Dynamo



Chuckabutty

Well-Known Member
Jun 21, 2018
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I snagged a free bike, yesterday. Nothing great and it was in need of work. In stripping it down, I noticed this dynamo mounted where the bike side stand is mounted. I've seen hub dynamos and bottle dynamos but nothing like this one, before. It has a short wire with a connector, and a lever to move it against the tire when needed.

I was wondering if anyone else has seen one like it.

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I snagged a free bike, yesterday. Nothing great and it was in need of work. In stripping it down, I noticed this dynamo mounted where the bike side stand is mounted. I've seen hub dynamos and bottle dynamos but nothing like this one, before. It has a short wire with a connector, and a lever to move it against the tire when needed.

I was wondering if anyone else has seen one like it.

View attachment 3210
Yes, these used to be fairly common way back when. The trouble is that they wear a tire out in no time and they make pedaling really hard if you are running old fashion lights though I would expect that if you use the new LED lights that it couldn't hurt the pedaling all that much. Those things used to be mounted on long wheelbase bikes like the old Schwinn coaster bikes.
 
Yes, these used to be fairly common way back when. The trouble is that they wear a tire out in no time and they make pedaling really hard if you are running old fashion lights though I would expect that if you use the new LED lights that it couldn't hurt the pedaling all that much. Those things used to be mounted on long wheelbase bikes like the old Schwinn coaster bikes.
Thanks, Tom! I used to have a bottle dynamo when I was a young teen, and it was quite a drag on the back wheel, so I ended up using battery-powered lights.

LED lights are a blessing. I just installed front and back LED lights on my wife's golf car, switching from the old 6 volt lamps to the newer 12 volt LEDS. Back when I was a teen, I remember how great it felt to get a new battery for my front light because I couldn't afford to get one every time it was needed. We've come a long way with lights for all purposes.
 
There much better bottle dynamos on the market now if that's what you want, and they don't wear out the tires as fast as they use to either AS LONG as it's properly adjusted which they come with instructions to do that right. See: https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/dynamos/left-busch-muller-dymotec-6-sidewall-bottle-dynamo/?geoc=US. Of course with these types of devices you need to make sure you match up the light to the generator which means a 6 volt 3 watt light is what you'll need. While the bottle dynamos are not as good as the hub ones for long at night rides or to charge other devices up with while you ride, they are a lot cheaper.

Here's another site that explains the Dymotec 6 further as well as which lights it works best with: https://www.peterwhitecycles.com/dymotec.php
 
There much better bottle dynamos on the market now if that's what you want,
I was just curious about the dynamo that I pictured. For me, dynamos are ancient relics even if people still use them. I have rechargeable LED lights on my bikes.
 
Same free bike but different problem. It was a wreck when I got it: Bent frame, wobbly back wheel, no saddle, and saddle stem stuck in the seat tube. Put a saddle and better handlebars on it, and a new chain. Fixed the wheel and straightened the frame. Cleaned it up and took it for a ride only to discover the hub gear is stuck in third. The push rod moves in an out but it doesn't do anything. It's not a Sturmey Archer. Unless I can get a cheap (I mean free) wheel with a single speed, it's going to be junk. I already had the saddle, chain and handlebars so I'll remove them and recycle the rest of it. It's not worth spending money on it, it seems. It's a 'Free Spirit' brand and was probably the cheapest of cheap bikes a few decades ago.
 
Wow. A blast from the past. I had a touring bike back in the 80s that Mike Barry in Toronto outfitted with the same generator. Very efficient, easy to use. I will respectfully dispute two points presented on this thread. One is that it will wear your tire out quickly. It can be adjusted for pressure ( you don’t have need much to make it work effectively) and after years of use My rear tire never wore out faster than its partner. Second, dynamos or generators are still popular in Europe, at least for commuting. A bit heavy? Yeah. So perhaps most suitable for casual riding and commuting. But on my commuter bike, I leave it running all the time. Very bright - and No battery to wear out!
 
Lube up the hub. You can drip oil into the end of the axle if it doesn't have a fill plug. Any oil will work but motor oil or manual transmission oil is best. Remove the shift rod or chain, clean out any grit, and drip the oil in with a cleaned nail dipped in oil or with a drugstore eyedropper.

If that doesn't work, try niagaracycle.com. They and other online retailers used to have 3 speed wheels with 26x1-3/8 rims on them a few years ago. Maybe they still do. Maybe they have other old fashioned sizes.

Don't pour too much money into the thing. If you like old 3 speeds, there are nicer ones on ebay or craigslist. You could probably get a lighter better frame which hasn't been bent and rides smooth if you wanted to.
 
I was just curious about the dynamo that I pictured. For me, dynamos are ancient relics even if people still use them. I have rechargeable LED lights on my bikes.

