zacster

Why is it every time I read up on this hub I think maybe I'll just buy one of the $95 wheels and give it a try, and then someone comes up with trouble. If they had a 26" mtb version I'd have probably gotten one anyway to use on my commuter, but the 700c version would have to work pretty flawlessly for me to use it on my road bike.

belacqua

For the record: I've had a couple more days to evaluate the wheel, one of the $95 jobs from IDC (a vendor I've been very happy with over the past year.)

The wheel looks great and it's dead true. I've compared the drag on the H27 to that on my Alfine dynamo and they seem more or less equivalent.

I took it out on a fast ride last night and it didn't slow me down--actually I posted my best avg. speed on the route so far.

I think the reason I was surprised by the vibration and drag when I first mounted the H27 on my FG is that the steel fork and 28c (michelin city tire) transmit a LOT more to the rider. My commuter, running the alfine/dyad wheel, feels much smoother probably because of the carbon fork and 32c michelin citys.

On other factor is that accelerating from a standstill at 70 gear inches on my FG, I'm a lot more sensitive to any form of resistance, real or imagined. My commuter is a compact double and I always have more than enough torque.

I will continue to evaluate the setup but so far I can recommend it.

DiegoFrogs

I've been really happy with my $95 wheel, too. Probably rode it 500 miles or so (some before I got the lighting and installed it). I was a little worried about the unknown rim, and then after I received it that the hub doesn't actually have Sanyo's name on it anywhere, but I'm glad I bought it.

I may end up moving soon to Sweden, and it'll come in really handy there since I won't be bringing or buying a car and it's horribly dark in the winter.

zacster

And cold...

hoppydc

Hello, I'm bumping this old thread and I'm hoping some longtime riders with a Sanyo H27 can provide some advice about the longterm durability of this hub, especially if you ride in wet conditions.

I'm considering buying a wheel with a Sanyo H27 dynamo hub ($50 USD) but my dealer is encouraging me to get the superior and more expensive Schmidt SON hub ($250 USD) because he says it has better water protection.

I will use this wheel to commute year-round to work in all conditions (10 km each way) and I live near Washington DC which does have rain and moisture. Maybe not as much as Houston or Seattle, but more than Phoenix. At home, my bike is inside and in the day at work it is outside but in a covered garage, so it's not getting rained on but it is the humid outside air.

He is suggesting that the Sanyo is more vulnerable to water corrosion inside the hub compared to the SON which is more water-resistant.

I get what he's saying but I'm trying to save $200.

Thanks for any tips.

danmyersmn

I have had zero issues with my Hub to date. I live in South Carolina and the humidity is extreme all summer long but I don't ride in the rain. You could buy 5 Sanyo's for one Schmidt? Was your dealer able to show you a stack of dead Sanyo's that gave up the ghost to moisture?

noglider 

@hoppydc, I've been riding a Sanyo hub for years without a lick of trouble.

If you want something nicer, get an SP hub. It costs less than a Schmidt.

It drives me crazy that virtually every dynamo hub brand name starts with 'S': Schmidt, SP, Sanyo, and Shimano. I have trouble keeping them straight.

VegasTriker

To Hoppydc: It seems as though your dealer is more concerned with his profit margin than with your bike. If you google one "Problems with Sanyo H27 hub" no negative information shows up. That's a pretty good indication the hub is good. The fact that Peter White Cycles recommends it as a low-cost solution to lighting is also a plus. It wouldn't be there if it was a problem.

Just a hint - in future posts where the thread is very old, start a new thread and give a link to the old one which you can do by just copying the address at the top of the page for the old post. It would look like this https://www.bikeforums.net/electroni...ts-please.html It saves the reader from having to wade through pages of out-of-date information to reach your question.

hoppydc

Dan, Tom and Vegas, thanks for the tips on the H27. I'm going to go ahead with the purchase. With just about anything you buy, it's not hard to talk yourself into thinking it's not good enough and you need to upgrade to something better. Based on your posts and reading what some others wrote in the thread, I'll resist the upgrade urge.

As for bumping an old post, sorry if that's bad form. It's been bumped several times already so I thought that adding more to it could actually make this thread more valuable as a sort of knowledge-base post, given that there's very little information about the H27 on the internet (at least in English).

dscheidt

On the other hand, he wouldn't bring me out of the woodwork if he did that. I've got an H27. Had it for six years now. Works fine. It's only got about 5K miles on it though, in all sorts of Chicago weather. It's no longer my commuter, so it doesn't get too many miles these days.

