Why so high? Lights on the handlebar…

I'm rather curious as to why handlebar lights are so common? I'm looking to mount a flashlight to my bike, and of course the common solution is twofish, which mounts to the handlebars…*As do the majority of cycle lights…

So I'm wondering why? Wouldn't going lower allow you to get a longer/more useful beam out on the road, and avoid blinding drivers?

I realize that the fork might not be the safest thing - light falls off and into the spokes and you're done for… But what about up on the stem part of the frame? Is there any good way to mount a (small flash)light here, or any good reason not to?

Thanks for any advice - Brian

I have heard of mounting a bike light on the fork but I have never tried it. One thing to note is that placing a light source lower to the ground will create longer shadows that may obscure things, and the other is that many handlebar lights are simply used to get the awareness of drivers.

Its like mounting offroad lights too low on a bumper, if you drive through tall grass they will be useless.

Not everyone puts them on the handlebars (or helmets) see mounts here:

http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/light-mounts.asp

http://www.velo-orange.com/batterylights.html

Even down on the axle!

Very much a personal choice and may differ on different bikes you use in different ways.

There are comments somewhere in those sites about why you might want them that low. The right angle does increase the relief shadow for sticks. Difficult to switch modes or aim while riding when out of reach, though. AND useless in high grass. But what's a quick release for, if not dismounting and remounting easily for security or appropriate positioning?

Hope this helps.

Most lights don't have a remote switch so having the light on the handlebars is the easiest place to reach it.

Also, mounting to the frame would take away turning visibility (i.e. - the light would only shine where you are going while you are riding in a straight line).

Twofish and DX both sell non-perpendicular lockblocks-type mounts.

Interesting, thanks all!

I guess I wasn't thinking about grass, things other than 'roads,' etc. And for 'being seen,' that makes sense as well, in my mind I'm keeping my 'being seen' light separate from my 'seeing' light, so I didn't really put the two together into one…

Looking into the other twofish fasteners now, only really knew about the Cyclopblock and the Lockblock… I guess the Cyclopblock is really adjustable both ways, meaning it would work on frame or fork as well…

I'm not too worried about the light turning when my bars turn…*I'll mostly be riding in areas with adequate-but-not-great light…*More concerned about improving what's immediately in front of me…

Thanks again, useful stuff!

Mainly because it's easy and works well with standard tailcaps. The seeing-while turning argument doesn't really fit with the actual mechanics of cornering at speed, and I prefer my main lights frame-mounted for longer/more visible shadows of obstacles in the road. But it's easier to mount them on the bars, so that's how my current setup is.

The one light that does belong on the bars, IMO, is a bright flood angled down to illuminate from the front wheel out 10-20 feet -- good for low-speed riding especially. The higher the light, the more uniform the field, and the less you get blinded by the foreground. And at low speeds, the steering effect is actually useful.

I'm a handlebar man because I don't like the extra shadows from lowslung lights and lowlying obstacles.. I always wonder if the pool of darkness (in the shadow) hides a hole in the road.

How fast do you ride, that would require you to aim your lights high enough to bike safely?
I have my p3d rb100 & l2d rb100 on the handlebars.
P3D on the right, aimed slightly to the left and down
L2D on the left, aimed [hotspot] to the right of P3D and slightly upward.

I usually ride with P3D on medium, L2D on high. I am not blinding traffic, though I wish I could make the light warmer. [looking/waiting for xp-g neutral white]

The best reason I can think of is the handlebars are suspended. Even on road bikes the forks are designed to flex to remove some of the hits.

Try mounting it to the crown on a decent mtb and having the light moving anywhere between 2 and 6 inches while your heads in the same place is bloody annoying!

Many bikelights are single component, that is, the light engine, switch, and battery are mounted in the same container...placing it lower and the user will have to reach to turn it on. When road conditions poor it would be the same as placing the headlight knob for a car slightly above the gas pedal.

As for customized bikelights with the battery container mounted somewhere and a remove switch extended to a region easily accessible, I don't see why one can't mount below the handlebars if one chooses to do so.

On a personal note I would like to have a couple foglights mounted down low that illuminates the area around my bike, but i do not ride enough hours to justify it.

I strap my lights to the handle bar since I have my Garmin Edge 500 mounted on the stem. It is also easier to turn on/off and switch modes than to reach down which makes your hand travel farther from the handlebar incase if you need to maneuver at an instant.

