Attaching LED flashlight to helmet - The helmet with the CREE attached to it. Fire at will!

As summer is coming back to our region I decided to go back to night rides with my mountain bike. I simply like the way the road is rushing under the cone of light the torch is producing. It creates a totally different riding experience.

I am using a rather powerful (2000 candela), handlebar mounted, Dr.Rider KMC i-light LED flashlight (3xAA battery, a totally waterproof casing) .  Only recently I discovered that  they were  also bicycle chain manufacturers producing the lightest 9-Speed chain in the world!

So all is nice and good but at some point I noticed I need some extra light power while riding in the night: something I can control it’s lighting direction. I decided to get myself a powerful helmet LED flashlight so I googled some word combinations like “helmet LED flashlight” or “helmet LED torch” but could not find anything that fitted my needs. What ARE my needs, you ask, OK: I wanted something that was both 1) easy to mount, and 2) supplied a high light intensity.  In addition it also 3) must be a good value for money! What this actually means is a high quality product that is not too expensive .

Few months ago I heard about DealExtreme. The word went that they make free shipment, never mind the order amount, and that they have a money back guarantee. So I took my chances and searched for the flashlight of my dreams: small, lightweight and powerful (did I already mention this?). The Idea was to somehow mount this LED flashlight on my helmet to give me just that extra light power I needed. In the beginning I was considering theHA-III Cree SSC P7-C with a head mount. I had two reasons for that, the first that using a headlamp with straps around my head happen to give me headache and the second thing was the price. I mean sure – the HA-II Cree SSC P7-C has the light power to illuminate a medium size football stadium single handed (with its 900-Lumen maximum brightness) but the price is also a factor here so I went on looking. And what do you know, after a rather short time I got lucky and found theUniquefire S10 Cree flashlight . It only needs one AA battery, which makes it very light, it is powerful (220-Lumen) and very small (around 10cm/4inch). Last but not least it is also watertight (“…I’m singing in the rain…”).

I ordered the flashlight as it made a good impression on me and I found I didn’t even have to register to DealExtreme to order it – a valid credit card was enough!

I think the best way to demonstrate the end-product and how the flashlight is secured to the helmet using the elastic mount is a short video. So lean back and enjoy! If you are interested to know how exactly this is done, read further.

So after I finally received my CREE it was time to attach it to my helmet. Again I searched the Internet for some helmet mounts for flashlights but couldn’t find anything I liked. Some were too expensive, some looked crude or too big and in some I was not sure the might fit my helmet. So I thought I might as well improvise something on my own. Nothing better than a bit of handwork to sharpen the skills. I use the Uvex Boss Evo mountain bike helmet, which is the older brother of the Uvex xenova. I find it superb as it fits perfectly, has a comfortable lock for the chin strap and a rotating knob to tighten the helmet around your head. I bought a strap of sewing elastic band, 6cm/2.36inch and cut it into a smaller piece 33c/13inch in length then wrapped it around the flashlight and sewedVelcroto it. This will help grab the flashlight as tight as possible so it will not fall off the helmet while I was riding – no matter how wild that ride might be. On the other hand it allows you to quick-release the flashlight in case you are riding during the day time.

So you want to know how I did this? Just read further and look as the pictures I added.

First I collected all the stuff I needed for my helmet mounted LED torch. In total it cost me around $7 (not including the helmet!) and I had enough material leftovers to make another one.

Those are all the ingredients you will need in order to create a helmet mounted LED flashlight. In clock direction you see the helmet, Velcro strap 5cm wide (bottom right), sewing elastic band 6cm wide, the Uniquefire S10 CREE flashlight (lower left) and a 100% polyester sewing thread for extra strength.

After that I placed the flashlight wrapped in the elastic band inside the main venting opening of the helmet and marked with a pen the place I wanted to position the Velcro that held the flashlight in place.

Position the flashlight for measuring where you want to place the Velcro.

Then I simply marked the place with a pen

Here I marked the position of the flashlight in the elastic band so I know where to sew the Velcro.

Markings on the elastic strap and the Velcro strips I used.

Fixing the Velcro to the edge of the sewing elastic strap with a sewing pin so it will not move while I sew it to the band. Next to it you can also see the the polyester thread I used - it is very strong and made in Germany (by a company called www.gütermann.com).

After I finished sewing the Velcro to the edge of  the elastic strap I had to check that it really fits.

Check that the sewed Velcro fits to the length of the elastic strap and fix the Velcro on top of the place where the flashlight will be held.

Just to show you how the elastic band looked after I sewed the Velcro to it.

The two sewed Velcros. The one at the edge of the elastic strap and the other on top of where the flashligh will be held.

After that just checked that the length of the elastic strap and the positioning of the Velcro were correct.

Check that the elastic strap is in the right length and that the Velcro is positioned correctly.

Then I created the loop in the elastic strap that will tightly grab the flashlight in place.

I fixed with a sewing pin the loop that grabs the flashlight in place. That way it is much easier to sew the loop without anything moving

After sewing the loop in the elastic band I just pushed the flashlight through it. I had to make sure I sewed the loop tightly enough so it will grab the flashlight

Now I had to sew two more Velcro pieces to the elastic strip. The reason for that was attaching the other arm of the attaching elastic band to the other side of the flashlight.

And now comes a series of pictures that show in detail how the strap is meant to be attached to the helmet, so take a close look.

Step 1: Demonstrates how the LED flashlight should be attached to the helmet. There is another piece of Velcro attached to the elastic strip just under the piece of Velcro seen on the lower side of the image.

Step 2: Demonstrates how the LED flashlight should be attached to the helmet. Now the piece of Velcro attached to the elastic strip on the bottom of the elastic strip can be seen (mentioned in "Step 1").

Step 3: Now the other "arm" of the attaching elastic strip is attatched to the Velcro above the flashlight. This is the last stage. Take a look at "Step 4" for a better perspective of the image.

Step 4: Here you can see how both arms of the elastic band are "hugging" the LED flashlight. Those two loops with actually hold the helmet structure so the flashlight stays tightly attached to the helmet.

So how does this look attached to my helmet you ask? The final series of pictures will demonstrate that.

Attaching LED flashlight to helmet - put both strap arms through the main venting opening.

Attaching LED flashlight to helmet - put both strap arms through the main venting opening. Viewed from within the helmet.

Attaching LED flashlight to helmet - Wrap one arm of the elastic strap around one of the helmet's beam and push it through the side venting opening. Viewed from within the helmet.

Attaching LED flashlight to helmet - the strap is now run in the helmet's side ventilation opening.

Attaching LED flashlight to helmet - the strap is now attached to the Velcro mounted on the flashlight strap's loop. Take notice that another piece of Velcro is attached to the strap's arm from its other side. This can be seen in this image.

Attaching LED flashlight to helmet - The other strap's arm is run in the venting opening. Can be seen with its Velcro surface.

Attaching LED flashlight to helmet - The second arm is now attached to the Velcro on the flashlight's loop. I am done here, now only need to wait for darkness to fall!

Attaching LED flashlight to helmet - The helmet with the CREE attached to it. Fire at will!

Just to complete the picture I have here the measurements of the elastic strap.

The measurements of the elastic strap.

I hope you enjoyed this kind of review. I hope more reviews will follow!