I don't think their relics, the newer better ones I think serve a purpose especially for short mileage commuters. But I agree, I think rechargeable lights would be better, but mostly because they are far brighter than dynamo lights, but they are still being sold so there are people out there that still like them and use them.
 
Lube up the hub. You can drip oil into the end of the axle if it doesn't have a fill plug. Any oil will work but motor oil or manual transmission oil is best. Remove the shift rod or chain, clean out any grit, and drip the oil in with a cleaned nail dipped in oil or with a drugstore eyedropper.

If that doesn't work, try niagaracycle.com. They and other online retailers used to have 3 speed wheels with 26x1-3/8 rims on them a few years ago. Maybe they still do. Maybe they have other old fashioned sizes.

Don't pour too much money into the thing. If you like old 3 speeds, there are nicer ones on ebay or craigslist. You could probably get a lighter better frame which hasn't been bent and rides smooth if you wanted to.
Thanks. I'll give lubing it a try, and I'll let you know what happens.

I'm not fond of three-speed bikes. I just happened to get this one because it was free, and it would give me something do, being that I'm retired and have the time to work on a bike.
 
I don't think their relics, the newer better ones I think serve a purpose especially for short mileage commuters. But I agree, I think rechargeable lights would be better, but mostly because they are far brighter than dynamo lights, but they are still being sold so there are people out there that still like them and use them.
I haven't forgotten how the bottle dynamo used to drag, even though it was nearly sixty years ago. I'm too old to be putting extra energy into powering a dynamo.
 
Lube up the hub. You can drip oil into the end of the axle if it doesn't have a fill plug. ....
I did that, and spun the back wheel for a while. Let it sit overnight. Still no joy. Let it sit for a second day. Still no good. Looked for a used wheel with either a 3-speed hub gear or a single speed. The only thing I could find was someone on Craigslist who had an assortment of old wheels for $5 each, but he's 58 miles away.

There's a guy who rebuilds hub gears from around $80 upward. A new one is out of the question, too. I removed it from the hub and think I found the problem. A small part had come out and gotten chewed up. The push rod would have actuated it and that's why it wasn't doing anything.

So, out came the reciprocating saw and chopped the bike up after retrieving the good saddle and handlebars I'd put on it. It was a fun project while it lasted.
 
Must have been a 333 hub.

Not to take the last word from you, and by the sounds of things you're making the right choice by disposing of the old junker, but another option to fix a 3 speed wheelset would be to buy a new 3 speed hub and lace it into your rim. If you follow instructions fairly closely it can be no big deal. However, for a while there, no one would break up a box of UCP spokes so you had to buy two boxes for one wheel or pay $1 a spoke for good stainless ones and the project could get too expensive.
 
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Must have been a 333 hub.

Not to take the last word from you, and by the sounds of things you're making the right choice by disposing of the old junker, but another option to fix a 3 speed wheelset would be to buy a new 3 speed hub and lace it into your rim. If you follow instructions fairly closely it can be no big deal. However, for a while there, no one would break up a box of UCP spokes so you had to buy two boxes for one wheel or pay $1 a spoke for good stainless ones and the project could get too expensive.
I was hoping to get it running and let it go cheap, maybe $10, to someone who needs a bike. My wife suggested putting it in our upcoming yard sale, as is, but I don't like the idea of someone taking the bike away, thinking they can get it fixed cheaply. If they have access to a wheel with a working hub gear, that would have been okay. Or I could have just given it away at a yard sale but I don't like giving someone a problem. Next time I get a free bike, I'll look it over more carefully. :)
 
I snagged a free bike, yesterday. Nothing great and it was in need of work. In stripping it down, I noticed this dynamo mounted where the bike side stand is mounted. I've seen hub dynamos and bottle dynamos but nothing like this one, before. It has a short wire with a connector, and a lever to move it against the tire when needed.

I was wondering if anyone else has seen one like it.

View attachment 3210
great equipment
thanx for your post
the photo is good!!!
 
Must have been a 333 hub.

Not to take the last word from you, and by the sounds of things you're making the right choice by disposing of the old junker, but another option to fix a 3 speed wheelset would be to buy a new 3 speed hub and lace it into your rim. If you follow instructions fairly closely it can be no big deal. However, for a while there, no one would break up a box of UCP spokes so you had to buy two boxes for one wheel or pay $1 a spoke for good stainless ones and the project could get too expensive.
I appreciate your imput on the 333 hub gear. I did a search and found that Shimano made this hub gear from 1957, for something over twenty years, and it was a problem due to regular failures. Apparently, the metals used were inferior and parts would disintegrate. That is precisely what I found when I pulled the internals out.

I found a used one on eBay for $31.88 plus shipping. The bike wasn't worth putting out that kind of money, and it's possible that it could fail after installing it. Shimano did make improvements to them over the years, but I have no idea what that used one on eBay would be like.