noglider 

A couple of years ago, I put a dynamo light system on my wife's bike, knowing she wouldn't use it much, if at all. She can't remember to charge stuff, and that problem is made worse if she only uses her lights once or twice a year. I used an old Sanyo under-BB dynamo because it was only about $10 at a bike swap. It makes a little less drag than a bottle dynamo and more than a hub dynamo. It is also nearly silent. I mounted a Busch & Müller Eyc T headlight to her fork crown and a Busch & Müller Toplight to her rear rack.

This past weekend, we decided to try night riding and go to the movie. We were staying at our upstate NY house in a rural area. The roads are not lit.

Her lights worked amazingly well. The Eyc light is tiny. It's so small, my wife asked me where it was. On Peter White's web site, he says it's good enough for urban riding where there are already street lights, but in my view, it's as good as anything else, and I don't you give up anything with such a small light. As White says, the beam is slightly narrow, but you might not even notice it. When riding behind her, I could see it lit up the road extremely well. When riding in front of her and looking back, it was as if a motorcycle was approaching.

She can't remember from one time to the next how to engage and disengage her dynamo, which one does by flipping the lever.

The dynamo does present some drag, requiring one to shift down a gear. But it seems to produce more power at low speed than a hub dynamo. She had to walk up a couple of hills, and the light was at full brightness with no flickering.

Headlight:



Dynamo:



I don't have a picture of the tail light.

angerdan

The Toplight isn't bad, especially when she uses her bike not often.
Today the Line model would be more interesting )
bumm.de/en/products/dynamo-rucklichter.html

noglider 

I got the Toplight used and cheap, so it was an obvious choice. It fit very nicely on her rack. It performed better than I expected. I think blinking taillights are better than steady lights, contrary to the German outlook, but this one isn't bad. I'm going to add a battery powered blinky taillight, because having more than one is good.

fietsbob

Paired the Eyc T, With the toplight Line , in place of the reflector on my M3L Brompton.

works well ... reflector was rectangular, with 2 bolts, 5cm apart,
like Tubus racks use on the back..





...

unterhausen

I need to get my eyc on a bicycle. Maybe I'll put it on the mountain bike and put the crummy supernova on the fatbike.

rifraf

I had one of those Sanyo dynamos many years ago in my youth and thought it very low drag compared to the previous bottle dynamo unit I'd had.

It did tend to slip a bit in the wet if memory serves but gave good service.

These days I'm lucky enough to have a hub dynamo as like your wife, my memory isn't good enough to remember checking batteries so I reap the rewards of a fit and forget solution.

Lights and charging have come a long way since I was young.

Congrats on your bargain prices.

noglider 

Thanks, @rifraf. I'm pathologically frugal at times. Yeah, that dynamo isn't bad. Someone said you can use friction paper, the kind people use on skateboards, to gain traction in the wet. I think that given that the likelihood of my wife riding in the rain deliberately is already low, the likelihood of her riding on a rainy night is even lower. If we take that bike on tour, I'll either put the friction tape on her dynamo or put a dynamo hub on the bike instead.

unterhausen

A friend of mine had one of those dynos when they first came out. I was really jealous, since I always used an integrated dyno/headlight and you could really feel the drag on those.

fietsbob

A UK company re manufactured the Sanyo , adding a rubber band for the tyre contact
for wet traction, and builders BITD, used a cable and lever
high on the seat tube, to move it on and off the tyre..


I just released with my toe on the lever, while riding.

stopping and resetting when I wanted it off , was next morning.