lighting up your ride.

[Bones]

hay guys, im thinking about getting some lights onto my bike. i saw the thread about connecting a light to the magneto like dabomb did but i am not interested in that kind of setup because quite honestly i think the bikes look gay as with headlamps on them. also i dont like the idea of getting maximum amps when your only giving it 100% gas.

so keeping this in mind i am going to get some "torches" effectivly and find a way to get 2 onto the handlebars and also 2 under the viser of my helmet so i also have light where i look to. i have the thought of led bicycle torches and i think they will do the job, the main challenge which isnt really going to be challenging is the mounting.

i will let you know where i get my gear from, costs and a step by step process of the complex "mounting" hahaha..

Cheers, Tony.

 

[mjc85]

Electrical tape and zip ties =)

 

[Divy]

since mini dirt bike handle bars are about the same as bmx you should have no problem puting lights on your bars you shouldnt have to even customise the mounts they should bolt straight on

 

[crazzy #1]

u forgot a soldering iron and etc

 

[Power Man]

haha ,, torches .. good idea but i think dabombs thread where the headlight running of a magneto like any other bike is alot betta ..

If you have a battery onboard your crazy not to run 2 wires to a headlight .

anyways let us know how u go.

 

[Dabomb]

dominant factor in the mageneto, dont need 2 recharger ur battery or have a battery..

 

[Bones]

whilst this is all true, the torches / led light setup i am looking at is a lithium ion battery fully rechargable. it doesnt need to be replaced for 15,000 charges and has a life of approximatly 15 hours. also if i have a stack in the daytime the lights wont be broken as they wont be there. also if i say break down in the middle of the night (highly unikely) i could take one of the torches off and hay presto, i can see what im doing, not dependant on the motor running to have a light source.

no permanent changes to the bike and easily placed onto any mini anytime. may seem like a bit of a waste but if someone else were to come you have allready got a dependable setup, just take if off yours, bang it onto theirs and there you go, 2 bikes lit up.

 

[goomber]

Bones, I'm workin on a similar setup

interested to see how you're gettin on...

I went the cable ties & Gaffa tape route

 

[Bones]

hahaha, well im very much so a perfection artist, i dont like things done with zip ties although that method will probably work just as well or better than mine. i want to do something where i can completly remove the lights and you would never know they were there. same with the helmet job too. i still have to buy the lights etc.. but i will let you know how i get on.

Cheers, Tony.

 

[Agitated Hellerphant]

Sounds very interesting Tony, how is the project going? Can't wait to hear the results! If it works out I'd be doing it to mine when I get it

Heller

 

[Divy]

im gonna put some lights on my bike too have you done yours yet??
are leds bright enough???
also were do you all ride at night im interested......

 

[Redstar]

I had the same idea and what I thought my options would be was to look at pushbike lights. There's a wide range of choices I found under the Sigma and Cateye brands. Easy to mount and you can either have a built in battery lamp unit or an external battery type, which illuminate much stronger.

Here's a Cateye link: http://www.cateye.com/en/product_listing/55

and the Sigma link: http://www.sigmasport.com/en/produkte/beleuchtung/

Other pushbike brands should be interesting as well.

What I have is a Cateye HL-EL3 which is no longer on the link I posted. Its a relatively big lamp thats got 5 LEDS and is good enough for my purpose. The lamp easily detaches so its away from unecessary risk of someone pinching it.

 

[eichkay]

LED's are crap for seeing any distance... i try'd using leds on the front and couldn't see jack.

On the odd night misson i just cable tie a dolphin touch to the front gaurd and put support zip ties back to the handle bars... works a treat and only takes 5 mins to setup..

I was going to mod a dolphin torch and mount just the front part of the torch to one of my spare front number plate .

 

[don351]

if it was me id just mount em to the peak of the helmet should put a camara on it to

 

[Divy]

well there goes my led idea i was gonna use 2 21 led lights, eichkay how many leds did you use just so i can figure out if my 42 led idea would work

also night riding were do you go???

 

[Redstar]

LED's are crap for seeing any distance... i try'd using leds on the front and couldn't see jack.....

LED's alone are, yeah, crap but the Cateye one that I've got was a lot, lot better. The good thing with LED's is that is doesnt draw as much current as an conventional bulb and batteries lasts longer as a result. The diffrence I think would be on the design of the reflector, therefore solving that reach problem you normally have.

I use mine on the road and it serves its purpose. The mount stays permanent on the handlebar held on by one screw and the lamp itself gets off in less than a sec.

 

[Dabomb]

oy i used spot lights that were like 60w or sumfin....they se for miles.

 

[eichkay]

You could use a light with 10000 LED's it'll still be crap for light output , LED's dont have the wave length to shine any real distance and when your doing 45-50+ seeing just in front of the front tyre is a bit scary. Go ahead and try it if you want but remember you might be just throwing your money away so dont spend to much.

The other thing is LED's are very directional so you wont get much spread of light either.

 

[foolsp33d]

Is there any follow ups on this thread!?? Pics of lights used? day/night pics, come on guys!