Dynamo Hub: do you have one?
 

I was reading a Momentum Mag reprint about Dynamo hubs. When i got my bike i thought it sounded great, but expensive. Now about 18 months and many many lights later it is starting to seem like a good idea.

A few questions:
Do you have one?
Are the hubs essy to steal?
Do lights stay bright for the life of the hub?
Was it worththe price?
How much did it cost you?

Thanks for your help.

I just bought a SON delux dynamo for about $160 (new E-Bay). It is one of the highest rated hubs, although there are some Shimano hubs that are cheaper.
It came with a locking QR.
I haven't mounted it yet... Soon... Hub + Rim + Spokes will be a bit over $200. But, many wheels are also $200, so I wouldn't call it a particularly huge investment.

I suppose the reason I bought it is that I've got a Chinese LED headlight. Very bright (too bright?). But I always have to carry one or two spare battery packs which is a pain, and then I must make sure all my packs are charged before going out. And it is a pain for the Chinese light to just blink out when the battery pack is drained.

I still need to pick out a good headlight & taillight (although I may go with a Reelight for the rear).

As far as theft. I don't know. I'm planning on mounting it with a normal QR for easy of access. I always lock both my front and rear wheels so somebody will either have to cut my lock, or cut the hub out of the wheel which would be ambitious, especially when I only lock it at stores... never say at a campus bike rack overnight.

I have been wanting one for a while, Finally bought one couple of weeks ago, I bought it already built in a wheel, with the lights and all the hardware just ready to roll. It was a bout $350, and the light is pretty good.

I have a front dynamo and a reelight in the rear. I really like it. It is no easier to steal than any other nice wheel, and the light is fantastic. No more remembering to charge etc. I will say it is a little heavy, but I don't notice the rolling resistance at all. Overall, I think they are the best way to go in terms of long term ease of use (plus no nasty chemicals from rechargeable batteries or waste of the non-rechargeable ones).

Do you have one?
Yes
Are the hubs easy to steal?
No
Do lights stay bright for the life of the hub?
Yes. It's been about ten years and 40,000 miles so far.
Was it worth the price?
I would not want a bike without one
How much did it cost you?
I think around $400, for the whole wheel

Do you have one?
Two actually.

Are the hubs essy to steal?
I use bolt-on skewers. There are also security skewers available, but I found they have longevity issues. IME here in Upstate NY, few people know what they are to begin with, and those who do, aren't the thieving type.

Do lights stay bright for the life of the hub?
I've only been running them for five years, so I don't know yet. ;) There shouldn't be any reason why they wouldn't.

Was it worth the price?
Yes. Not in raw numbers--you can buy a lot of lights and batteries for what I've paid. It's in the peace of mind. I don't have to remember to charge batteries, they don't run out of juice mid-week, the lights bolt on to the bike so I don't have to strip it every time I park, the headlights also stay aimed where I want them no matter what, and it always just plain works. It's worth it to me for the intangibles like these.

How much did it cost you?
I run the Shimano DH-S501 which I need for disc brake compatibility. I paid $149, but there's been a price drop since then. Amazon has them for $99 now. The bigger cost is having the wheel built and I have expensive tastes in rims and spokes, and I can't build the wheel myself, so there's labor too. Acidfast keeps track of inexpensive fully-built dynamo wheels. I'm sure he'll chime in with a price better than what I paid for a hub alone.

As for the lights, the prices are all over the place. You can get a really decent headlight for about $80, or you can go over $200. Some people prefer to deal with Peter White stateside. I refer folks to bike24.de. (Remember that when you change the destination to US, the European VAT comes off the price.) It's German stuff, so I buy from Germany. It's less expensive, the shipping is reasonable, and when I had a warranty issue, they handled it promptly and perfectly all by e-mail.

Do you have one? Had one. Sold it a few years ago.

Are the hubs easy to steal? No easier or harder than a normal QR hub. If you're concerned about security, I would suggest a locking skewer.

Do the lights stay bright for the life of the hub? I don't see why they wouldn't. I had mine just before LED lights really took over, so I had a pretty basic halogen light. It was bright enough for the kinds of speeds I was riding.

Was it worth the price? That's a difficult question to answer. At the time, it worked out well. I pretty much rode mostly the one bike, and always having a light available without worrying about charging was pretty neat. At the time, battery-powered halogen lights were pretty terrible. But on the other hand, it was a lot pricier. These days, I have multiple bikes I might choose to commute on, and the relative immobility of a dynamo light is an inconvenience. And battery-powered lights are simply a lot more powerful for the money. Yes, optics and beam pattern, blah blah blah - there's something to be said for raw power, and you can get good optics AND higher power from a battery light. But with one dedicated commuter bike, never having to worry about charging the battery is definitely worth a lot. I wouldn't bother with one now, but I was happy with it when I had it.

