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in the continuing saga of trying to better light the back of the tandem, does anyone use fibre flares?
would be interested to see how they attach. could they be connected across the back of the rack? it says they can go on seat/chain stays, but I wonder if the angle on the helios' chain stays is not such that it wouldn't be very visible?
These would of course not be the only light, but in addition to other, legal, but not that adequate rearlight combinations.
They apparently don't do well at all in rain.
Quite a few posts on LFGSS about various ways to fix them http://www.lfgss.com/thread29133.html
Reasonable as a back-up light, the ones I've seen make pretty poor primary lights as they emit more of a dull glow in all directions than an eye-catching beam or flash.
What is the exact issue with the Helios that's causing you lighting problems? I've recently had to bodge some lights onto my seatstays because the Carradice was getting in the way of things and neither of the lights have clips for the loop.
"What is the exact issue with the Helios?"
seatpost light not very visible - post too short with stoker; stoker jacket etc obstructs
seat stays at too oblique an angle (is that what I mean?) for most clip on lights (similar to issue with lighting tagalong, we had one bodged on, but it was never very visible).
racklight: bodged on, but rain gets in, made it unreliable, then it fell off.
pannier clips: otherwise lovely ortleibs don't hav'em
childseat: best option to date but the cateye that mounts with bolt to seat starting to malfunction - suspect water ingress at fault. and don't always want to have childseat on.
I had one, they do look pretty smart, but it fell to bits mid cycle and got ran over. I don't think the build quaility is great and wouldn't recommend them.
SRD - Cateye have a good clip mount that I used to use on seatstays - you can change the angle very easily - cant remember the name, but easily obtainable from EBC / Evans etc
I'm assuming you have a Flo bib for your children? I found a shop opp MacDonald Road on Leith Walk which sells army camo clothing and workware Flo bibs etc.. They had childrens sizes too.
I also bought one for Camie from Sustrans.
http://www.sustransshop.co.uk/by/category/28-kids-clothing £5.99
With a piece of rubber tubing wrapped around the stay to increase the diameter, the regular adjustable Cateye clip-mounts for various widths of handlebars and seatposts porks just fine on the stays.
re bibs: yes, we have sustrans ones. although stoker also has rucksack on a lot. and not useful if stoker is absent.
seat stays -- sorry nelly and k'nik, but it doesn't work. at least none of the ones we have tried do. it's to do with the slant of the seat stay. it's too close to horizontal, so you can't angle the light upright enough to be effective.
that said, if you have some spare brackets etc and want to give it a try, I'd be happy to bring the bike round, and buy a few rounds at the pub if it works...
Assuming that the "fibre flare" is the thing that looks like a long tube - my boyfriend has one, it is easy to mount and I think has lasted OK, but I didn't think it was adequate as his only rear light (I know you're intending yours as additional lighting) so I bought him a seatpost mounted light and now he uses both.
The reelights have a bracket on the rear drop out, personally it think its a bit low but it might be worth investigating.
@steveo -- that does look like a solution! if I can figure out which model...anyone local stock them?
The co-op used to, don't know if they still do. I think the SL120 has a stand light function and still fastens to the drop out, other models fasten in other places.
I've a plastic bag full of old light brackets and fixtures, if you have the original bit that attaches to your light we could give it a shot.
Bear in mind as bike stays are low and drivers are high, and that the light leaves the bike in a cone scatter, rather than a searchlight beam, it's actually none-too-bad to have a low-mounted rear light pointing slightly upwards so that it's more towards driver's eye height. Particularly "high" drivers like urban 4X4s and HGVs.
Yeah, I've got my dynamo retina burners at an angle pointing slightly up since they're level with the break callipers but they both have Fresnel lenses diffusing the light rather than a cone focus.
The Cherry bomb on the tractor is even lower and despite being partially obstructed by the rack its still very visible never underestimate brute force and and wide angle diffuser.
SRD - I had the same problem with lighting the back of my Helios.
I ended up with 2 Fibreflares attached vertically to either side of my childseat. I drilled a small hole through edge of the seat and then used cable ties to attach them.
I'll take a pic later (and use my new Flikr a/c) to show you.
3 months in and I'm pretty impressed with them.
On flashing setting, I think they are visible enough for urban (street lit) use - I top them off with a helmet light too.
Doesn't solve the problem of what to do when you take the seat off. I just leave mine on.
HC
As promised
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fibreflare by HankChief, on Flickr
They give a bit of lighting to the side which I like.
Had several comments about how effective they are, although with the nights getting shorter now it won't be long before lights can be put away for the summer...
HC
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