I have some pretty old eclectic bike, a particular favorite being an old Peugeot city bike I found at a local charity shop. It’s a 1980’s Mixte that’s in OK condition (it gets compliments unlike the rider) but it’s perfect for going shopping or like tonight popping down to the local tabac for a refresher. It can originally with built in lights (not a new trend but let’s say back then the integration was not as polished) driven by a bottle dynamo. Basically a 6V, 3 Watt bulb at the front and some dim red thing at the back. I think it would be best to state the front lamp is more so others “might” see you rather than lighting the road. I decided it couldn’t be that hard to convert it to a LED system which would surely give much more back for the euro at the same power. This is where 4 years of university study paid off thinking that just dropping a LED in an AC circuit wasn’t going to work and therefore some form of rectification would be needed to provide DC voltage. So I did my research and found multiple home projects involving soldering irons, biscuit boards and the such which seemed too much faff. Then I came across a company in the UK that sold a kit you could just wire into the front lamp housing and make life easier. Once ordered I did the normal “can’t wait til it arrives” and then took two weeks to bother to start installing it when it came. It was a but of a nightmare getting the shrink wrapped circuit in the bike but eventually voila, everything snapped togethar and the resulting front beam, whilst definitely brighter, means you “might” be able to see the road ahead. At very low speeds it flickers and stops the moment the bike does. I knew this would be the case but this might be the best argument for binning the dynamo and installing vintage looking lamps with LED and many more lumens. But was it is the pub bike I like the idea of not having to worry about charging etc. That was all about 3 years ago and it has worked fine since.

Then my wife punctured her Electra Dutch vintage crazy bike. With only a back pedal bike I am not the happiest with its safety but it’s not exactly built for speed and its a pretty colour with flowers painted on it so in her case both he bike and the rider get compliments. So over Christmas I swapped out the rear innertube (what a frickin’ pain, the bike did nothing to build my affections with having to remove so much stuff just to change a tube). As I was at it I decided to repair her lights even though it never gets ridden at night. Again a 6V bottle dynamo and once the busted wiring was repaired again I was left with that “dimmed” feeling at the light output. So another LED conversion to be done, but for the life of me I could not find the old kit I bought listed online. Trust me I spent some time in the tabac researching. Thirsty stuff this research. I did however come across this (click on the this word as I think the link colors aren’t too clear and I am too lazy to figure it all out) website with a guide to replacing bulbs directly with LED ones! WTF a drop in AC/DC LED replacement…. Too easy to be true…. I’ll let you read it but I order this said LEDS on Amazon – 10 to 10 Euros. And the result. One might actually have a reasonable light here. No it will never compete with a high lumens light but I am impressed and definitely worth the easy upgrade if you still have old dim, tungsten filament bulbs. See the video below (it isn’t stellar production, let’s say it does what it says on the tin.. brilliant!). I hope the build doesn’t die too quickly, perhaps it won’t, but at a euro a pop, no complaining.