Dynamo lighting

Chaps

I run a Pashly bicycle purely for town riding. I estimately I do 40 miles a week, so it is fairly moderate by average standards.

The bike is shown here.

http://www.pashley.co.uk/products/classic/paramount/specification.html

It currently has no lights and the thought of buying lights powered by a dynamo appeals because I will not have to worry about batteries going flat or corroding etc.

I have now been told that dynamos are illegal in the UK, is this true ?

If so, what is the best type of lighting to buy.

Regards

Mick

 

I would question your source for dynamos being illegal in the UK...

It is not historically true, sonce some of the most sought after vintage dynamos are British (Sturmey-Archer)

 

try this website from hard core randos in the UK: http://www.aukweb.net/lights/index.htm

It may be more than you need. Did I say hard core? I use a Schmidt hub generator but of course you deal with a certain amount of drag generated by the hub, particularly when you turn the light on. A full blown randonneuring setup might involve a Schmidt hub powering a dual light setup (primary and secondary Schmidt E6 or Lumotec), Cateye HL530 for redundancy and finally, a Princetontec EOS helmet light.

You may be able to get by with a LED battery powered unit. Randonneurs are talking about how great the new Cateye HL530 is. Powered by 4 AAs, this sucker is bright. I just got one in today and it really seems like a nice solution to around the town, commuting type riding which you seem to be doing.

Another website which provides lots of lighting information: http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/lightingsystems.htm

Hope this helps.

Creek

 

Interesting... I own the previous model, the Cateye HL-EL500. It is also powered by 4 AAs. I've often wondered whether the manufacturer's claim that the HL530 is 50% brigher is true or perhaps exagerated. They also claim the new double shot and triple shot lights are 50% brighter than their predecessors, fact or fiction? I have mostly used the HL500 as a back-up light, but that was on unlit country roads where I use a halogen. Such a light will operate on 4 AAs for a number of hours, but the brightness does decrease quite rapidly as the voltage decreases. The best batteries to use are AA lithiums as made by Energizer, however they are rather expensive. Alkaline work OK, but I've heard that rechargeable bats are not so efficient in this application. If the HL530 really is that bright, I'd be tempted to get one and just use my old HL500 as a flashlight . Thing is, this technology seems to be moving so fast that Cateye may have yet another model out in a year or so that may be even brighter. A big step forward IMO would be reducing the number of batteries needed from 4 to say 2 or 3.

Concerning dynamo lights, a Swiss company called LightSpin make a tyre-powered unit that seems to have good reviews.