Rear Light Woes.

[Hugh Manatee]

I have decided to go on the odd night ride rather than hibernate until early summer. To this end I have purchased a Cateye Volt 1200 which seems very bright!

So to the rear. I have accumulated a couple of LED rears which although are probably bright enough, don't attach to the bike in the way I want. A quick glance at the Internet and a few threads on here, and it seems the huge majority of lights attach to the seat post.

That's fair enough as all road bikes these days have what I would call mountain bike frames. They seem small/compact with sloping top tubes and a lot of seat post on show.

I still like the horizontal top tube look and as a result don't have a lot of seat post going spare! The addition of a small seat pack and I have none!

One of the lights has a little gizmo that attaches to the seat stay. Alas, my skinny steel frame is way too undernourished to accept this without a lot of packing!

Has anyone come up against a similar problem and found a solution? Thanks as always.

 

[steveindenmark]

I have racks on all my bikes to which I can fit a light.

The law says a red light has to be showing to the rear of a bike but I dont think the power or size is specified.

If thats the case you can attach a frog light to one of the stays and clip a smart light on the back of your jersey/ jacket.

It may not be ideal. But it is a simple solution.

 

[steveindenmark]

This is what the law actually states.

• a light with a steady mode is considered approved only if it conforms to BS 6102/3 or an equivalent European standard;
• a light without a steady mode is considered approved only if it flashes at a constant rate of between 60 to 240 flashes per minute and has a luminous intensity of at least 4 candela;

The majority of LED lights available are not approved for UK use since they have steady modes that do not conform to BS 6102/3. It is, however, legal to fit additional lights providing that they are of the correct colour, they do not dazzle other road users and that if they flash, they do so at a constant rate of between 60 and 240 flashes per minute.

For practical purposes a police officer would be looking for a visible red light and a reflector and they would probably have no idea what BS6103/3 is.

 

[al-fresco]

Most of my bikes are similarly deficient in the seatpost department!

There are several solutions:

I have used a Fibre Flare http://fibreflare.com/collections/fibreflare which attaches to the skinniest of seat stays. It's a very effective light though I have heard that it's not approved in the UK for use as a sole light (i.e. you should use another approved light in conjunction with it.) The Lezyne Femto is, I think, approved so you could put one of those somewhere. (Though I'd be much happier with an unapproved Fibre Flare than an 'approved' Femto as my sole rear light.)

Most of my bikes now use the Toppeak Aero Wedge bag which has a handy little tag to clip a light onto. Lezyne Zecto and Smart Lunar are both good lights for this.

If I'm using my mountain bike I attach a light to the tag on my rucksack.

My mate has a light on the back of his helmet.

I have padded out a p-clip with strips of rubber to get it to grip on a skinny seat stay.

 

[Lonestar]

I have a red light module fitted into an old Steradent tube and taped to the frame/Works on 18650 battery.(it was originally a red light cree in a metal torch thingy (impossible to fit on the rear)).Also a magicshine on all bikes.

 

[Mr Peps]

If you're looking for a new light the Smart R2 has a seat stay mount that is fine on my steel frame road bike without any extra packing.
Sure there must be others as well.

 

[mjr]

Rack mount are best, then mudguard mount, then stay mount, then seat or seat post mount, IMO. As long as it doesn't hurt to look directly at the light, I wouldn't worry too much about formal legality of rear lights because not even the police use legal lights any more. The battery level light on some German approved lights is very useful though!

 

[mjr]

Which reminds me: looping a pair of cable ties above and below a rectangular rear rack reflector can give a way to use the clip attachment of some lights to mount the light onto the rack.

 

[summerdays]

Which reminds me: looping a pair of cable ties above and below a rectangular rear rack reflector can give a way to use the clip attachment of some lights to mount the light onto the rack.

Or you can buy a rack mount for your light?

 

[mjr]

Or you can buy a rack mount for your light?

Some don't have them (Basta!), some can no longer be obtained when one breaks (Cateye), some are expensive (Cateye again!) and some are just plain flawed. It seems a shame to junk an otherwise-good rear light just because yet another manufacturer sucks at attachments.

 

[growingvegetables]

The majority of LED lights available are not approved for UK use since they have steady modes that do not conform to BS 6102/3.

Hmm - they don't conform? Or manufacturers can't be arsed wasting time and money on testing against such outdated standards?

I think it's Cateye who produce lights to the higher German standards - and just add the flashing function for UK. (Flashing is not legal in Germany.)

Time for one single coherent standard - right across the EU. IMO.

 

[Hugh Manatee]

Thanks everyone. @User yes there is a little band on the bag. I'll put a light on it but thanks to the crappy design of the bag the light will be well angled down.

I will bodge something on the back mudguard which I have finally managed to fit over 28 tyres without rubbing!

Thanks again.

 

[sidevalve]

Just a thought - if you fit a light to the seatpost don't do what I saw a lad do down the road last winter ie carefully switch on the light then jump aboard and peddle off with his jacket covering it up perfectly.

 

[Hugh Manatee]

Just a thought - if you fit a light to the seatpost don't do what I saw a lad do down the road last winter ie carefully switch on the light then jump aboard and peddle off with his jacket covering it up perfectly.

I did this at Uni. I couldn't work out why I getting abuse from motorists but only when it rained.

 

[summerdays]

Just a thought - if you fit a light to the seatpost don't do what I saw a lad do down the road last winter ie carefully switch on the light then jump aboard and peddle off with his jacket covering it up perfectly.

Or you bag containing your papers if you are the newspaper boy! I couldn't work out why I could see a red glow from the back of the bike as he cycled towards me!