I have been doing the coiled wire thing since the 70s when I used the Sanyo BB generator. Back then I drilled a hole in the BB lug and ran a single wire though the frame and exited through the screw hole for the Paramount head badge. I ran the other wire through the left chain chainstay and out the existing hole in the end of the chainstay and mounted the light on the dropout. I used a Phillips screwdriver to coil the wire. Nowadays I tend to just use zip ties. They are available in many colors, so I match the frame color if possible. If not, I sometimes go with a color to match the brake housings such as orange on a blue bike. I finally bought a high (medium?) quality crimper from Peter White a few years back, so I’m comfortable with changing wire lengths when I swap lights and frames. I crimp, sometimes solder and shrink wrap. I use dielectric grease on the push connectors. I bought some Dyna-Snap magnetic connectors for the forks that I am going to try out on the Bombadil. I was very surprised that my Guv’nor had provisions for internal routing on the right fork blade - including a rubber plug/grommet on the top of the fork. I put a genuine SA Dynohub with a 90 mm drum brake on it. I have yet to try adhesive or helicopter tape as others on here have done.
Laing Delray Beach FL On Sun, Mar 9, 2025 at 10:20 PM Ted Durant <teddur...@gmail.com> wrote: > On Friday, March 7, 2025 at 8:40:16 PM UTC-6 Matthew Williams wrote: > > What’s the best practice for cutting excess headlight and taillight wire? > How much extra “just in case” extra length should I leave? How have other > people handled excess wire? As always, your experience, advice, and wisdom > are welcomed and appreciated. > > > A lot of this depends on your tolerance for "messiness". I received some > criticism for my West Coast Sam because of the black zip ties on the olive > green paint (slightly different issue) but I don't get too bothered by it. > > Another important question - how handy are you with and equipped for > cutting wires and attaching fasteners? And, of course, how likely is it you > will want to move things to another bike, or change the setup of this bike? > > If you're handy and equipped, and you have the bike and setup nailed, > there's nothing as nice as perfect length wires run internally as much as > possible. If you have a taillight wire running to the headlight, a > beautifully made curl (wrapping the wire around a spoke) allows the wire to > stretch and shrink back as the fork rotates. A quick and easy alternative > can be to stuff the extra wire up the steerer tube from under the fork > crown, depending on what else is in there (brake bolt, fender daruma, ...). > On Great Lakes Sam, which uses coaxial wiring that's a bit more tricky for > attaching connectors, and because I want the whole setup to be removable, I > just wrap the excess around the headlight mount. It's not pretty, but it's > well hidden by the light and the handlebar bag. > > There was an occasion where I had to cut the wire for an Edelux and attach > a longer one to it. Not ideal, but it can be done. So, while it's often > better to leave some extra "just in case", it's not the end of the world if > you decide you need a longer wire. > > One great thing about coaxial wires is the connectors. Fiddly to attach, > but they give you additional flexibility. For example, on Great Lakes Sam > the hub is wired to the headlight via a connector, so I can change it so > the hub is wired to a USB adapter. I can then plug a power bank into the > headlight and still have lights while other stuff is charging off the dyno. > > Ted Durant > Milwaukee WI USA > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To view this discussion visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/c2fe2acd-077f-4b26-aefd-b04013122228n%40googlegroups.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/c2fe2acd-077f-4b26-aefd-b04013122228n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CADXkOiOQvqSYuGX_pkSopNi%2BunqgjnhavzOKTDCVtebaKG2aSg%40mail.gmail.com.
