Fitting Apollo LED light to Blackburn rack

Peter Scandrett said:

Hi

I've bought one of these Apollo 5 LED carrier lights, recommended by
someone one here...

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=22667

OK, I should have checked before I got it, but it doesn't fit onto my
Blackburn MTB rack (also recommended ages ago by someone here and it's
great, thanks):

http://wiggle.co.uk/ProductDetail.aspx?Cat=cycle&ProdID=5300001488&N=Blackburn%20MTN%201%20Rear%20Rack

The rack has a single mount bolt hole in the centre at the back (which
currently has my rear reflector mounted on it) but the LED light wants
two bolts about 5 or 8 cm apart.

Was it me who recommended them? They are truly excellent lights. My
product review is here:
www.chainreactioncycles.com/Reviews.aspx?ModelID=22667
points out the need for bolt holes at 5 or 8cm.

Quoted message said:

Is there an adaptor I should have bought to go with it or shall I just
bodge something together from a piece of aluminium or similar lying
around in the shed[1]? Looking around, other lights and mountings seem
to expect these two bolt position on bicycle racks... am I missing
something? (I may have got an appropriate piece of metal with the rack
but it was a while ago and I don't remember one... I'll have a rummage
for the bits which I'll have kept... somewhere...)

I'd try to bodge something together, a bit of ply wood would do. It's
a £7.99 light, and it's not worth spending much time or money on it.

Peter Scandrett said:

The rack has a single mount bolt hole in the centre at the back (which
currently has my rear reflector mounted on it) but the LED light wants
two bolts about 5 or 8 cm apart.

Is there an adaptor I should have bought to go with it or shall I just
bodge something together from a piece of aluminium or similar lying
around in the shed[1]? Looking around, other lights and mountings seem
to expect these two bolt position on bicycle racks... am I missing
something? (I may have got an appropriate piece of metal with the rack
but it was a while ago and I don't remember one... I'll have a rummage
for the bits which I'll have kept... somewhere...)

50mm or 80mm spaced holes are standard for rack mounted lights.
You can get one of these brackets which will provide the necessary bolt
holes, though you'll need to drill a couple of holes in your rack to
bolt it on:
http://www.amba-marketing.com/products.php?cid=14&pid=70

In article <[email hidden]>, Peter Scandrett
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Is there an adaptor I should have bought to go with it or shall I just
bodge something together from a piece of aluminium

If you can find a bit of aluminium angle I'd use that - cut a slot for
the tab on the rack so one flat of the angle sits against the underside
of the rack, drill holes as required, trim to a pretty shape. :-)

In article <[email hidden]>, Peter Scandrett
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Is there an adaptor I should have bought to go with it or shall I just
bodge something together from a piece of aluminium

If the central platform of the rack is less than 80mm wide, a couple
of P-clips might do it.

-adrian

Tom Crispin wrote on 23/10/2007 23:41:

Quoted message said:

Peter Scandrett said:

I've bought one of these Apollo 5 LED carrier lights, recommended by
someone one here...

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=22667

Was it me who recommended them? They are truly excellent lights. My
product review is here:
www.chainreactioncycles.com/Reviews.aspx?ModelID=22667
points out the need for bolt holes at 5 or 8cm.

Yes, it was you, I think - thanks.

Quoted message said:

I'd try to bodge something together, a bit of ply wood would do. It's
a £7.99 light, and it's not worth spending much time or money on it.

Fair enough, thank you. Just checking I hadn't missed anything obvious
(well, apart from the fact that my rack doesn't have the appropriate
mounting bits!)

ta

Peter

--
http://www.scandrett.net/lx/
http://www.scandrett.net/bike/

Peter Scandrett said:

Tom Crispin wrote on 23/10/2007 23:41:

Quoted message said:

Peter Scandrett said:

I've bought one of these Apollo 5 LED carrier lights, recommended by
someone one here...

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=22667

Was it me who recommended them? They are truly excellent lights. My
product review is here:
www.chainreactioncycles.com/Reviews.aspx?ModelID=22667
points out the need for bolt holes at 5 or 8cm.

Yes, it was you, I think - thanks.

Quoted message said:

I'd try to bodge something together, a bit of ply wood would do. It's
a £7.99 light, and it's not worth spending much time or money on it.

Fair enough, thank you. Just checking I hadn't missed anything obvious
(well, apart from the fact that my rack doesn't have the appropriate
mounting bits!)

Incidently, I have a suspicion that leaving the lights on "Auto" mode
drains battery power. One of my school's bike's lights was left on
Auto since last Wednesday and the battery is now close to flat.

The ambient light sensor or movement sensor might use small amounts of
power. If this is the case I will have to write another review
suggesting that the "Auto" function is not worth using in most
circumstances.

At £7.99 they are still excellent value.

Tom Crispin said:

Incidently, I have a suspicion that leaving the lights on "Auto" mode
drains battery power. One of my school's bike's lights was left on
Auto since last Wednesday and the battery is now close to flat.

The ambient light sensor or movement sensor might use small amounts of
power. If this is the case I will have to write another review
suggesting that the "Auto" function is not worth using in most
circumstances.

At £7.99 they are still excellent value.

I have just returned from school. Three of the twelve Apollo lights
have flat batteries. Those three were probably left on auto, so my
suspicion that "Auto" drains the power, even when the lights are off
is probably correct.

In my opinion that makes the auto function undesirable, and detracts
from the value of the light. When the LEDs are off there is no quick
way to tell if the light is set to auto or off.

On the matter of your bracket, the light on my own bike had the
opposite problem. My rack has holes at 8cm, but the light a single
bolt.

Here's Thorn's solution...
www.johnballcycling.org.uk/photos/rearlight
www.johnballcycling.org.uk/photos/rearlight2

Perhaps we could do a swap...