Re: Why so high? Lights on the handlebar…

Handlebar height keeps the light clean, if you mount it lower it will get drity.

the higher the light, the more angle downwards possible (needed), the less blinding others.
You are completely wrong on less blinding by mounting the light down.

2nd, with a light mounted at fork, or anywhere else, there is wheel, or fender, or ..., to be illimunated - stealing light and disturbing Your sight by a brightly lit object very near to You.

yellow said:

the higher the light, the more angle downwards possible (needed), the less blinding others.
You are completely wrong on less blinding by mounting the light down.

Click to expand...

Valid point. I don't know about "completely". It's a bit absolute. With a narrow weaker beam aimed down glare shouldn't be an issue, they'd be like fog lights. Still need one, or better, a pair of real lights, though.

yellow said:

2nd, with a light mounted at fork, or anywhere else, there is wheel, or fender, or ..., to be illimunated - stealing light and disturbing Your sight by a brightly lit object very near to You.

Click to expand...

I agree about avoiding lighting up bike pieces. I wanted the old HID off the bars and ended up with it on a tall bracket off the brake mount about mid head tube. It was on or off and the switch is on the battery. I could reach it to twist aim it, if needed.

On a 62 cm frame mid or a bit higher on the head tube is close to handlebar height for a lot of people. There I just caught a bit of tire making a dark arrow in the nearest of the spill of the beam just in front of the wheel. Any lower and I lit up the silver fender and disturbed my vision. Of course I could have installed a front rack and stuck it out there in front of the tire and wheel Velo-Orange style where it is 'so handy'.

I ride a very tall quill stem so I am trying my new triple XP-G there sideways below the monitor since I have the shims to do that. First test was in the day yesterday. Beam shots and ride tonight. If I don't like it, a light bar is in my future, I think.

I usually ride at night with both a bar light and a hand held light. I find that the higher I hold my light, the better I can see upcoming obstacles.

I use a single AA helmet light with a 2AA mounted on the bars (mountain bike) or slung under the crank boom (recumbent) The frame/handlebar mounted 2AA (Quark Turbo AA2) takes care of the distant 100 meters out stuff and the single AA I generally point behind the beam of the stronger AA2.

I find putting a "shade" on the head of the light so the photons going up at an angle will be stopped really help prevent blinding car drivers. The helmet light is to "wake up" drivers by looking directly at them at stop signs, drive ways etc and works very well.

Now for EagleTac to come out with their new single AA (head larger but not too large) XP-G light so the L1D RB100 can go back on my wife's helmet.

Have you used a handle bar mounted light yet?

It seems to do a good job. Helmet mounted lights are not good in my opinion. You blind oncoming cycle riders on bike tracks. If you have a badly designed light (for cycle riding) you'll blind oncoming cycle riders anyway. eg TR-801. My romson (romison?) NC has a good beam profile. doesn't annoy/bline cyclist riding towards me

On my commuter bike I have front pannier mounts on the fork that were unused so I made some mounts for headlights for them. I've tried my NiteRider Minewt Mini-USB on the fork mounts (half way between the dropouts and the crown), on the handlebar, and on my helmet. If I had to only run one headlight it would be on the helmet because it's jut the most natural place to have it. You point your head and the light is there. If they made some dumb law against placing the light on my helmet and I were forced to put it on the bike somewhere it would definitely be on the handlebar. Again, it just seems like a more natural place to have it. With the primary light placed low it casts a strong shadow going towards the right from the front tire but, also, it just doesn't look right to me.

As it is I have not ridden my bike after dark these past few months but if I do I will be running a "see me" white blinkie light on the forks to get their attention, the Mini-USB on the handlebars to see the road in front of me, and a Mini-MagLED on my helmet to look into corners and to use offensively (pointing at inattentive drivers to wake them up to my presence).

Thanks again, everyone, lot of issues I never really thought about. Since I'm going the flashlight/block route, I can always try it to see for myself, I suppose…

I have used handlebar lights, but never great ones, and it's been a few years since I've ridden in the dark at all. I hate helmet lights, they don't feel natural to me, and I definitely get the feeling that I'm blinding everyone… Didn't think about the weird shadows from a fork light… If I tried a lower mount, it would be on the lower part of the stem, and would turn with the bike - this is a folding bike with a long stem, small fork, 16" wheels…

Anyhow, I'll likely stick to handlebar, I suppose, but still willing to experiment. Appreciate all the feedback!

Brian