Simple bicycle light and mount

One scrap of polyethylene pipe, one bungee cord from a tarp tent, an inexpensive flashlight, and ten minutes of your time makes a neat bike light and handlebar-mounting system.

Easily installed and removed, easily transferred to other bikes, easy to adjust up/down while riding, lightweight, and inexpensive.

Useful to light the road close-in, or to be seen by others at dawn or dusk, or to use as a backup for your main night lighting system.

Acknowledgement: This design was totally inspired by the sleek and sexy Dinotte 200 lighting system http://www.dinottelighting.com

Step 1: Parts and tools

Ball bungee cord for tarp tent (purchased at a flea market)

Flashight, 9-LED, 3xAAA, on/off pushbutton on rear, 1" (25mm) diameter (purchased at a home improvement warehouse on Black Friday for $1.66 including batteries)

Polyethylene pipe to match diameter of flashlight, 1" dia, thinwall, 160psi (scrap from another project, originally purchased from home improvement warehouse in giant coil)

Safety glasses and sharp utility knife. (bandsaw with fine blade optional)

Comments

[bikemike555]

Another way is to use two of those "Livestrong" type rubber bracelets. You can get some in a color you like, maybe you donate to a good cause for them or maybe people are handing them out at work (happens a lot in certain jobs). You wrap one around the front of your light, over the handlebar, and back down over the back of the light. The wrap the second band around the middle twice, so around the bands BETWEEN the light and the handlebar and back over it again. The second band works as a sort of shock absorber to isolate the light from the metal handlebar.
I like some of the tiny CR123 lights for this, my favorite is the Romisen RC N3 (maybe $15?) with a rechargeable CR123 battery (2 for $6?) a nano charger (another $6?) to plug into the wall and voila, you have a reasonably priced 3.6 watt LED light for bike or your pocket. Light, batteries and charger available at dealextreme.com

[dermbrian]

Thanks for this. I'll be using one of my daughter's hairbands (ponytail thingy), along with an existing LED flashlight and three rechargeable AAA batteries. I may end up mounting it to my 'dashboard' instead of the handlebar. We'll see.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Bicycle-stereo-dashboard/

[rhoddity]

Awesome, that's exactly what I was looking for (and just my style too!)

[KidAfrica]

used bike tubes cut into rubber bands work really well for this and their a bit cleaner looking

[tom352]

Your the best.

[dchall8]

That will work great for the upcoming bike rodeo at my girl's school. They get points for having a light.