fishman473

A friend suggested that a generator hub might be a good upgrade for my bike but I'm going to need some convincing. I'm building a new whilst anyway for on/off-road touring, so now would be the time.

I don't intend to ride on tour during the night. I do see how it could be nice for USB charging my iPhone, camera, etc, while traveling but I can also use a battery pack for that... though the battery itself needs charging after 2-3 days, so switching to a generator would make me more independent for remote areas and guerrilla camping.

This bike does get ridden around town a lot during the non-frozen time of the year, with a different wheelset. I could see a generator and light being useful for that. But of course I'd need 2 generator hubs then.

Ready to be convinced if you can recommend it, but not feeling it at the moment. Thanks in advance for the input.

surfjimc

I recently added a generator hub and a set of lights to my touring bike. I love having them, but I commute daily and like the convenience of not recharging batteries all the time. I bought a Luxos U so that I would have a usb port available for charging all the time. I haven't toured with it yet, but I will this summer. I can tell you the wheel is heavier than what it replaced, and there is some residual drag, but neither of those is really noticeable. The new Shutter Precision 9 series hubs are small and light, with very low resistance, so building a wheel with that hub may mitigate those issues. That is my plan for the summer.
Personally, I like having the usb port and being able to charge electronics. YMMV. I can't see a reason to spend the money or add the weight with the full set up if you are not going to be using the lights full time like I am. I have toured with a battery pack to keep things charged and that was fairly easy; even took it on a recent backpacking trip (still questioning that idea). Depending on the electronics array on the next tour, I may take the battery pack to charge everything and let the hub charge the pack. Then I will have added even more weight to my set up. If so, did I really help or hinder myself?
If you go for it, I would build one very good wheel to use all the time rather than building two so they match wheel sets.
Hope this helps helps.

boomhauer

A generator hub is much more useful on a commuter bike. You don't worry about batteries for your lights....ever.
I've toured without a generator hub just fine ......but now I've got one. I love touring with Pandora Radio and the USB is worth it.

DoctorTattoo

I absolutely love mine, however I only use it for lighting not usb charging. For lighting, especially around this time of year when it gets dark at like 4:30-5 PM it's great. The biggest con is going to be price for you, especially if you are looking at more than just one wheel set. With cost of the hub(s) spokes, and labor not to mention a usb charging set up, it doesn't seem like a great idea for you IMHO. Surely, you will get some good pro/cons from the guys in the commuting forum as well though.

Shawn

imi

My lights get used very rarely on tour, mostly in heavy rain or fog. I also use my iPhone so sparingly, turning it on maybe once a day to check email, that it stays charged for a couple of weeks, so for me a dynamo hub is not worth it...

staehpj1

I considered one and decided that for me it wasn't worth it. My subsequent experience on tour convinced me that for me at least skipping it was the right choice.

robert schlatte

I have a shimano 3n-72 dynamo hub on my touring bike. To be honest, it is pretty non essential for my needs while touring. I have it so I look for ways to use it such as occasional usb battery pack charging. If I did it again I would probably skip the dynamo and just get a good quality front hub.

irwin7638

I put a dyno hub on my commuter bike with a BM Eyc which has a daytime driving light. I can see it for that. I left a tire driven dyno on my touring bike for several reasons; reliable lighting for the times I am in bad light or weather, less than 1/2 the additional weight, less than 1/3 the additional cost, no additional drag when not in use.

Marc

andrewclaus

I try to keep my bike and touring style as simple and as inexpensive as I can. A ready source of electricity is not on my wish list. It's fine for others with more gadgets and more to spend on them, or those who ride more at night, but not for me.

Tourist in MSN

Is your phone on most or all of the time? Do you use a GPS while on the road? Will you be camping where being able to plug in is rare?

If you said yes to any of the above you might benefit from a dynohub. If not, you can probably live fine without it.

The cost of a good hub and spokes is not insignificant, you might consider getting a new rim too so you would lace up a complete new wheel, as a rim is almost cheap in comparison. I notice you are in Madison WI. I used to buy spokes at Yellow Jersey but they moved from their State St location, I am not sure where they are now. But they used to have the best price in Madison on spokes if you buy local.

I am not sure why you would need two hubs. You could get one. If you think you need a second, do that later.

My dynohub (SP Dynamo, PV-8) is on a 26 inch wheel. My last tour I used my 700c touring bike that does not have a dynohub. I usually try to carry a week supply of batteries for my GPS which is always on while I am moving, I use AA rechargeables for the GPS. There were times on my last tour that I was running low on power. I described my electrical experience on that tour in more detail here:
https://www.bikeforums.net/touring/98...l#post17394750

staehpj1

That sums it up pretty well. I will add that the "might" you inserted is an important one, because it isn't a slam dunk even in those cases. I suggest just turning the phone off when not actually using it if you don't already. Batteries die fast if it is searching for a signal. I'd suggest that if you use a handheld type GPS you just use AA or AAA batteries. I'll also add that even if stealth camping you might still be eating a meal in a restaurant or at least getting a drink and sitting around in a fast food place to use their WiFi now and then and can charge at that time.

