Project MB-1 - DiNotte 300R Tail Light Mount

Frame is still with my  painter, it had to be back to the frame builder for a minor fix up. Having a perfectionist painter is a good match for a perfectionist bicyclist. Since I cannot assemble the bike, yet, I can work on some of the smaller design details with what I do have.

In my desire to have less wires and such, I have upgraded my tail light from my original DiNotte 120R (AA batteries) to the 300R, built-in lithium model. It is both quite a bit larger and quite a bit brighter.

I spent today fabricating a mounting bracket to securely attach the light to the seat rails. This keeps the seat post lines clean and puts the light just a little bit higher for visibility purposes. I love the fact it can be charged via a standard USB cable.



I started with a trip to my local hardware store to get cushioned "P" clamps, some fasteners and some aluminum flat bar stock. Then, cuz it's cold in the garage, I take the seat off and do some design work. The clamps? Pretty straightforward. Now how to bend the bar stock to go from the seat angle to a near vertical?

To get the primary bend angle, I used a cardboard template, attaching it to the back of the light. Holding it up I made the first bend near the light, which sets the base angle. As I played with the second bend, I noticed it would be easier to bend a curve rather than another sharp angle. The advantage would be the ability to fine tune which is harder once I do put a sharp bend in.

As you can see,  it came out pretty well, okay, at least that is my story.

Here the light is attached to the bracket. Fairly simple, clean, secure. Not a bad DIY, heh? At least the tail light is ready to go for Project MB-1.

Wow, 2 Weeks Since Last Post, Really?

I must be rolling along in zombie commuter mode or time has just sped up and the moment I stop to catch my breath it has been about 2 weeks since my last entry. I prefer to think it is the latter, of course.

We (Portland) are starting to dry out and our river levels are a bit lower, at least the Willamette River is low enough that our floating section of the Eastbank Esplanade is re-open. Gee, I really missed riding along this section. Of course, coming up with detours has also been nice for breaking up riding the exact same route day in and day out. Perhaps there is a subtle hint there.

The drier weather has also given me the incentive to bring the road bike (Bridgestone RADAC) out again, and that has been fun. I mean, being 10 pounds lighter, it is sweet riding. I have found, though, the ride feeling is pretty close between my two bikes now and that has me pretty pleased. I can easily go from bike to bike with very little adjusting.

I'm so so with the Power Grips pedals on the SUB. They are nice in that I can ride any shoe and has some level of attachment to the bike. I went with them because I got tired of struggling to adjust the cleats on my Keen shoes, not to mention I was starting to have some minor knee pain. So I took a break and enjoyed infinite adjustment while riding to get my feet in the "right" place on the pedals. I think it is also the fact the pressure is spread across the pedals rather than in the tiny spot where the SPD cleat is attached. The downside is getting my left foot back in from a stop takes more time.

Not to be outdone, the RADAC now sports Time ATAC XS carbon pedals. I have ridden them all thhis week (hahaha 2 days) and so far really like them. The cleats strictly align the fore-aft position on the pedals. Rotational float is handled by the pedals themselves, which is nice. I also like that the shoe actually contacts the sides of the pedals spreading the pressure points across a broader area. I am using my carbon bike shoes so that also means carrying an extra pair of walk around shoes for work. But, since I am not carrying extra rain gear, it is okay.

Tomorrow, I'm testing the pedals on the SUB and see how I like them on that bike. If good, then I'll get another pair of ATAC pedals.

When the clouds really clear out and there is nothing but blue sky, everyone seems to be in such better moods - especially given how grey we have been. I have also been enjoying stopping just before getting to work at the Breakfast on the Bridges (one at the Steel Bridge and one at the Hawthorne Bridge). Last friday was great and everyone was so happy because it was sunny and warm, plus the hosts are always happy and pleasant.

Today, as if to celebrate the official start of summer, a fireboat was out and entertaining everyone with its huge spray from the water guns. Definitely, everyone seems to be in a summery frame of mind. Of course, if it stays mostly nice we will start saying how hot it is or humid or too dry - funny we humans is.

Work commuters have been cool and we pretty much have a full main bike storage room. We even created a bicyclist email group so we could all share our accomplishments and other bike related information with each other. For me, I just use our first overflow area as my primary, saves moving around once I am at work. It is nice to see the new commuters especially since our Bike to Work day event. It's cool.

Bike Nerd Adds Analog Clock

Well, since today was basically grey and I did not have an inspirational moment to take much in the way of pictures, I went bike nerd today when I got home from work.

I  have thought about having some kind of clock on the bike, because it is too hard to be riding and pulling out my cell phone to see what the time is. I really did not want to just strap a wrist watch on and I know I do not want to buy a cycle computer for just the clock part.

What I was looking for was something readable, small but not too small, waterproof (hey, it's Oregon!), and would mount securely but simply.

I guess it was time to do some research, internet style, of course. Hmmm, bicycle clock, clock on a bike, clock mounting on bike. Okay, then, just a few million hits, let's check out the images results. Hmmm, some of these look promising, so let's click here.

The site was Cruiser Customizing, yep, that's right, uh huh, a motorcycle site. They had some interesting products, some adapters, and hey, check it out, a little, round analog clock. Well, what the hey, let's order it and give it a try. A week later, today, it arrives and I open up the packaging. Ooo, chrome, well, it's small enough it should not show too much.

Well, now where to mount it? I want to keep the bars as clean as possible, since they already have my shifter mounts. I want to be able to easily glance and see the time. After a few tests, I decide I can use my existing headlight mount. I do have to do a little grinding on the clock mounting housing so I can rotate it 90 degrees, not how it was designed, of course.

After I get the housing to rotate in its bracket, I mounted it to my headlight mount and with a little bending had the position quite usable. Haha, now I have my bike clock, old school analog and the numbers and hands glow in the dark!

Oh, yeah, that's right, I'm a bike nerd and proud of it.