Anyone use bike generator lights anymore?

[Ablang]

No one seems to be talking about it, and I can't even find a good
place online to order them from.

Does anyone have a site for that stuff, or is it being phased out?

 

[SMS]

Ablang wrote:
> No one seems to be talking about it, and I can't even find a good
> place online to order them from.
>
> Does anyone have a site for that stuff, or is it being phased out?

At least two stores in the U.S. still sell them, and they're also still
used on commuter bikes such as the ones from Joe Breeze, some Dahon
models, and some REI models.

The stores are Harris Cyclery and Yellow Jersey.

"http://www.yellowjersey.org/dynamos.html"

"http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/lighting/shimano.html"

Also, on-line at Peter White Cycles, "http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/".

El cheapo sets are sold at many hardware stores and drug stores.

Also see "http://nordicgroup.us/s78/dynamo.html" and
"http://nordicgroup.us/s78/experts.html".

 

[[email protected]]

On Thu, 26 Jun 2008 18:37:22 -0700 (PDT), Ablang <[email protected]>
wrote:

>No one seems to be talking about it, and I can't even find a good
>place online to order them from.
>
>Does anyone have a site for that stuff, or is it being phased out?

Dear Ab,

Try the simple search in google groups for RBT, looking for the words
generator frank krygowski:

http://groups.google.com/group/rec....rec.bicycles.tech&q=frank+Krygowski+generator

That will give you a few hundred posts to browse about generators.
It's actually a well-thrashed topic, with battery bugs squabbling
happily with generator geeks.

If I were to use a light, it would be something stylish hanging under
the axle like this:
http://i12.tinypic.com/4tz3tp0.jpg

For trickier searches, here's the main google groups advanced search
page, where you have to specify rec.bicycles.tech and so forth:
http://groups.google.com/advanced_search?q=&

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

 

[Clive George]

"Ablang" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> No one seems to be talking about it, and I can't even find a good
> place online to order them from.
>
> Does anyone have a site for that stuff, or is it being phased out?

Has it really been that long since the last "dynamos are fine"/"no they're
not, you must have 3GW battery lights to be safe" thread?

They're pretty standard fitment on utility bikes this side of the pond, so
not being phased out at all.

Trouble is these days they're fit and forget, so there's not much to talk
about.

Get a hub dynamo, shimano or schmidt depending on budget, a modern LED front
lamp (eg B+M IQ Fly), optional back light (or just use a battery one for
that) and you're set.

Peter White sells the stuff in the US (http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/), as
do various others.

cheers,
clive

 

[Coal Porter]

On Thu, 26 Jun 2008 18:37:22 -0700 (PDT), Ablang <[email protected]>
wrote:

>No one seems to be talking about it, and I can't even find a good
>place online to order them from.

try http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/schmidt-headlights.asp

>
>Does anyone have a site for that stuff, or is it being phased out?

 

[Frank Krygowski]

On Jun 26, 9:37 pm, Ablang <[email protected]> wrote:
> No one seems to be talking about it, and I can't even find a good
> place online to order them from.

Oh, we talk about them from time to time. I like them a lot, and use
them almost exclusively. One poster is rabidly opposed to them, and
will soon be here to claim "all the experts" say not to use them, or
some such rot. Such is Usenet!

> Does anyone have a site for that stuff, or is it being phased out?

Generators (or dynamos) are certainly not popular in America. But
then, neither are bicycles, except as playthings. As this article
says, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_lighting generators are
probably the number one choice for lighting worldwide. That's because
of the practicality of not having to fuss with battery lights.
America and Australia are different, mostly because they're not
bicycling countries.

Most Americans who object to generator lights do so based on mistaken
ideas. This article http://www.myra-simon.com/bike/dynotest.html
corrects some of those ideas.

As to where to buy them: you'll probably have to go mail order. This
guy http://www.yellowjersey.org/dynamos.html has a good reputation.
(Full disclosure: he posts here, very helpfully.)

