Dynamos (again)

I know this has come up a few times recently....but I also know you
all love offering advice and my requirements are perhaps slightly non-
standard so I hope you don't mind me asking again...

It seems that one of my Lumicycle batteries has died. That makes now a
good time to consider switching to a dynamo system. Our current system
is the standard (slightly dated) Lumicycle system of overvolted 10W
front halogen with their LED rear light. I like having that much light
for urban commuting with some completely unlit roads, but the beam
pattern is actually not that great and I hope that a modern dynamo
system could match it (and quite possibly outperform it). I would also
happily lose the minor hassle of remembering to charge things and
switch batteries, not to mention the embarrassment of occasions like
tonight when we had to ride home unlit. So I'm looking for a good,
reliable, bright dynamo-powered front and rear light system and ask
the panel's advice.

I assume that a front hub dynamo is the way to go, which is a bit of a
shame as my current front wheel seems indestructable. It also has to
be reliable enough to last several years of daily riding (and outside
storage) in all weather. Fortunately with the yen the way it is, the
budget isn't really an issue, but for this application I'd rather
have something that is proven reliable than the latest bleeding edge
technology.

Oh, I nearly forgot to mention, this is for a tandem, where the front
wheel comes in for a bit more strain than most single bikes.

James

In ,
tweaked the Babbage-Engine to
tell us:


[Light stuffs]

Informed opinion suggests that the current top-end Shimano hubs are on a par
with a SON as far as efficiency goes as well as being a fair bit cheaper.
Whether they have the same Teutonic air of indestructability is still
something of an unknown, and I don't know about tandem use either. But I've
seen a fair few SON-equipped tandems.

As to what to plug into it, have a shufti at;

http://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=11751.0

The Solidlights 1203D used to be the Weapon of Choice for discerning
Audaxers, but now seems to be outgunned by some of the competition. There
will shortly be a New! IMPROVED!! 1203D, thobut, and existing users can get
their old ones upgraded, or else take the DIY route:

http://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=12263.0

at rather less cost.

--
Dave Larrington
http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk
("Interesting and informative" - Ed).

wrote:

I assume that a front hub dynamo is the way to go, which is a bit of a
shame as my current front wheel seems indestructable. It also has to
be reliable enough to last several years of daily riding (and outside
storage) in all weather. Fortunately with the yen the way it is, the
budget isn't really an issue, but for this application I'd rather
have something that is proven reliable than the latest bleeding edge
technology.

Oh, I nearly forgot to mention, this is for a tandem, where the front
wheel comes in for a bit more strain than most single bikes.

Well, they don't come with a better reputation than the SON, and it's
available with up to 48 spoke according to just how bomb-proof you want
the wheel. Disc-compatible is an option if you want that.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

wrote in message
...

I assume that a front hub dynamo is the way to go, which is a bit of a
shame as my current front wheel seems indestructable. It also has to
be reliable enough to last several years of daily riding (and outside
storage) in all weather. Fortunately with the yen the way it is, the
budget isn't really an issue, but for this application I'd rather
have something that is proven reliable than the latest bleeding edge
technology.

Hub - SON is the posh one, Shimano work about as well. SON bearings are
sealed, and replacable in Germany for a fee. Shimano are their normal ones.
SON looks nicer :-)

Lamp - IQ Fly, IQ Cyo, Schmidt Edelux. I'd probably get an IQ Cyo now (in
fact I've just bought one :-) ). Not had a chance to compare it to the Fly
out on the road - the Fly does a pretty good job though.

The B+M ones need a rear lamp if run off a 3W hub. My IQ Fly has now done a
year with my LED one in series though.

On 2009-01-07, Clive George wrote:
wrote in message
...

I assume that a front hub dynamo is the way to go, which is a bit of a
shame as my current front wheel seems indestructable. It also has to
be reliable enough to last several years of daily riding (and outside
storage) in all weather. Fortunately with the yen the way it is, the
budget isn't really an issue, but for this application I'd rather
have something that is proven reliable than the latest bleeding edge
technology.

Hub - SON is the posh one, Shimano work about as well. SON bearings are
sealed, and replacable in Germany for a fee. Shimano are their normal ones.
SON looks nicer :-)

I have heard - although I have no personal experience - that the bearings
on the Shimano hubs are a bit of a PITA to service. Although the possibility
of doing it yourself at least does exist. (My DH-3N80 has a couple of
kilomiles on it and not a hint of play in the bearings).

