Headlight location

Days have gotten shorter, and how should we pierce the inky blackness?  With a headlight of course, which the Firefly's designers helpfully included.  But the original location, so close to the ground was not ideal, and the battery above forced a near horizontal beam direction.  The shallow angle illuminated the ground in front poorly, and rudely shone up into people's faces.  For illumination and civility, it's better to place the light higher up and direct it downward.

Placing the Firefly's lamp higher, required disconnecting its HIGO connector and unscrewing from the mount.  Then I cut the cable halfway between connector and lamp, to splice in a few feet of extension (without crossing the wires).  Finally, I took an attachment clamp from an old bike reflector, to mount the lamp higher on the steerer tube.  Now the light is still weak and oddly blue, but it makes a useful bright spot, and shouldn't bother passersby.  The old light location is a good spot for a front reflector.

Tools and supplies needed:

• Old bike reflector
• Old USB cable for extension
• Wire cutter / stripper
• Soldering iron
• Heat shrink
• Electrical tape
• Phillips #2 screwdriver

September, 2020 update: At some point, I removed the stock headlight and have been relying on a handlebar-mounted Cateye AMPP800.  It is important to point the light downwards, to avoid blinding oncoming pedestrians.

Tire change

After 1000 km, the original tire (ETRTO size 47-203) was getting bald (not the only thing doing that), and it was time for a replacement.  The new tire is a Schwalbe "Big Apple", size 50-203.  The Schwalbe tire went onto the rim by hand and seems like a quality product.  The original was really tight and I used steel motorcycle tire levers to remove it.  Unfortunately I scratched the inner rim and didn't think of sanding down any sharpness before putting on the new tire.  Hopefully this doesn't cause a flat.

After loosening the outer wheel nuts, the axle had a 5 mm or so total gap between the inner wheel nuts and fork legs.  A pair of washers whose thickness matched the gap had been put on the outside of the fork, and the fork legs were being bent to close the gap.  Putting the washers on the inside allows the wheel to be mounted without bending the fork.

The V-brake needed adjustment to match the new wheel position.  Making this adjustment had the benefit of significantly reducing brake shudder.

PS: For reference, the inner fork spacing is 5.375" (137 mm).