Auxiliary Rear Lighting

Even though my bike has been upgraded to a 12 volt electrical system, the rear taillight still does not put out enough light to make the bike stand out from other highway traffic on a busy night.  I've seen several vintage riders who have added a pair of red bullet lights under their solo seat and this really seems to make a difference after dark.  The original owner must have been worried about this as well, because there was a light bar mounted on the rear fender with six additional running lights.

Although it was kinda a cool vintage piece, I really didn't like the looks of it and pulled it off the first week I owned the bike.  Like everything else I've removed, I left it on the shelf just in case I needed it for parts.  Well it turns out that the small bullet lights on that light bar are just what I needed for mounting under my seat, so I unbolted a pair and broke them down.

Next I sized up some possible mounting points on the T-bar under the solo seat.  My goal was not to drill in new holes in the T-bar.

It looked like I might be able to remove the front bolt on the buddy spring bracket and just replace it with the mounting bolt for the light.  Off came the seat for a test fit.

The light fit OK, but there was no clearance for the bolt that attaches the seat to the T-bar.  Looks like I'll have to mount the light inboard of the buddy spring bracket.  I went ahead and attached the buddy spring to check for clearance.  Everything looks like it will fit this time.

Now I just need to cut a set of brackets to offset the light two inches from the buddy spring bracket