Centerlock is a better standard, much easier to work with. Took me under 5 mins to take off my cassette, disc and fit a new spoke, and put them back on again.
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SkipdiverJohn
Deplorable Brexiteer
- Location
- London
What's wrong with a tyre wall dynamo? They aren't expensive and they don't cause any drag when not actually in use. I had one on my old 5 speed Raleigh and I've still got one on my 3 speed. The headlight is plenty bright enough to see where you are going if you are doing a reasonable speed.
They are much more inefficient, so have more drag, plus unless you have special tyres, they wear through the sidewall. Add to that you need a specific mounting bracket for the dynamo, which most modern bikes don't have. A dynamo hub is unequivocally the better option.
OP
OP
toffee
Guru
Maybe but I want comparability between front and back, but I am not going to replace the rear hub just to do that.
SkipdiverJohn
Deplorable Brexiteer
- Location
- London
Yes, they do drag more when in use, but I reckon only about 10% of my riding hours on those bikes involved the use of lights. I would rather have double the drag for 10% of the time than half the drag for 100% of the time.
As for tyre wear, I have never had to replace a tyre as a result of dynamo friction, although I have reversed a tyre on it's rim to even out the wear on the other sidewall. We are talking no-nonsense 1 1/4" or 1 3/8" roadster type tyres here though, not some flimsy lightweight tyres.
Neither bike I fitted a dynamo to had a braze-on bracket. I just used the clamp bracket that came with the dynamo kit. I had no need of a manufacturer-supplied bracket.
mjr
Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
- Location
- mostly Norfolk, sometimes Somerset
I still don't like the paint scuff from the old dynamo bracket on one bike, even though I'm not particularly proud/protective of the paint on that utility bike. There's not much wrong with bottle dynamos but there's even less wrong with hub dynamos, so it's a worthwhile upgrade when you get a round tuit.
Nibor
Bewildered
- Location
- Accrington
What do you mean by comparability?
OP
OP
toffee
Guru
"Compatability" is the word I think the OP means.
andrew_s
Legendary Member
- Location
- Gloucester
And did you do that at home with all the tools, or out on the road?
With 6-bolt, you can do it with the T25 on your multitool and an NBT2 lockring remover for the cassette lockring, but the NBT2 won't work on centerlock (the splines are too far from the dropout).
andrew_s
Legendary Member
- Location
- Gloucester
The drag from a turned off dynohub is insignificant - comparable to a poorly selected chain oil, or having one of your tyres 5 or 10 psi too soft (or too hard).
It's also considerably less than the extra rolling resistance you voluntarily put up with for the pleasure of using tyres heavy enough to have a dynamo track.
Furthermore, reasonable quality bottle dynamos are going or have gone out of production. You can't get a Nordlicht any more, and Busch + Muller are no longer making them, so that only leaves the Axa HR and truly cheap and horrible £5-£6 versions
glasgowcyclist
Charming but somewhat feckless
- Location
- Scotland
In use, my SON hub dynamo produces very little drag, something like 5 watts @ 20kph. I can't find the source right now but it equates to an ascent of about 5 feet over one mile. That's so small as to be not worth considering.
When the lights are switched off it drops to 0.5 watt @ 20kph, equivalent to an ascent of about 10 inches over one mile. That's so insignificant that I doubt the average rider could even tell.
If you're into longer distances, the best hub dynamos will add between 17 & 30 seconds to a flat 100km ride when switched off. Switched on, the time penalty would be between 3m 24s & 5m 47s. Again, insignificant unless you're riding competitively.
KneesUp
Guru
Sturmey Archer do a 6 bolt disc dynamo, which seems to come in at about £50. It only seems to come as 2.4v for some reason though.
Heltor Chasca
Out-riding the Black Dog
Reason No. 41 why I run a SON hub. The drag is so minimal and for rides going into (or right though) the night or starting before sun up, I can’t say I’ve ever debated the pros and cons when given the choice of a decent light source on dark, mucky lanes. I should also mention USB charging too is just a little bit convenient.
On my tourer I have a Shimano XT dynamo hub. I don't think it runs as free as the SON, but I much prefer the ‘Lego brick’ connector which is a lot easier to attach, detach and fix when it breaks.
