Bicycles don’t have a lot of ways to tell everyone on the road what you’re doing. Instructables user abikerider fixes part of that problem with a DIY brake lever light switch that informs drivers you’re slowing down.The nice thing about abikerider’s method is that it wires through your existing brake lever in a clean way. It’s not mounted on the handlebars or added awkwardly to the frame. Instead, you install a small push button onto the brake lever itself and then line the wire leading to the brake along your brake line. This way, when you pull the brake lever, the push button is engaged and the brake lights turns on. Take a look at the Instructables post for a full guide.
Add a brake light switch to a bicycle brake lever [Instructables]
Graeme
Friday, January 13, 2012 at 12:03 PMPeople don’t expect bicycles to have brake lights so I don’t think many people will realise what that light coming on is for. I would ask “what’s wrong with using the proper hand/arm signal?” but I bet even fewer people would know what it was.
Stove
Friday, January 13, 2012 at 1:09 PMBraking sharply is best done with both hands on the handlebars, especially in traffic.
monkeymind
Friday, January 13, 2012 at 1:16 PM“what’s wrong with using the proper hand/arm signal?”
Bikes have two brake levers, one for EACH hand.
StevoTheDevo
Friday, January 20, 2012 at 3:24 PMBraking hard with 2 brakes is significantly more efficient than braking with one hand whilst signalling with the other.
I’m thinking an even better hack would be to ruse the brake line as one conductor and the bike frame as the other (provided you don’t have a Carbon bike.
StevoTheDevo
Friday, January 20, 2012 at 3:26 PM^use not ruse