This shop http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/lighting/generator-hubs.html
carries the higher end hub generators, which are more expensive, but
more efficient and more reliable.

This shop http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/lightingsystems.htm carries
the absolute top of the line SON hub units, which are the lighting
equivalent of buying a luxury, custom-made, super-performance bike.
They've got a great reputation. And so does Rolls-Royce. Lots of
times, you get what you're willing to pay for.

With British or European shops, the selection is wider. For example,
I've bought from this shop http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/category-Bottle-Dynamos-208.htm
.. I ordered from America using my credit card, and it worked fine.

There's more, but that will get you started.

- Frank Krygowski

 

[Ablang]

On Jun 26, 8:14 pm, Coal Porter <[email protected]> wrote:

> tryhttp://www.peterwhitecycles.com/schmidt-headlights.asp

Thanks guys. And please, keep posting these great ideas!

 

[Peter Pan]

Frank Krygowski wrote:
> With British or European shops, the selection is wider. For example,
> I've bought from this shop http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/category-Bottle-Dynamos-208.htm
> . I ordered from America using my credit card, and it worked fine.

They stock lots of useful stuff, but are somewhat overpriced. If the OP
is going to order from Europe, there are more competitive alternatives.
Just ask for recommendations.

 

[Andre Jute]

Ablang wrote:

> No one seems to be talking about it, and I can't even find a good
> place online to order them from.
>
> Does anyone have a site for that stuff, or is it being phased out?

Sure, lots of people do, but you've probably been looking in the wrong
place. In the States, with its toy-bike culture (okay, let's be
polite: in the States, where bikes are mainly upmarket yuppie image
statements rather than workaday tools), dynamo lights are a luxury and
correspondingly rare and expensive (except at Yellow Jersey
apparently). In European countries where a bike is a utility tool,
just like a car (I haven't even owned a car since 1992!), a dynamo
light is a necessity, in Germany even a legal requirement, and
correspondingly common.

Search for "Shimano hub dynamo" (with the quotation marks) and "SON
+dynamo" (without the quotation marks) and you'll soon find lots of
information. The Steven Scharfe site and the Myra Simon page already
referred to by someone else were influences on me when I took up night
riding.

A hub dynamo has to be built into a wheel. The smart thing is to buy a
readybuilt wheel from some supplier's overstock. The best place to do
it German e-bay. Got to ebay.de and search for "laufrad
+nabendynamo" (no quotation marks) and you'll find a collection of
wheels from about forty euro up with hb dynamos built in; you should
be able to land a good one in the States for under a hundred bucks.

Once you have a hub dynamo, it can be made to do other things rather
than just light your way. For instance, at
http://members.lycos.co.uk/fiultra/BICYCLE Trek Navigator L700 Smover.html
you can see a hub dynamo powering a computer and a stepper motor that
automatically changes the gears on one of my bikes, and operates
active electronic suspension besides. At a slightly lower level of
complication, it is commonplace in Europe to use hub dynamos with a
sensor-switch either built into the light or added on (Shimano NX-30,
I think) in a little black box containing a motion and light sensor,
to switch the lights on when the bike moves and it is dark, and switch
them off again when dawn breaks or you stop.

If you have the money, I recommend the BUMM Fly IQ front light in
combination with one of the BUMM D Toplight plus versions -- the plus
is either a battery or capacitor powered light that stays on when you
stop at a stop street. The German rear light has no flashing mode, so
I back mine up with a Cateye TL-LD1100 which I keep flashing day and
night. If you cannot fit or afford both rear lights, get only the
flashing one, as 0.6W constant rear lights get lost in urban clutter.

HTH.

