@poorpossum asks:
I'm teaching myself to wheel build, and green-lit to work on this endeavor on shop time, so it's time to buy a dynamo hub.
Q7. Who's rocking dynamos? What are you using? Lights, hubs, pictures, experiences, and any other accessories would be great to see!
If anyone needs specifics: 36h, quick release, and disc (ideally center lock). Oh, and vanity demands that it must be silver.
#BikeNiteQ #BikeNite #BikeTooter #Cycling #MastoBikes cc @bikenite
@ascentale @poorpossum @bikenite A7: I have a SON hub that had new bearings about the 50,000km mark and is probably due again soon. I hate the little 3mm blade/spade connectors so soldered 6mm ones onto the hub and that's been fine.
Busch and Muller lights work for me. But see earlier comment about a bare 5W cree LED bolted to a heat sink that worked for ~3 years. 500mA LED, 500mA dyno = it just worked.
@ascentale @poorpossum @bikenite A7: I'm not saying it's pretty, I'm saying that it works and it's worked for a long time.
@moz @ascentale @bikenite The connectors do seem to be the one thing folks dislike the most about the Son system... at least those of us who can cough up for a hub but not a bike with an SL fork...
I do really like the B+M IQ offerings and am strongly considering them.
@ascentale @poorpossum @bikenite #BikeNite A7. Sorry, no. I have zero use for dynamos. I use battery lights with replaceable and/or rechargeable cells, or lights that are integrated into my ebike's main power system.
I get why people like dynamos, but any power coming out of my legs needs to go to the road, not the lights.
@geomannie @gcvsa @ascentale @poorpossum @bikenite Modern hub dynamos are now pretty efficient which is why long distance cyclists (including competitive ones) use them for their other benefits, but only the priciest ones. The shutter precision ones are the poorest in this respect, but I’ve ridden them a long way. I used a Shimano one last time I raced ultra which was more efficient but eventually failed due to British weather. If I was more sensible I’d have bought a wheel with a Schmidt hub.
A lot of my riding I do with good rechargeable battery lights (the two bikes I mainly commute on have factory built wheels without dynohub) nonetheless but they aren’t cheap either. Exposure are great off road but aren’t good on-road (beam pattern) I just bought a Magene rechargeable headlight which is thus far fantastic and VERY bright with a great beam pattern so I don’t blind oncoming folks but can see the edges of the shared use path my commute starts on…
@geomannie @ascentale @poorpossum @bikenite I mean, sure, if I were planning on going around-the-world on a bicycle, to places where i might be without mains power for days or weeks at a time, then a dynamo is definitely worth the tradeoff.
But for someone like me, who physically cannot ride more than about 5 miles from home (terrain and injury), and will virtually always be carrying backup cells and/or powerbanks, plus an EDC flashlight, battery powered lights make much more sense.
@gcvsa @geomannie @ascentale @bikenite
Cycling is purely transport/commuter based for me, and this isn't a "hey, tell me why dynamos are a bad idea thread," it's a "I've decided on using a dynamo, help me narrow it down" thread.
So again. Thanks for taking the time. Clearly this question wasn't one that overlaps with your experience or expertise, and that's okay!
@ascentale @poorpossum @bikenite
A7: Dynamos on every bike. There is no way I am remembering to charge lights.
Mostly Shutter Precision hubs but my brompton has a SON on it.
As for the lights my camping bike has the Luxos U (with USB port) and I think my others have the eyq or similar tiny but mighty front lights. Rear light is whatever fit on the relevant bike's rear rack when I set it up
@gbargoud @ascentale @bikenite
"Dynamos on every bike" is why I find myself maybe pumping the brakes on going top-of-the-line for this build. I'm basically building out a fancy station wagon here, and it feels a little silly, but building a vanity cargo-bike *was* the silly vision for this bike. That being said, I'm hoping to finally cop an Atlantis this spring, and if any bike should have a fancy dynamo set up, it's that one... and I should set up my winter beater with a dynamo as well... Three bikes serving good, distinct purposes isn't too many to kit out, right? Right?
@poorpossum @ascentale @bikenite
I have 4 bikes:
* A fixie as a (former) daily driver because of the low maintenance
* A fancy gravel bike for when I want to do rides that go out of the city
* A brompton for travel
* A tern short haul cargo bike as my current main bike (no longer riding daily though) with the whole popemobile setup in the back so my daughter can be sheltered from rain and whatnot
@ascentale @poorpossum @bikenite A7. Another SON & Busch & Muller lights setup.
Expensive, but good classification. Just had my original wheel serviced, I'm not exactly sure how long it took to get crunchy, but it was a lot.
I always have some small battery lights too. Mostly cause it's hard to fix mechanicals in the dark. But, a bit of redundancy & high speed lumens boost never hurts.
@ascentale
A7: Busch Muller lights as well. I recently had a failure with the wiring but they are repairable (not too much skills required)
Dynamos have have SPs and Shimano. 20,000km on the Shimano and it's going strong.
New bike will have a SON
@poorpossum @bikenite
@ascentale @poorpossum @bikenite A7 Shutter Precision hubs are great until they fail (the bearings aren’t used serviceable) - bizarrely I also have an old bottle dynamo on one of my bikes which runs on the rim and is horribly noisy but works quite well and gets pedestrians out of the way LOL. Probably the Schmidt hubs are a good investment if you can afford it but I’ve never used one. Schmidt front lamps are good but so are b and m IQ (I have two iq-xs which is very good). The mu rear lamp from b and m is wonderful.
