Accessory mount extender for curved bar: stem bolts vs double clamp

Question

I've recently got a Giant Revolt 0, 2020. Obviously, I need lights for it, so I bought the Spanninga Axendo 60 front light. That is where the story begins :)

Namely, it turned out, that the "straight" section of the bar isn't actually straight, but has a slight angle (like, it's not 180 degrees, but, say 200 degrees). Which means, that when I mount the light on the bar, it illuminates one side of the road, not the area in front of me - quite noticeably so.

My rough sketch below hopefully gives a better idea of what I'm trying to describe.

The problem got me thinking and googling, and I found out about the existence of extender mounts. These seem to solve my problem - almost. So here are my options as I see them:

1. Extenders mounted via double clamps (like this one). My concerns here:

• The angle of the bar will likely interfere with parallel mounting of the parallel clamps

2. Stem-bolt mounted extenders (like this one). Seems to be the better option for my situation: can be mounted as is, without bending stuff; also such a mount looks significantly more stable. Concerns here:

• will the bolts hold the light?
• there are very few of these around, unfortunately

It would be great to hear your opinions and recommendations! Thanks in advance

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------------------ UPD ------------------

Much as it hurts my pride to admit it, the light does have the necessary tilt adjustment. Thanks for all the comments nevertheless!

Answer 1

Most batery lights can be tilted a few degrees. The mount of your Spanninga light looks exactly as if it may be tilted as well. Check by removing the light, and look for a screw inside the bracket. If there is one in the centre, sligthly loosen it, tilt the light, and tighten again.

If the bracket cannot be tilted, consider to return the light. It appears you bought it most recently and might still return it. Then get one of the countless lights that can be adjusted properly. That will be cheaper, nicer, and more reliable than improvising a mount that fits.

I do not recommend to mount anything to stem bolts. That may work well, however, in the slim chance that it doesn't the consequence could be serious. I rather do not introduce another source of failure to fasteners of my bars and stem. If you need it at the stem, get a stem with a dedicated light mount. They are available in limited sizes and tend to be expensive premium products.

A utility bar clamped with two clamps will be even more difficult to mount as they would mount to angled bars.

Answer 2

Some of the Spanninga Axendo 60 lights (the e-bike versions) can be mounted on the fork crown. I'm not sure if it is possible to do so for battery operated lights and how easy it's to dismount/mount the light for battery charging if it's possible.

Most good bicycle front lights are fork crown mounted. The lower the mounting the better as it casts more distinct shadows for obstacles. However, mount the light too low (on a fork blade) and it's off-center and the front wheel casts a large shadow on one side of the light beam. So, the fork crown is the lowest good mounting option.

Of course, battery operated lights have other considerations such as the easiness of dismounting/mounting the light for battery charging.

Mount the light at the fork crown if possible! And also, if you cannot find a satisfying mounting solution for your current light, cut losses of your precious time and select some other light that does not suffer from the same mounting issues.

Also, the composite fork this particular bicycle has might lack the all-important bolt hole in the fork crown. My e-road-bike has only fender mount in the fork crown at the rear but no hole through the fork crown so a light cannot be mounted in the front (these stupid carbon fiber forks!). So, I'm stuck with a handlebar mounted light.

An option could be a handlebar swap. It's a large job and you need new handlebar tape plus the skills to re-tape the handlebar. Furthermore, if the tops of the old handlebar are tilted, it reduces the effective stem length, an effect you won't have with a new handlebar, so you might need a new shorter stem as well.