I have a Shimano hub and I can pretty much not tell if it is on or off unless I have slicks on and am riding on a very smooth road. The extra effort to generate the 3 Watts at 6 Volts is just about negligable.

Sure Lance Amstrong would notice it if he were to use it in a time trial... but I ride on a bike setup for full commuting that means I carry the following: fenders, rear rack, front head light, 2 rear lights, 3 water bottles (my drinks for the day), a can of pop, a sandwich, two pieces or fuit, a snack, a clean shirt and socks, a spare tire, tire patch kit, mini-tool kit, pump, rain gear, all between a handlebar bag and a set of rear pannier bags. You think I'd notice a little extra friction. During the winter I am running Nokia W106 winter tires as well. Those tires add some serious friction, but worth it!

I think the idea of having front and rear supplementary lights that will always operate is a great idea. If they indeed have added a capacitor to provide a "stand light" feature, that would be fantastic. No more batteries to deal with. I obviously like making my own light as I added a Shimano generator hub to my bike. I think adding these to every bike would be a HUGE improvement in over all safety. The vast majority of cyclists I see out from Dusk to Down (including most "serious cyclists) have no lights of any soft on their bikes and seeing them is pretty much based purely on the hope that a car's head lights will reflect enough light back to have them be seen. I could not be suprised if something this simple could help reduce night time cycling deaths by at least 25%. I bet 95% or more of all night time deaths are with cyclists that have no active lights on at the time of the collision.

Happy riding,
André

I personally think the idea of perman