Headlights, Junk Drawer Find

2door · May 14, 2015

We've been clearing out my inlaw's house and today I was going through some drawers in the garage. Under a bunch of old junk I found these two really cool old bicycle headlights. Both are chome, one made in Japan, the other in Hong Kong. They both have two lamps and a switch to select which one lights. One is battery powered with two 'D' cell batteries and the other one had about three foot of lamp cord connected to the internal switch. It must have had an external battery pack/holder.

I'm thinking they could both be modified to use some of the bright LED style lamps.

I don't really have a use for them right now but they're such cool old lights I had to bring them home and share them here.

Tom

bluegoatwoods · May 14, 2015

They are cool, aren't they?

You know......I insist on having a front basket on my bike. There's always the need to carry something fragile. A loaf of bread comes to mind. Other times it's perhaps handy to have a jacket in a convenient spot. Pretty convincing to me and I'll probably always go this way. This also means that I mount a 'light bar' up ahead of my basket and put modern, small lights on that. Fine.

But the look of those old chrome bicycle and motorcycle lights is just so good that I actually do find myself looking at the clumsy looking basket up front and wondering, "Maybe there's some way of doing without......."

Chaz · May 14, 2015

Great score Tom, I have a couple of those same kind of lights but have not gotten around to the retro fit. I just have one mounted up front and then strap a flashlight on the handlebar. And now that I've just discovered Cree lights, I plan to make it work with that somehow. For safety's sake I prefer to have a big light that stays on. When motorists see a small flashing light they are not expecting it to be bearing down on them at 30 mph.

Blue - Have you thought about rear panniers. Solidly mounted metal basket type, yet removeable. Gotta be something out there. I have a set of the old Buco rocket cases that may go on my bike at some point.

Chaz

Intrepid Wheelwoman · May 15, 2015

Oooooooo shiny. I like old retro lights much better than nasty modern plastic things. Nice find Tom.

silverbear · May 15, 2015

Well, you have lights. Now you need to start a new build so there's a bike to mount one on.
SB

2door · Jun 25, 2015

Update: I stopped into an Auto-Zone parts store yesterday for an air filter for the wife's car and they had these really cool little LED lights near the check-out. I tried one and it seemed bright and the girl behind the counter said they are REALLY bright at night. I bought one, just $4.00 and last night went into the back yard with the yard lights out and tried it. Darn! This thing lit up my back yard like I couldn't believe.

Today I looked at one of those old headlights and found the LED unit fit inside it perfectly. I removed the original reflector and swtch and the light was a press fit into the chrome housing. The irony is that the lens release button lines up perfectly with the on-off button on the light unit. Press the button, the light is on, press again and it's off.

So what do I mount it on? All my bikes have good headllights. Is it time to build another bike?

Tom

silverbear · Jun 25, 2015

Well, isn't that sweet! Yes, this means another cool bike wants to be born...
SB

fasteddy · Jun 26, 2015

I can hear the crowd chanting build, build.

Steve.

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Headlights, Junk Drawer Find

2door

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bluegoatwoods

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silverbear

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