Andre Jute
http://members.lycos.co.uk/fiultra/BICYCLE & CYCLING.html

 

[Andre Jute]

On Jun 27, 4:06 am, "Clive George" <[email protected]> wrote:
> "Ablang" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>
> news:[email protected]...
>
> > No one seems to be talking about it, and I can't even find a good
> > place online to order them from.
>
> > Does anyone have a site for that stuff, or is it being phased out?
>
> Has it really been that long since the last "dynamos are fine"/"no they're
> not, you must have 3GW battery lights to be safe" thread?

How will you see the Fokkers, Messerschmidts and Stukas diving on you
out of the night if you have only 3GW of battery lights? When you find
out I'm right, ouija your enlightenment to RBT.

Andre Jute
http://members.lycos.co.uk/fiultra/BICYCLE HUMOUR.html

 

[Tim McNamara]

In article <[email protected]>,
Peter Pan <[email protected]> wrote:

> Frank Krygowski wrote:
> > With British or European shops, the selection is wider. For
> > example, I've bought from this shop
> > http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/category-Bottle-Dynamos-208.htm. I
> > ordered from America using my credit card, and it worked fine.
>
> They stock lots of useful stuff, but are somewhat overpriced. If the
> OP is going to order from Europe, there are more competitive
> alternatives. Just ask for recommendations.

SJSC is very used to shipping to the US- in fact, the couple of times I
have ordered things from them that weren't available here, the items
arrived faster than many things I have had shipped from within the US!
The Royal Mail seems to pretty much rock.

In terms of pricing, the weak dollar and increasing shipping fees due to
fuel costs will make ordering from European suppliers more expensive.
And SJSC does seem to price a bit higher than some other UK shops that
do international sales.

 

[Frank Krygowski]

On Jun 27, 10:58 am, Tim McNamara <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> In terms of pricing, the weak dollar and increasing shipping fees due to
> fuel costs will make ordering from European suppliers more expensive.

Good point. We just had friends visit us from Ireland, and to them,
our entire country looks like a discount store!

> And SJSC does seem to price a bit higher than some other UK shops that
> do international sales.

Do you have other UK shops to recommend? (Not that I buy much these
days, but I sometimes want stuff that is tough to find west of the
Atlantic.)

- Frank Krygowski

 

[SMS]

Clive George wrote:
> "Ablang" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> No one seems to be talking about it, and I can't even find a good
>> place online to order them from.
>>
>> Does anyone have a site for that stuff, or is it being phased out?
>
> Has it really been that long since the last "dynamos are fine"/"no
> they're not, you must have 3GW battery lights to be safe" thread?

Hmm, I've been reading this group for years, and never saw anyone claim
that 3GW worth of lights were necessary to be safe.

The poster asked for a site for dynamo lighting equipment, and it was
provided. Don't try to turn it into a thread on batteries versus
generators. If he wants information on the dynamo versus battery
trade-offs it can be found by typing "bicycle dynamo expert" into the
Google search bar, and then clicking on "I'm Feeling Lucky."

 

[Clive George]

"SMS" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:%[email protected]...
> Clive George wrote:
>> "Ablang" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>> news:[email protected]...
>>> No one seems to be talking about it, and I can't even find a good
>>> place online to order them from.
>>>
>>> Does anyone have a site for that stuff, or is it being phased out?
>>
>> Has it really been that long since the last "dynamos are fine"/"no
>> they're not, you must have 3GW battery lights to be safe" thread?
>
> Hmm, I've been reading this group for years, and never saw anyone claim
> that 3GW worth of lights were necessary to be safe.

No, but there is some numpty who always pops up saying dynamo lights aren't
safe for road use, and has written a web page which he claims is unbiased
but still pushes that claim.

> The poster asked for a site for dynamo lighting equipment, and it was
> provided. Don't try to turn it into a thread on batteries versus
> generators. If he wants biased and potentially unhelpful information on
> the dynamo versus battery trade-offs it can be found by typing "bicycle
> dynamo expert" into the Google search bar, and then clicking on "I'm
> Feeling Lucky."

I fixed your post for you.

