Dynamos and other magic

I've currently got a Shimano DH-3N72 equipped front wheel, with a Philips Saferide 60 front light, and a Philips Saferide Lumiring Rear light.

What's it like?
Brilliant! Light output is fantastic, and I never have to worry about batteries running out. With 10 hours of commuting a week in darkness over the winter, I REALLY need lights that just work. The Philips ones are really well made, and give a great beam pattern. They're so good that they're legal for use as motorcycle lights in some jurisdictions. Beam pattern is fantastic, with a good cut off, so the light goes exactly where it should, and doesn't dazzle.

Is the front wheel heavy?
Marginally more so than a regular wheel, but not particularly noticeable.

Is it draggy?
No. The only difference you notice when the light is on is a slight high frequency vibration. The actual drag is microscopic.

Is the wiring butt ugly?
Yes, unfortunately. Zip tying wires to a frame is never going to look good. I'd like to run mine internally, but am too frightened to drill the frame. The front light isn't so bad, as you've only got to run the wire up the fork blade, but to run the wire to the back neatly and invisibly is challenging. You can get thin co-axial wire which may help matters, but even then, it's not going to look great.

Does it all go dark and you die as soon as you stop moving?
No. All modern dynamo lights have back up capacitors that keep the lights going for a few minutes after you stop.

Rhodrich wrote:

Is the wiring butt ugly?
Yes, unfortunately. Zip tying wires to a frame is never going to look good. I'd like to run mine internally, but am too frightened to drill the frame. The front light isn't so bad, as you've only got to run the wire up the fork blade, but to run the wire to the back neatly and invisibly is challenging. You can get thin co-axial wire which may help matters, but even then, it's not going to look great.

I run the gear wire (Di2) down the underside of the down tube held in place with 3 discreet strips of electrical tape that matches the frame colour [nearly]. Except for the loop that allows the forks full rotation it's practically invisible. The tape does come adrift after a while if used in the wet, but as a roll is cheap as chips once you've got it it's practically free to replace it when it needs doing.

It might not hide so well running up to where the light is.

One of my colleagues has a few bikes running dynamo wheels and he says much the same as Rhodrich above. But he also has the heaviest bikes in the world. I can't bring myself to put one on the Kinesis and I don't have a winter bike so won't be using one myself. If I had a winter bike I would fit one without a doubt.

I haven't built the wheel yet, but I've recently bought a SP PD8 dynamo. After much research it came out top because of the low drag, low cogging, low weight and low price*. £80 from Spa Cycles
I can't wait to build a wheel with it in. I'm going to team it with an Axa Luxx 70 Plus front light (with USB port for charhing stuff) and a B&M Secula rear light. About £80 for the pair from Rose.
Assume maybe £20 for spokes and nipples (I'm reusing my current rim) and the whole build should come in at less than £200.

Veronese68 wrote:

One of my colleagues has a few bikes running dynamo wheels and he says much the same as Rhodrich above. But he also has the heaviest bikes in the world. I can't bring myself to put one on the Kinesis and I don't have a winter bike so won't be using one myself. If I had a winter bike I would fit one without a doubt.

I can understand your reluctance but i have a dark red pro6 which is now my go commuting/winter bike. I run a Busch and Muller IQ Cyo on the front with an Alfine dynamo hub and Busch & Müller Secula Plus on the rear 'guard. No real weight disadvantage nor any drag i can detect. The interesting thing is that the lights, while notionally less bright than others, seem to stand out more, i think, because they are not pin pricks or spots of bright light but more orb like in luminosity. Its good to know they are always available though the front has a switch to allow me to turn them off. As we move into winter i will supplement them with a knogg flasher on front and the moon shield copy on the rear.

Another dynamo user here, echoing Rhodrich's comments. My only issue was Philips SafeRide bracket failing, but it's a known weakness and can be replaced with another make - about £5 from SJS cycles.


Wiring, admittedly, is slack, and the feed to the rear runs alongside the brake line, and then out along a stay on the mudguard to a B&M rear - no issues for the 2 years so far.

Hard to feel the extra weight of the hub with a steel frame, disk brakes, Alfine 11, seat post rack, but would look to get a dynamo wheel if I switch to an Inflite 9.0S or similar CX.

I built up a XT dynamo hub into a 29er wheel for a mate last week, it's a centerlock disc. I was quite amazed when it arrived with the rubber cover over the centerlock connector how "normal" it looked. You'd just see it on someone's bike and not think it was a disc hub. If I was replacing I'd probably use one of those, as at some point I may use discs in the future.

This morning saw the first commute of the year with my dynamo lighting setup. I had to change the front brakes on my winter bike to get the fork crown bracket for the front light to fit (it didn't work with centre pulls, as the straddle wire gets in the way of the bracket).

Last year, I had the whole setup on a different bike which I no longer have, which had a rear rack. I'm now using a bike with no rear rack (just the Carradice bagman).

Question is - I can no longer use my Philips Lumiring rear lamp, as it only mounts on a rack. I can't use a seatpost mounted light, as the saddlebag is in the way. Are there any decent seatstay mounted rear dynamo lights out there?

Thanks - those brackets look like they could do the job! I really like the Lumiring, so if there's any way I can fit it, I'd far prefer that to a seatstay light. I've got the original Bagman, not the one with supports, so I may need to measure the diameter of the tubing first. The bag still does bounce about a bit, but to be honest, that's no bad thing with a rear light.

My Shimano (ultegra grade) /bm Cyo combinaion just keeps on lighting up the road, year after year without missing a beat.
the only issue is the difficulty of servicing bearings in the dyno-hub. What do other Shimano users do?