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Anyone running a road/gravel light on your bike that’s not mounted on the bars?
I’ve been experimenting with fork-crown mount and bought the generic nylon one. It certainly is out of the way and works well on the Longitude, but does throw quite a bit of light on the tyre. It shows the ground/terrain in stark relief though. Moreso than on the bars. I find this perfect for gravel, potholes etc.
However with a fairly heavy all in one unit fixed to it (Ravemen PR) the mount vibrates (vertically) quite a bit under the weight of the light when going at speed over rough ground.
So I’ve just ordered a second different crown-mount bracket as the above bracket mounted on the touring (road) bike interferes with the straddle cable (cantis).
(Stock pic)
This one:
If that doesn’t work (was only £6 delivered), then it looks like finally splashing out on a nice front rack (which I’ve had planned since decades ago) 😋.
I made one that bolted via spacers to the stem face plate bolts?
^ I like that idea. Gotta pic?
That one you've just ordered looks like a spring and that it will vibrate terribly.
Can the light be mounted to GoPro fixings? (My Moon one has a GoPro mount adaptor).
This opens up lots of options.
Both of my bikes have lights which are hung below 'out-front' GPS mounts. One attached to the bars, another to the stem faceplate. Both using adaptors fitted to GoPro mounts
I have one of these.
Winter road/commuter has the dynamo light mounted to the caliper brake bolt along with the mudguard, if it was a disc fork it would be a tad cleaner but would work the same.
Retro roadie has a lovely bit boss halfway up the fork leg specifically for a front light, I still need to make some sort of adapter for it but the position is a good one...
I like that Garmin/faceplate solution. Would be perfect for the gravelbeast (at least if they did Garmin adapters for the Ravmen PR 😡)
Retro roadie has a lovely bit boss halfway up the fork leg specifically for a front light, I still need to make some sort of adapter for it but the position is a good one…
Unfortunately my tourer is not quite that retro, and so got the 1980s smooth fork treatment! Which gives me yet another excuse to buy that Nitto 😚
I run a fork crown light on the gravel bike. Means I can usefully use a bar bag when bikepacking. I think it's a better place for light throw too.
I experimented with fork leg mounts, but the amount of shadow thrown by the tyre/rim is a bit disconcerting.
I have one of these screwed into the mudguard eyelet halfway up my forks.
https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/lighting-spares/black-origin8-eyelet-stub-light-mount/
Works well - can put a big exposure light down there with no drama, great for lighting up country lanes
Edit:
I experimented with fork leg mounts, but the amount of shadow thrown by the tyre/rim is a bit disconcerting.
You get used to it on the road / lanes. Not sure I'd be keen on full on dark gravel, would want all my light actually doing something.
Not sure I’d be keen on full on dark gravel, would want all my light actually doing something.
Completely agree, which is one reason I’m looking at moving to a faceplate mount for the gravelbeast*. The fork crown bracket will be tried for the road tourer until such a time I can purchase a front rack with light-bracket.
* If can find a method. Anyone know what this is and how it works?
That one you’ve just ordered looks like a spring and that it wil vibrate terribly.
I know unfortunately it’s the only thing I can seem to find that will clear the straddle cable. Will give it a shot and return if unsuitable.
I'll try n find it
Alu angle and some spacers to pack it out. Was rough prototype but worked....
You get used to it on the road / lanes. Not sure I’d be keen on full on dark gravel, would want all my light actually doing something.
Well, I had mine mounted off-side (for greater visibility to drivers), I found it really disconcerting for the gutter to be totally blind.
Exposure do a stem face plate mount for their QR lights.
I haven't tried one, but if I need to buy another mount at any point then I'll give one a go.
Not sure if this helps but I have a quadlock phone mount on my bars which I have added their GoPro attachment underneath. On that I have mounted my Halfords off road light and it’s very sturdy and puts the light exactly where you need it for road or track. I only had to buy a GoPro extension piece to get it in the right place.
Probably not what you’re after but if you’re interested I’ll take a picture.
Probably not what you’re after but if you’re interested I’ll take a picture.
Thnks, yeah something like you describe, but pretty I’m sure I’d need an adapter/interface to exactly the cleat which is screwed into the bottom of the Ravemen PR unit. Problem is even if the adapter which I linked works for a garmin mount, my light unit is unsuitable for upside-down mounting as the beam is customised for road use. Suppose I could just use a generic garmin faceplate bracket (like this one below) but upside down?
and then mount the light on the top, using this Ravemen computer adapter:
so at least it’d be away from the bars/cables and centred.
Something like this is an attractive proposition for my tourer as it also keeps the upwards light-leak away from eyes, also clearing the tyres/wheel so that all the light is presumably where you’d want it (on the roads/rough roads/light gravel, general use)
https://www.swisscycles.com/small-and-lightweight-front-racks-for-bikepacking/
You might find the widget you’re looking for here… Linking to the exposure version here but they have loads of options
https://www.racewaredirect.co/shop/exposure-gopro-mount-large/
I'm using one of these https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/accessories/topeak-bar-x-tender/
It lowers the lamp height, and is reasonably stable on my gravel bike.