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resolvedAs the title says, I'm thinking of getting a brighter light for winter commuting and want to know what everyone has, what is on offer and what their experiences are please?
I have a couple of front lights, an older cat eye and a Eurolight set I bought from Amazon, but its a pain to swap over so I want something to biuld up for winter for my Dawes.
Shimano DH-3N80 hub, 32 hole, built into Mavic Openpro rims.
Busch & Muller IQ Cyo N+ headlight. 60 lux. The "plus" means it has the standlight (will remain lit at a lower intensity for a few minutes when you stop). The "N" signifies a lens that has a lighting pattern that "misses out" a section of the road between about 1 and 4m away, focussing the light ahead of you on the road so you can see things before it's too late to take avoiding action. There's decent "spill" from the lens to light up the area direct around your front wheel. The "R" has a reflector built in to the lens and also focusses the light across the whole of the road ahead of you. What I'm trying to describe is that the "N" is suited towards faster riding, and concentrates the 60 lux output over a smaller area and slightly further away. The "R" focusses the same output over a wider area, more suited to a slower riding on less predictable surfaces. The other option you can buy is "Senseo" which has a light sensitive diode that turns the lamp on for you when it's dull or dark enough to need it.
My thoughts? Completely love it. Best light I've ever owned, but then again it doesn't have too much competition! There are brighter lights, but the lens is very clever, you get a rather wonderful oblong beam on the road ahead, with sufficient spread left and right to pick out corners or obstructions at side of road. You don't really need the illumination directly infront/below of you as you should be watching the road further ahead.
It is not the cheapest or easiest or most flexible way to get good light on your bike though.
The best of the Shimano dynamos cost about £80. SON hubs have a better reputation, seem to offer slightly more efficiency and lower resistance and a price to match. The IQ Cyo again about £70-80. Supernova LEDs up to a couple of hundred pounds. Halogen or lower output B&M LED lights have lower prices but lower performance and there's no reason to run halogen anymore.
Then the cost of building a wheel around it (lower if you recycle your existing rim into it, if it's worth it). They aren't widely available off the shelf, you'll most likely have to order online or through a shop catalogue. Lastly, once the light is installed, it's a faff to move around between bikes - the wheel is easy enough, being on a QR, but the lamp itself is clamped through the brake retaining bolt and it is recommended that you wrap the wire around the fork on the way down and cable tie it on.
Really selling it, amn't I! But if you want a good, bright, ever-present, ever-reliable light that you never need to worry about batteries for and that is compact and won't interfere with your handlebars, it could be the way to go! The overall cost would be comparable with a high quality battery operated headlight.
You can of course also wire in a rear light, there is sufficient output from the hub and most front lights have clips or terminals to allow this. Some brands of lights are not inter-operable. Tail light selection seems limited to mudguard or rack mounts and I found them hard to source. I couldn't be bothered with the faff and you can buy a much better battery operated rear LED for less price.
^^ Thats some reply...
Just to add that the dynamo hub is very scalable when using leds, the electrical spec of the hub doesn't really matter, they are mostly all rated at 5v 500ma. But with leds the voltage "floats" to match the load, its complicated elec-tricky.
The thing i've noticed to differentiated between the specs is how "notchy" the hub is. Kaputnik's runs almost as smoothly as a good normal hub, mine is very notchy you can feel the internals moving between the various positions.
Mine however was basically free on eBay I just need to get it built into a wheel....
Many thanks for the lengthy post Kaputnik, I'm looking at Rosecycles, did you get the kit online or locally? I want a hub which can take a disc as I want to be able to put it on my Cotic but also transfer to my Dawes. I also want some desent rims and have seen DT Swiss TK 540 Rims but only in 29inch where as I want 700cc, ... are these the same? Most appear geared up for MTB or 29ers. Who did you use for the build? Eastside bike have been recomended to me.
Oh can you help me with spoke size please? Thee are for my Dawes and Cotic so 700cc rims.
Cheers,
Dave C
Don't talk to me about spoke length....
