With the days getting shorter and darker I needed to get the dynamo working again. I had mounted this on a simple bracket bolted to the front panier rack mounts. However the stronger forks for the electric motor don’t have these mounts, so something else was needed.

As an aside I am still a fan of dynamo lights. In the old days (pre Li-ion batteries and LED lights) a dynamo system was the only way to get a usable bike light. These days battery systems are brighter than dynamo lights. However there is a huge advantage in a lighting system that never requires charging, is always on the bike and thus is always available for use even if you didn’t think you would need it.

However, it must be said that on this bike a battery front light is a requirement at night as getting started on a three-seat tandem in pitch black is hard. Without a light you’ve got no real idea which way is up.

It isn’t perfectly finished, but it will be soon covered in road crud so it is good enough. The two slots on the back are to feed cables through – a bit neater than cable ties.

On the bike it looks like this:

Note the red insulation tape just visible – I put tape on the inside of the bracket to save the bike’s paint. I’m happy with the way the bracket looks and fits. Some day I need to tidy up the electric motor mount brackets to this standard.

It is sitting in front of the forks so that if something goes wrong it won’t dive into the wheel and jam the spokes. As with everything else on this bike, putting it at the front makes it much easier for the pilot (me) to switch it on and off without needing to get everyone else off the bike.