Where do you mount front lamp

[ourclarioncall]

Where do you mount your front lamp …. And why ? pictures are invited 🙂

[in4]

How long is a piece of string lol
Depends upon so many things. Barbag, front rack and panniers?
What’s your intended use?

[ourclarioncall]

The question was more as in …. Where do YOU mount YOUR front lamp . If that makes more sense

Do people favour certain positions for example because the project the light better or dazzle people /drivers less

Or maybe for safety or theft reasons . Might want it in a more subtle position as not to attract attention

As for me , when I get my bike I want thorns front and rear racks so panniers will be on sides . I like the common position I see them placed in but was wondering about up on the handlebars . I’ve seen them right on the front of racks sticking out like a nose but I don’t think I like how vulnerable it is to things like a the size ten shoe of a pack of teenagers 🙂

[mickeg]

Where do I put my front lights?  Usually up front.

First photo, fork crown on my Lynskey.

Second photo, fork crown on my road bike.

Third photo, my rando bike, the fork crown was already in use for a cable hanger so I put the light on a canti brake mount with an extra tall bracket.  Used a threaded rod instead of a brake bolt for length.

Fourth photo, I do NOT recommend this location.  This is on my errand bike.  I got a used dynohub wheel from a bike charity for cheap, had this old light in a box in the basement, I only use this light as a to-be-seen light, as I only ride this bike on well lit city streets.  The light this low to the ground will cause large shadows if there are bumps in the road or any debris or leaves on the road.  Thus, this is not ideal placement, but it was the easiest wiring job I have ever done, the hub and light were both grounded to the fork so it only took one wire.

Is there any reason you do not talk to bike shop sales people with these questions?

[Danneaux]

High-mounted lamps tend to shine down into potholes, sometimes making them harder to see but can be aimed out further...to the detriment of oncoming traffic. Low-mounted lamps tend to highlight potholes with deep shadows but lose some range on the road surface. A lamp mounted to the fork crown is the happy medium and as I recall, is the default position designated by Germany's StVZO lighting regulations, a weighty and complex tome that makes for good bedtime reading if you are like me. 

Crown mounting is fine for use with lowrider racks but is incompatible with platform front racks, so people will usually choose to mount their lights to the front center or to one side or the other of a platform rack. If you place it in the center, be sure it is not in a stream if water directed forward from the front mudguard/front wheel if it is raining, as the continuous water stream can cause damage to switches or the one place where many dyno lights are vulnerable: The unsealed, generally open bottom of the lamp near the mounting eyelet. Also, light mounted on the fork crown can hit the downtube and break or cause damage if the front wheel swings 'round. Thorn make/SJS Cycles stocks a steering limiter to, well, limit the possibility of such damage:
https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/frames/thorn-steering-lock-limiter-striker-for-stepped-395-365-mm-head-tubes-1-18-steerers/?geoc=US While it is primarily intended to limit brake lever conflict, it should also help prevent headlight damage if one is mounted to the fork crown.

Best,

Dan.

[martinf]

Depends on the bike.

Fork crown on my Thorn Raven Tour and several other bikes. This is my default option.

Front of front platform rack on my old utility bike, because the lamp might otherwise be obscured by luggage.

Handlebar on my 1977 lightweight and the three family Bromptons, on the latter because fork-crown mounting with the small wheels is IMO too low and liable to be obscured by front luggage when viewed from some angles. If you want a switch on the handlebar, mounting the front lamp there is the easiest option.

Downside of a handlebar mounted lamp for me is that it makes using a cycle rain cape more awkward.

[Prince of Darkness]

Fork crown is my preferred position, though I used to have an old Raleigh which had a brazed boss midway down the right hand fork for attaching a light bracket. I have also mounted battery lights on the handlebar.

[steve216c]

The German STVZO requires a front light to be mounted between 40-120cm high. The current rules do not specify that this needs to be crown mounted, and since 2017 the required dynamo lights on all except racing bikes has been dropped to allow for battery lights as alternative or as supplementary. Bike lights are to be mounted at an angle that does not dazzle other road users.