29" is different from 700c if nothing else you wouldn't get road bike tyres to go on a 29"
Yes I have a feeling its nearer 28s.
29ers have 700c rims but fatter tyres.
I would recomend eastsidebikes for wheel building. Andy gives you free true ups for the life of the wheel. ( or that's what he said to me) I've had 2 wheels built by him and my pal had another 2. 've done 1000 ish miles and no complaints at all.
@DaveC
I got my wheel built at Bike Works on Argyle Place - to complement them they did both wheels (I needed new rear at same time) in under 24 hours. They supplied rim but would have been happy for me to supply my own. Shop will supply and fit correct sized spokes so don't worry about that (50p each from TBW) They recommended I supply my own dynamo because I could source it quicker and cheaper than they could (in the end I managed it for 49p less than the ones they got into shop). Dynamo came from SJS cycles. Light came from dotbike.
29" wheels are a mountain bike niche market I think, not 700C "road" tyre compatible I think but don't quote me.
If you want to move between your cross bike and tourer, consider if you will ever be putting a lot of weight over front wheel if you take it touring, as you might want to get the 36 hole hub and rim.
DT Swiss TK 540 looks like a good, double-eyeleted rim very similar to the Mavic A319 I have on tourer. You can get 32h version only for disc.
You will have to buy a disc-specific dynamo hub. Shimano do them but apparently only in 32 holes. Again consider what sort of weight you may or may not be putting on your tourer. I assume it will currently have something strong and with 36 spokes.
There is very little resistance when spinning the wheel and has no noticable effect on freewheeling. There is a very faint "buzz" up the forks around 20mph, which must be some critical frequency, but above and below that nothing.
Cool, this is shaping up nicely. I have seen that these lights use some new sort of attachment to the bike. Do the lights come with a bracket as standard?
Do the lights come with a bracket as standard?
Will of course depend on the light but all the ones I specced came with it and they seem to be unique style to each manufacturer (no real change from battery lights then).
Oh and make sure you get an extra brake caliper bolt and some washers for your disk fork as this is where the light mounts.
For spoke size you first need to know exactly what hub and rim you will be using. You can then plug it into an online calculator (Google will bring up a few options).
29" MTB rims are 700C (the ISO size is 622). There's no reason you can't use them but the wider the rim, the larger the tyre you have to use (so no 23mm slicks on a 21mm rim!).
I've never had wheels built so will keep quiet on that front.
Re: dynamos, I would look at the Alfine hub (or there are a couple of other Shimano options that take discs). The SON are supposed to be excellent but not cost-effective IMO unless you are extremely sensitive.
Put it this way: my limited experience with dynamos recently included trying out the Sturmey Archer one that comes with Paper Bicycles. I'm informed that this is one of the least efficient hub dynamos a man can buy, but I couldn't tell whether the light was on or off without putting my hand out to see (this was during the day).
I have an IQ Cyo R as well, which has done some few thousand kms now (but powered by a DC battery) - it's as useful a light as my 900 lumen torch despite putting out only a fraction of the photons... guess they just go to the right places!
I have a B&M Toplight line plus rear light which is also excellent... and incorporates a road-legal spec reflector without anyone realising, which none of my bikes otherwise have.
Funny enough someone posted a tweet about the philips saferide Dynamo lamp
Yes I have too read good reviews of the Philips Saferide, although personally I thought it looked a bit ugly!
It was the illumnation pattern provided by the lens that sold me on the IQ Cyo N. Saferide seems more like the Cyo R.
The Saferide has had some reliability issues IIRC (it's been discussed at length on YACF). I went for the Cyo because I got it for 35 euros in a sale.
One Bromptton has a Schmidt SON hub and Edelux lamp, B&M tail light.
The Pashley has a Sturmey Archer generator and Lumotec lamp.
Obviously the Schmidt is considerably brighter. The Lumotec blew a couple of bulbs till I fitted a higher rated one, the LED doesn't do that. The SA hasn't been any bother but it's only done one winter.
If I fit a generator to one of the other machines I'd go with the Schmidt.
Just placed my order...
Nice, what are you going for in the end?
