[hpv] Lights and Mirrors
John Steven
Greetings!
I have just found a way to mount lights and mirrors on my faired recumbent
(Vision R40, LWB, USS) that others might be interested in.
Mirrors:
I don't like handlebar-mounted mirrors on my USS, because they require my
eyes to be off the road ahead for too long. The upper cross-bar of the
fairing seemed to be the only other place to mount mirrors, but almost
all mirrors that I could find were not designed so they could be attached
to a horizontal bar and then drop down to clear the fairing and extend out
to the side far enough to give a view past my arm and shoulder.
The LBS where I bought the bike had two Kyoshin mirrors which did the job
beautifully on the left hand side of the bike, and were not-too-bad on the
right side. With those two mirrors, I had a full wrap-around view to the
rear. I should have left well-enough alone; in my efforts to remodel the
stem of the right hand mirror, I broke the glass.
Then I dscovered how difficult it is to find what what I wanted, and how
rare and hard-to-find are the Kyoshin mirrors. They were old stock, out of
date, and nobody wants or sells long-arm convex-lens rectangular mirrors
that are stable enough to hold their position, it seems. I find that hard
to believe, but maybe that's just me. (I have some leads on motorcycle
mirrors that might do the job.)
Lights:
I have wanted two headlights for my 10km commuting on busy, dark, narrow,
winding, hilly roads. Having my Moon Unit lamp mounted inside the fairing
seemed the only place on the bike to put it. But too much of the dual-beam
light (10W and 20W) reflects back at the rider at the best of times, and
not enough light was getting out onto the road where I needed it. During
rain or frosty weather, FAR too much of the light comes back at you and
doesn't make it out through the fairing. I was certainly visible enough -
looking like a soft-lit space vehicle drifting along the road, but seeing
past the shining white fairing was difficult, and the light was very little
help in those conditions, for seeing objects, holes, etc.
So, after months of trying this and that, I came across bar-ends - the
extensions that mountain bikers attach to the ends of their handle bars to
give them a sort-of vertical hand grip.
I found a pair of light alloy bar ends that fit nicely and tightly at the
tape-wrapped ends of the upper cross-bar of my fairing, inside the fairing.
I positioned them so they extend down and out to each side, which gives me
about six inches of curved bar outside the fairing, to attach my lights and
mirrors to.
The two headlights are mounted near the outside ends of the bar-ends,
giving me a wide, unobstructed light pattern on the road ahead.
My remaining Kyoshin mirror continues to serve very well, mounted on the
bar end on the left side if the fairing. And with the bar-end on the right
side, I now have much more flexibility in places to mount a right-hand
mirror, for a good rear view clear of my shoulder. I'm expecting that it
won't be much of a problem to find one that will do nicely.
... just in case it might help somebody else.
Best wishes to all for the New Year.
John M. Steven
jmst...@cowichan.com
O ___
_\\____%)
______( _ )=*___(_)____
Vision R-40
Peek Brothers Enterprises, Inc.
I should have left well-enough alone; in my efforts to remodel the
> stem of the right hand mirror, I broke the glass.
> Then I dscovered how difficult it is to find what what I wanted, and how
> rare and hard-to-find are the Kyoshin mirrors. They were old stock, out of
> date, and nobody wants or sells long-arm convex-lens rectangular mirrors
OK, I am new and dumb about riding bents. I have been wondering about
mirrors on our Ryans, and here may be a partial solution. Most auto
parts stores or truck stops carry round and rectangular spor view
mirrors with double back tape to stick them on to a side mirror on a
truck. All you need now is something to stick to to. Might be a little
accessory project for us to work on once the dust settles fro getting
the Ryans into production.
Greg Peek
Longbikes
8160 Blakeland Dr.
Unit D
Littleton, CO 80125
303-471-6700
1-877-TANDEMS (826-3367)
http://www.tandembike.com
e-mail: gr...@tandembike.com
William J. Cook
>
>OK, I am new and dumb about riding bents. I have been wondering about
>mirrors on our Ryans, and here may be a partial solution. Most auto
>parts stores or truck stops carry round and rectangular spor view
>mirrors with double back tape to stick them on to a side mirror on a
>truck. All you need now is something to stick to to. Might be a little
>accessory project for us to work on once the dust settles fro getting
>the Ryans into production.
>
Yeah, but you have to consider the price. The ones I use on my car mirrors
cost almost $2 each at Pep Boys.
William J. Cook, bc...@clark.net, 202-955-2493 |Caution: Objects
Senior Writer, U.S.News & World Report |on calendar are
2400 N St. NW, Washington, DC 20037 |closer than they
Recumbent bike rider/amateur frame builder |appear.
Steven C. Beck
Rhoad Gear(sp) makes a really nice mirror that slides into the bar ends.
Once in, you can adjust it on two axies and even fold it inwards to reduce
chances of contact in tight places. Works very well on our Duplex. I
have one on each side of my handle bars and my wife has one on the left
side only.
You can see one at:
Http://www.performancebike.com/catalog.tpl?cart=915463948176307
IMHO, these work so well that they should be standard issue on the Duplex.
On Fri, 1 Jan 1999, Peek Brothers Enterprises, Inc. wrote:
> John Steven wrote:
> I should have left well-enough alone; in my efforts to remodel the
> > stem of the right hand mirror, I broke the glass.
> > Then I dscovered how difficult it is to find what what I wanted, and how
> > rare and hard-to-find are the Kyoshin mirrors. They were old stock, out of
> > date, and nobody wants or sells long-arm convex-lens rectangular mirrors
>
> OK, I am new and dumb about riding bents. I have been wondering about
> mirrors on our Ryans, and here may be a partial solution. Most auto
> parts stores or truck stops carry round and rectangular spor view
> mirrors with double back tape to stick them on to a side mirror on a
> truck. All you need now is something to stick to to. Might be a little
> accessory project for us to work on once the dust settles fro getting
> the Ryans into production.
>
> Greg Peek
> Longbikes
> 8160 Blakeland Dr.
> Unit D
> Littleton, CO 80125
> 303-471-6700
> 1-877-TANDEMS (826-3367)
> http://www.tandembike.com
> e-mail: gr...@tandembike.com
>
Steven Craig Beck | be...@galt.iaf.uiowa.edu
73 EMRB Image Analysis Facility | http://www.uiowa.edu/~image
University of Iowa | 319.335.6713 (phone)
Iowa City, IA 52242 | 319.335.6710 (fax)