Light for Tubus Airy

[PH]

I've recently bought one of these secondhand for my Mercury and am not moving the dynamo light from the previous rack.
I know they're sometimes supplied with Thorn bikes, so am wondering what light (If any) people are fitting to them.
Anyone else feel free to chip in - it comes with a couple of plastic loops to fit a light with 50mm spacing, but the rack is narrow - so the objective is for the light to cover the rather ugly fitting without extending too far past the narrow rack (Approx 70mm) Preferably not stupid bright (Those make you unpopular at night in a group) and AA or AAA rather than USB (Though I'm possibly open to persuasion)
Thanks

[Andre Jute]

This sounds like a job for the Cateye TL-LD1100. It was for a long time the best lamp you could buy short of a multi-100 dollar Dinette. Cateye, true to form, took it off the market. If you can find one NOS or second-hand, it may be just the lamp you're looking for. It comes with all kinds of fittings for tubes, etc, but I tied mine semi-permanently (see below about miserly battery use) to my Tubus Cosmo rack with three tie-wraps, one horizontally between the light bubbles which also helped secure the cap with the controls (not shown, on far, hidden end of lamp), and two vertically between bubbles. The bubbles are lenses for LEDs and the sides to the lamp are different lenses with more dedicated LEDs behind them for sideways visibility.

What makes this lamp so particularly useful for your requirements is the multitude of modes you can arrange by the two press-button on the end-cap. For maximum visibility from a quarter-mile, run one row as a blinky on some interruptor mode and the other as a steady lamp. In places where blinkies are considered anti-social, run both rows as steady lamps. For a bunch of bicycles riding together, run only one row, with the other off, and so on. 200 hours per 2x AA batteries on all-blinkie mode, lesser but still very impressive longevity on steady mode.

[martinf]

On rear racks I like to use the Busch + Müller Toplight Line. The Line models are supposed to make judging the distance to the bike easier for following drivers, and the light emitted is not as agressive as point source lamps like the Cateye TL-LD1100, which I also use.

My Toplight Line lamps are all hub dynamo powered, but there is also a battery version, the Busch + Müller Toplight Line Permanent LED. Caveat - the switches on Busch + Müller battery rear lamps used to be rubbish, don't know if this is still the case or not.

On a lightweight bike like the Mercury it might be worth fitting a lamp on the mudguard in order to be able to remove the rack but still have a lamp mount.

I have a Busch + Müller Secula Plus dynamo powered lamp (very small but similar diffuse lighting to the Line models) on the mudguard on my Raven Sport Tour, which just has a saddlebag and no rack. This lamp also exists in a battery version, but AAA, so less stress on the mudguard.

As I like to have 2 rear lamps, on my two rackless bikes I also have a rather ugly steel bracket attached to the metal upper mudguard bridge to take the plastic Cateye bracket for a battery-powered Cateye TL-LD1100. This bracket needs to be steel to take the weight of the AA batteries in the TL-LD1100, at first I used aluminium, which broke after a time. On my bikes with racks I mount the TL-LD1100 on the seatpost, can't do that on the rackless ones because of the saddlebag.

Like André I am a fan of the LD1100, because of the good lateral visibility they give on roundabouts and junctions and because they use standard AA batteries or rechargeables. In steady mode, rechargeable batteries last at least 15 hours at full brightness, enough for a week of commuting before I retired. They last much longer in flashing mode. So I bought three LD1100's before they were discontinued.

Unlike André I use the plastic quick-release Cateye brackets, because I swap these lamps around my various bikes as necessary. I sometimes use all 3 at the same time when towing my trailer, one on the tow bike, the other two marking the left and right edges of the rear of the trailer.

[energyman]

Cateye TL-LD1100
Best rear light ever invented.
quote Oi mate your red light is a real blinder unquote.

[lewis noble]

I have a Tubus Airey rack, and use the Moon rear light as referred to in the Thorn mega-brochure . . . . . . . Moon Pulsar LED.

Fits well on the bracket that Thorn supplied with the rack . . . . and bright, though perhaps smaller than some alternatives.  2 AAA batteries.

Steady or flash modes.

Not sure if these are still available, but worth looking at.

Lewis

[PH]

Thanks all, some interesting ideas to mull over, but nothing yet that really jumps out at me.
I had one of those Cateye TL-LD1100 lights, they were very popular some years ago,  mine either fell off or more likely got nicked while parked in town. 
I am, as some may have gathered, a bit fussy -
I have a preference for my main light to be a big blob of lower intensity than some of the popular offerings, I already have a bright flasher mounted higher for when circumstances require it. Some of the mudguard mounted lights might meet that, they're not something I'd considered, that'll leave the rack looking uncluttered (It wouldn't have hurt Tubus to have designed  it with a proper fitting). I rejected the Moon light when I was last looking some years ago, can't remember why, I might revisit that.  Of course the obvious answer is to fit the dynamo light, but I was never entirely happy with the cable run on the Mercury.
I know, I know, I could get any of my existing lights and a couple of zip ties and the job would be done, no one would even notice, but it would drive me nuts...

[martinf]

Photo of the rear lamps on my RST.

The ugly but strong steel bracket on the mudguard for the Cateye TL-LD1100 lamp, certainly not neat enough for you.

And the Secula mudguard mounted lamp. Mine has ugly wiring, but this could be an option for you in the battery version. It uses AAA so is significantly lighter than the Cateye, important when fitted at the end of the mudguard.

An advantage of a lamp like the Secula mounted on the rear part of the mudguard is that it is never obscured by luggage, which can be an issue with a rack mounted lamp.

[PH]

Thanks Martin, the photo is useful.  The battery version of the  Secula mudguard light has just gone to the top of the list.

[martinf]

Remember my doubts about the switches on Busch + Müller battery rear lamps. When I last used these (about 15-20 years ago, maybe more) the simple slide switches B&M then used would fail after several months of all-weather use.

The Secula is a relatively recent model, so B&M may have addressed this issue. From the photo on their website it looks to be a different type of switch, hopefully more weatherproof.

http://en.bumm.de/products/battery-rear-lights/secula-permanent.html

Never had a problem with the Cateye switches, these are protected by a rubber cap. The switches on relatively recent B&M front lamps also seem to be OK, in at least 10 years of use I have never had a problem with the Ixon battery powered front lamp (rubber cap) or the Cyo dynamo lamps (large circular turn switch).

[PH]

Thanks folks for your input, I feel a little guilty about not following any of your recommendations, though they were helpful in formulating what I wanted.  I very nearly went for the mudguard option, then saw a couple of broken ones and realised that for my use it was probably too vulnerable a position.
So, update if anyone is interested...
Despite saying I wouldn't, I couldn't resist the the convenience and reliability of a dynamo light, but instead of it being the main light, I've used it in a way I consider to be the supplement. I've mounted a B&M Toplight Small on the Carradice Bagman support, which has allowed a neater cable run than rack mounting.  On the rack, I've mounted a Cateye fitting, using part of a seatpost bracket and one of the plastic bands supplied with the rack.  I had all these parts, along with a selection of Cateye lights, though I think the Omini 5 works best here, most probably used in flash mode, which offers good run times from 2 x AAA's.  I think the fitting looks tidy, completely hidden behind the light, which will probably stay there.  There's a possibility that it could be twisted, it hasn't happened in the first few hundred miles and if it does a couple of serrated washers would probably fix it.
The only downside is that the B&M light at that height might not be very group friendly and has no switch.  It'll be a while before I do much night time group riding, if it's an issue there's a couple of possible solutions.
Anyway, thanks again 

Merc lights by Paul, on Flickr

light brkt by Paul, on Flickr