It's a pity the weather's off again. I was thinking the other day that we could do wheel building *outside* PY of a weekend.
B & M light (60 lux) Shimano DH 3D80 36 spoke
hub, rotor and a few odds and sods. Getting the wheel built locally.
You'll be ready for some through-the-night Audaxes then :)
Indeed! Snow Roads 300 in June.
Well, seems a bit late for this advice but Spa Cycles will build you up a 700c wheel with dynamo hub and a choice of rims for not a lot.
http://www.spacycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m2b0s170p0
My wee silver folder has a dynamo hub, it's great because you never need to worry about forgetting your lights. The rear light is LED and has a standlight function, the front is a standard halogen with an on/off switch.
I got a replacement front light after my 'horse' threw me a while back and I pranged the original light. SJS had a very good price on one of these:
That's great for city riding and dark country roads: really quite bright. No standlight though. If you are not running the rear lamp from the dynamo you could even have two lights at the front: a main beam and a supplementary lamp, each mounted on the side of the fork. SJS has a decent range of lamps, as indeed do Rose (received their mammoth catalogue last week in the post!).
woop woop!
Ooh, cheers Crowriver - I may pop that Spa link into my files for a pre-winter purchase. My Kaff is slowly but surely turning into a Yehuda style commuter.
Guards, sensible tyres, new leather saddle, tool roll... And now possibly dynamo lighting...
I know about Spa Cycles and a good friend recomended them over our local bike guy, but a) I like supporting local guys and b) if anything goes wrong its a 5 min drive and he's even collected and delivered my bike in the past when I have work done. He built my rear wheel in January, when I had the major service done, and has just nipped up and tightened everything now the cables were stretched etc...
Plus I fancied using Rose as I registered with them and they sent me a lovely HUGE catalogue to browse on cold damp nights on the sofa, and they are a lot cheaper than most Edinburgh shops (sadly).
I've gone for the Shimano DH 3D80 hub, B + M Lumotec IQ Cyo T senso plus 60 lux, a 160mm Rotor and cables and connectors, spoke key etc... Local Guy can source the spokes and has the 36 spoke rim from the rear wheel build as he ordered 2 knowing I needed two wheels.
I was considering adding a hub dynamo wheel to my Raleigh Pioneer, but it's not really worth the investment in a bike that cost so little. I've only required lights 3 or 4 times on longer rides, even in the winter I usually made it back before dark. I have a few bottle dynamos kicking about, and a halogen front lamp: may add this set up to the front fork instead for the odd ride where I get caught out. It will have the added bonus effect of de-cluttering my handlebars a little!
@DaveC, I have to say that Rose bikes' mail order service is excellent. I've only bought a couple of small things from them that I couldn't find in the UK (Jeantex waterproof gear) and not only were they inexpensive but the delivery was fast, well packed and they sent me free gifts.
they sent me a lovely HUGE catalogue to browse on cold damp nights on the sofa
might want to move that sofa somewhere less cold and damp
@kaputnik When you had yours built up did TBW reveal the spoke length used in the recipe?
Just waiting (still) on the UK postal service...
Wed, 04.04.12 15:22 h Dorsten, DE The international shipment has been processed in the parcel center of origin
Wed, 04.04.12 16:45 h -- The instruction data for this shipment have been provided by the sender to DHL electronically
Wed, 04.04.12 23:12 h Köln, DE The shipment will be transported to the destination country and, from there, handed over to the delivery organization.
Wed, 04.04.12 23:12 h Köln, DE The international shipment has been processed in the export parcel center
Sun, 08.04.12 18:06 h GB The shipment has arrived in the destination country
Mon, 09.04.12 18:09 h GB The shipment has left the import parcel center in the destination country.
Tue, 10.04.12 05:03 h GB The shipment is being prepared for delivery in the delivery depot
I'm just waiting an update along the lines of:
Weds, 12.04.12 1506 h GB Driver looked at the size of the parcel and the rain coming down and decided to just pop a note thru the letterbox saying you were out. He had to sneek to the letterbox as he could see you're wife in the living room.
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