Bianchi Milano Basket issues

MontanaGuy said:

My wife's Milano has a handle bar mounted wicker basket that she does
not want to remove. The basket obscures the top of the bar making a
light mount useless. The little bar extenders intended to provide an
extra place to mount things were dismissed as 'dorky'. I thought
about the mounting a light on the fork, but haven't found a mount that
would allow the angle of the headlight to be correct. Can anyone
direct me to such a light?

You can rule out a fork crown mount based on the wicker basket problem.
Does she wear a helmet? Mount the headlight atop her lid, if possible.

You can mount some headlights to fork legs. Sheldon, as usual, has a
pretty interesting custom headlight mount of that sort....

http://sheldonbrown.org/raleigh-international/pages/international-nexus08.html

Quoted message said:

The basket causes another problem. When loaded it sags down on the
fender. A front rack might solve it. The fork has only one set of
whatdoyacallthosethings ... eyelet/threaded holes .. and they're on the
bottom/away side of the fork (being used for fenders). Does any have
a creative solution to this problem, or know of a rack that would work?

Maybe the basket needs to have an unfortunate "accident." :^)

--
Dave
dvt at psu dot edu

Everyone confesses that exertion which brings out all the powers of body
and mind is the best thing for us; but most people do all they can to
get rid of it, and as a general rule nobody does much more than
circumstances drive them to do. -Harriet Beecher Stowe, abolitionist and
novelist (1811-1896)

MontanaGuy said:

My wife's Milano has a handle bar mounted wicker basket that she does
not want to remove. The basket obscures the top of the bar making a
light mount useless. The little bar extenders intended to provide an
extra place to mount things were dismissed as 'dorky'. I thought
about the mounting a light on the fork, but haven't found a mount that
would allow the angle of the headlight to be correct. Can anyone
direct me to such a light?

Minoura Besso fork mount - this allows you to mount pretty much any
light anywhere you want on the fork. I have a crown-mounted Dynamo
light and 5 LED flashy mounted on the fork, which I find to be an
excellent combination.

$7 at Nashbar currently:

http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?sku=13291

Quoted message said:

The basket causes another problem. When loaded it sags down on the
fender. A front rack might solve it. The fork has only one set of
whatdoyacallthosethings ... eyelet/threaded holes .. and they're on the
bottom/away side of the fork (being used for fenders). Does any have
a creative solution to this problem, or know of a rack that would work?

Someone else will have to help you with this one. No idea myself.

--
Dane Buson - [email hidden]
The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings;
the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of misery.
-- Churchill

Dane Buson said:

MontanaGuy said:

My wife's Milano has a handle bar mounted wicker basket that she does
not want to remove. The basket obscures the top of the bar making a
light mount useless. The little bar extenders intended to provide an
extra place to mount things were dismissed as 'dorky'. I thought
about the mounting a light on the fork, but haven't found a mount that
would allow the angle of the headlight to be correct. Can anyone
direct me to such a light?

Minoura Besso fork mount - this allows you to mount pretty much any
light anywhere you want on the fork. I have a crown-mounted Dynamo
light and 5 LED flashy mounted on the fork, which I find to be an
excellent combination.

$7 at Nashbar currently:

http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?sku=13291

Quoted message said:

The basket causes another problem. When loaded it sags down on the
fender. A front rack might solve it. The fork has only one set of
whatdoyacallthosethings ... eyelet/threaded holes .. and they're on the
bottom/away side of the fork (being used for fenders). Does any have
a creative solution to this problem, or know of a rack that would work?

Someone else will have to help you with this one. No idea myself.

--
Dane Buson - [email hidden]
The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings;
the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of misery.
-- Churchill

Dear Montana,

Your wife sounds like one of a kind. I would suggest not worrying too
much about the bike, just enjoy the fruits of your marriage. Put
reflective tape on her helmet, basket and bike and tell her it's
because you need her live and wiggling.

good luck

jn

MontanaGuy said:

My wife's Milano has a handle bar mounted wicker basket that she does
not want to remove. The basket obscures the top of the bar making a
light mount useless. The little bar extenders intended to provide an
extra place to mount things were dismissed as 'dorky'.

I mounted a Cateye Opticube EL-400 (the little one with a strap mount)
directly to the upper edge of my honey's wicker basket, on the left
side. It's not that great at maintaining a steady point of aim, but it
is stable enough for a "be seen" light. This arrangement might be
dorky; you never can tell.

Quoted message said:

The basket causes another problem. When loaded it sags down on the
fender. A front rack might solve it.

Like maybe this one:
http://www.rivbike.com/webalog/baggage_racks/20020.html Or maybe not--
it could be dorky.

Chalo

"MontanaGuy" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

My wife's Milano has a handle bar mounted wicker basket that she does
not want to remove. The basket obscures the top of the bar making a
light mount useless. The little bar extenders intended to provide an
extra place to mount things were dismissed as 'dorky'. I thought
about the mounting a light on the fork, but haven't found a mount that
would allow the angle of the headlight to be correct. Can anyone
direct me to such a light?

The basket causes another problem. When loaded it sags down on the
fender. A front rack might solve it. The fork has only one set of
whatdoyacallthosethings ... eyelet/threaded holes .. and they're on the
bottom/away side of the fork (being used for fenders). Does any have
a creative solution to this problem, or know of a rack that would work?

This is easy. Get a new wife.

MontanaGuy said:

I thought
about the mounting a light on the fork, but haven't found a mount that
would allow the angle of the headlight to be correct.

Quoted message said:

The basket causes another problem. When loaded it sags down on the
fender. A front rack might solve it. The fork has only one set of
whatdoyacallthosethings ... eyelet/threaded holes .. and they're on the
bottom/away side of the fork (being used for fenders).

The Minoura Besso was mentioned and looks like a good solution to the
first issue, except that a fork mount will be a pain to turn on and
off.

A front rack can be mounted to the same holes as the fenders. Just use
longer bolts. Some people prefer to use "studs" - bolts threaded
through from the inside of the fork, and with an extra nut or two to
separate the fork/fenderstay/rackstay.

Getting a flat-top front rack might be an issue, though I've seen some
still available for 26" bikes. Most 700c-sized front racks are
lowriders these days, and are useless for basket support.

Brian Huntley said:

MontanaGuy wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I thought about the mounting a light on the fork, but haven't found
a mount that would allow the angle of the headlight to be correct.

The Minoura Besso was mentioned and looks like a good solution to the
first issue, except that a fork mount will be a pain to turn on and
off.

I've never had a problem turning it on and off while I'm riding.
However, I suppose the basket might get in the way, or someone might
have more limited flexibility than I do. Alternately you could just
turn it on before you get on the bike. I don't think it's that big a
deal.

--
Dane Buson - [email hidden]
"I prefer the wicked rather than the foolish. The wicked
sometimes rest." -Alexandre Dumas