Todays post comes from Edelstone, Certified Problem Solver and all-around thoughtful guy. Standard disclaimers apply.

"Nowadays there are a lot of great ways to mount a headlight on your bike. Recently I’ve been trying out one of these nifty QR Nut Light Mounts from Problem Solvers:

This accessory replaces the nutted side of a standard quick release skewer, thus placing the light beam at a significantly lower position than handlebar mounting allows. There are two primary advantages to the axle-level mounting position: 1) It frees up space on your handlebar for aesthetic or practical reasons, and 2) a lower beam resultsin a longer section of road lit up in front of you. This supports safer reaction times to approaching obstacles, especially at higher speeds. If you ride at an average speed of 12 mph - like I do - this might not be a huge benefit for you.

Conversely, there is a small disadvantage to axle-level mounting: high-powered light beams at this height tend to cast long shadows on benign road debris. This is not a significant problem, but because of this I tend to advocate mounting headlights midway between the handlebar and the wheel axle whenever possible. My first recommendation is always the fork crown (the section of the fork where the two fork blades meet). I consider this the sweet spot for beam pattern height, but it also has the added advantage of allowing for completely centered light mounting. Unfortunately most battery powered lights aren’t designed to mount here, and there are a slew of other reasons why mounting at the fork crown is impractical, or impossible. For example, my current bike project:

Although my Supernova E3 dynamo headlight came with a bracket specifically for fork crown mounting, my front rack is clearly going to interfere with that possibility. And in this case, handlebar mounting isn’t even a practical solution because items stacked up on the rack could obscure the beam. So what other fork-mounting options are there? If your fork is drilled for a front rack there are some good DIY solutions for creating a light mount at mid-fork. [Editor's note: If your bike has cantilever brake studs, Brake Stud Light Mounts might suit this purpose for you]. If these are not viable options for you, here is a solution that will work. I already had the Problem Solvers QR Nut Light Mount mentioned above, so that will be the first prerequisite. And if you’re like me, you probably have a few handlebar mounting brackets laying around, like this one:

This is a pretty ubiquitous Cat Eye Flextight bracket included with most of their lights these days, but I’m sure other mounts could be used as well. First, remove the little swivel section on top of the light mount with a phillips screwdriver; you won’t need it. Next, there is a little nut wedged behind the rubber shim on the inside of the mount. Slide that out.

This nut is threaded for an M4 bolt. For this project it needs to be tapped out to an M5. I don’t own a set of taps, so I had this done at the local hardware store where I picked up the last ingredient: a continuously threaded M5 x 0.8 bolt. If you don’t own a saw and a file, be sure to get this bolt cut down to about an inch while you’re at the hardware store. This is all the hardware you will need:

Reinstall the nut and hand-thread the bolt into the clamp until it bottoms out (you may need to ream out the plastic a bit where the bolt enters the clamp).

Now simply thread on the Problem Solvers QR Nut Mount until it stops.

Install the mounting bracket on the fork blade the same way you would on a handlebar and then mount your light. Here’s mine:

Be sure to comment below if you have any suggestions or alternative solutions. And have a good (night) ride!
- Edelstone