En-Light-ening, behind the scenes

Other recent purchases worthy of note for commuter-types: I was toying around in the Quality Bicycle Products online catalog the other day and happened upon the Portland Design Works Fenderbot taillight. Some claim the PDW 'bot series to be far superior to my old standby the Planet Bike SuperFlash rear lights, and I'm sure they have reason to think so. I still like the SuperFlash, and have at least ten of them in service on various bikes and trailers. I also have some of the Radbot lights--two on my Globe, one on Jenn's Globe, and one on my Bacchetta Strada (at the moment--it was on Jenn's Globe until we added her seat bag containing her spare tube and other essentials). The bag on Jenn's bike takes up enough room that a second taillight would not fit on her seat post.

I'm a fan of having two taillights--typically over/under, typically one on flash/one on steady (unless in a group of cyclists, in which case I'll go to one on steady and avoid causing problems with a flasher). The idea is that the flashing light gets the attention of other road users coming at me from behind, and the steady one makes it easier for them to get a distance fix on me. If one goes dark from battery failure as I ride, hopefully the other will remain alive.

The Fenderbot appealed to me as a possible fix to have more taillight on Jenn's bike, then. I got a couple of them, figuring on adding one to my Raleigh as well.

The Fenderbot requires that one drill two holes in the fender--one for the attaching bolt/nut, the other for the anti-rotation pin. PDW thoughtfully provided a drill template disguised as part of the (recyclable) packaging, to enable one to get the holes in the right place relative to each other. Installation would likely require removal of the rear wheel, due to the nature of most fenders and close clearances. The light looks like it would work on formed fenders like the Planet Bike stuff or steamed board fenders (i.e. bamboo fenders). It has a different lens than the Radbot, but the LED looks about as bright. This is the PDW image of the light:

...and the Fenderbot on my Raleigh--note also the Ergon pedals:

I've been thinking about what to do with the headlight set I've removed from my Globe, now that it has a dyno light. I toyed with the thought of mounting it on a helmet--the better to roast the retinas of motorists who wrong me on the road at night, or dissuade them from pulling out in front of me from a driveway or side street. I then remembered that Jenn rode home from this most recent New Rider Clinic using the headlight on MY bike--her headlight is on her Vanguard, not on her Globe. As mentioned, her front cargo platform makes headlight mounting a challenge--handlebar-mounted headlights get blocked if she puts a typical bag-load of work stuff on the platform. A little tinkering with the helmet bracket I got for the CygoLite led me to this solution, attaching the helmet mount to her deck with zip ties:

She'll be able to see where she's going at night, now. Even if she has a lot of stuff on her cargo deck.