If I decide to go with a Dyno-Hub, I'm wondering what a good and cost effective way would be to go about it. Should I get a custom rim built around one, or see if I can find a place to use my current rim to build one?

My bike is a 2016 Novara - Safari, and the rims are 36h Alex ATD 470.

What are some businesses where I can either get my current rim fitted with one, or get a rim built around one at a reasonable price, and with good quality and a good reputation?

A bike shop.

...or universal cycles online.

When I bought one I got a custom wheel made. Then when I changed bikes I was able to sell the bike with the original front wheel and keep my dyno wheel. So it depends if this is your forever bike, or you see yourself upgrading eventually.

I live over here in Illinois and I will build you a wheel for 40.00 labor. The rim is usually reusable. The spokes not so much. If you go with wheelsmith I can get them for a reasonable price. Contact me if you want one built and we can discuss options. Be glad to give references. I love getting folks into dyno setups.

One fairly affordable option is to buy a pre-built dynamo hub wheel. A quick search of the internet shows that for $150 to $200 you can purchase a decent quality 36 hole touring front wheel with dynamo hub built in. Once you get the wheel, you can take it to your LBS for truing and tensioning and you will be good to go. Some here may insist that you need a hand built wheel. That is fine but more expensive. For touring, you can do fine with a ready made wheel purchased off the internet as long as you have it tuned up at your LBS.

+1

Yes, hard to beat the prices on pre-built dyno hub wheels. Bought (3) mine on Amazon (Taylor Wheels) for about $100 includes free shipping (from Germany)...Shimano Nexus dynos. Just needed tensioning and truing, but thats expected. Prices go up if you want Mavic rims instead of Rigida (now known as Ryde), but find the Rigida ZAC 2000 rims are decent quality that can take a lot of abuse and handle heavy loads. Check around the net for deals, Taylor Wheels hasn't listed anything at Amazon for months and their website ordering charges shipping.

But if you want SP or Son dynos and/or want double or triple butted spokes and/or new rim, the total costs go up for the parts and possibly labor.

Shimano Is what you will find in Whole sale distributor built wheels . Best price because they get all the parts from manufacturers .

Bike shops Buy from the wholesalers.

They work OK .The plug a bit insecure. In my sample..

I'm interested in the Son28 and a 36h rim of at least the same or better quality than what's on there now, and in matching black of course.

Peter White Cycles in NH Is North American distributor-importer of Schmidt hubs and is a custom wheel Builder ..

Lighting systems

OK thanks, I'll get in touch there.

Yes, If you're interested in the Son hub look up Peter White cycles.

So how well do the dynamo hubs work? The bottle generators I have used in the past add noticeable drag and noise. Is it the same with a hub? Also, how much can you actually run off of them? They seem to commonly be 6V/3W, 500mA doesn't seem like a lot of output for anything but an LED light set. Are people actually charging electronics off of them?

I usually start charging my head lamp from the night before at 9am, that takes two hours. Then my bluetooth music thingy, another 1-2 hours. Then in the afternoon top up my phone, 2-3 hours. On my last trip I had 2 phones, not with overly large batteries, but managed to keep them both okay using the dyno hub. That being said, I am a very light phone user. It's more about the ride...

Cost too much. Not enough electricity. Very seldom are you more than a day away from an electric outlet. And if you are, you probably don't have phone service and really don't need electricity. My external battery covers my needs with a once or twice a week charge. I don't need a dyno for night riding. I don't do that often enough. There's better places on the bicycle or the tour to spend the money on.

Last time I was out on a day ride I used my phone as a GPS. I had it hooked up to my battery bank and that worked out great. I wonder if plugging the dyno-hub output to the battery bank, and then the phone to the battery bank, while leaving the phone on as a GPS during the day, would work out or not? Would I run a deficit or come out even?

I ride day or night and my lights are always on. The dyno runs head and taillights that are very bright. I use an AxA pico30 and a spaninga taillight with the stand light feature. I now have this setup on both my bikes and will never go back to batteries. My dyno is a cheap Sanyo and I can't feel any undo drag at all. Its orders of magnitude better than a bottle in that regard. I put about 3000 miles on my bikes this year and almost all of those miles were with the Sanyo h27.

Why would you bring a battery bank and a dyno hub?
Is it dyno or dyna hub?

dynamo .. alternator .. AC output.

The hub charges the battery. The battery charges multiple devices (cell, lights, norebook, camera, etc)

small trickle charging wont recharge bigger drain like tablets & Notebooks.

battery once charged, may .

Read the specs on your device for power consumption, running..

This isnt quite inline with the OPs question, Squeezie, but I have to admit that you make a point that resonates with me. I bike to get away from technology. Bringing more along only gives me more to take care of and worry about. I can barely remember how to take care of myself let alone the burden of caring for a plethora of electronic garbage that truly isnt needed.

To answer the OP's question - I would go with a SON, and have it handmade at my LBS. I would go with a new rim. Hard telling how many bumps and ruts and LBS tweakers cranking on the spokes your front wheel has been through. Best leave it relaxed and the way it is. A new rim isnt that much more of a monetary stretch. Buy once - cry once.

I have a brand new 36h shimano xt disc dyno hub for sale. Pm me if interested.

I f you are touring where putting the bike in a Carton to get to or back from where you tour, is anticipated .

a Centerlock front hub makes removing the disc so it wont get bent, easier, than 6 bolt..

FWIW ..

The racers use the hub dynamos alot because of how much ground they need to cover (day and night) and not having to stop so much for electronics.