Hi folks.
Last week I bought myself a Lezyne Zecto Drive rear light.
My initial intention was to mount it on the seatpost and I did. It worked pretty well there although it never felt particularly secure. The back of the light has this moulded bracket built-in. It's made of the shiniest, smoothest plastic I've ever seen. I'd definitely recommend a thin strip of inner tube for anyone thinking of mounting it on a seatpost. One plus is that the mount is at least designed in such a way that the light is kept horizontal when attached to a seatpost. See second picture below..
Then this week I bought a rack & a basket and so the light had to move. But to where? The obvious place is the built-in bracket on the Topeak rack..
The Lezyne obviously isn't designed to go in this position so I phoned my frien, Heath-Robinson (my daft brain), to see if he had any ideas. And I did. In another life I'm into headphones. Really into headphones. To the point where I was carrying around a Samsung GN3 with a Fiio E18 external Dac/Amp attached by this stuff..
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004AQFBE0/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
It worked well enough with the considerably heavier & more cumbersome headphone rig so I thought I'd give it a try here. The first thing to do is to get rid of the shiny, angled bracket from the rear of the light & there's no other way to do it than by using a hacksaw & some sandpaper..
It's actually a lot smoother than it looks in the above photo. Anyway, here's the 'tape' I'm going to be using already cut to size..
Stick one square piece to the rear of the light & press firmly. Once the glue takes hold it's very secure..
Then take the second square piece and join it to the light. Do not remove the backing paper yet..
Now, here's where it gets a bit tricky. Disclaimer: this job would have been far easier if I'd done it before fitting the rack. As it is I had to remove it to properly do the next step. The built-in mounting bracket on the rack has holes in it for screws &additional brackets. I don't want a hole behind the glue of the tape because water could get in & I don't think the glue would last very long being attacked by water & road salt. Luckily Topeak supply additional brackets that utilize these holes and allow the fitment of various models of their own lights. Here's one of them..
It mounts to the rack by a screw (supplied) from the rear. i.e. under the rack but above the wheel. This is why I chose to remove the rack to fit it. Once in place & the rack re-fitted here's what it looks like..
That gives my a nice solid surface to mount the tape to. You'll remeber that I said to fix the second piece of tape to the first (image 8) but to leave the backing paper in place? This is why. Hold the light up to the mounting point and make sure there's enough room for a secure fit. Peel off the backing paper & press the light into place. Don't use too much pressure but just enough to expel any air that might be trapped. You'll end up with this..
I think it looks much neater and it can be easily removed for charging..
I know a lot of you will be thinking that this stuff is just velcro. It isn't. It locks solid. If I'm honest it comes in different grades of 'stickiness' and if I was buying the stuff again I might go for the slightly stronger stuff, but I'm relatively confident that this will hold the light securely.
I hope you enjoyed this wee tutorial. I clearly have way too much time on my hands.
Last week I bought myself a Lezyne Zecto Drive rear light.
My initial intention was to mount it on the seatpost and I did. It worked pretty well there although it never felt particularly secure. The back of the light has this moulded bracket built-in. It's made of the shiniest, smoothest plastic I've ever seen. I'd definitely recommend a thin strip of inner tube for anyone thinking of mounting it on a seatpost. One plus is that the mount is at least designed in such a way that the light is kept horizontal when attached to a seatpost. See second picture below..
Then this week I bought a rack & a basket and so the light had to move. But to where? The obvious place is the built-in bracket on the Topeak rack..
The Lezyne obviously isn't designed to go in this position so I phoned my frien, Heath-Robinson (my daft brain), to see if he had any ideas. And I did. In another life I'm into headphones. Really into headphones. To the point where I was carrying around a Samsung GN3 with a Fiio E18 external Dac/Amp attached by this stuff..
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004AQFBE0/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
It worked well enough with the considerably heavier & more cumbersome headphone rig so I thought I'd give it a try here. The first thing to do is to get rid of the shiny, angled bracket from the rear of the light & there's no other way to do it than by using a hacksaw & some sandpaper..
It's actually a lot smoother than it looks in the above photo. Anyway, here's the 'tape' I'm going to be using already cut to size..
Stick one square piece to the rear of the light & press firmly. Once the glue takes hold it's very secure..
Then take the second square piece and join it to the light. Do not remove the backing paper yet..
Now, here's where it gets a bit tricky. Disclaimer: this job would have been far easier if I'd done it before fitting the rack. As it is I had to remove it to properly do the next step. The built-in mounting bracket on the rack has holes in it for screws &additional brackets. I don't want a hole behind the glue of the tape because water could get in & I don't think the glue would last very long being attacked by water & road salt. Luckily Topeak supply additional brackets that utilize these holes and allow the fitment of various models of their own lights. Here's one of them..
It mounts to the rack by a screw (supplied) from the rear. i.e. under the rack but above the wheel. This is why I chose to remove the rack to fit it. Once in place & the rack re-fitted here's what it looks like..
That gives my a nice solid surface to mount the tape to. You'll remeber that I said to fix the second piece of tape to the first (image 8) but to leave the backing paper in place? This is why. Hold the light up to the mounting point and make sure there's enough room for a secure fit. Peel off the backing paper & press the light into place. Don't use too much pressure but just enough to expel any air that might be trapped. You'll end up with this..
I think it looks much neater and it can be easily removed for charging..
I know a lot of you will be thinking that this stuff is just velcro. It isn't. It locks solid. If I'm honest it comes in different grades of 'stickiness' and if I was buying the stuff again I might go for the slightly stronger stuff, but I'm relatively confident that this will hold the light securely.
I hope you enjoyed this wee tutorial. I clearly have way too much time on my hands.
