Cheap Ass Light Bar prototype

[Cheesy Mike]

Watch those pesky Ring ice blue lights like a hawk. They can leak like a sieve if you have mounted them upside down. They can also leak like a sieve if you mount them the right way up. Also, the flying leads are the bulb leads. Changing the bulb means getting rid of all the neat soldering and shrink wrapping that you might have done to fit them. I got rid of mine when mould started growing on the inside. I replaced them with even cheaper Ring lights

Mike

 

[Mouse]

Originally posted by Cheesy Mike
Watch those pesky Ring ice blue lights like a hawk. They can leak like a sieve if you have mounted them upside down. They can also leak like a sieve if you mount them the right way up. Also, the flying leads are the bulb leads.

Thanks for the warning I know about the bulb leads, it's standard for H3 style bulbs for one terminal to be wire ended. I might have to get the bathroom sealant into action to keep the water out

 

[TheJoker]

Thanks again Mouse!

 

[GSmonkey]

Fancy doing that to a ten grand bike

 

[RobC]

Hi Mouse,
If you want a stronger bar have a look in your local B&Q. I got a strip of 5mm steel to make up a lighting bracket for my ER-5. I believe they also had aluminium strips of similar size.

Take a look here:

http://home.btconnect.com/rcom/bikes/ER5-Pictures.htm

Yes, I know the following is true:

1) They are rusty because I have not painted them yet;
2) The garage is a mess;
3) The bike is dirty
4) The bike is not a BMW
5) The washers are currently made of cardboard as I've not made up rubber ones yet;
6) blah, blah, blah.....

 

[HMarc]

On full lock, there's about 5mm clearance between the bar and the fork ... if this isn't enough I can probably trim the bar down a bit. On anything but full lock I doubt there's a problem. [/B]

I believe it's the fork compression that does it. The brand-name light bracket my friend bought was surely "tested" in the way you tested yours -- by moving the forks back and forth.

I'd be super careful when you test it under fork compression, so you don't gouge the alloy fork sliders. That would be tragic...

 

[Emoto]

At last, an affordable light bar for the R1200GS! Fabricated by trained monkeys from the finest Airfix grade mild steel, this little baby will hold a couple of lights and only wobble a little bit!

Let the piss taking commence

Nice job, Mouse! Nothing like a little ingenuity and sweat equity to get the job done. I made something similar and it also worked well.

Since then, I have installed a prototype from http://www.creativecycleconcepts.com/ and I have to say that it is well made and very beefy. Not a hint of flex or shaking. They hope to go into production at the end of the month. Since I post here I asked if they can ship across the pond and they can. I have no affiliation with these guys but I had light mounts from the same maker on my RS and they were also very high quality, so I thought I'd give this board a "heads up". When I manage to get some pcitures together, I'll post a link.

 

[EzyMount]

I believe your bar is to close to the fork tubes. at full lock under load, you may experience contact.

 

[Fanum]

On a serious note Mouse, you might get some flak for having sharp edges protruding......That corner looks lethal even if it is at thigh level....

I had to scrap a car once after the plastic padding around the headlight fell out to leave a sharp edge pointing forwards a bit (mk1 escort)...I got pulled and had a vehicle rectification thingy...couldn't do it in the alloted time so had to scrap the fekker and produce the certificate.

 

[keither]

Re: Re: Light bar

Mybe its me - but my lights do work. And they do help me see at night. Obviously not as bright as a car but then they don't turn night into day either.

Is it all the pipe smoke inside people's helmets or is the average age on here much greater than I thought?

Took me a while to get my head past the pipe and slippers mentality ( I'm only a mere cub) but now, after 2000 miles of pain free biking on my 1150 don't regret a second of it. Apart from the lights that is , they are sh**e. Having been used the retina melting lamps on my Aprilia Falco, I've tried changing to Halfords 50% brighter bulbs and tilted them up from pointing 10 feet in front of me, but they still don't come close. At least the meccano set looks like it is set about the right height cosmetically. Gets my vote!

 

[Mouse]

Thanks for all the constructive comments

Those people who said watch out for the clearance to the forks were totally correct. There really is very little spare room at the front of the 1200 to mount stuff like this!

I think Fanum is right about the sharp edges on that strip of metal too, but I never really intended using that bit, it was clear quite early on that it wasn't really suitable. For one thing, the short lengths I had made the mounting brackets from were already starting to distort and that was before I put any lights on it!

So I went and bought myself a nice length of 25mmx5mm aluminium (or aluminum to our friends across the pond ). Fabrication is underway, and I'm taking photos of course One thing I'm relatively sure of, is that to mount a light bar behind the oil cooler in that position will require a bit of beak surgery, to allow the bar to be high enough to avoid contact with the forks. I imagine this is the reason that other light bars (eg MiGSel's) are not straight, to avoid the fairing. I don't have the knowledge or facilities of how to bend aluminium safely though.

One thing that worries me though, is that having actually spent money on this project, is it a proper mouse-bodge?

 

[RobC]

Just what is the best way to heat and bend aluminium? For steel I use a blow torch and a hammer. I assume I can use the same method with aluminium whilst taking the following precautions:

1) It has a lower metling point so be careful when heating;
2) It is softer so use a leather faced mallet.

I'd prefer to use aluminium for all future light bars.

 

[Ogmios]

FWIW:

i've made in the past bracketry (is that a word? ) out of whatever the hell i can get my hands on at the time.
best bodges i've found so far is "Galvastrip" - used in the building trade it looks like galvanised glorified meccano. comes on a roll - two different thicknesses available, bendable but not too easily, very handy and convenient for little jobs.
Also, once in a fit of lunacy, i needed to make a light bar for a Honda Rebel 250 custom. so, looking around i got hold of an old Stainless steel sink and an angle grinder .
cut a length off the curved "edge" off the sink / made up rubber bungs for the ends (curved and shaped both the rubber and the steel - so no sharp edges) /drilled holes to mount - and wahey - ended up with a good looking light bar that Harley owners kept asking where i got it from!

lastly, in the job - there was some building work going on and i found some off cuts of what appears to be an Aluminium "girder" - very light, very strong and very presentable.
now....what can i do with this?!

Og.