I found the default bracket of the Philips SafeRide insufficiently non-snapping, if that's any help, though stronger B&M brackets which would fit it are only a couple of pounds. The relative cheapness of the lesser B&Ms is likely to mean I'll try one when I get round to dynamodifying my secondary bike.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Stuff
Lumotec Lyt: budget dynamo light
(59 posts)-
Posted 12 years ago #
-
I haven't written about it yet, but I have the Saferide dynamo lamp (60 lux) too. It's fitted to SWMBO's bike but I also used it on a 200km audax recently.
I'd say it depends very much on what you want. For maximum light the Saferide beats down the Cyo but the standlight isn't as good.
There's also (a lot) more drag running the Safelight on a Shimano hub compared with the Cyo on my Sturmey Archer.
If you don't want to ride in unlit areas, the cheaper Saferide is still almost twice the price of the Lyt (50 vs 30 EUR) while you can pick up a Cyo for £45 vs EUR80 for the Saferide.
Horses for courses. None of these lights will disappoint.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Things change!
Posted 12 years ago # -
Excellent - thanks a lot for the info!
Posted 12 years ago # -
I sent out the discounted Safelight deal which was publicised here a while ago (now no longer avaiable) and a freind bought one. I was astounded by its brightness. It was like a car headlamp!! I wish I had bought one now.
Posted 12 years ago # -
I'm angling for the Luxos (mainly because of the USB charger and handlebar control, very handy when your lights are between your feet).
70 lux with a boost to 90 (the Cyo is 60) should let me put the pain on oncoming towpath riders!
I hoped I might persuade B&M to send me a review copy, since availability probably isn't going to be great for a while. Schmidt never could make enough eDelux.
</JOKE>
Posted 12 years ago # -
I just cycle around town, and generally off road or on quiet roads if I can help it, so I reckon that something like the Lumotec Lyt should do fine. So I was pleased to discover the Lumotec Classic - just like a Lumotec Lyt, only it looks like this:
Posted 12 years ago # -
cc, what side of town are you on? You could pop in to Laid-Back on Marchmont Crescent any evening between 5-6 for a demo of a Lyt in action.
Alternatively, if you don't come near that side of town but could make it to some part of the Roseburn path between Murrayfield and my office in Leith, I could rendezvous with you on a Lyt-equipped bike?
I think you'll be impressed, but if not at least you'll know.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Wow, much appreciated! Laid Back is a detour of only a few yards off my usual route home so I may well pop in. (Maybe on a day without any Met Office coloured weather warnings...) I already have a Lyt though through having a Paper Bike - I was just wanting to upgrade to a front light with a standlight, as the PB only has the standlight version at the back, and I'm getting a bit leery of going dark at the front whenever I stop at the lights.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Well my dynamo lights have arrived, as has the deore xt dynohub I ordered (pockets not quite deep enough for the son hub!)
Ndecided now though :-s I had planned building (having it built if I'm being honest) it into a mavic open pro rim and putting it on the audaxy bike so I'd have good lights and no battery issues, but it feels heavy, and as a bare hub (which I know is probably not a valid test) very draggy :-(
Now torn as to whether to get it built onto a 26" rim and put it onto the Surly or to stick with plan a :-sWhichever one I choose I'll probably still not be sure I got it right (rolls eyes)
Posted 11 years ago # -
They do feel terrible 'by hand'. I don't think it matters which option you go for because you'll inevitably end up buying another for the other bike :)
Posted 11 years ago # -
Yeah they feel very notchy and uninspiring when they're bare. They're better in a wheel as the weight of the hub and spokes acts as a bit of a flywheel effect. Once its on the bike its completely unnoticeable your own weight pushes through the drag.
If your going to PY on Friday you can have a go with mine, it is the very bottom of the range from about 5 years ago, yours will be Dura Ace by comparison.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Or indeed you can play with my SA hub. I can't tell whether the light is on or off, it really quite neat.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Thanks chaps, if I can I'll get into PY on Friday then :-)
Posted 11 years ago # -
I have mine on my 700cc wheel as I have two 700cc wheeled bikes. Don't worry about the notchy feel, they are great hubs and you really don't notice then on the ride. I'd offer, put it on the bike you'll use most in winter/darkness.
