Light improvisation

Santa was kind enough to bring me a fairly bright headlamp for Xmas. It was
really to allow me to chop wood in the dark without removing body parts, but
I figured it would pull double duty in my pre-dawn and after-dark commutes.
It's bright enough to see most road hazzards on an unlit street, but I
wouldn't consider tackling singetrack with it.

Anyways, it has a fixed, dual strap attachment, one strap around head, the
second over the top. The straps are fixed to a plate that is supposed to
sit against your forehead, and the light swivels from the plate. The
challenge came in figuring how to easily connect it to a helmet so it could
come off quickly.

The straps don't undo, so I couldn't thread them into helmet vents. I
tucked the "rear" strap under the back bulge of the helmet, but how to keep
the plate-mounted light at the front instead of sliding up over the dome of
the helmet to the rear? I was about to resort to creative zip ties, which
defeated my goal of quick removal.

As I thought about it, my wife offered me a glass of wine, and the light
came on, so to speak. I pilfered the wine cork, trimmed it to a tight vent
fit, and crammed it into the front center helmet vent with 1/2" sticking
out. The plate rests on the front of the helmet below the cork, held pretty
firmly in place. Voila.

What can I say? The trails here are deep mud or snow covered, it's been a
slow month. The last ride (Sunday) was two hours of cold, very wet trails,
two hours of cold, wet cleaning and lubing. Somehow the ratio of cleaning
to riding is making it a hard sell these days.

G

Mamba wrote:
snip

As I thought about it, my wife offered me a glass of wine, and the light
came on, so to speak. I pilfered the wine cork, trimmed it to a tight vent
fit, and crammed it into the front center helmet vent with 1/2" sticking
out. The plate rests on the front of the helmet below the cork, held pretty
firmly in place. Voila.

What can I say? The trails here are deep mud or snow covered, it's been a
slow month. The last ride (Sunday) was two hours of cold, very wet trails,
two hours of cold, wet cleaning and lubing. Somehow the ratio of cleaning
to riding is making it a hard sell these days.

G



Nice job!
I've been going out at night too, but skiing instead of cycling. The
snow is now way too deep to ride offroad, and it's too cold (didn't get
above 0 F for about five days recently) to stay on the bike on the road
for long.
Originally I had made my own mount for my NiteRider MiNewt x2 out of
some PVC which worked ok, but didn't transfer between different helmets
all that easily. So I broke down and bought the official NiteRider
helmet mount for it so I could easily transfer it to my ski helmet (a
Giro like my cycling helmets) and back. Fortunately my new ski helmet
has the appropriate vent placement that the mount fits the ski helmet as
well as the cycling one. So this has opened up a lot more activity I can
do in the winter, like cycling to the trail and skiing from there. I
love not having to drive.
Anyway, if you're ever looking for a brighter light, check out the
new(ish) NiteRider MiNewt line. Small, light, long lasting and very
bright. It was $200 very well spent IMO.

Matt

On Jan 23, 7:27*pm, "Mamba" wrote:
Santa was kind enough to bring me a fairly bright headlamp for Xmas. *It was
really to allow me to chop wood in the dark without removing body parts, but
I figured it would pull double duty in my pre-dawn and after-dark commutes..
It's bright enough to see most road hazzards on an unlit street, but I
wouldn't consider tackling singetrack with it.

Anyways, it has a fixed, dual strap attachment, one strap around head, the
second over the top. *The straps are fixed to a plate that is supposed to
sit against your forehead, and the light swivels from the plate. *The
challenge came in figuring how to easily connect it to a helmet so it could
come off quickly.

The straps don't undo, so I couldn't thread them into helmet vents. *I
tucked the "rear" strap under the back bulge of the helmet, but how to keep
the plate-mounted light at the front instead of sliding up over the dome of
the helmet to the rear? *I was about to resort to creative zip ties, which
defeated my goal of quick removal.

As I thought about it, my wife offered me a glass of wine, and the light
came on, so to speak. *I pilfered the wine cork, trimmed it to a tight vent
fit, and crammed it into the front center helmet vent with 1/2" sticking
out. *The plate rests on the front of the helmet below the cork, held pretty
firmly in place. *Voila.

What can I say? *The trails here are deep mud or snow covered, it's been a
slow month. *The last ride (Sunday) was two hours of cold, very wet trails,
two hours of cold, wet cleaning and lubing. *Somehow the ratio of cleaning
to riding is making it a hard sell these days.

G

Nice job, and sweet! In the future when encountering that zip tie
issue, consider something like this: http://www.amazon.com/6in-Releasable.../dp/B000BSHLKI
or http://tinyurl.com/2lp4zd

That example is a 6", just happens to be the first one that popped up
on my search. They're available in all sizes, and are the cat's
pajamas. I use them all the time for all sorts of stuff, and they
come off as fast as they go on.

wrote in message
...

Nice job, and sweet! In the future when encountering that zip tie
issue, consider something like this:
http://www.amazon.com/6in-Releasable.../dp/B000BSHLKI
or http://tinyurl.com/2lp4zd

That example is a 6", just happens to be the first one that popped up
on my search. They're available in all sizes, and are the cat's
pajamas. I use them all the time for all sorts of stuff, and they
come off as fast as they go on.

---------------------------------------------------------------
Dang, there goes another million dollar idea I should have had ;-)
Thanks, I will check them out.

wrote in message
...
On Jan 23, 7:27 pm, "Mamba" wrote:

Nice job, and sweet! In the future when encountering that zip tie
issue, consider something like this:
http://www.amazon.com/6in-Releasable.../dp/B000BSHLKI
or http://tinyurl.com/2lp4zd

That example is a 6", just happens to be the first one that popped up
on my search. They're available in all sizes, and are the cat's
pajamas. I use them all the time for all sorts of stuff, and they
come off as fast as they go on.

---------------------------------------
Darn, there's another million dollar idea I wish I'd had... ;-)

Thanks, will check em out