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Old 02-11-25 | 12:22 PM
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tcs
Palmer
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Joined: Mar 2007
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From: Parts Unknown

Bikes: Mike Melton custom, Alex Moulton AM, Dahon Curl

Magnic Microlights arrived, installed

The Microlights I ordered in mid-July arrived last week.

!

The quad microlight set:




I was interested in these because I have a folding bike that's basically impossible to install a hub or bottle dynamo on. Aaaaaand the bike has 16" wheels. I found installing these on such a small-wheeled bike problematic. I eventually gave up and put them on a different bike just to evaluate them. Fine, everybody else is probably installing them on a large-wheel bike, so





Hmm. Well, right, there's no discernable drag just as advertised, so they've got that going for them. Absolutely silent in operation. You have to mount these close to the rim to get the most out of the eddy current. Subsequently, the brakes actuate in the initial movement of the lever rather than mid-travel or close to the bars. YMMV, but I didn't really like that.

Output: the headlights are a big meh. Hey, in 1975, these would have been veritable lighthouses of photons, but time moves on. Magnic indicates in their advertising that the output of a pair of these is somewhere between 20 and 40 lux, and yeah, to my uncalibrated eyes that's about right. Compared to even my modest modern LED battery lights, the MagnicLights are relatively feeble and left me wanting. Nice StVZO-compliant beam shape, though. I'd rate them useable for only some riders, depending on their personal night-riding environment. Tailights are steady only as StVZO requires, but the output is fine for a taillight. The taillights have persistence, too.
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