I started using this last month - A new rim dynamo and so far I have been pretty happy with it. You can completely disengage it when not riding and eliminate all drag. Only 50 - 60 grams too and fairly quiet. It is smaller than a film canister and made by Velogical-Engineering in Germany.

check this out:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/281207642774

Just ordered that, dunno if it's good but feedback is quite positive and price is so low that I wouldn't mind if I would have to throw it away. Solar panels are SO low energy output that you would probably miserably fail if you rely on one - do not recommend. There's a good option of charger from burner like this https://www.biolitestove.com/campstov...view/features/ but I plan to camp w/o cooking equipment so you decide.

Darn, that is a really good price. This is not a top of the line dynamo, but heck it is an okay one at a fantastic price. One thought though, is there any way to ensure this is not a knockoff copy of a Sanyo hub, or second quality units?

I can PM you when I will got this or pm me in next like 3 weeks - it will prob arrive then. thing is bike shop will charge you like $50 to rebuild a wheel or you will spend like 2 hours (my time worth more than $25/h) so it's a no brainer for me.

Exactly, run the math for commuting and multiple tours for multiple years.

If you want to complicate the math, add the cost of using the money now, vs. buying it sometime in the future when money may not be as tight.

As far as the positive and negative list:

I will take one away from the positive list.
Environmental impact, just because someone doesn't have a D-hub, doesn't mean they can't use rechargeable batteries. That is what I do for my day trips, over nighters and commuting.

And for the negatives:
If you are using lights which can not be removed from the bike, they can not be removed from the bike and used around camp. I have a headlamp and a couple lights I can ride by. When in camp these were used to see stuff.


I will add one more thing for the OP. Decide if you want to ride after dark on tour. I left my ride by lights at home to cut weight and only used my headlamp.

Should have added, one of my touring toys I wouldn't want to be without is my usb rechargeable Petzl Tikka XP2 headlamp with Core battery option.
It comes with the option of utilising, 3 AAA batteries or the Petzl Core USB rechargeable battery.
No mucking around with the AAA's for me.
I just keep it topped up via the dynamo hub and E-werk with cache battery set up and I don't have to buy and dispose of alkaline batteries.

https://www.wiggle.co.uk/petzl-tikka-xp-2-head-torch/ (Core battery is an extra purchase)

https://www.petzl.com/us/outdoor/head...ersal/tikka-xp


In my experience "most" people who've ridden without a dynamo hub wonder what the hell took them so long to get one, after experiencing the no drag convenience of battery free lighting and ability to charge their phone (without all the other options like gps, ipad etc).
I've been chuckling at all my friends being now converts despite vowing "never" due to thinking there would be drag and noticeable weight penalty.
I went dynamo hub as a commuter way before the advent of led lighting, mobile phones, gps's etc.
Their improvements have been astonishing in the last few years and continue to amaze me.
My original Sturmey Archer GH6 weighed I think 1.1kg for the hub alone whilst my Son28 is less than half at 460 grams.

Uh, Cycco: wassat mean? Width? as in length, breadth, width? Sorry, just never heard this expression before.

Don't forget the environmental impact of coming up with the electricity to charge the batteries. For most people that will be coal burning power plants. For me and my dyno hub it is the renewable bio-energy generated by digesting my vegetarian diet. Less negative impact on the environment.

There are smartphone apps that can be almost as useful as a dedicated GPS, but a dedicated GPS has a much more readable screen in the sun and it might use AA batteries. I bought my first smartphone primarily to use as a GPS and gave up on that idea really fast - then bought a Garmin GPS that had a micro SD card slot so I can download maps off the internet and load maps into it. I was amazed how fast the screen on my smartphone burned up the battery. I use rechargeable AA batteries in the GPS, but if I had to I could buy some disposables in a store. Now I only use the smartphone as a wifi device for e-mail and checking the news.

I navigate with an iPhone and the TomTom app. I keep the phone charged with my dyno hub. I don't see any advantage to having a dedicated GPS. I'd rather combine functions between email/surfing/gps all into one unit. Rarely, is the sun bright enough that I can't clearly see the map. Especially since I'm usually just watching for big turn arrows that the TomTom app will show. And just listening for the spoken directions is often quite enough.

The TomTom has an offline database with roads and points of interest. No need to download specific maps to it. The database I have on it now has all of the united states loaded into a few GB on the phone.

Often, I find waypoints or destinations with various internet tools en-route. With everything integrated on the phone, it is easy for me to discover and navigate to places without having to download or transcribe information between devices.

All of the above. It depends on how the car squishes you Generally speaking, having any one of your dimension invalidated would be bad.

Hah! Thanks Cyccommute! I will endeavour to keep all of my dimensions within their current valid parameters!

