I’m relatively new to the enthusiast flashlight community. Considering its size I’m amazed that there seem to be less quality options now for mounting these lights to handlebars than there were a few years ago. We have these amazing lights that can easily pull double duty and be used for bike lights as well.
Anyway, the one I found and bought is cheap. It seems to be available under many different brand names. I haven’t received mine yet, but here is a basic look at what they are and how they work (not my video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eofRf8llAA
I’ve tried a few flashlight holders on my recumbent trike and my MTB. The one shown below is my favorite, partly because when I bought them at first they could be obtained from Chinese sellers on eBay for 99 cents. They were designed to work with flashlights that use the 18650 li-ion battery so have a 25mm (~1”) barrel. It is easy to pop in the flashlight and it never dislodges on a bumpy road. It can be aimed precisely where you want the beam to go. It works well with daytime running lights that I mount on a short piece of plastic tube for easy removal for recharging. To change from flashlight to daytime light I just swivel the holder. The current price for US sellers on eBay is around 6 bucks but if you buy more than one the unit price gets cheaper fast. Flashlight in holder on trike
!https://i.postimg.cc/SRVMMnFy/front-nighttime-light-side-view.png ! typical Listing on eBay Daytime running light on Cannondale MTB handlebars
Been riding MTBs for decades, i can not recall any quality options that are no longer available, we always had only these type of rotating clamps, or Velcro straps, i do not remember seeing any other type around. However those work pretty good for the most part, It is not like there is a simpler way of mounting 2 perpendicular pipes. I have been printing my own holders for headlamps, as well as bike mounts, i used T shaped (D10) headlamp as a bike headlight. But unless you have a irregular shape light or you want it to be mounted certain way, those widely available clamps work pretty good.
I'd love to see those that are referred to as quality option that is no longer available, really curious what those were.
Those are great, I still have a few. But IMO, they’re only for bikes that are always locked safely indoors. I had one on my grocery-getter, and I pulled the light out of the mount every time I locked my bike at the store. The soft plastic that holds the torch quickly spread and wouldn’t grab the light tightly any more.
But, if you leave the light in the mount, and just pull the battery to charge it, they’re great.
This looks like another well engineered option that fenix used to sell. It isn’t available anymore. It looks as though it would need to be sized up a bit for 21700 and 26650 lights.
this is the one I’d like to buy. I’m just not sure of the size. I’ve ordered a sofirn C8L and a C8G. The light clamping size for that mount is 18 to 26mm. The 21700 battery is 21mm? so I’m guessing that mount might be a bit small for those lights. I won’t know till the lights get here. It does look the best mount though.
I did look at those. Weerapat Kiatdumrong uses these on his mtb, but I think he just rides for transport; not particularly rough or fast. One of his videos shows a mod for this mount – that made me think that perhaps it isn’t strong enough for what I need. I’d rather ride down steps than walk for example
gee, I looked at gopro and thought I didn’t see anything. I’ll have to look again.
Later: can’t find the bit that goes around the torch. I don’t think it’s gopro - maybe 3rd party?
Later again: I don’t think that would work for me. It only has that one bolt to hold it in the up / down position. I think I need the adjustment for this to be via the clamp onto the handlebar - it would be more substantial.
I tried the Olight mount and it just didn’t grip the handlebar tightly enough to keep the light’s head from drooping more and more as I went over little bumps in the road. I bought a couple of clamp mounts on ebay (no name on them) that look about the same as these on Amazon . They aren’t absolutely perfect but they do hold pretty well.
These do look good too. I did consider these, and they look like a viable option. Do you trust the clamp part that goes around the handlebar? That was my question with only pictures to look at. The light clamp part looks awesome.
I looked at a few reviews of the olight type of mount too; the silicone bands do break sooner or later. I have budget lights coming, but they still cost a fair bit. I suppose they’re budget because you’re getting a lot of bang for buck.
Just looking at the video, the Fenix af02 is wobbly out of the box, clearly visible at timestamp starting with 3.08 i would not call it a quality option, it may have a look of quality, but wobbling mount is a crappy mount, not to mention it is unnecessary bulky, maybe they stopped making it for a reason.
I made a mount exactly like this, it worked better than any mount you can buy, it held my lights rock sold. even after falls, i highly recommend it if function matters more than appearance.
