Originally Posted by
Tourist in MSN
Paint looks very good for that era. Chrome looks like new. Looks like an old coaster brake single speed. Small womens model.
Since you are working to keep it original, then picking up another bottle dynamo out of a spares box at a bike coop or charity would be unlikely to provide the right brand and model. Plus, those usually were for the front wheel with built in light.
Headlamp looks like a battery model, not a dyno powered one. Dyno powered lights do not need a switch, you move it away from the tire to turn it off.
Nice project.
Thank you. It took some elbow grease, crumpled aluminum foil and quite a bit of Simple Green to get the rust off of the fenders, crank, handlebars and wheels. But it has been worth it. It is a yellow band Bendix 2 speed with coaster brake. It has a headlamp and tail lamp. I left the dynamo where it was originally to minimize any further damage to the paint. The switch for the headlamp is for high beam and low beam.
Originally Posted by
steelbikeguy
I've got an old Schwinn dynamo light set in my parts box, and maybe it can be a helpful reference.
It uses the dynamo body, brackets, and the bike frame for the "ground" connection, which is a potential source of troubles.
The other connection is through a weird terminal in the bottom of the dynamo that is shaped like a cup, and relies on shoving in wire and hoping it contacts it. I think perhaps you are supposed to wrap the bare copper wire around the little post in the plastic plug that gets shoved into the cup? As someone who has worked with electrical connectors for decades, it is hard to think of a worse way to make a connection.
This has a slightly different but possibly better connection arrangement. I agree that overall though, it is not an optimal contact arrangement. I have about 36 years of electrical experience as well which is why I'm bothered that something as simple as this is kicking my keister. If I find time this weekend, I'm going to do some more experimentation which may involve spinning it with a cordless drill to RPMs greater than this old Breeze will ever give it and see what happens.
