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I went for option 3, attached to a rack mount, on my recent Surly Trucker rebuild.
Reasons:
- not going to have a rack this time, not permanently anyway, so rack mount not an option
- bought the Fairlight mount, looked at it before finalising the wiring and decided it was much too vulnerable to damage down there as well as being not great for visibility
- just to add another point, the Schmidt website says not to mount their rear light vertically, and having played around with it can confirm that it’s a wide flat beam when correctly orientated. Probably annoying for following riders if vertical.
- didn’t want the dynamo wire on the top tube so ran it alongside the rear brake hose, intermittently heat-shrunk together.
So I elected to run the wire up the back of the seat tube. Because I won’t always have mudguards on this bike, I wanted to be sure the wire wouldn’t be vulnerable to damage from small stones etc so I used 3M adhesive cable clips and ran the wire inside some 3mm internal diameter plastic hose. Thought about the helicopter tape option instead but preferred that method.
I also have two Supernova gold connectors near the light at 3 in case I change my mind about the rack - I can easily add a short length of coax thus avoiding undoing the existing wire routing.
The bike is 1x11 so admittedly the lack of front mech makes it easier to get it tidy going up the seat tube.
I used another small bracket to allow me to make use of the piss-takingly expensive Fairlight mount. It’s a good location that will work fine under my seat pack (not shown).
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- not going to have a rack this time, not permanently anyway, so rack mount not an option
Sergeant_Pluck
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Thanks for your reply, it was super helpful. I had those exact questions about the Fairlight mount and the Son rear light beam pattern.
I saw the framebuilders yesterday, and ended up sticking with the mudguard solution after talking with them. On their own bikes, they tend to mount it at the dropout, for the same reasons as Fairlight, i.e. it's compatible with all configurations. However, they tend to use Supernova rear lights - whose beam pattern is apparently better for vertical mounting -. As I have an Edelux at the front, using a Supernova for the rear light would mean loosing the standlight function, which I'm not keen to do.
I also hadn't realised how big an area brazing damages : adding braze-ons or holes to have some sort of clean routing towards position n°3 would have meant repainting the whole seattube.
@Five-Hats : I'm going to use a Son coaxial connector between the BB and the mudguard, to make mudguard removal easy. I assume that's what you meant?
@Julien1A : I've heard of that, but I'm not sure it changes much : Son coax is a single "wire".
Veblen
In your opinion, what is the best place to mount a rear dynamo light?
I'm going to see a framebuilder this Saturday to make some modifications on my rear triangle. They will modify the fender mounting points and add rack mounts.
I believe I should seize the opportunity to figure out where to mount my future rear dyno light, as well as the cabling. I plan on using a Son rear light.
I'm torn between several options. I'd like to avoid mounting it anywhere on the seatpost, as I might be using some sort of saddlebag from time to time. I'm thus left with :
1°) Mounting it on the dropout, Fairlight-style. I live in France, so it would be on the NDS dropout.
Pros : Barely any modification needed, I can run the wire along the brake hose.
Cons : The light would sit very low to the ground, so I'm afraid I won't be visible to cars.
2°) Mounting it on the hidden mudguard mount inside my seatstay (see picture below).
Pros : Slightly higher than option 1°), less exposed.
Cons : Slightly uglier cabling than 1°).
3°) Having a mounting point added high up on the NDS seatstay.
Pros : The most visible out of the 3.
Cons : Can't figure out any kind of cable routing that wouldn't look bodgy as hell. This would be solved with fully internal routing, but I'm hesitant to do that as I'm not having the bike repainted.
If I wasn't so afraid about visibility, option 1°) would be a no-brainer. What do you think?