London-Edinburgh-London 2013: The thread

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Tynan

Veteran
Location
e4
long way to ride with added drag ...

good batteries will light a good light for a very long time these days, no that much darkness in the summer
 

Ashaman42

Über Member
True, but it would solve the faff of batteries for my commute too.

And I have heard that the drag isn't particularly noticeable.
 

Tynan

Veteran
Location
e4
faff? you serious? I've just recharged the two AAs in my decent 10led cateye after running in on flash for two hours a day for two months, still running decently then

I tried a fairly good bottle dynamo for a week or two and hated it, fitted by a good LBS and I had it checked by another, noticeable drag and noisey too

When I'm tired and struggling I want it all to be moving as smoothly as possible

it's around the house somewhere, along with a halogen front light, yours if you want, and I can find it
 
OP
OP
Arch

Arch

Married to Night Train
Location
Salford, UK
Tynan said:
I tried a fairly good bottle dynamo for a week or two and hated it, fitted by a good LBS and I had it checked by another, noticeable drag and noisey too


Hence I recommend a hub dynamo. Drag is really not noticable, and no noise.
 

Ashaman42

Über Member
Well it's not that much faff day to day but I've currently got 4 lights running, each with 2 batteries, combine that with rechargables that don't hold a charge anymore and cold weather sapping the batteries so that I only get a few commutes (hour and a half each way).

Admittedly the rear lights have lasted a goodly while it's the front ones that have been a pain especially on the unlit roads.

That's a kind offer on the dynamo but I was more thinking a hub system, for exactly the reasons you've mentioned.
 

Ian H

Ancient randonneur
I have a couple of Schmidt hub generator wheels and they're fine. Blindfolded and put on a bike I couldn't tell you whether it was running a Schmidt or not.*


*In the brief interval before I fell off.
 

Tynan

Veteran
Location
e4
Ashaman42 said:
Well it's not that much faff day to day but I've currently got 4 lights running, each with 2 batteries, combine that with rechargables that don't hold a charge anymore and cold weather sapping the batteries so that I only get a few commutes (hour and a half each way).

Admittedly the rear lights have lasted a goodly while it's the front ones that have been a pain especially on the unlit roads.

That's a kind offer on the dynamo but I was more thinking a hub system, for exactly the reasons you've mentioned.

this might sound bloody obvious but sort some new batteries and a decent charger, I've got a good front one with an Li On batery that plugs to mains, that runs on pulse for as they put it 'days' but even the spare blinky Solaris one goes for ages, your batteries sound shot to me

hub dynamo sounds different gravy but what output do you get from that?
 

MacB

Lover of things that come in 3's
Ian H said:
I have a couple of Schmidt hub generator wheels and they're fine. Blindfolded and put on a bike I couldn't tell you whether it was running a Schmidt or not.*


*In the brief interval before I fell off.

;):biggrin:
 

PalmerSperry

Well-Known Member
Location
Aberdeenshire
Arch said:
I'll be getting hub dynamo on my Galaxy too, eventually. And it would be nice on the trike too, esp if I'm going to be training on it! But I'm not sure of the logistics, what with a derailleur rear wheel and disk brake fronts...

+1 on the "hub dynamos are the way forwards" idea. My upright audaxer has a SON20R and, if I decide to use it for LEL, I'll fit one to the Giro26 too.

As for your trike, well there is a single-sided SON available these days and it requires disc brakes (rather than drums) which you've already got. OTOH, being a SON it's not exactly Shimano-price and whether it would work with the kingposts on a Trice of the vintage your's is I wouldn't know.
 
OP
OP
Arch

Arch

Married to Night Train
Location
Salford, UK
PalmerSperry said:
+1 on the "hub dynamos are the way forwards" idea. My upright audaxer has a SON20R and, if I decide to use it for LEL, I'll fit one to the Giro26 too.

As for your trike, well there is a single-sided SON available these days and it requires disc brakes (rather than drums) which you've already got. OTOH, being a SON it's not exactly Shimano-price and whether it would work with the kingposts on a Trice of the vintage your's is I wouldn't know.

Um, you're forgetting something. Something fluoro orange.:tongue:

Tynan - Bottle dynamo 6v 3W. Hub dynamo 6v 3W.

All in all, it IS more convenient. No matter how simple and well organised your battery regime is. And those batteries require power to charge, power you pay for, however little, with a dynamo power is 'free', since you're riding anyway.

I don't have dynamoes on all my bikes, yet, but I wouldn't be without it on the winter hack, the one bike that is likely to need lights every day. I do still have battery lights for the summer bikes, which are less often ridden in the dark.

(Actually, my backup front light on the winter hack is a wind up one, so no batteries in that either).
 

Fixedwheelnut

Senior Member
I'll be 50 as well and possibly mad enough for another go :smile:

2005 photos London Edinburgh London and write up.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fixedwheelnut/sets/72157602469146725/comments/


For lights I used a schmidt dyno hub with a back up light on the bars, you need a light that gives a decent throw of light to see the road as the decents of Yad Moss or the Moorfoot Hills in the dark can be quite dodgy with drops off the side.
 

arallsopp

Post of The Year 2009 winner
Location
Bromley, Kent
Have the SON hub dynamo on both my bikes, and (having ridden it through streams and across beaches) swear by it. With a 60lux Cyo up front, it beats back all but the deepest darkness, and regularly keeps up with the Hopes and beams of the FNRttC.

Actually on beams, it throws a very useful shape onto the floor ahead (ever present in the base of my flickbook vids), letting you catch potholes / animals / bedfellows well in advance.

Is it brighter than a very good MTB light with a fully charged bottle mount battery? No. But two hours later, it'll more than hold its own. 40 odd hours of unexpected night riding later, on unlit (and sometimes unmade) roads, without access to a power socket... Its starting to look very good indeed.

Flip side? Technically, I suppose it must add some drag, and it is notchy at very low speeds. There's a weight penalty too (minimised by its position in the centre of the wheel) but I should think it compares very favourably to a stack of AA batteries required to keep a similarly bright cateye alight.

IMHO, SONs are not comparable to bottle dynamos, and compare extremely favourably to other hub systems out there. I wouldn't be without mine. Its not that its always charged. Its that its always at full power.
 

Amanda P

Legendary Member
I hadn't seen a SON in the flesh until a year or so ago, when we had an East Yorkshire night ride. Velocidad had one, and demonstrated it. Plenty of light, and he spun the wheel with the light switched on and switched off: no difference in the length of time it ran on for. (With a bottle dynamo, a spun wheel wouldn't spin on at all, it'd stop pretty much straight away).

I was convinced.

I now have a Shimano 3W dynamo hub on two of my bikes and a SON on a third. I wouldn't consider using anything else for something like LEL.
 
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