Custom Titanium Headset Spacer With Headlight Mount Idea For Those With A similar Problem

[joejeweler]

I had almost completed my Dean Colonal Titanium City Bike Single Speed / Fixie build, but ran into a not so optimum mounting point for my headlight. When i found a very nice used Moots Ti Braced Riser MTB handlebar on ebay a awhile ago (sadly,....now discontinued), i found that the cross brace interfered with attaching my headlight. When the light was tried outside the cross braced area, it would not point straight ahead because of the swept back area of the bar. I was losing a substantial amount of coverage. After thinking it over awhile, i contacted Ti Cycles Fabrication, and they agreed to make me up a custom 30 mm tall 1-1/8" Ti Headset spacer, with a 2 inch length of 22.2 mm mtb handlebar stock welded on. (Eric is easy to work with This would allow me to position my light straight ahead, and looks really good to boot! I decided on the 30mm Ti headset spacer, even though i use a 55 mm spacer stack,.....so that i would have some ability to adjust the mount's height to work around cables and such. In my case i needed this spacer/light mount to be as high as possible for the thick light to clear my top tube, even with the pretty long headtube on this XL Dean Frame. This also leaves a few mm's on either side of the welds to not interfere with the spacer flat areas. This mounting headset spacer might also work well with some bike computers, and a double sided one could be made for those with more room needed to mount things. Had i not had a Ti bike, i could just have easily gone with an aluminum spacer and handlebar piece which i already had on hand, and had it tig welded by a local shop for probably less than $25 or so. But in this case i wanted to match up the Ti "theme". :embarrassed: Ti fabrication being what it is,..... i bit the bullet and told them what i wanted, and i received it today. (it's worth every penny!) One thing i really liked is the tight fit of the Ti Cycles headset spacer onto my full length (300 mm) Surly Steamroller fork's steerer tube. Only hand pressure needed but absolutely NO slop on my particular steerer tube. (i did use just a little anti-seize just in case for years down the line). My Dean Ti 50 mm short stem is tight on the steerer anyway, and i have to twist that on to get it started due to the springiness of Ti, so i have absolutely no worry the anti seize will cause any slipping. It came with no end cap,....but i have dozens sitting around as most do who have been biking awhile and i never asked so din't expect one. Because of the hole used to purge the air when welding, i wanted to keep any rain from getting in and reaching my steel steer tube. The cap will do that. Anyway,.....i've not seen anything like this out there,.....so thought i would post some pictures, as i'm sure i'm not the only one to run into this.

This is the max bar turn i can get with this particular light. The Night Rider Lumina 650 has a deep profile, but if i can find a reasonably priced steel road fork with a 15-20 mm longer steerer tube (which i'd prefer anyway due to right shoulder bone spur pain), then this light will totally clear the top tube. A thinner profile light would do the same. As it is now i never turn the bars that much in use on my routes, but in an "emergency" you never know

A very nice Ti Cycles contrasting logo on the end:

 

[bartsie]

Wow, nice and unusual!

There are easier solutions of course. There are lights (e.g. the Light & Motion Urban 300 that I have) that rotate on their mounts. Some people put the light the front rack - or when not using one, the braze-ons on the fork (at mid-height) become available.

 

[joejeweler]

Wow, nice and unusual! There are easier solutions of course. There are lights (e.g. the Light & Motion Urban 300 that I have) that rotate on their mounts. Some people put the light the front rack - or when not using one, the braze-ons on the fork (at mid-height) become available.

Unfortunately, the Surly Steamroller fork has no braze on screw mounting points to easily attach a front rack or light mount directly. Besides, my Night Rider Lumina 650 only had a round bar mount. (and i like the light output as it works well for my needs.* ) I have 2 other Surly forks (Long Haul Trucker Disc) that do have braze on points, but the forks are a little heavier and not as compliant a ride. I would agree a Ti mount such as this is a bit unusual (and nice! ,.....but i suspect we'll see a "Problem Solver" or other company's version in aluminum at some point. It won't work for those who like a slammed stem, but for most any bike having a little extra steerer tube and wanting a more comfortable riding position would be fine. Some folks have added a 2nd short stem and a 6-10" piece of straight handlebar material to get double sided extra light/computer mount points. But i think this is a bit cleaner look. * (That is, once i zip tied the light to it's mount! Some folks have lost this light because of that TINY nylon like tab holding it to the mount! My mount wouldn't even engage the locking slot in the light until i trimmed the mount locking tab a little. I made them aware of the problem, and they sent me a new mount,......but of the same style! -

 

[vspa]

watchout the saddle fore aft position, i think you are on the limit, you can surpass the rails safety limit but not by too much,

 

[joejeweler]

watchout the saddle fore aft position, i think you are on the limit, you can surpass the rails safety limit but not by too much,

?????? Not sure what you're saying here but if it's something about pedaling and knee clearance,......i have PLENTY of clearance on this frame. My knee doesn't come closer than 2" or so from the light mount when the bar is turned left.

 

[vspa]

 

[joejeweler]

OK,....so you're referring to my seat position in the 1st picture of this thread. While i do have my seat all the way forward, the Brooks B17 saddle i'm using has steel rails. (solid steel i think?) The Kent Eriksen seatpost is titanium, and i feel comfortable in the setup. I ride most times with most of my weight in the widest part of the saddle,...which is behind the connection to the seat post. It's not like this saddle has an exceptionally long nose and i'm riding on it all the time. I'm pretty easy on my bikes anyway. At age 57 and with bone spurs in my right shoulder necessitates that. I'm also not too heavy at 175 lbs or so currently (5'10"), so that probably helps. (and trying to drop to about 160 lbs eventually! I was 205 lbs almost 2 years ago)