Comments on: Why sell bicycle light brackets?

By: Burton

Burton — Sun, 30 May 2010 00:10:04 +0000

Glad to see you changed your mind on that one Dominic!

I’m currently looking for to update a lighting system and two critical items on my own list and the availability of spare brackets and spare batteries.

Brackets are cheap and will let me use a couple sets of lights across several bicycles, and extra battery packs will let me get extra use out of those lights camping or x-country skiing.

A good lighting system can cost anywhere from $100 to $1,000 and a few extra brackets and battery packs just lets it be a lot more versatile. There are actually specialized mounts available for some systems based on how you want to mount the light – on a helmet, tube-clamp, belt – even suction mounts are available for some units so they can double as safety markers attached to a car window.

Choice is GREAT! Availability is KEY!! How can anyone not love a shop that stocks or will order a huge range of accessories and spares!!??

By: kaily

kaily — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:31:37 +0000

I had my front light bracket stolen today by some idiot… very annoying. Luckily, using a bit of elastic band trickery, I was able to cycle home safely in the dark.

Thanks to your post, I now know where I might find a replacement bracket – thanks! Don’t fancy forking out another £25 to replace the whole shebang.

By: abellve

abellve — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:47:16 +0000

Here’s to self correcting. We all should do it, whether or not we do is another thing entirely. However, to add to the evidence mounting against your earlier assertions, I too have had recent cause to replace only the bracket. I commute and ride for fun and was riding along a well traveled road. As the amount of debris and sketchiness of the narrow shoulder of the road increased, I opted to take the sidewalk for about a block and a half. It was dark. I hit a ridiculous chasm in the uneven sidewalk and my light went tumbling down a paved incline. The bracket had snapped in half but the light was shining right back at me with some scratches on the body but no real damage. (Princeton Tec EOS Bike). Today I will be hoping to find the kind of shady thief-aiding bike shop that supplies brackets as Princeton Tec did not seem too concerned with the equipment failure. Maybe they’ll finally get back to me and I can print a retraction. Ha!

By: Valeria de Angeles

Valeria de Angeles — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 05:00:54 +0000

Free Speech is great and all, but self-censorship is a good thing more often than not… I’m glad to have seen that last post anyway because now i won’t leave my bracket on my bike

By: Dominic Sayers

Dominic Sayers — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 08:44:00 +0000

Thanks Catherine. I’ve changed my mind about this (which is why I put the note at the top of the post). I don’t believe in censoring what I wrote do I have left the post in place but I am no longer angry about this :-)

There are clearly a number of sound reasons why the brackets might be sold separately. I was wrong.

By: Catherine York

Catherine York — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 21:51:08 +0000

Yeah, well, I don’t often go out on my bike after dark. Tonight I needed to, so I got my cat-eye lights, put the front one into its bracket and then turned my attention to the back one. Imagine how I felt when I realised there WAS NO BRACKET THERE AAAAAAAAAARRRRRGHHHHHHHHH!! Some f*cker had only nicked the blasted bracket!!! Had to go out with front light alone. Good job I have a reflective vizzy jacket…

So, I for one, am glad you can buy replacement brackets…wonder if I’ll be able to get one that isn’t so easy to nick? These ones don’t even require you to have a screwdriver in order to put them on – OR TAKE THEM OFF!!!

By: Martin

Martin — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 09:36:32 +0000

Certainly Evan’s Cycles in the City are a good bunch; when my saddle and post was nicked yesterday they gave me a spare saddle for free.

By: Dominic Sayers

Dominic Sayers — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 14:45:51 +0000

And the final nail in the coffin of this post is that I went to Evans today to buy a new bracket for a light I had. The original bike was stolen but I still had the light.

By: Dominic Sayers

Dominic Sayers — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 08:55:04 +0000

I think the weight of evidence is against me here. As John Maynard Keynes said, “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?”

I’m going to add a note to the original post.

By: rich

rich — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 00:19:22 +0000

Well that wasn’t well thought out, was it. Please think before making suggestions to punish those providing a useful service.

Like others out there with a bit of experience, I
i) just had a bike stolen with three brackets on it
ii) had my lights safely esconced
iii) don’t want to buy new cateye lights
and
iv) before stolen had three bikes and just one set of lights, so extra brackets were already required.