Posted 11 years ago # -
There's an article in the CTC magazine this month on dynohubs. Apparently that dragginess as you turn it by hand goes away when the hub is in faster motion: the stickiness of magnets facing each other is cancelled out by the repulsion of those with the same polarity, or somesuch.
Posted 11 years ago # -
I certainly don't notice any drag and I have the dynamo hub driven lights on all the time when I cycle.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Another question for the dynamo experts(!)
My Shimano hub came with an "overvoltage protector", looks like what I'd call a regulator if it was on a motorbike!
Now this is to save the remaining bulb if a headlamp or taillight blows, my question is, do I need it with an led light setup or are they robust enough not to care?Posted 11 years ago # -
I think only Shimano dynamos come with this, and hence everybody who owns a different brand is riding without. SWMBO's Shimano dynamo is wired straight into the lights, no problems.
The LEDs must already be protected because 6V is way higher than the safe voltage of an LED, and that's what all dynamos output.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Cool, thanks Dave.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Mostly, its electrikery.
Dynamos produce 500ma at what ever voltage is required to allow that current to flow, something to do with load impedance I think. That's why I can run three up front and one on the rear from the same circuit without everything going poof! The head lamp is actually pulling close to 9v and the rear only about 2 but there is never more than 550ma in the circuit. Modern leds are rated up to at least an amp so they're actually being underrated.
Posted 11 years ago # -
DutchBikeBits.com says "While you can safely run any of our front lights from a dynamo without a rear being connected, you should never run just a rear light. Doing so will provide an inadequate load to the dynamo, which results in higher voltage and can damage the rear light."
If anyone needs a Lumotec Lyt that doesn't have the standlight option, I now have a spare one. I replaced it with a Lumotec Classic with the standlight - pretty much the same thing as the Lyt only in a blingier retro bodyshell. And the standlight works really well! Still nice and bright after waiting at the lights a minute or so.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Hi cc, can you pm me the details please, I'm interested in the 2nd hand Lyt & how much your looking for.
Many thanks.
(08:27 hrs)Posted 11 years ago # -
"pretty much the same thing as the Lyt only in a blingier retro bodyshell. And the standlight works really well! Still nice and bright after waiting at the lights a minute or so."
Excellent! :)
Posted 11 years ago # -
Got the dynohub built up, the whole front wheel, tyre etc (excluding skewer) weighs just on 1500g so neither superlight nor crazy heavy, for comparison, a Shimano 105 rear hub and cassette with the same wheel, tyre etc weighs just over 1600g, hope the light output justifies the effort/cost! Should find out as soon as I get the time to wire it up :-)
Posted 11 years ago # -
Initial test ride on th shimano hub/Edelux shows great standlight and powerful beam, no discernable drag whilst riding. Proper testing prevented by skipping gears (grrr) and cr*p weather.
I've also cobbled... erm, carefully mounted a B&M taillight (as recommended by Dave) onto my Brompton (powered by the bottle dynamo). Initial impressions are a very bright light, the brakelight bit is as yet unproven as I haven't managed to look backwards and brake firmly so far ;-)
Hopefully(maybe) further updates as I use them more :-)
Posted 11 years ago # -
I was wondering why my bottle dynamo seemed to be rattly and slipping a lot recently. This afternoon I found out. The steel canti boss mount had almost sheared off, the mount was rattling against my spokes as I cycled towards Balerno from Ratho. Tipper lorries full of aggregate and/or landfill waste thundered past as I removed it and re-fitted the canti brake by the side of the road.
Alas the kluge I rigged together to hold the dynamo in place must have exerted too great a leverage on the mount. The bottle didn't engage properly when fixed only to the mount, the angle was wrong, so I bolted an extension on and it was further forward. I suppose this amplified the road vibration (and there are some bad roads in Scotland), hence the stress crack...
Posted 11 years ago # -
Peter White (of Peter White Cycles) has written an excellent photo guide to the latest crop of bike front lights. You know, the ones from Germany with proper beam shapes and stuff.
http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/headlights.asp
Check out the B&M Luxos. Holy cow.
Posted 11 years ago # -
I've got a 60lumen B&M cyo on the Brompton and even mounted as low as that it is an astonishingly good light. Ive used small motorbikes with worse lights and I really missed it when I went back onto the tourer with basic battery led lights.
As Dave has pointed out, the bigest problem with them is once you have one, you'll want them on all your bikes!
Posted 11 years ago #
Reply
You must log in to post.
posts
