Seatstay rear lights?

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

MattDB

Über Member
I've been using several different lights over the winter on my MTB and now I'm going back to commuting on my road bike. I'd previously used a light attached to my seatpost but I'm now using an under-the-saddle toolkit which obscures this a bit. On my MTB I've been using lights with rubber straps on my seatstays but my road bike's stays are too thin and the light isn't secure.

I've looked at lots of lights but it's difficult to know which will work - any ideas? this must be an issue for lots of people?
 
  • Like
Reactions: mjr

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
I've padded a MTB seat stay clip out with offcuts of old bar tape successfully, but it's usually best to ask in an lbs or use the Q&A option of online retailers. Seat post fixings suck IMO: too easy for bags or coats to cover them and too hard to check the light's working. I prefer rack mount if I've got a rack on, stay mount if not.

All of my current lights are obsolete AFAIK!
 

Hugh Manatee

Veteran
I had this exact issue last year. My bike is steel and therefore has slimmer tubes. In the end I bodged three solutions. I fabricated a simple bracket for between the seat stays. Drilled holes and made a backing plate for the mudguard. Padded out the seat stay as described above.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mjr

Sharky

Guru
Location
Kent
Try drilling a few tiny holes through the back plate of the rear light, then use thin zip ties to tie it onto your tool kit bag.
 
Sounds silly, but handlebar extenders work well

Most are adaptable enough to suit the differing seatpost sizes, and puts the light below and behind the seat post bag
 
For the rubber straps.....

Try twisting the straps, this effectively shortens the length and they will fit thinner seatposts
 

DCLane

Found in the Yorkshire hills ...
I run a Smart Superflash rear light on each of the seatstays on my audax bike; they fit fine using the smaller bracket.
 

Spiderweb

Not So Special One
Location
North Yorkshire
I have the same problem with one of my bikes. I used a cateye light which came with a standard clamp which closes to quite a small diameter, it also came with a rubberised shim which rapped around the stay.
image.jpeg
 

Mr. Cow

Über Member
Location
Manchester
I use one of these on the offside seatstay:
fibre-flare-med.jpg

It comes with fairly heavy duty silicon straps for wrapping round the seatstay (or you can clip it onto a bag or something but not sure how that work)
It's not the brightest so I use it as a secondary light.
 
Last edited:

Gratz

New Member
Location
Washington
I successfully fitted a Cateye lamp to skinny seat stay on road bike (originally attached to seat post) using 'standed size clamp' padded out with a few wraps of inner tube. Ran bike all through winter - light never shifted. Hope this helps. 15217484840571775096486.jpg
 
Top Bottom