The crown is the most common location for mounting lights in Germany for sure. Probably because, until 2017, all except racing bikes required a dynamo light set to be street legal, and the German love of standardization of everything meant that all manufactures could rely on common fittings and sizes for this preferred mounting point. There are exceptions where bikes would have alternate mounting points (e.g. postal service delivery bikes due to front carrier) but these are still the exception to what you would see on most bikes. Dutch bikes (Gazelle & co) are also popular in Germany and the typical mounting point of these bike has been and continues to be above the crown, and mounted to the stem. These are still sold as STVZO compliant.

I personally find the crown mounting a bit too low on 26/28" bikes it tends to lose some light directly in front of the wheel due to shadow cast even though it is very practical if you have a bar-bag. As my old commute used to involve some unlit uneven forest paths, that shadow first saw me riding with a supplementary battery light to help me navigate the pot holes and kill that wheel shadow.

Then I had a brainwave. I had some Ikea Billy L shaped wall securing mounts. Bending one of these, I was able to fit the bracket to the crown, and use the bracket to make an extension of the crown mounting point as well as bringing it slightly further forward on the bike. This minor adjustment solved the shadow problem, and with bright LED front dynamo light, I was able to ride the forest paths without the need for an supplemental lamp.

My most recent bike with suspension front fork and Magura rim brakes was not conducive to the Ikea bracket hack. But the Magura's had a brake booster fitted. So I drilled a hole in the center of the brake booster, and mounted my dynamo light to this as a crown mount alternative. And this solution works even better than the Ikea brackets I have on my other bikes.

Crown mounting is good but let down with loss of light caused by wheel shadow. Raising the crown mount or mounting to a brake booster gives a good central light without so much shadow cast- and that should still allow you to use bar-bags without comprising how well you illuminate the road/path ahead.

[JohnR]

Then I had a brainwave. I had some Ikea Billy L shaped wall securing mounts. Bending one of these, I was able to fit the bracket to the crown, and use the bracket to make an extension of the crown mounting point as well as bringing it slightly further forward on the bike. This minor adjustment solved the shadow problem, and with bright LED front dynamo light, I was able to ride the forest paths without the need for an supplemental lamp.

A few years ago I bought a piece of 1mm thick aluminium sheet for a project and have found this to be useful material for improvising brackets. It's easy to cut with some metal shears, easy to drill holes in, easy to bend to the required shape and stiff enough to keep the shape if the load is modest.

If sonething stronger is needed then a pack of these https://www.aldi.co.uk/38-piece-angle-bracket-set/p/097027247652200 or similar provides plenty of options for bending into other shapes.

[Danneaux]

Busch und Muller (B&M) offer a wide variety of ready-made light mounts that vary in both height and forward reach. I solved the "tire shadow" problem by swapping in a different, longer-reach bracket for my IQ Cyo lamps.

For some illustrations of what's available, see...
https://www-bumm-de.translate.goog/en/products/mehr/gruppe/Mounting%20brackets.html?_x_tr_sl=de&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc

Some recent designs can even be mounted atop a sturdy front mudguard/fender for greater effective reach.

SJS Cycles has a wide selection in stock...
https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/search/?term=light%20bracket&geoc=US

Best,

Dan.

[mickeg]

I tried a home made bracket for a light a few years back.  The light vibrated quite a bit, I must have gotten exactly the wrong size to get a resonant vibration as I rode.

I have not had any complaints about the shadow from the tire, but I typically ride on pavement when it is dark out. 

If I rode poor terrain in a forest, I can see how the tire shadow could be an inconvenience.  But at that slower speed where you need to know exactly how to steer around stuff on the trail that is only a few meters in front of you, I would have expected that you would be going so slow that a battery light would be preferred.  When I am pedaling slowly up a hill at about 1.5 to 2 meters/second speed, my dyno powered light is not very bright and is flickering.

I would be inclined to use a battery powered headlamp on my head for those rare times when I am going through forest paths where I am slow enough that I need to see the ground that close to me.  Then rely on the dyno powered light for more typical terrain.

In a previous post on this thread I included four photos.  The third of those photos is of a light I mounted on the right side of my fork using the canti brake post.  I used the extra long Edelux mount (black) which I think is the same as a B&M mount for that light, I bent it slightly to be up higher for less shadow.  That put the shadow off to the side and ahead instead of directly ahead, but side or ahead has not been an issue for me.