More headlight talk- Vintage look

H

HoughMade

Guest
Plenty of ready made lights out there for a modern look, or even a period look for the 30s-60s.

But what do you do if you want something that looks like it is from the 1910-1919 era? Pay a lot or build your own. Here is what I am doing.

I just bought a railroad lantern on eBay (you railroaders, don't get freaky- it cost $15). The larger lens- the flat one on the side of the cylinder is about 4" and will be the headlight.

The hemispherical lens on the top (the first picture shows it upright) is about 3" and under that will house...the speedometer.

I originally was going to recess the speedo in the tank, but when I stumbled upon this light, it was perfect and the speedo will be almost straight above the front wheel- so no cable kinking. To make way for the speedo, I will have to mount a battery remotely hidden elsewhere, but I can handle that. A fair amount of work will be involved making this look like it was meant to be...but that will be fun.

I am going to remove the wire handle and reform the sheetmetal stand to mount to the springer fork or handbars (haven't decided how low to mount it). The octogon wire will be removed and the sheetmetal legs will be rotated to stick out the back of the cylinder (opposite the headlight) rather than the bottom or top as shown in the pics.

Will post pics when progress is made on the build.
 

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ebay has tons of old carbide bicycle lamps which might look good with updated leds installed.
 
Yep- that's a good idea. I thought about going that direction but I wanted a larger lens and got this lantern for a song.

I like the look of the old carbide lights. Some can get pricy, though. As it stands, I'll easily have a few hundred more in this thing than I planned- no compromises, though.
 
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