, or are you prototyping it for sale?

I like the little $2 silicone taillights, and now that I've ended up with more than one bike, it is not uncommon for me to move some of them from bike to bike.



I do find they work fine for big tubes (seat post, handlebars), but are loose on the seat stays.

My headlight is one of the too-bright headlights, and I tend to direct it downward, even on dim beam when I see someone ahead, so a loose mount is handy. And, I also have been moving it between bikes.

As far as your question... so far, nobody has moved my lights from my bike to their bike.

A proprietary quick release would stop some would-be opportunistic thieves from taking half a light, depending on how complex it is to also get the mount, or whether they are wise enough to know that half a light is worthless.

noglider 

You are assuming that thieves are rational. People steal things because they can, not necessarily because they can use them. Someone tried to steal my dynamo headlight. He failed, though, because he didn't have tools.

Tyestick

Lights come off the bike when it's secured in a public setting. I'm currently using the (Light In Motion Urban 800 Fast charge) and it comes with a silicone strap. Easy to take off, and easy to put on. My taillight is a 2watt (70 lumens) Niterider Solas. Easy to fasten and unfasten.

For individuals with a more permanent light fixture, just make sure it's as secure as you can make it. Thieves will just slice and dice any wiring you have and make off with your battery, or lights... Or both for that matter.

jdswitters

USB rechargable lights come off the fat bike when down town. There seems to be a subgroup of partiers who think it is hilarious to turn other peoples bike lights on and then walk away, presumably with the chuckle that the bike owner now gets to ride home in the dark and get run over. Most of the time I ride my commuter with the dyno downtown because it does not attract attention and the lights are bolted on.

CliffordK

I tend to move my lights around a lot. That is one nice thing about the silicone mount. I can generally wrap the taillight around 1 1/2" square tubing on my trailer, around the seat post, handlebars, or the seat stays, or whatever my "load of the day" is.

jfowler85

I use a MagicShine which has the mounting block and strap attached to the light. I unplug it from the battery and take it with me inside. The taillight stays attached to the battery, which is semi-permanently mounted to the seat post in such a fashion that it would take 5 minutes worth of work getting the assembly off. So far this has proved to be an adequate deterrent, including when I lived in east Los Angeles.

spare_wheel

Dyno lights and hubs are high-value items and extremely popular with thieves in portland:

Bike Theft Chronicles: Shop reports thieves are cutting cables to steal parts - BikePortland.org

jfowler85

I would not call 2 cases extremely popular.

noglider 

It's odd. Bike theft might be worse in NYC than other cities in the US. Yet I see bikes with dynamo lights locked up 24 hours, untouched. Around here, whatever the thieves are after, they're not after dynamo lights.

spare_wheel

I would not call extrapolating from a single blog post wise...especially when it comes to the bike theft capital of north america.

spare_wheel

I doubt bike theft is worse in NYC than in PDX. The re-sale market for bike parts here is insane and thieves know its impossible to trace most bike parts (e.g. safe theft).

noglider 

I don't claim to know the theft statistics.

TransitBiker

Well, time to invest into some secure nuts to fasten?

- Andy

RubeRad

My light lives on the handlebars, attached by two interlocked hose clamps, tightened with a socket wrench. Rock solid, no bouncing or rattling.

snow_echo_NY

bike light theft seems like it's on the rise in NYC, it used to never happen to people who routinely just left their lights on their locked up bike outside. i've been seeing more posts of people upset their bike light was stolen when they forgot to take it with them. :/ maybe no one cares in the winter/fall?

i would think the theft rate would be higher in the fall b/c that's when you need it (less daylight than the spring) - but it doesn't seem logical at all.

CliffordK

Unfortunately E-Bay makes it all too easy to sell stolen components, and they are had to identify, unless there are a few distinguishing crash marks. And, it is probably safer to steal a pair of $100+ brifters than a highly identifiable frame.

So far I haven't had any problems since High School, although I did notice my rear light was blinking yesterday when I didn't expect it to.