Light placement

[mickjordan]

I'm back training on the Silvio in earnest after completing the Ride Across Britain last month, and the Knoxville double century last weekend, on my DF bike. My plan is to ride some or all of the fall Death Valley double century (which is an out and back allowing an early turnround if necessary) on the Silvio. Some of this ride will be in the dark, especially if I go the full distance and I've been pondering the best placment of front lights.

I have AYUP lights, another great Australian product, but I also have a SON20R hub dynamo and a Schmidt Edelux light. On the DF bike I run the AYUP on the handlebars or the Edelux on a low mount on the front wheel spindle. I usually wear another AYUP on the helmet for reading the Garmin, street signs etc, around bends. When looking straight ahead the low Edelux mount combines well with the helmet light to provide very good ahead visibility, allowing fast descents even at night. What I'm wondering is whether there might be some value in mounting the light way down the boom so that it is similarly low down to my DF setup. I guess I'll experiment but I'd be curious to hear how other riders might have set their bikes up.

Mick

 

[bikeday]

Supernova E3 dyno

I have the E3 headlight mounted high on the boom with a Topeak mount so that the light shines over my feet. I get easy access to the on-off button on the back of the headlight and can change the height of beam easily while travelling depending on whether I'm on fast open roadways (high beam) or tight pathways (low beam). The taillight is mounted on a rather rudimentary but functional homemade mount with is a piece of 1.5" plastic pipe barb coupler with each end cut off with a hacksaw and a flat spot filed onto the OD. Three holes are drilled including two for mounting screws and one for the wire. A horizontal split was cut with the hacksaw across the rear to hook it on the pack strap. The lights provide sufficient illumination from the Shimano dynohub built into the rear wheel.