Bicycle Safety: 3D Printed Flashlight Holder

[Ulma Doctor]

I recently felt the necessity to make myself do some things i really didn't wanna do.
having an endomorph type body, (6'2" x 250 lbs) has me with more weight to carry than i should.
i generally walk a lot in my job, but i know it is not enough to be considered any kind of real exercise
i ride motorcycles off-road for fun, but i find that being a weekend warrior takes a toll, when you are out of shape.
i made the decision to find a way to get into shape again.
i wanted also honed skills in balance on 2 wheels at slower speeds- in preparation for utilizing a trials bike i'm building from the ground up
in the mean time, i took up bicycling as a low impact way to shed a few pounds and get the heart pumping again
after a vigilant 15 minute search on OfferUp i came across a screaming deal on 3 mountain bikes (2- 26" 21 speed, 1 24" 21 speed)
i paid $115 for all 3 !
the bike that i was to take (black bicycle) was in the worst shape of the bunch.
it had been neglected outside- needed tires and tubes, brakes, detailer adjustments and wheel truing (cost was $65 to get tires and brakes)
the other 2 bicycles(purple and the blue) looked very near pristine
not too shabby 3 bicycles for under $200 (after repairs), i thought

some pictures of the bicycles...



my work schedule varies from day to day.
sometimes i need to drive long distances to do a couple hours work and drive back
sometimes i'm at the shop all day long and i get paid to play with my toys

Lately work has been able to be delegated to the crew, i get to work on different problems...
this has given my the opportunity to be home before dusk
sometimes i'll ride the bicycle around then

the other evening, i really didn't wanna get up and go ride the bicycle.
i know i can't listen to myself when it comes to these kinda things, i'll easily find a seemingly more important task to distract myself
i'm proud to say i didn't let myself off the hook, even though it was 11:30PM, and i could have easily said it's too late......

after having a good, but dark ride, i realized that other than a couple of reflectors i could easily not be seen by vehicular traffic
we have bike lanes meandering through the neighborhood, but you share the road with cars
normally folks are pretty good about driving through our part of town.

the other night when i got back home and was putting my bicycle away in the garage, a hot footer was driving too fast
what if i didn't bike sprint the last 700 yards, to make it home safe, and this bozo didn't see me ?????
i thought at that moment, that i probably need to add lighting to our bicycles to increase our visibility to traffic
i can't take idiots off the street, but i can let them know i'm there

i'm sure there's a whole bunch of lighting and light holding options, but i decided to custom make a prototype light holder instead
i had a 25mm diameter super bright led flashlight that takes 3 AAA batteries, perfect candidate!!!!
i took a few measurements of the bicycle gooseneck/handlebar junction and started modeling a 3D flashlight mount
i didn't want any hardware, and i didn't want sloppy fit or clumsy operation- not too much to ask??

here is the very first prototype bicyle gooseneck light holder
note the 5° down pitch to shine the beam at the pavement about 20ft in front of the bicycle

the SPLA printed very fuzzy on the first prototype on the Ender3 (230°C Extruder and 80°C bed)


unfortunately my hands are too heavy to work with plastic in thin sections.
i broke the first prototype trying to manhandle it into position
i made a few structural improvements and created a second 3D model,
this time on the Ender5 in PLA

the tolerances and fit were amazing!!!



Here is the light ready for the test run


the light mount performed flawlessly, no shake on either the flashlight or the gooseneck mount.
the bright beam is in the intended place on the road surface during the ride.
it stayed in place after jumping off a few curbs in a real attempt to make a failure occur
it works exactly as intended

i have another design for small watch battery led flashlights, soon to be tested!!!
Stay Tuned!!!

 

[savarin]

The biggest problem I can see Mike is its too high, the seats too narrow, the handlebars are too far forward and you cant lean back.

 

[C-Bag]

While head lites are very important, a tail lite is a necessity! Reflectors are not nearly enough. Be safe out there.

 

[C-Bag]

I've struggled my whole life with being able to stay in some kind of shape. Especially when work took up 98% of my waking hours. Even though it was physical and I was on my feet 10-14hrs a day it's not the same as a good hike or bike ride. I started having hi BP which I'd never had and found a Ice trike. That became my method of taking my packages to the PO. While only 4mi away there is no flat ground here and the route I took had a 180' height gain and round trip was almost 30 min. because of the hills. Perfect IMHO. And in two weeks my BP was back down to my normal I'd had all my life. Since then I've got a dog that HAS to be walked twice a day and that has become my 2hr a day reason to be outside. The most safe place to be in this pandemic. And I can't just say oh, I'm tired or whatever, she HAS to GO.

 

[mattthemuppet2]

very very neat all round Mike! We aren't getting any younger and biking is a great way to exercise. If you need any bike maintenance tips give me a shout, I can fix almost anything bike related.

Also agree with the tail light comments. This is one of the 3 tail lights I use (it's clipped to my camelbak):

https://www.amazon.com/Cygolite-Hotshot-Bike-Tail-Light/dp/B01IO12OLO/ref=sr_1_12?dchild=1&keywords=cygolite&qid=1616256666&refinements=p_85%3A2470955011&rps=1&sr=8-12

had it for 4 years and ridden ~25,000 miles with it without any issues. You can get brighter versions too. The "on-and-flashing" mode is a winner, especially if you only use one light. It's always on at a lower level (so motorists can judge how far away you are) and flashes to a brighter level (attention grabbing).

Here are two of my 3 front lights (other one is on my helmet). The black one I made a while back and the other I made 8 or 9 years ago.

 

[C-Bag]

My main criteria for stuff now is usb rechargeable. So I went with this 550 lumen lite and this little tail lite. The headlight is a flame thrower. I’ve had car folks complain about it during the day and I have it on the low setting. I had to heavily mod the mount for the headlight because they don’t make a mount for trikes. It’s been a while but I think I took two mounts and bodged them to make the one. Works good and is convenient.

 

[savarin]

Gee I miss riding the recumbents, dont miss riding the upwrongs though.
On a side note I always found car drivers gave you way more berth when on a bent than they do on a standard bike.
I think because they are so different their brains go WTF's that and they steer clear.

 

[C-Bag]

Gee I miss riding the recumbents, dont miss riding the upwrongs though.
On a side note I always found car drivers gave you way more berth when on a bent than they do on a standard bike.
I think because they are so different their brains go WTF's that and they steer clear.

I find the same thing true here. I see cars just about whacking upwrongs with their side mirrors while they bout run the other lane off the road giving me space. It is just so wonderful to go down the road with butt not hurting and my hands not asleep. I get bugs in my teeth though ’cause I’m smiling all the time....wish I would have had one of these when I was young.

 

[bill70j]

While head lites are very important, a tail lite is a necessity! Reflectors are not nearly enough. Be safe out there.

I agree. I have two blinkies, but one holds a video camera, which I finally got after many years of riding.

One of our deputy sheriffs convinced me to get the camera after an especially egregious display of motorist outrage against cyclists happened on one of our local, rural creek roads. The deputy hunted the guy down, but we didn't have the evidence to do anything about it.

 

[C-Bag]

Oh that sux Bill. That's great the sheriff was able to track the idiot down.

There have been several bikers killed locally. My SO always worries about me and I've got a camera now. I've just not riding for the last year as I'm too busy with work and walking the dog.