Why stick with "normal" instead of getting a dynamo rear?
Can Somebody Please Explain Dynamo Lighting To Me?
- Thread starter cosmicbike
- Start date
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My worry is always the rears failing. Quite like the front light I noted as the handlebar switch has a status signal for the rear light too. It'll give me peace of mind.
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I've had battery rear lights fail (due to them shaking out of their bracket and onto the tarmac or shaking so that the battery contact is lost [*edit: not to mention batteries failing/depleting*]) but as yet my dynamo has remained in good order. There are plenty of people that let me know the standlight is working by reminding me that I haven't switched it off when I get off the bike 
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Supersuperleeds
Legendary Member
- Location
- Leicester
Rear light batteries seem to last forever plus I don't want to run a lead from the front to the back for a dynamo light
Supersuperleeds
Legendary Member
- Location
- Leicester
I normally have an additional light on the rucksack plus I have two rear lights on the commuter just in case one fails.
Pale Rider
Legendary Member
There's something in that.
The cable for my carrier mounted rear light runs in an armoured channel under the rear mudguard.
Neither carrier nor mudguard can be removed without mega-fiddly disconnecting.
Andy in Germany
Guru
- Location
- Freiburg im Breisgau
I came across that on a bike but just ran a new wire along the mudguard stays.
Pale Rider
Legendary Member
On my bike there's no mudguard stays, the mudguard is supported by frame bridges on the chain and seat stays, and it's bolted to the underside of the carrier.
Nicely integrated is good, but it can make repair or replacement much harder.
Ajax Bay
Guru
- Location
- East Devon
Include (secure) bayonet connector(s) where the wire crosses from the frame to the mudguard for easier/temporary mudguard/rear light removal.
The primary reason I haven't fitted a dynamo rear light is the faff of trying to organise the cable run to the rear. It's an internally cabled frame, and I think there is enough space through the ports to run the brake cable and light cable, but the cables come pre-cut in such a way that the joint would be somewhere in the downtube. So to fix that I'd have to do a custom cable run, trying to avoid issues around rattling cables, I'm fundamentally lazy especially when two blinky USB rear lights take an hour to charge and last a week each.
Heltor Chasca
Out-riding the Black Dog
I run the cable for my rear light along the brake cables then up the rear mudguard stay. Almost invisible.
My only concern would be in a crash due to the fragility of mudguards.
My only concern would be in a crash due to the fragility of mudguards.
That's what I'm thinking I'd need to do, but the issue would come when changing the brake lines. Although if I upgrade to hydraulic discs then I suppose that wouldn't be so much of an issue
OP
OP
- Location
- Egham
After mounting the front light I tested the setup on the way home from work at silly o'clock this morning. The front light is very bright with a decent focussed beam, and the standlight works very well front and rear. Actually quite surprised about how bright the rear light is too.
Downside, don't like the noise of the bottle dynamo, and I'm sure it adds a fair whack to the amount of effort I have to put in (unless I had Friday legs..). WIll continue with it this week, but likely to order a dynamo hub wheel ready for Winter.
Downside, don't like the noise of the bottle dynamo, and I'm sure it adds a fair whack to the amount of effort I have to put in (unless I had Friday legs..). WIll continue with it this week, but likely to order a dynamo hub wheel ready for Winter.
I run my rear light wire from the front lamp down the underside of the down tube, then along the nearside chainstay and up the mudguard stay from the dropout. The rear lamp is rack mounted and very close to the top of the mudguard stay.
Edit: Here's a couple of photos (imho, it's hardly noticeable) - there is a loop of excess at the rear lamp to facilitate any future fiddlings. I also have a small coil of wire (created by wrapping the wire around a pencil) at the head tube to allow unhindered turning/future fiddling.
Edit: Here's a couple of photos (imho, it's hardly noticeable) - there is a loop of excess at the rear lamp to facilitate any future fiddlings. I also have a small coil of wire (created by wrapping the wire around a pencil) at the head tube to allow unhindered turning/future fiddling.
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minininjarob
Active Member
I have an Exposure dynamo front hub with a B+M front light which has a handlebar control and USB charger - I can charge my phone during the day when the light isn't on. It's chuffing ace. I also have a B+M rear light which attaches to my rear rack which is also a brake light, it detects reduced current from the hub when you slow down to operate the brake light. It is weirdly good - it does only come on as a brake when you actually brake!
I have the cable wrapped around the rear disc brake hose then up the rack stay to the light. My brother took his a step further which his identical setup and used shrink wrap around the brake hoses which he threaded the cable through as well - very very neat and pretty much invisible wires.
I have the cable wrapped around the rear disc brake hose then up the rack stay to the light. My brother took his a step further which his identical setup and used shrink wrap around the brake hoses which he threaded the cable through as well - very very neat and pretty much invisible wires.
