LIGHT HACK

It is hard to find the silver lining in things like a massive global recession. One benefit (much to Walmart and China's chagrin) is that many people are no longer buying cheap plastic crap. As a collective whole, we used to fork over the cash without even thinking about it. More and more now I see people inspecting the merchandise, seeing how it is made, asking if it will stand up to the test of time. A $3.00 flashlight may not be such a good deal after all. This new perspective shift can also be applied to items we already own.


After so many years of riding, I have collected a lot of bike parts and paraphernalia. Brake cables, shifters, bottle cages and lights. Lots of lights. Some are better than others and no two seem to be alike when it comes to batteries and mountings. I finally bunched them all together and threw them in a bag. The problem is when a perfectly good light is rendered useless when the cheap plastic clip breaks. If it still works, you can easily customize it and make it even better! There is nothing that can't be improved upon.


My little red blinky needed a second chance. The plastic clip already proved its self cheap and ineffective. So I looked to other materials. All that was required for this task were; eye screws, tiny nuts & bolts, alligator clips and super glue. The inside of the light housing has extra room for the screws to stick into. Just super glue the threads to the plastic to ensure a good solid grip and then bolt on your alligator clips.


The beauty of this design is the light can mount to anywhere! The shoulder strap of your bike bag, the bottom of your collar behind your neck, the bottom of your jacket (near the tailbone), rotate the clips to light up your broadside.

It behooves us all to take a second look at our old, broken or unused possessions and ask if a little D.I.Y. can perhaps remedy the situation. Who knows, you just might have fun doing it!