Came up with a great solution for mounting a Cygolite on the strut of my Nitto M-18 front rack . It will also work for a Mark's Rack.
Note this this won't work on an M-12 or VO front rack with brazed/welded struts - it will only work on the racks that use separate rod struts and the Nitto 20184 Rack Nut and Bolt to attach the rod to the rack. Note that the M18 rack doesn't have M5 lugs, so there is no simple way to attach a light to the rack. While the Mark's rack does have M5 lugs, and you can attach a light mount directly to those, they're at the rear of the rack, and attaching on the strut lets you mount a light 6 inches forward. You need the spare Nitto 20184 assembly. http://www.rivbike.com/product-p/rh1-20184.htm <http://webmail.satx.rr.com/do/redirect?url=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.rivbike.com%252Fproduct-p%252Frh1-20184.htm> Slide the Nitto rack nut and bolt down the strut, face it out and you have an M6 mounting base for any of your strap-type light brackets. I'm sure others have been this far without the epiphany, because here you can use the Nitto nut and attach a bracket for your Edelux, et.al. lights. But I wanted a handlebar mount Cygolite on the strut. So I bought a Paul Gino light mount, re-drilled and tapped the M5 guide hole to the M6 thread, and used the tapped Gino mount in place of the nut. Also needs a lock washer, and I went with an M6 bellville spring washer. I used a fluteless (cold-forming) M6 tap on the Gino guide hole,because this forced me to open the hole from 5mm to 7/32", which took away the anodizing and gave me fresh metal. It should also produce harder threads than a chip-cutting tap. The tap was sold by McMaster as a hand-tap, and it worked great by hand (with lube - I did it right the first time) Here's the Nitto strut joint I took apart. (This joint has to come apart anyway, to gain access to the strut) <http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v728/bulldog1935/Raleigh/aaP1210001.jpg> the rod bolt loose on the strut <http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v728/bulldog1935/Raleigh/aaP1210003.jpg> Nitto clamp washer in place <http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v728/bulldog1935/Raleigh/aaP1210004.jpg> M6 bellville spring washer in place - the crown side goes toward the Gino <http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v728/bulldog1935/Raleigh/aaP1210005.jpg> (here is where you could attach the Herse or VO strap bracket for other style light mounts) and my tapped Gino mount completes the assembly <http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v728/bulldog1935/Raleigh/aaP1210006.jpg> hanging the light for vertical clearance fit <http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v728/bulldog1935/Raleigh/aaP1210008.jpg> After you have the position and alignment right, you should tighten the Gino with a pair of channel lock pliers (and maybe a chamois) to get some compression of the bellville spring washer - this makes for a shock- and vibration-proof joint. and an elegant solution <http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v728/bulldog1935/Raleigh/aaP1210010.jpg> I'm waiting on my replacement Nitto fitting to reassemble the top of the strut to the rack, but it will arrive today in a rivbike order. It doesn't show in my photos, but the light beam is a good inch and change above the tire and I have plenty of vertical clearance to reach the light button under a wide rando bag. On my M18 rack, I have the long struts attached to my front dropout M5 lugs, but this should also work fine with shorter struts attached to fork clamps or lugs. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rbw-owners-bunch/-/5o3DGSqD1nEJ. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
