Rear dynamo lighting

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yashicamat

New Member
I've decided I'm going to go hub dynamo on my touring bike (the investment makes sense as the touring bike is a long term investment anyway). I've decided on a B&M Cyo IQ for the front light (60 lux . . . a meaningless figure compared to the 480 lumen hope vision 2 I normally use, although I obviously don't expect it to be anything even close to that output of that light), but the rear lights are a little harder to choose between.

To put you in the picture, my normal rear lights are a Smart 0.5W and a Mars 4.0. Given that the tailights consume 0.6W, would it be fair to assume that the likes of the B&M DToplight XS (and all the variations on the theme that seem very similar!) are comparable to the Smart? If anything, I consider the rear light brightness as important, if not more so, than the front light, but while it will undoubtedly be backed up by a battery light of some sort, I would still like to pick the best of the dynamo bunch.

Cheers for any advice.:smile:
 

andrew_s

Legendary Member
Location
Gloucester
Most dynamo tail lights are designed to go on the back of a rack eg this or these, or on a mudguard like this.
In terms of brightness, they are like a good normal LED with fresh batteries - not as bright as the Mars or Smart 0.5. They will probably consume less than 0.6W - that's the figure for standard bulb dynamo lights.
Probably the brightest rear dynamo light is the Supernova, but that requires the use of the expensive Supernova front light to power it.

The Cyo may well put as much light on the road as the Hope. What it won't do is light up the same area.I use the mudguard light with a Smart and a Cateye AU100 on the rack, not necessarily all turned on, and an Edelux at the front (and Magicshine for a main beam sometimes).
 

MacB

Lover of things that come in 3's
I recently put together a new bike and went dynamo all round, so far so good, went with a cheapish Alfine dynamo wheel from here:-

http://www.cyclesportsuk.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=8110

got it for £90 but still early days, only done about 300 miles on it, no problems so far.

For lights I went with the IQ Cyo Senso Plus front, model No 175QCSNDi and B&M 4D Toplight Senso Multi rear - about £90 from Bike24 in Germany

The jury's still out on rear dynamo lighting, it's fine and works well but the wiring is a bit of a faff and a little vulnerable. I chose that model of rear light because it also takes batteries. Overall I'm loving the fact that I take the bike out and have lights just there, I also have battery front and rears as backups. The IQ Cyo is one of the 60 lux models which gives a bit more longer range light at the expense of close in lighting. I've found this fine and am glad I went for this model, my only comparison is my Fenix torch. Both the Fenix or the Cyo allow me to ride as fast as I want(can) on unlit country roads but I prefer the beam from the Cyo. Any serious night rides I'm likely to have the Cyo, the Fenix and another LED battery light upfront, anyway.

I haven't noticed any additional resistance from the dynamo wheel, but this is on a bike with rack, guards and M+ 700x35 tyres, overall package coming in at about 35lbs, I'm unlikely to notice a piddling bit of resistance when pushing that lot along. I've ridden a few times with lights on in daylight and didn't notice, now got it switched to senso mode :blush:

If I was changing anything it might be the senso bit, I might not bother with that again.
 

Davidc

Guru
Location
Somerset UK
Without knowing the area illuminated it's impossible to compare lights quoted in Lux and Lumens, but doing a subjective visual comparison of my CYO 60 and a Hope Vision 1 four people (out of four) put the CYO 60 as the same as the Hope on its level 3. The Hope Vision 2 is a very different beast and has much more power available.

For rear dynamo lighting I have a B&M D Toplight + on the tourer and a Smart type, designed for mudguard mounting, on the back. Both are good lights but less bright than the Smart AAA battery ones I also carry. (MacB's light is a more recent one).

If you like to have flashing rear lights you'll have to have a battery one as well as the dynamo light, as the German regulations the dynamo ones are nearly all built to completely ban flashing lights. I like to have the extra reliability from diversity between dynamo and battery lights, especially at the back where I can't see them when I'm riding.
 
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