I’ve used dynamos for years including bottom bracket ones back in the day as well as some excellent battery lights.
@wlukewindsor @ascentale @poorpossum @bikenite
I got to the point of a "letter prior to action" with bike shop over shutter precision hubs. If you get a good one - then it is a much cheaper alternative to SON, but too many seem to have bearings/innards made of cheese.
@wlukewindsor @ascentale @bikenite I have been *very* tempted by Velological's modern take on the bottle dynamo for a while now when I was trying to avoid getting into wheel-building. I think I was dissuaded by another all-season New England commuter who said it became unreliable in wet conditions. I do think it's a very pretty piece of kit, and it makes a lot of sense to me!
I've never heard of a bottom bracket dynamo before, though, that sounds wild!
https://www.velogical-engineering.com/dynamo/product-information/?lang=en
VELOGICAL has made it into the top 10 in the category "Sport" at the GreenTec Awards 2017, the world's biggest environmental award! VELOGICAL's VELOSPEEDER is the world's lightest standard motor for bicycles. Engine weight 500 grams, environmentally friendly, 10x more energy efficient than a moped with combustion engine. Durable, long-lasting, powerful, foldable.
@wlukewindsor @ascentale @bikenite I do want to emphasize this was anecdotal with a sample size of one, and I never vetted their install, so who knows... but being able to disengage the dynamo when not in use is a compelling rebuttal to the drag-weenies.
@wlukewindsor @ascentale @poorpossum @bikenite
The only shutter precision hub that failed on me is the one I salvaged from a wheel after my pannier ripped a spoke out through the rim.
Turns out it wasn't actually still good after that and I should have tested it before building a new wheel around it.
@ascentale @poorpossum @bikenite
Son - German Engineering where you need it most on a bike (sorry conti!)
Bombproof. I have tried cheaper dynamos but the bearing and inner working just are not as good.
Silly price but so beautifully made
@ascentale @poorpossum @bikenite
A7. Another Schmidt SON28 and a Schmidt Edelux II here. Taillight is a Schmidt that fits perfectly with my Tubus rear rack. This was an upgrade I did myself. Bought the SON hub as a built wheel from Hunt and originally ran external wiring. Never a moment's trouble. Then decided to get a fork that allowed for internal wiring, and rebuilt the wheel with a DT Swiss rim.
I was a bit reticent about SON at first because there's no flashing mode (not legal in Germany), but I've read enough reports to understand that flashing is not necessarily the boon we all think it is. (Still kind of miss it, though.) I love that the Edelux has an auto mode, so I'm not putting watts into the lights when they're not needed.
The SON coax wiring is very good quality but it's difficult to strip the rubbery outer coating without just slicing right through the braided copper wire inside.
The dynamo hubs are available for QR or thruaxle in several colors, including silver.
@oheso @ascentale @poorpossum @bikenite
Lights during the day make you safer, so unless you're racing or otherwise concerned about a few watts it might be worth just leaving them on all the time.
I summarised the research here years ago:
@moz @ascentale @poorpossum @bikenite Yes, there are days I just set them to on from the outset and leave them there.
@ascentale @poorpossum @bikenite
And wheel building for the win. It's such a great thing to do
1. It's so zen - relaxing yet all consuming
2. The product is just soo good.
3. Much cheaper for much higher quality
@MatthewNewell @ascentale @bikenite I've been wanting to get into this for a while now, so I'm super excited. What do you use for nipple prep? The traditionalist in me wants to stick with boiled linseed oil, but I've been told that's a bit ridiculous these days...
@ascentale @poorpossum @bikenite
I have delux not 28 but difference with modern lights is very slight (delux is lighter and has lower resistance at lower speeds - but is slightly less powerful at those low speeds. With modern LEDs you will struggle to notice difference)
@MatthewNewell @ascentale @bikenite I have been hemming and hawwing 28 vs Delux for a while now. On the one hand, this is going to be a 20" wheel, which would indicate going Delux, but on the other it's for a cargo bike, so I'm likely not going to be moving fast enough to make the benefits of the Delux worthwhile. I'm more or less settled on the 28 at this point.
@ascentale @poorpossum @bikenite #BikeNite A7
Shimano and Sturmey-Archer drum-dynamo brake hubs.
Be very careful with all the connector-side nuts and washers, you can cut that tiny wire and that's bad.
What instructions are you using? Sheldon Brown is good, Roger Musson is a nice (not quite free) complement, includes recommendations on useful tools (e.g., use a grinder to convert a flat screwdriver into a spoke driver).
@dr2chase @ascentale @bikenite I'll likely be using a melange of Jim Langley and Park Tool's videos, and if I start needing to really refine things maybe dip into Sheldon Brown and Musson's book. I'm not super good at on-boarding more niche info until I have actually worked through the basics a bit.
@ascentale @poorpossum @bikenite A7
2 setups:
- purple SON hub and lights — got them for the colour and quality
- black Shutter Precision hub, Kasai Trail Beam front light, Busch + Müller rear light
I like them both. SP hub has more drag than SON, SON light is better for roads, while Kasai is better for trails. Everything but Kasai comes in silver.
Look into the hub service — I heard that SP requires a full wheel rebuild to replace bearings.
Do it, you won't regret this!
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