| Author | Message | ||
     Lorazepam |
Ok, I have the basic design down, and going to the fabricator tomorrow. My questions are these: 1) Will anyone want to mount the big 6" rallye style lights? 2) considering the myriad of lights available, would a solid light mounting point, that you could mark and drill for your particular lights be better than trying to make "universal" mounting holes? 3) would naked aluminum be fine, or black paint/powdercoat be preferable? I havent been able to ride, so I have been working on making a light bracket. I like lots of lights on my bikes. See and be seen. | ||
| Fubar |
No, Yes, Yes | ||
| Lorazepam |
Update to the bracket. I have a prototype made, and now going to find production facilities. Remember this is just a basic prototype. Comments welcome.   | ||
| Aeholton |
Looks good. What did the lights cost you? | ||
| Lorazepam |
The lights are piaa 35 watt driving lights. they are comparable to the motolights, and run around 100.00. I hope to be able to sell the bracket at a reasonable price. It depends on how much to make them. I guess it depends on how many I make, on the costs. Let me know if you would buy one. | ||
| Aeholton |
If the price is reasonable enough, yes I would buy the bracket. $100 for the lights isn't too bad. | ||
| Aeholton |
Can you post a close-up from the front? I would like to get a little better look at the bracket. | ||
| Lowflyer |
I would buy a set so long as they don't look like poop. Oh, not that they do from your pics.  Yours looks pretty solid and I like the location of the lights. (Message edited by lowflyer on March 05, 2006) | ||
| Lorazepam |
It is a basic prototype, and pretty rough. I dont have anything but hand tools to do the fab work. I hope to make it one piece, and to keep it as inexpensive as possible. The final will be a bit different than this, but light position will be the same. Let me get a finished product before I do closeups. | ||
| Lowflyer |
One thing that I might prefer is to have the bend in the bracket facing forward so that the exposed edge is to the rear. This would make the light mounted even with the fork from the side view. | ||
| Lorazepam |
Doing so limits air to the scoop. If the light installed is large enough, taking it backwards obstructs turning due to the scoop. I have spent a lot of time on this, and tried going that way. | ||
| Lowflyer |
Maybe you could do it if you cut the bracket from a larger piece of sheetmetal. Cut it out so that it has a 45-degree upward slant on each end. Sort of like this:  There is clearance there depending on the size of the lights and it would move them out of the way of the scoop. (Message edited by lowflyer on March 05, 2006) | ||
| Lorazepam |
One of my goals is to get the triangle of light effect, by moving them down and away from the headlight. It makes bikes a lot more visible than putting all the lights in a row. I will be discussing the design with an engineer this week, and should know something soon. | ||
| Lowflyer |
Oh, in that case, here is my other suggestion:  | ||
| Lorazepam |
Thanks lowflyer, I appreciate your help. | ||
| Lorazepam |
 Any comments? | ||
| Lowflyer |
Way cool!  More pics!!! (Message edited by lowflyer on March 15, 2006) | ||
| Lorazepam |
Here are some more pics. Remember this is being produced with a jigsaw and a cordless drill.    Hey dont mind the wiring job either, it is still to be done up right. | ||
| Coolice |
Looks good! Hmm I have a sheetmetal shop......stainless bracket eh? What lights? How much $? How about the switching? | ||
| Lorazepam |
It will have to be pretty heavy stainless I am thinking. a bend will not be as strong as the extrusion. I dont know yet about vibration. I am trying different lights to see how stable they will be, I dont want anyone to get hurt if the bike gets squirrly with a set of these on the front. I understand now why things cost what they do, after starting on this project. I will be happy to break even and make folks happy with a decent light platform. | ||
| Aeholton |
What happened to the small PIAA lights you had on it up top? I like the look of the smaller lights, rather than those big ones in your most recent pictures. I'm still interested in the bracket. | ||
| Lorazepam |
I still have those, I want to make sure that whatever anyone wants to choose for lights will work. No one needs a tank slapper from adding lights. Once I get things set, I may be selling the lights I dont use, and will probably offer them here first. | ||
| Lorazepam |
You could always run both driving and fog lights if you choose   |