Hey folks, thanks for all the insight! I should mention a few things: First of all, as Rowan mentions, I like the idea of having a back up; not just for losing lights, but this will be a solo ride so losing navigation or the ability to call people could be kinda antagonizing. Second, I do commute year-round and this bike would probably see a good deal of commuting time after the ride. My phone is an old flip phone (doesn't even have texting), so I do want the GPS for navigation. Lastly, I do like the idea of running lights during the day if it's rainy or dark.

On the other hand, the phone could easily be charged up at stops; the battery lasts a while and I don't plan on using it much. I certainly could get by with maps as well but would like to use the GPS. Time is also not an issue on this ride (I'm taking the semester off to save up & ride it, so I want it to last a while!), so realistically a rechargeable pack would work.

I guess I just need to decide what the value for commuting, using the GPS and having a constant power source plays into the price of the hub. I'm buying a new bike for the ride, so I realized that if my LBS will credit and swap components on the bike the hub price is really reasonable. I'll have to talk to them about that...

You folks who have had luck charging GPS/gadgets with your hubs, what kind of hub did you choose? Do the SONs really put out a noticeably higher power? Anyone know where to find an estimated current and voltage output for the different hubs on 700c wheels at a given speed? Right now if I go the generator route I have my eye on the Shimano DH-3N72. Any critiques of that choice?

You've given me lots to think about, thanks so much for the input!
~Nick

My favorite park in the Pub , under the juke box [internet juke boxes, are wall mounted , now] Brompton.
now has a Shimano dynohub in it's wheel.

power output is a standard goal : 6v 3w . Schmidt uses sealed bearings and is Airtight German technology.

they are so tight-tolerance.. they put a pressure equalization hole on the inside of the hollow axle..

for changing altitudes.

- Worth it is purely subjective. I will spend anything, if I think I need it. Not because I am flush, but because I have been around enough to know what I want, and how long I will have it for. But dynos spook me a little. I think I could buy Phil hubs with some hope they would "see me through". But dynos, and what we hook them to, and the alternatives, are moving too fast for me to commit at this time. We could have solar paint, or just increases in the efficiency of any of the stuff we are running. Solar, computing, and LEDs, are examples of areas with exponential change. Dynos, magnets, and batteries, are areas that are moving fast. But it's just money.

- Dynos are one of those areas where the advice comes from Moonie like true believers to some extent. So you will get X pages of glorious affirmation, which is just what you need if you have already made up your mind. But if you are still undecided, for every person with a Son hub, outside of Germany, there are 100 people who made it through their whole tour with a pair of double AAs. They are just not into Dynos enough to come to this party.

- My experience with lights is that I don't use them much touring. I use clip on strobes for the rainy days, and I use battery lights up front. I do a lot of night cycling when in the city, but found in the boonies, at night, no amount of light I was likely to use would be enough to both ride, and find my way at intersections. If you are at all worried about getting lost, you don't want to be navigating by bike light. People miss turns, and landmarks in the daylight. Commuting, yeah, makes lots of sense, though even there, there are proponents of just going to a larger battery. When going light, I have used the clip on Cateye as my camp light also. You are picking up a lot of cost, and weight, to get a dyno system, you can't even use around camp.

- Nav wise, if you are really worried about getting lost, you need more than electronics, and if you have that stuff, for 99% of bike touring, you can find your way without the GPS. But almost everyone wants electronics, if the chargers were cheap enough it would be attractive, but there are some trips where you are on the same Hwy for like 7000KM, so you know...

- If you are mildly electronically inclined, there are lots of instructables for the bits that go between the dyno, and the device.

I keep my iPhone, boom box, lights charged with my hub while navigating with the iPhone GPS all day. iPhones in particular can be challenging because Apple demands more than the standard 5 volts from a USB. But this hub powers it fine. I typically use the hub output to charge my battery pack. That way I can charge the phone at night and it's less cumbersome to deal with coords and adapters. And if I were to let the phone battery die, I don't need to go ride just so I can use the phone. Also because it is annoying to have the phone keep beeping that it's getting a charge after a momentary stop.

The front light, rear light, hub, and power converter (to get DC output for charging stuff) is:

> 1 "LIGHT B&M IQ CYO R SENSO PLUS BLACK "
> 1 "LIGHT B&M TOPLIGHT LINE BRAKE PLUS"
> 1 "HUB SHIMANO ALFINE DYNO 36H BLACK DISC"
> 1 "POWER CONVERTER PEDALPOWER+ W/ iCABLE AND V4i BATTERY"

The PedalPower comes with bunches of coords, adapters, sex change for charging almost anything. I also carry a AAA/AA charger that runs off a USB so I can charge those batteries from the battery pack too.

This keeps me fully independent of the power grid. I'm never searching for an outlet to plug into or staying at a motel so my phone can charge or otherwise inconvenienced.

