mounting front light on forks?

rapid_uphill

its down to personal choice but i dont want my handlebars cluttered with the edition of a front light, can a front light be mounted on carbon forks? or anywhere else for that matter.

andrewgturnbull

Hi there.

Yes, but it makes it harder for other road users to see you if they're on the opposite site.

Cheers, Andy

ademort

You can put your light on your forks, but the big problem is that if you take a tumble, and thats very possible this time of year, the light will break or damage your front wheel when it comes into contact with the ground . I find it far better and safer on the bars. IMHO the field of view given by the light when on the bars is far better than if it were in the fork, it,s your choice though. Ademort

cougie

Dont do it.

1. Limited visibilty of your lamp for motorists approaching from your left.

2. If your bracket shifts - the light will go into your spokes and you're down - hard.

3. You can adjust your lamp angle whilst on the bars - cant do that safely on the forks.


In the olden days it used to be the place to put lights - but light brackets were brazed onto the forks then.

Far better to have the light on your bars.

redvee

cougie wrote:

In the olden days it used to be the place to put lights - but light brackets were brazed onto the forks then.

The days of Ever Ready Front Guard running 2 D cells. Did any other lamp fot on the bracket/braze on?

cougie

:-) How crap were those lights ?

I think I had some big Pifco ones that fitted and were equally crap.

And now we have 100s of lumens to play with ! eeeh - cyclists these days....

System_1

It's unlikey you'll be able to fit them to your fork unless it's of the kind that uses elastic as a mount. Most brackets will be designed to fit on round bars and very few forks are prefectly round. You could bodge it I guess, but like others have said previously, I don't know why you'd want to considering the increased likelyhood of the light not being seen and the chance it could be pushed into the wheel resulting in an expensive visit to the dentist. There's a reason front lights are designed to be used on bars you know. It's the best place for them.

amaferanga

In terms of seeing the road ahead, a light on the bars coupled with a low mounted light is the best combination IMO. A fork crown mounting is safer, but for most of my audaxing last year I had a crown mounted light and a fork mounted light and had no problems. I mounted the light to my fork using a bodged combination of an old Smart light bracket and a Cateye light bracket. The fork was a traditional steel one though, so round.

Cunobelin

The Minoura "SpaceGrip" (NOT THE SWINGGRIP) is an adaptable piece of kit.

Can be fitted around the stem to place lights below and in line with the handlebars.

Jonathan M

My Basta Pilot light (dynamo powered) is mounted on the fork crown using the brake mounting bolt, so some lights can be fork mounted without problems. Agree that the old Never Ready lights with a fork mount were lethal - wrecked the front end of a Carlton bike when one loosened and went into the spokes.

geoff_ss

Unless you have a brazed on lug DON'T DO IT!!. On a carbon fork you obviously don't.

Just think about it. If a clamp on the fork comes loose and the lamp pivots into the wheel you go straight over the handlebars. Going over the handlebars is no joke - I was totally paralysed when I did (not because of a lamp but a stray cat) and I still suffer the effects 18 years on. It's easy for a clamp to come loose. It only needs to move down a bit and, because the fork leg is tapered it becomes very loose very quickly.

On my 653 Audax bike I had a bracket brazed onto the RH fork leg to take a bottle dynamo and head lamp and this, combined with a LED rear light served me very well and gave a good light. If I were riding a lot at night now, I'd build a wheel with a hub dynamo.

When I commuted I made a rechargeable system with a bottle cage mounted battery and a dynamo front lamp mounted on the fork crown. Worked well for years. I was going to market it but thought no-one would be prepared to pay the cost. Now I see lighting sets on sale at several £100 and wonder

Geoff

Border Cyclist

I was thinking of putting a second (backup) light on the front fork - I had one of the Knog ones in mind.

I have room for my proper front light on the bars, but no room for a second light.

Surely the fitting on a Knog isn't that different to the computer sensor?

rapid_uphill

yer i have been looking at those knog lights, would be interesting to hear from someone who has one.

Rich-Ti

Actually one of the 4 LED Knogs on either side of the fork would probably be reasonably secure and quite visible. They don't project much light, but then that's not their main objective.

I reckon the rubber fitting of a Knog would be secure enough not to slip around a fork leg, but don't quote me on that!