DAME

I've had mine since I've started this thread. It's been a good hub and held up to abuse. I'm a fair weather rider/commuter but have been caught in plenty of storms with it. No issues here.

I also ride quite a bit in sandy conditions and have had no issues. SON's are nice, but pricey. The H27 should fit the bill if you're not going cross country. Worst case, you get the Sanyo and upgrade to the SON later.

Good luck!

hoppydc

dscheidt and DAME, thanks for your replies. You've making me feel better about the choice of the Sanyo H27. Dame, it's great that you are still riding that hub 6 years after starting this thread! I'll try to remember to post back here in 6 years with my findings ;-)

fietsbob

Just an issue with the plug, used by SP, Sanyo Shimano, Sturmey Archer , mine shook loose JRA in town, many times

Shimano plug with B&M twin lead, the wire is too thin so the plug is loose fitting..

thicker wire spliced onto the very end may help. push onto the hub contact with more friction, so would be more secure..

contrary anecdotes inevitably will follow...









....

dscheidt

Never had that problem on either the Sanyo or the Shimano hubs I have.

unterhausen

I have 3 of these hubs. Quite a few miles on them. To me, a dyno hub is an investment, so I don't mind spending more, but on my commuter I don't spend a lot of money.

I have an old SON that might go on my next commuter though.

At the risk of jinxing myself, I have never had an issue with this or a Shimano connector. Not like my friend that keeps toasting his SON connectors when he forgets about them while taking off his wheel.

DiegoFrogs

To be clear, the Sanyo uses a connector that is different from the Shimano and SP hubs.

The Shimano style clips two pieces together, which makes the connector somewhat 'captured' onto the wire, and then the connector assembly can be pushed onto or removed from the hub. The Sanyo one has a piece that the wires wrap through, then that's pushed onto the hub. I was worried that this would be a problem when I bought my hub 4 years ago, and so I bought a couple extra connectors when I bought my lights. I don't often remove the wheel, but it hasn't been a problem at all.

If I had known how much I'd like dynamos and the lights, I'd have probably bought a nicer hub. It was a great way to dip my toes in the water, though. Here in Europe it's possible to get wheels with nicer Shimano hubs for about $60-70. I also have a really cheap 2.4 watt Shimano on my 40 pound city bike that I beat on without any caution, and it hasn't been a problem in the 3.5 years that I've had it. I run a cheap battery-driven taillight on that bike.

FunkyStickman

Just wanted to chime in... my Sanyo H27 is still working fine, 7 years in. Rain or shine, no problems to speak of. Probably have 7,000 miles on it or so. Never had to touch it.

(EDIT)
For what it's worth, whoever was asking about the H27 working on 26" wheels, my LHT is running 26x1.5's. Makes no difference whatsoever.

hoppydc

Thanks all! Thanks to the reassuring words from many of you, I did buy a wheel with a Sanyo H27 (although the hub actually says Panasonic?) and I've been happily riding it for a little more than a month. I'll try to write back in a year or two with an update...

Also, fwiw, my H27 is also running on 26" wheels with 2" tires, on a Trek 930.

ThermionicScott 

I dig that this thread keeps getting bumped with long-term reports. Thinking about getting one of those cheap Sanyo 26" wheels for my fixed-gear so that I won't need to keep recharging its lights. Might even spring for a dyno taillight, we'll see.

noglider 

Do it. You won't regret it. Lean your budget towards the headlight. The dynamo and tail light matter less, and if you skimp, it's not such a bad thing. But get a good headlight.

ThermionicScott 

I'm converting my fleet to dyno lighting, but slowly. The main holdup is that I hate rendering perfectly good front wheels redundant, and if I were to build up the wheel myself with one of those Sanyo hubs, I probably wouldn't end up reusing anything from the old wheel.

noglider 

Yes, I'm developing a large surplus of front wheels. It's a shame. I did built one of my dynamo wheels (out of three), but not reusing a rim from the previous wheel.

ThermionicScott 

Yeah, at least if I can reuse a rim, I don't feel quite as wasteful. The current Weinmann 522 has plenty of life left in the sidewalls, but it has that slightly pulsed braking from the machined welds, and I'm also not keen on staying with 36-spoke parts just to match it.

noglider 

Good riddance of that rim. Time for something better.

AZORCH

Dang, this thread just keeps on going...sort of like my Sanyo hub. (Like how smoothly I did that transition there?)

Just to chime in, I've had my hub/wheel combo on three bikes now over the past - what? Maybe seven or eight years? Maybe even longer. I got a ton of mileage out of it on my Boulder, and it's been on my International for at least a couple years now still getting lots of regular use.