Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

hi folks

I would like to know which Dyno hub (Son,Busch & Mueller etc)is the best .I ride a LWB Easy Racer which has a 406(20 inch) and 700 at the rear.I basically intend on using the hub set up for longer rides such as Audax events and nowadays there has been a leap in technology that there a lot of aftermarket battery rechargers which can recharge GPS and Iphones ...your advice is appreciated

Cheers

Ray

G'Day Ray, welcome outside

I'm a battery lights, diamond frame bloke so I can't help directly. What I can do to help is move this thread over to a place where it will get more hits.

Cheers
Shaun

Hi Ray,

I can't claim to have first hand experience here but I have looked into going dynamo powered myself. There's a lot of information on the various dynohubs on the Peter White Cycles website, it's a good starting point for at least seeing what the options are.

Based on the reading around that I did the consensus appears to be that the Schmidt SON hubs are the best, particularly in terms of low drag and especially with the light off, and they make hubs optimised to 20" wheels (SONdelux, formerly the SON20R). That said they are expensive and the Shimano Alfine/Nexus dynohubs are pretty close in terms of performance and significantly cheaper. B&M only make bottle dynamos.

For on the road charging of GPS, phones, etc using dynamo power the only system that I'm aware of is the B&M E-werk. There may well be others though.

As far as dynamo powered lights are concerned Schmidt and B&M LED lights were until recently regarded as the bee's knees but it seems that Philips has jumped ahead with their recent Saferide 60 model.

Since you ask which are the best, well the answer is that SON dynamo hubs are the gold standard. For 20" wheels, the SON Deluxe is the right choice.

The place to find information about them is on the touring forums. Here are a couple of relevant threads I picked out which discuss dynamo and related matters in details.

Dyno Hub Device Recharging

Hub Dynamos in Australia

The e-werk is only one charging solution. The Biologic Reecharge, made by Dahon, and the Pedalpower Super-I-Cable are a couple of other excellent offerings.

Hotdog wrote:For on the road charging of GPS, phones, etc using dynamo power the only system that I'm aware of is the B&M E-werk. There may well be others though.

There is also Tout Terrain's The Plug and Pedalpower's Super-I-Cable

Hotdog wrote:As far as dynamo powered lights are concerned Schmidt and B&M LED lights were until recently regarded as the bee's knees but it seems that Philips has jumped ahead with their recent Saferide 60 model.

There is also the excellent Supernova E3 Pro for a very bright LED headlight




There is also a new light (can't think of the brand) that is a good LED headlight but also has a plug-in USB port to charge your phone from.

Mine doesn't have the prestige name compared to those mentioned above and I can't comment on it's longevity as its reasonably new.
But I recently bought and built up a dynamo system based on an SP dynamo hub (PD-8 Disc). At $130 delivered there wasn't much of a monetary risk involved, works great as you'd expect with my F&R Supernova E3's, noticed no friction at all and is just about the lightest hub out there. It also looks physically identical to certain SON hubs.

Info here:
http://swhs.home.xs4all.nl/fiets/tests/ ... dynamo%27s

Crawf,

mind if I ask where I can buy this setup for $130 ?

thanks,

Ekib.

Supernova also sell their own dynohub now, and that SP dynohub looks almost identical to it. Two different models.

Infinity S



Infinity 8

A dynamo hub, once built into a wheel, is not easily replaced if something goes wrong. It must function efficiently as a generator, but more critically it must function reliably as a hub. How important this is will depend on your intended usage, but SON dynamo hubs have earned a reputation with cycle tourists for being not only efficient generators but also for being durable and reliable hubs.

il padrone wrote:There is also a new light (can't think of the brand) that is a good LED headlight but also has a plug-in USB port to charge your phone from.

Ah!! This one - the Axa Nano 50

ekib wrote:Crawf,

mind if I ask where I can buy this setup for $130 ?

thanks,

Ekib.

Try ebay seller idc1947, he was excellent to deal with.

There is also an Australian supplier, but I never bothered checking prices: http://www.klite.com.au/

Another vote here for the SON dynamo hubs, a SON 28 in my case ...



In regards to the Supernova E3 Pro this video was recenlty posted by a certain forum member

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDjsj8xPdqc&hd=1[/youtube]

Andrew

Interesting video, thanks for posting. There seems to be a large "black spot" with that light, is it just a matter of adjusting the aim of the light or a "feature" of the light?