How much did it cost you? Honestly, I don't remember. I had one of the basic Shimano hubs and basic Shimano halogen light to go along with it. Definitely a budget build, I was in college after all. I think it was somewhere around $250-$300 all together. You can put together a better system these days for that same money.

4, 3 SON, 1 in a wheel not in a bike, & 1 Shimano-Brompton wheel.. displacing the stock wheel,

Schmidt includes a hex key skewer. . pit lock skewers make even that a non hex wrench fitting.

I moved away from places with traffic in stolen bike parts.




My Koga Has a Ring lock and a 1.4M chain to lock both wheels and the bike up to something solid.

I have a Shimano. It came with the wheel already built for a hundred bucks in 2012, I just paid for them to add a brake disk. I guess it would be easy to steal, though sometimes I can loop my lock through it and through my frame. I should get some of those locking skewers the other posters are talking about, as I haven't removed my front wheel in a couple of years so I don't see how it would be inconvenient.

So far I have a bit over 5,000 miles on it and it and the LightsOn head and tail light set I bought separately all work fine.

I have the SON Dyno hub, i had the wheel built by Peter White. I have over 25,000 miles on it so far, and no problems. I use the Edulux LED light and Topline Brake light plus a USB charger. All still going strong. Price didn't matter much to me, it's the convenience that's important. Never have to worry about batteries or panicking because it's getting dark. They can be serviced / rebuilt by Peter If that ever becomes necessary

Yes, on my dedicated commuter bike, it serves as a "minimum legal light"
Generally no
It never was bright; but if does light and seems to be long lasting. Aside from being dim is also takes about about a half, to a full, block to turn on. i suspect it has to do with the capacitors intended to insure that the light continues to glow when stopped.
It came with the bike; but I feel that REI made the right move to go away from the dyno-light on the Gotham the year after I got mine.

This is my third dyno-light (right, I keep trying). I can't see myself ever getting another.
It came with the bike; however, I have added a magic chine clone with a defuser (less than $30) so that I can have a suitable light for riding on the street.


I do like having it so i have a light that I can just leave on all of the time. But it really isn't a very good light.

the shipping is reasonable, and when I had a warranty issue, they handled it promptly and perfectly all by e-mail.[/QUOTE]

Good too know.
Cheers,
David in Alaska

If you do a search you'll find considerable info on them on this forum.

FWIW... We have 5 bikes with dynamo hubs, all are Dutch made and all have Shimano hubs and B&M front and rear lights. Some are brighter than others, can't remember which is which.

We have 5 bikes with Nordlicht bottle dynamo's along w/ front and rear lights that are a mixture of B&M and Phillips. Most came from Lights

I have a drawer of battery powered lights of which none have been used in some years. You can guess my thoughts on dynamo's.

Thinking of theft.

I've got about a $50 battery powered light that is held on with a rubber band, and a battery pack that is held on with velcro. It is bright, but cheap, relatively speaking.

It would take seconds to relieve me of the burden of carrying lights on my bike.

On the other hand, the dynamo hub will be built into a wheel, and locked 99% of the time when I'm out and about. And I presume I'll bolt down the lights. There should be much lower risk of theft./

Yes.
If you take the wheel, you take the hub. If you mean remove from the wheel, all you need is time and some heavy duty wire snips.
Lumens can decrease with bulb age, nothing to do wit the hub.
Came stock on the bike, so yes.
Included with bike as standard spec.

- Andy

Actually, two, on SON and one Shimano.

SON comes with a skewer that requires an allen wrench to remove. If a thief has time, he might notice there's a multi-tool in my seat pack. For more than a quick run into a store for a drink or snack, I'll lock the front wheel and frame to something solid.

Don't know, after 3 and 4 years I haven't reached the life of either hub. I have noticed that brighter lights are available now than when I bought mine, but what I have still works quite nicely for my riding -- dark roads, to suburbs, to downtown. Good LED lights have stupid long lifetimes.

Absolutely. Long night time rides are possible that weren't with my previous battery-powered lights. Since the lights and wheel are mounted to the bike, I don't have to worry about work meetings running long in the spring and fall, or forgetting to charge batteries, or finding out that the battery won't holod a charge -- all of which I experienced before.

You can get into the game for $200-300, or you can spend $700. How much do you got?

