Originally Posted by
mstraus
I think part of it is that most bikes sold in the US are for recreation, not transportation or utility: roadbikes where people try to outspend others in the ridding group for the lightest bike, mountain bikes, and hybrid/town bikes used largely for recreation/exercise. These bikes are usually used in the day, so lights are an occasional after thought for most bikers in the US, hence and add-on they can buy and remove when they don't want them.
I agree. Dynamo lighting systems are usually overkill for day-time toys. Although, the age of electronic toys and the desire to keep goodies like smartphones and GPS units charged has increased the attractiveness of dynamo systems for some recreational riders (brevet riders and tourers come to mind).
Originally Posted by
noglider
The owner said the cost of adding them is pretty high, so not many customers want them badly enough to have them added
This is true, also. But the "non-bike-nuts" who ride for utility's sake might be more willing to go the dynamo route if it didn't take such an effort. Even with a low-cost dynamo, having to pay to have a custom wheel built pretty much keeps most non-bike people from seriously considering it as an option. Just the cost of the wheel-building service and spokes can get most folks a battery light that will serve their purposes.
Originally Posted by
mstraus
the American market, driven by marketing, is obsessed with more and/or bigger is better. Battery lights are marketed with higher and higher numbers of lumens - 500, 700, 1000, 1500, etc. There is little marketing about quality optics, beam patterns, or even battery life. ... or $100 for this dynamo light putting out some lower number of lumens
While the "bigger is better" marketing is certainly true, the numbers can be misleading. The big 1500 number drops down fairly fast when converting to actual lux output, just as the much smaller lux numbers increase dramatically when converting to lumens. Many consumers don't look this far, though.
Lumens to lux (lx) conversion calculator
Lux to lumens (lm) conversion calculator