I carry only electronics. Not sure what you mean by "need more" and "that stuff". I don't think I run much risk of getting lost. I carry an iPhone and then have an iPad also that I can use if the iPhone dies, gets dropped in a lake, etc.

I certainly agree that you don't need a GPS! But personally I don't enjoy the level of attention on navigation that's required without one. I usually follow a "bicycle route" on my TomTom. If I like the route, as I generally will, I just follow the spoken directions. This greatly reduces my concern for navigation, freeing me up to focus my attention on other things.

If I'm disappointed in a TomTom choice of route I can ask it to calculate an alternative. Or to avoid a particular highway. Or I can just ride in the direction that my spirit is drawn to, knowing the app will just plot the best route from wherever I go.

A glance at the phone shows the remaining distance and estimated time of arrival for my destination. All this allows me to avoid what feels like a tedious chore of navigation. I enjoy planning when it comes to the big picture. Like planning where I'm likely to want to stop riding for the day. I usually do that starting out and then refresh the plan around noon, depending on how the day has gone. But when it comes to detailed plans about exactly where to turn as I go thru a congested area, I'd rather have the computer figure that part out.

The quality of my ride is much better than if I planned it all, because I would never invest the time to find all the short cuts (that involve many more turns) that take me thru residential areas or on county roads that I would never be ambitious enough to plan manually. And since I'm often going to places I've never been before, I like the benefit of the road-metadata in the tomtom database that usually leads to a route as though planned by a local.

I think the Shimano hubs are an excellent value. Of course this is just an anecdote, but I have two: the first one I bought is ten years old and has seen constant year-round, all-weather, commuting use in the midwest, plus some touring. It still works perfectly. It has been powering the same LED headlamp for the last six or seven of those years both day and night -- I never turn it off. (Before that I had a headlamp with an incandescent bulb, and that was a much less compelling animal. The bulbs would burn out occasionally, and it wasn't particularly bright. The newer LEDs, however, are amazing.)

The second I bought in 2010 when I built up a dedicated touring bike and, not surprisingly, it is still going strong.

As others have pointed out, there's really no best-for-everyone solution. But, IMHO, a dynamo hub on a commuter is a sound investment. With a careful install, one can simply leave it on all the time, and the likelihood of failure is quite low. (Personally, I don't even bother with a backup, but I'm essentially never in situations for which I'd have to keep riding were I to experience a lighting malfunction.)

I use dyno hubs on most of my bikes, it is usually the first upgrade to a new bike when I buy one. I haven't used one to charge devices.... yet, but that is coming.

I also like that velological thing, interested in seeing more information on it.

Aaron

Excellent discussion of several models.
https://www.ctc.org.uk/file/public/fe...ub-dynamos.pdf

I bought the SP Dynamo PV-8 but I only have a bit over a thousand miles on that hub so I can't really say if it will be as reliable as other favorites. So far it is trouble free.

Are you sure this is true? I was under the impression that all USB devices are 5 V, but some require more power (via higher current) than others. Many USB voltage sources are limited to a current of only 500 mA which, at 5 V, is a power of 2.5 W. iPad charges, however, are 10 W and, accordingly, deliver a current of 2 A (at 5 V) so they can charge faster.

Hub dynamos, however, only put out a few watts, so when regulated to 5 V they're only producing a current of about an amp, and that's not enough to make some USB devices even register that they're charging.

I believe this is why cache batteries are so useful: one can store energy all day and then, depending on the specs of the battery, it can output the energy at a higher rate than it was put in. My cache battery, for example, has no trouble making my iPad show that it's charging, whereas it won't when connected directly to the E-Werk.

No, I'm not sure. I'm just repeating what I've been told. When I studied power conversion when making my purchase (about 1.5 yrs ago) I was advised to be careful about that issue. I also recall that peter white cycles, which supplied the v4i battery pack and i cable (power converter) marketed a specific setup that was supposedly necessary for charging the iPhone because of its non standard requirements which would have it not sensing the charge input.

Paper Map Navigation is now becoming a download from the web, even for ships at sea.

But I Still have my bike tours souvenirs of my European trips in Paper ...
from the Pre every-body-has a Blog era.

Geez... rereading my message I fear I came off like a pedantic jerk for making such a big deal out of this -- sorry! (And, I'm not completely sure myself, either... yet this is something I worried about quite a bit several years ago when getting my mobile charging setup dialed in.)

The critical point in your post is the time since you installed the dynohub. The longevity is undeniable whether they are SONs (in my experience) or Shimanos (as in your experience).

And the leap forward from incandescent bulbs, several of which had to be carried to cover for blow-outs, to LEDs has been huge to the point there you can leave the light on permanently.