JeremyZ

I bought a Planet Bike 3-LED blinky rear light for my TriCross.

My first attempt to fit it to the bike met with failure. I clipped it onto the loop specially designed for that purpose on my Specialized tail bag. It turns out the nylon the loops is made of is way too thin. The first big bump I hit, it fell off and broke into a million pieces. OK, not a million, more like five. The lens is cracked at the top a bit, but it still went back together and still works.

After that, I used one of the included brackets to mount it to the left seatstay. This worked OK, but it was not as visible as the one on my Simple City, which was neatly mounted with a special bracket just below the rack. It would also not be acceptable after I mounted the rack, which would have obstructed it. Turns out the one on my Simple City is a special bracket, which costs an additional $4 and would require me to order it or drive 30 miles one way to buy it "locally."

Some suggested rigging the clip closed in different ways and clip it to the seat bag loop.

I just put a Topeak rack on this bike, and the bag that goes on the rack would block the light, even if we forget for a moment that there's no room for both that bag and the Topeak one.

The Topeak rack came with a couple of light mounts. One for their Topeak lights, which are of course sold separately and use button batteries. One huge one for huge, old-fashioned 1960 reflectors. The Topeak one is made for clip-on style lights. My Planet Bike light has a clip, but it didn't fit exactly right.

I had almost resigned myself to make the special trip to buy one from the shop 30 miles away. But they are not bike-friendly roads that go from Round Lake to Zion, IL. Plus, it would be a longer ride than I'm up for at this point. Driving and burning 2 gallons of gas was out of the question.

The more I thought about it, the more it ticked me off. So I decided to clip the light on the smaller mounting tab and use epoxy putty to ensure it wouldn't pop off. I decided that the light is already damaged, and I wasn't going to buy a special Topeak light, so I had nothing to lose except time.

In short, it worked like a charm:




An added bonus is that since it is glued onto the clip thing, I don't have to worry about remembering to take it off when I lock the bike up somewhere. No one else can take it unless they brought a stubby phillips and have a lot of patience.

I guess the main point of this post is that if you have something that almost works, you can probably make it work with epoxy putty. I got a two-tub kit of it at Menards for something like $7. It has all the advantages* of two-part epoxy, but it stays where you put it instead of running out like thick syrup.

* - Doesn't need clamping pressure to be strong, great gap-filling properties, when cured, it is just like plastic, is super strong.

supercycle62

As long as it works...You are like Macgyver!

Stray8

Nice! I fabricated a rackmount from metal hardware parts.

JeremyZ

I have to admit; I probably wouldn't have done this, except that the blinky was already damaged. It does look kind of ghetto on an otherwise nice bike. If the blinky ever gives up the ghost, I may break down & buy the proper bracket.

J B Bell

Just so you know, Planet Bike is serious about not asking you to buy a whole new light, rack, fender, or whatever main thing so that you can repair or adapt it. They have free shipping on any "bits," including their rack adapters. And that's including to Canada, which impressed the heck out of me.

Regardless, nice hack. Not having to detach it every time you go for a cup of coffee or whatever is a win.

JeremyZ

Well, I'll certainly remember that for next time, hehehe.

xtrajack

Two part epoxy rocks. I used two part epoxy to attach my PBSF to my fender. It has been there almost two years now, it has been there for two winters.

2manybikes

Paint the epoxy black, it will look much better, it will blend in with the other parts.

SlimAgainSoon

Epoxy and zip ties ... turn Dad into a god.

Yes, paint it black, and you've got real bragging rights.

neil

I broke down and ordered 4 of the rack mounting brackets today. One for each bike, one for the next n+1. My bikes don't really need one, though I've been wanting them anyway, as my seat is high enough that a seat post mount remains visible, but I need to mount a decent light on my wife's bike, and her seat is below the rack height. She also has funny oval seat stays that don't take a normal attachment, even ignoring that the light would be very low and partially blocked there.

I hadn't considered the more permanent attachment option, and my first attempt to jury a clip failed, resulting in me losing the only available mounting clip that I had. So I needed a new clip anyway, so I just broke down and ordered a bunch of the rack mounting ones. I hope they don't take long to ship. Not much night riding at this time of year, but I hate waiting for things.

JeremyZ

HEY! That's a good idea. I don't even need to hassle with paint if I just get out the permanent marker, hehehe.

2manybikes

On some surfaces permanent marker does not last. But black nail polish has a little brush in the bottle, drys super fast and lasts as good or better then paint.It's almost dry by the time you are done. I have tons of different colored nail polish on bikes. It lasts. I do it for others now, everyone likes it.