Lamp - IQ Fly, IQ Cyo, Schmidt Edelux. I'd probably get an IQ Cyo now (in
fact I've just bought one :-) ). Not had a chance to compare it to the Fly
out on the road - the Fly does a pretty good job though.

The B+M ones need a rear lamp if run off a 3W hub. My IQ Fly has now done a
year with my LED one in series though.

I'm not sure these newer LED lights strictly need a rear light. ISTR reading
something at least semi-official from AMBA (UK B&M distributors) to this
effect but cannot turn it up at the moment.

cheers,

Finlay

In article , Dave Larrington wrote:

The Solidlights 1203D used to be the Weapon of Choice for discerning
Audaxers, but now seems to be outgunned by some of the competition. There
will shortly be a New! IMPROVED!! 1203D, thobut, and existing users can get
their old ones upgraded, or else take the DIY route:
http://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=12263.0
at rather less cost.

Just as I'd decided an IQ Cyo was the way to go. But before I'd actually
ordered one - hurrah for procrastination.

Any idea how much a new (non-upgrade) XB2 will cost? (I assume somewhere
between a 1203D and a 1203D+upgrade, but that's quite a range.)

The Solidlights shop page says "Complete XB2 lights will be available at
the start of 2009", but only lists the 1203D and the upgrade at the moment.

On 7 Jan, 21:27, Finlay Mackay fmackayatclaradotcodotyookay wrote:

I have heard - although I have no personal experience - that the bearings
on the Shimano hubs are a bit of a PITA to service. Although the possibility
of doing it yourself at least does exist. (My DH-3N80 has a couple of
kilomiles on it and not a hint of play in the bearings).

Pictures of someone going through PITA at

http://trinitybicycles.com/shimanodynohuboverhaul.php

People used to make remarks that Shimano never put enough grease into
their hubs......

On Wed, 07 Jan 2009 21:27:05 +0000, Finlay Mackay
fmackayatclaradotcodotyookay wrote:

On 2009-01-07, Clive George wrote:

Lamp - IQ Fly, IQ Cyo, Schmidt Edelux. I'd probably get an IQ Cyo now (in
fact I've just bought one :-) ). Not had a chance to compare it to the Fly
out on the road - the Fly does a pretty good job though.

The B+M ones need a rear lamp if run off a 3W hub. My IQ Fly has now done a
year with my LED one in series though.

I'm not sure these newer LED lights strictly need a rear light. ISTR reading
something at least semi-official from AMBA (UK B&M distributors) to this
effect but cannot turn it up at the moment.

I'm running an IQ Fly from of Shimano hub dynamo. Back light is
battery powered LED. No problems so far, after about 9 months
operation.
--
Tim

Quoting :
Oh, I nearly forgot to mention, this is for a tandem, where the front
wheel comes in for a bit more strain than most single bikes.

We've got a 36 spoke cross-3 wheel on a SON on the front of the tandem,
albeit that the rim is a Sun Rhyno, and it's done a lot of miles and
broken one spoke; at least one stoker I ride with regularly weighs about
100kg. That said the SON does come in 48h and if I were starting from
scratch... might as well have the extra spokes.

For a rear light it is hard to do better than the trusty B&M Seculite
Plus, assuming you don't mind taping six miles of speaker cable to your
tandem.

Front lights keep changing; in ascending order of cost and brightness, the
B&M IQ Fly, IQ Cyo and Schmidt Edelux look good. But I don't have personal
experience here, since I'm quite happy with my E6s and Oval Plusses until
they actually wear out.
--
David Damerell flcl?
Today is First Olethros, January - a weekend.

In article , Alan Braggins wrote:
In article , Dave Larrington wrote:

The Solidlights 1203D used to be the Weapon of Choice for discerning
Audaxers, but now seems to be outgunned by some of the competition. There
will shortly be a New! IMPROVED!! 1203D

Just as I'd decided an IQ Cyo was the way to go. But before I'd actually
ordered one - hurrah for procrastination.

In fact I'd decided more than one IQ Cyo was the way to go, so I have
now got round to ordering the one planned for my wife's bike for use with
my existing dynamo hub wheel. Existing D'Lumotec with no switch moves to
hybrid with bottle dynamo, and I can continue procrastination and dithering
about what to use on bikes that don't have dynamos yet (and have ordered
some more brackets for Trelock 735 in the meantime, since I have two of
them but only one unbroken bracket).