Ross wrote:There seems to be a large "black spot" with that light, is it just a matter of adjusting the aim of the light or a "feature" of the light?

Which black spot do you mean?

Ross wrote:Interesting video, thanks for posting. There seems to be a large "black spot" with that light, is it just a matter of adjusting the aim of the light or a "feature" of the light?

Yeah my E3 triple is way different to that. I wouldn't be confident riding at speed with that light and I would have to slow down vs e3 triple, ayups or dinottes which I'm considering for my trike.
Dynamo option for my trike is an absurd price...
380 euro for Son xs-m hub then build up wheel, so talking over $500 for that. I have lights so no biggie, but I have to change to disc brakes and
Saw the price finally for a mirrored pair of disc brakes... $690

That is the E3 with terraflux lens (German road-legal antidazzle). I think that the Go Pro Hero camera is missing a lot in the low light conditions. Here is another photo of the beam of that light.





More restricted than the beam of the E3 Pro symetrical that I use with a clear horizon, but brighter where it matters. I would have no concerns about riding with that light at night.

The footage doesn't do it justice, as mentioned its a specifically designed commuter lens that's very 'oncoming' friendly. I prefer it over my ayups.
At 300 lumens, it makes you wonder what all those magic shines are doing with their 900 lumens... well going everywhere I guess

Crawf wrote:The footage doesn't do it justice, as mentioned its a specifically designed commuter lens that's very 'oncoming' friendly. I prefer it over my ayups.
At 300 lumens, it makes you wonder what all those magic shines are doing with their 900 lumens... well going everywhere I guess

900 lumens is theoretical fairy-land. Integrating spheres measure them at more like 550 lumen out the front. Approximately 30-40% of which would be wasted lighting up the sky rather than the road (though this does have the benefit of exposing overhead branches etc).
I'm not a fan of how narrow those beams are though, seems to make navigating corners a daunting task.

MattyK wrote:I'm not a fan of how narrow those beams are though, seems to make navigating corners a daunting task.

It's not!

I'm assuming you are talking about road riding here, not bends on a MTB trail. Bike paths are fine, road corners are no worries. There is enough additional light spill sideways outside the main beam to see what's happening.

Fair enough, I've only ever used a very weak shaped-beam light. But ~1:55 in the video above looks tricky, and I have some tighter, darker turns than that on my daily commute.

Spill outside the main beam needs to be proportionately bright with the main beam, otherwise your eyes will be adapted to the brightest patch.

MattyK wrote:Fair enough, I've only ever used a very weak shaped-beam light. But ~1:55 in the video above looks tricky, and I have some tighter, darker turns than that on my daily commute.

Spill outside the main beam needs to be proportionately bright with the main beam, otherwise your eyes will be adapted to the brightest patch.

Same issue for me - I have a winding unlit bike path with ninja peds. I have a wide angle lens on my magicshine which reduces the wasted vertical light and increases the spread, but it is still not enough to see around corners.

The only solution I have found is to wear a helmet mounted light. It would probably work just as well with the dynamo lights.

MattyK wrote:Fair enough, I've only ever used a very weak shaped-beam light. But ~1:55 in the video above looks tricky, and I have some tighter, darker turns than that on my daily commute.

Spill outside the main beam needs to be proportionately bright with the main beam, otherwise your eyes will be adapted to the brightest patch.

As has been stated, the Hero camera has quite poor performance in low light. Take this on board.

For a clearer comparison here is the IQ Cyo that I am very happy to use on any bike paths (and roads of course). It has very good spill laterally




Compared to the Supernova E3 Pro assymetrical again (photographed at same exposure ratings) I woud describe the E3 Pro as brighter with equally good or better lateral spill.




You need to stop jumping at shadows I think

il padrone wrote:You need to stop jumping at shadows I think

Got a few dyno hubbed bikes and all with B&M IQ Cyo headlights of various sorts, went out and bought a small helmet light for the winding descents where the furry shadows tend to jump out at you. A focussed beam that picks up street signs 1.2km away while lighting up the intended path immediately ahead is brilliant except for when that path winds at speed and furry critters abound. Have had a few near run ins.

As a bonus, if you leave the helmet light mounted but turned off in daylight drivers seem to act as if you've got helmet cam.

Folks

Thank you all for your input and I will read them all and evaluate which is best for my bent pursuits....

Cheers

Ray