: The Tyranny of Home Made Lights

By: g | No Comments » |

Although it’s stating the bleeding obvious, home made light sets are one of the most crucial components of any night sled. In terms of their performance though, they remind me of the constant tension we enjoy with our own human digestive systems. Let’s face it, when things are working sweetly, we are rewarded with swift clean passage. And when things stuff up, we can almost reliably be left feeling cheated, browned off and angry for wasting so much ride time farting about fixing things.

I can’t tell you the number of times I have been out on the track and “someone” in the group has been left stranded in the Black Hole of Calcutta without a cracker of light shining from their handlebars. It seems that it doesn’t matter if you are using your Mk I, or a more advanced Mk V home made version, as there are a myriad of things that can suddenly make the bush turn blacker than a night in downtown Baghdad during a Gulf war bombing raid.

While I have been a staunchly religious devotee of Blutak, I have got to say that at times my use of that wonderfully sticky product as an integral part of my lighting system has left me reconsidering. The God of Blutak can be an unkind deity at times, particularly when the carefully applied blob that normally holds the halogen bulb in place decides to melt and ooze into a useless puddle. There’s nothing worse than leaping off your favourite water bar only to find the bulb pops like a cork on landing, rolling away into the shrubbery. Of course, upgrading to duct tape is one option if you are really after a poofteenth of an inch of performance advantage, but hey, there are more conventional hose clamps that can be used if you feel like complying with the laws of sensibility.

The wiring loom is also a decidedly simple thing that warrants a modicum of attention before each ride. I’d need more fingers and toes to count how many times that either the porcelain bulb connection, or the battery terminal leads have elected to part company from the electrical circuit, either as the result of rough terrain, trackside overgrowth – or just worked free because of vibration. Riding Linden Ridge one night recently gave me the taste of fear for precisely this reason. Launching off one of the biggest water bars at a speed intended for huge air with 40 watts onboard, I suddenly found myself mid flight in complete and utter darkness with absolutely no idea where the drop zone was. The lesson? Check those crimps!

Battery mounting can also end up being a win or lose thing too. While a lot of riders ideally prefer to mount the gel cell inside the frame triangle (in a modified bidon carrier), on some frames this is an impossibility. On one of my older duallies, I needed to carry the battery on a seat post rack, which put the weight up high and had an adverse effect on bike balance. Metal fatigue caused one of the racks to snap off on the Oaks trail one night, swinging by the wiring loom into my leg before tearing off at 60kph… and again plunging me into darkness. So if you are carrying a 7-amp hour battery on a rack, make sure you buy a good quality rack with an appropriate load carrying capacity – or alternately carry an extra length of wiring loom so you can stow the battery in your hydration pack if needed.

Switches? Yeah, they sound like a good idea, but the more connections, the more potential for problems. There’s nothing worse than knowing that you “could” have ridden with lights, if only you had bought waterproof switches before those misty winter night rides; or remembered to actually turn them “on”, if you are the type of person who enjoys too much singletrack sherbet! And of course, the more sophisticated your electrical components are, the more chance for you to be standing trackside with a Mag Lite in your mouth, trying to sort out why the voltage regulation on your Light Brain doesn’t seem to be working as you cycle the switch through its settings.

It ain’t all bad news though. The joys of night riding can be splendid. Just keep your expectations to a minimum and occasionally… just “occasionally”, you might be rewarded with a powerhouse all-seeing, all-conquering blatt through the bush. The more light you can shine on the subject, the broader the smile on your face.

Hodgie

 

Tags:bikes,cycling,lights,Singletrack


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