Thanks for the tips everyone!

Many of you mentioned skewers. I already have pinhead locking skewers, are these sufficient?

Honestly I ride my bike on the weekend mostly for errands. So this means, if I plan to ride at night I have to remember to charge the lights for enough time and make room in my purse all day.

And I haven't been happy with the different lights I have purchased for a myriad of reasons. Battery life, looks, charging convenience.

It sounds like making the investment is the way to go as it'll save me in the long run and make it less worrisome to ride.

I don't need to go all out. A lower end hub should be sufficient. I typically ride 5 miles each way max and maybe hit 50 miles in a month (most of my destinations are close).

I paid $99 for the hub and wheel below about 4 years ago:

Alex Dynamo wheel 36H-700c, silver/silver

It looks like they have had a price increase of $20 in 4 years. It was easy to install. I bought B&M headlight and tail light from clever cycles also. Has worked perfect from day one. It's probably one of the bottom of the line Shimano dynamos but there are no issues other than it probably has a bit more drag than more expensive dynamo hubs. It's been extremely reliable. I've never serviced the hub in 4 years. It spends a lot of time commuting in the rain. Do it.

My blog post should answer most of your questions. As the post says, cost was $160. I've been so pleased with the system that my only regret is not building it sooner. The light system is one of the reasons I choose this bike from among my too many other bikes. I have 100% confidence that the lights will work whenever I ride. I even leave the lights on in the day because I can't feel the drag, and I figure it can't hurt, and it could help me be seen.

The system I describe in my post, cited above, cost $160, but that doesn't count the labor to build the wheel. I build my own wheels, and it's something I enjoy doing. Since I wrote that post, I found that you can get pre-built wheels at great prices. There is one with the Sanyo hub for only around $100. Paying extra for a Shimano hub might be worth it. The Shimano hub has less drag, especially when not delivering electrical power. I went cheap, and I don't regret it, but I don't blame anyone for paying more for something better.

The European-spec lights work great for me. The actual power output is low, and they compensate for that by designing the optics very painstakingly. The light is clear and commanding. By commanding, I mean it is so well focused that I get a lot of respect from pedestrians that I didn't get with less serious-looking lights. Because German law is strict about beam shape, there is a sharp cutoff at the top of the beam. This reduces the likelihood of shining into people's eyes, and it also directs more light where you actually need it.

I don't lock my bike up in public for long periods, but I do lock it up occasionally. I was once the target of vandalism. The vandal tried to remove my headlight, but he didn't have any tools. All he did was bend the mount and remove the lens. I've been living without the lens. I was able to bend the mount back into shape, so my loss was negligible. So one unexpected benefit of dynamo-powered lights is that the lights are bolted onto the bike rather than clamped on. Thieves could steal them, but in general, bike thieves don't. It's not rational of them to leave stuff like this, because for just a little effort, they could get themselves some nice lights. But we can't use rationality to predict their behavior. Rather, we just have to observe how they operate. Interestingly, I notice they don't cut cheap cables if the payoff is just one wheel. I often lock my frame and rear wheel with a U-lock, and I lock my front wheel to my frame with a cheap cable lock. I have never lost a wheel that way. It would be easy for a thief, and thieves do carry cable cutters, whereas they often don't seem to carry wrenches.

Pinhead skewers should be sufficient to secure your wheel, though there is no guarantee. A lot depends on where you lock your bike and for how long and how regularly. In NYC, bike theft and vandalism is rampant, yet dynamo lights don't seem to be a target for the thieves. There are one or two bikes locked up near my home 24 hours a day that have dynamo lights. The lights haven't been stolen! I don't understand it, but it's a useful observation.

You might want to secure your lights with some weird theft-proof nuts. I've thought of it, but I haven't bothered, at least not yet.

A common comment after people go dyno. :-)

I know, and this is why evangelism is so strident. We born-again zealots want to share the gospel so others can enjoy it and repeat the "I wish I had done it sooner" line.

Is this normal? Riding for a block with no light is plenty of opportunity to get run over.

We had a neighbor who wanted a new bike to replace her older cross/mtn bike. 90% of her riding is a couple of miles to meet friends for coffee and the rest is riding from her house to a local paved rail trail with friends. I suggested an Omafiets. No way, she wanted a real bike. She went through 3 bikes in four years and borrowed one of our omafiets for a few days while hers was in the shop and then ordered. "I wish I'd known about these sooner!" Hah!

Well, I wouldn't go that far. :lol: I'm happy to see people riding these, but they're not for me!