Originally Posted by
gugie
SON and SP have least turning resistance.
Is this based on your personal experience, or some published source?
According to the sources I have read (
here and
also here), the SP hubs have more drag above 20km/h, with the lights on. And some old Shimanos (3N30, 3N70) have the same drag as the old SON28 (BQ Vol. 3 #4).
I've got a bunch of different Shimanos, old (3N30) and new (S500), and a Sturmey (XL-FDD) and I can't feel a difference between any of them, lights on or off. Some resonate with some frames and make a slight buzzing when the lights are on, but that's all I notice.
Telling the difference between dynamo hubs' resistance by riding them seems a bit like that old fairy tale,
"the princess and the pea" to me.