 

[SMS]

Clive George wrote:
> "SMS" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:%[email protected]...
>> Clive George wrote:
>>> "Ablang" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>>> news:[email protected]...
>>>> No one seems to be talking about it, and I can't even find a good
>>>> place online to order them from.
>>>>
>>>> Does anyone have a site for that stuff, or is it being phased out?
>>>
>>> Has it really been that long since the last "dynamos are fine"/"no
>>> they're not, you must have 3GW battery lights to be safe" thread?
>>
>> Hmm, I've been reading this group for years, and never saw anyone
>> claim that 3GW worth of lights were necessary to be safe.
>
> No, but there is some numpty who always pops up saying dynamo lights
> aren't safe for road use, and has written a web page which he claims is
> unbiased but still pushes that claim.
>
>> The poster asked for a site for dynamo lighting equipment, and it was
>> provided. Don't try to turn it into a thread on batteries versus
>> generators. If he wants biased and potentially unhelpful information
>> on the dynamo versus battery trade-offs it can be found by typing
>> "bicycle dynamo expert" into the Google search bar, and then clicking
>> on "I'm Feeling Lucky."
>
> I fixed your post for you.

Cute, but maybe instead you could point out anything that isn't accurate
on that page. No one has been able to do so in the years that it's been up.

 

[Andrew Price]

On Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:38:26 -0700 (PDT), Frank Krygowski
<[email protected]> wrote:

>> And SJSC does seem to price a bit higher than some other UK shops that
>> do international sales.
>
>Do you have other UK shops to recommend? (Not that I buy much these
>days, but I sometimes want stuff that is tough to find west of the
>Atlantic.)

Not in the UK

<http://www.roseversand.de/output/controller.aspx?cid=156&detail=90&detail2=423>

but highly recommended.

 

[Clive George]

"SMS" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

> Cute, but maybe instead you could point out anything that isn't accurate
> on that page. No one has been able to do so in the years that it's been
> up.

"I wish that it were possible for inexpensive, dynamo powered lights to
provide adequate illumination for commuting, but it isn't"

That's not accurate.

There, that was easy, wasn't it.

 

[Peter Pan]

Tim McNamara wrote:
> In terms of pricing, the weak dollar and increasing shipping fees
due to
> fuel costs will make ordering from European suppliers more expensive.

You probably mean Germany, that's partly due to those dumbasses aka
Deutsch Post/DHL which still have a monopoly there.

 

[[email protected]]

On Jun 27, 3:05 pm, "Tom Kunich" <cyclintom@yahoo. com> wrote:
> "Clive George" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>
> news:[email protected]...
>
> > "SMS" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> >news:[email protected]...
>
> >> Cute, but maybe instead you could point out anything that isn't accurate
> >> on that page. No one has been able to do so in the years that it's been
> >> up.
>
> > "I wish that it were possible for inexpensive, dynamo powered lights to
> > provide adequate illumination for commuting, but it isn't"
>
> > That's not accurate.
>
> > There, that was easy, wasn't it.
>
> I have to wonder if you've used such lights. Bicycle dynamos typically
> deliver only 2 Watts to a front lamp and 1 W to a rear. This is insufficient
> light to light your pathway. In Europe it is expected only to make you
> visible to traffic.

Well, IME, once you get up to 30mph or so, actually they start working
pretty well.

Great training, too. --D-y

 

[Peter Pan]

[email protected] wrote:
>> I have to wonder if you've used such lights. Bicycle dynamos typically
>> deliver only 2 Watts to a front lamp and 1 W to a rear. This is insufficient
>> light to light your pathway. In Europe it is expected only to make you
>> visible to traffic.
>
> Well, IME, once you get up to 30mph or so, actually they start working
> pretty well.

I think he meant 2.4W to the front and .6W to the rear. The IQ Fly is as
bright as it gets by just pushing the bike while walking, though
'flashing' with a hub dynamo.