[OrRando] Ixon Headlight bracket failure

[Andrew P. Black]

Folks,

I've previously written here enthusiastically about the Busch &  =

M=FCller Ixon headlight, which I bought from Peter White last spring.    =

(http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/b&m.asp) I'm still enthusiastic  =

about the light, but less so about the special-purpose fork mount  =

bracket that I bought at the same time.

In case anyone else has bought this bracket, I'm appending a copy of  =

an email that I just sent to Peter White.  I think that it's self- =

explanatory.

	Andrew


> Dear Peter,
>
> You may remember that last April I bought an Ixon light from you,  =

> together with two fork crown brackets.  I subsequently returned one  =

> of the brackets, since it wouldn't fit my touring bike (which has  =

> caliper brakes).  I sent you photos of the other bracket mounted to  =

> the fork crown of my (disk brake equipped) commuter bike (which has  =

> 32mm tires and a carbon fiber cyclocross fork).
>
> I used the light commuting last spring and have been using it this  =

> fall and winter.  The light is very good in the dry, even on the  =

> unlighted parts of my commute.  It's inadequate in the wet, but  =

> that probably true of anything, including my car headlights.
>
> Tonight, about half way home, the bracket failed.  The metal  =

> reinforcement seems to show the characteristic signs of metal  =

> fatigue.  I thought that you would want to hear about this, but  =

> looking at your web page tonight, it seems that you already know  =

> about it.  In fact, since I bought my light, you have added an  =

> annotation saying that you don't advise use of this bracket with  =

> high pressure tires, because of the vibration.
>
> In many ways I was lucky.  I was commuting, and not riding a  =

> Brevet. I wasn't going very fast, the light did not get caught up  =

> in my wheels, and I had a Dinotte light on my helmet that enabled  =

> me to pick up the pieces and ride home.  Traffic was light.  No one  =

> was hurt.  The pieces of the light exploded all over the road, but  =

> most bounced into the other lane, which was empty.  I was able to  =

> retrieve all the bits.
>
> In other ways I was unlucky.  The light is busted, and one of my  =

> 2700 NiMH cells was run over by a car before I found it.  So, while  =

> I'm OK, I'm out not just a $5 bracket but also a $90 light and a  =

> set of cells.
>
> I suggest that you contact everyone who has purchased this bracket  =

> and tell them about the failures.  If I had known about them, I  =

> would have stopped using it.  I recommend the Terracycle accessory  =

> mount instead; because it's triangulated, it's a lot less troubled  =

> by vibration.
>
> I'm attaching a photograph of the failure.  I'm sorry that the  =

> focus is a bit off; this was the best of about 15 photos.  My auto- =

> focus camera didn't want to focus on the part of interest.
>
> 	Andrew
>
___________________________________________
Andrew P. Black
17788 NW Gilbert Lane
Portland, OR 97229, USA

Telephone 503 803 1669

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