It isn't too hard to keep charging to a small minimum if you use power sparingly. Also spare phone batteries can be pretty cheap if you don't buy them from the phone manufacturer. Then there are power wallets. Taking a few phone batteries or a power wallet and using the phone sparingly and you can go a pretty long time without charging.

headloss 

A generator hub setup capable of keeping things charged just sounds like a waste of money to me. If you aren't riding at night, I think a battery pack is a more realistic and economical choice.

mobile_simon

My first tour of six months I never had one, I just used a solar panel. At that time I only had a smartphone that needed charging, so I got by... but sometimes it was cloudy for a week, and I was forced to find an outlet. I decided on that tour that I wanted a dynohub. It is much more convenient than having to position a solar panel on your rack. On my next tour of four months I had a dynohub and a solar panel. I also had more things to charge; Garmin gps, smartphone, digital camera, lights, and battery pack. Never ran out of juice, ever. The dynohub needs to be spinning atleast 15km/h to make a charge, so when I was in the mountains the solar panel came in handy, or if you want to camp out for a couple days. If you have the money, go for it.

MichaelW

Hub dynamos are much more useful for commuting than for touring.
I fitted a quality bottle dynamo to my 1995 tourer using a solid braze-on mount. I use it in fog, rain and trips from campsite into town in the evening. For occasional use it is good enough.
I won't upgrade to the hub dynamo that I use on my commuter bike.

gracehowler

Agreed, although my stoker thinks we should run lights during the day, (I do on my commuter), we can typically get two days and two nights before we need an outlet, beyond that time frame, I think a dynamo would be great.
R&J

fietsbob

The people who have to keep their Phones with them 24/7/365 find the option of a Dynohub and its Optional converters to generate a Small USB
charge current useful, are numerous enough to have several Companies Competing for sales..

This happens with the Lights Off , as 3w-6v output is not enough for Both loads at same time..




I have a Dynohub wheel on my Brompton , it goes into the Pub with me, I always have lights on the way home .

Just un fold it and go . streets are dark and traffic few, then ..


I did mostly Summer tours , daylight hours Riding most of them, got me far enough that seeking a place to stay or Camp
by late afternoon , was also enough time in the saddle for the day.. (only a Radio was my electronics things)

now to that Bike I added an LED battery light mounting place, It's also a very bright flashlight , too.

Jim Kukula

Dynamo lighting seems to be more and more useful, the less and less you use it. If I were commuting and keeping regular hours, I could easily have some system for recharging and swapping batteries. But if I only need the lights very rarely, and especially very unexpectedly, then dynamo lighting is very nice, because it is always ready to be used. It is zero maintenance, so looking at the use : maintenance ratio, it can be worth the bother with a very low usage rate.

For a similar reason, I keep a dynamo powered flashlight in my car. I almost never use it, but when I need it, it is always ready. Every time I tried keeping a battery powered flashlight in my car, by the time I actually needed it, the batteries were not only dead but had leaked toxic goo all over and destroyed the flashlight too!

Probably bottle dynamos are a decent compromise. You can still swap wheels easily, they're cheaper, absolutely zero drag when not in use.

I have hub dynamos on a couple bikes and a bottle dynamo on one bike. One fun feature of the hub dynamo is that the lights can turn on automatically, which is nice at dusk or when going in and out of deep shade.

fishman473

Thanks for all the info so far guys.

To be clear my main expectation for use is to charge my iPhone 6+ on tour. I use it for navigation and photos during the day and communication, weather tracking at night. I download maps ahead of time and turn off the cellular connection during the day to reduce battery drain. I expect this new phone will get close to making it a whole day without a recharge, but might not quite, though this can be easily dealt with by charging at lunch. I'll also be charing a headlamp, and on future trips a camera but these can easily go a couple days, even a week without a fresh charge. Sometimes usage can get heavy in the evening (photo editing, blogging), so I'm guessing my back-up battery will make it two days, 3 if I'm careful. On most trips, recharging every 2-3 days won't be too hard, but it would nice to have the flexibility and not have the anxiety of worrying about if my power will make it to the next charge.

Regarding the second wheel build, I already have a spare rim and I do my own wheel-building so its really the cost of the spokes (nominal) and hub (not so nominal). The rim is a Mavic 217, 28 spoke, not suitable for touring, and I'd rather not run the heavy touring wheels for semi-sporty rides around town and the local countryside.

Does anyone have any recommendations for the newer, better-quality tire-rolling generators? That might be easier for swapping wheels, and I like the idea of being able to turn it off completely with no drag when not in use.. Honestly, the hub might be more useful for my summer around town wheels.

bmike

wish i had one on all my bikes... have one on the rando / light touring rig, have one on the adventure / touring / bikepacking bike.
i had one on the bakfiets. wish i had one on the yuba mundo.

a shimano hub can be had for >~$100.
lights are pretty reasonable, to get something serviceable front and rear.
charging components can be had separately, or as part of a light (Luxus U, and a couple of others).
for me, they allow you to ride whenever you want, not worrying about lights... or power, if setup properly.
especially if you tour off the beaten path, away from a cafe or hotel or campground a day.


battery packs do OK too, so thats a good option. really depends on what you want out of it, and how tied to mains you want to be.

Derailed

I fall into the pro hub-generator camp, but mainly because I get a kick out of using the bike to power my electronic devices. I've toured coast to coast, taking lots of photos and blogging daily on an iPad, without ever plugging in. (I charged a cache battery during the day that I used to charge whatever needed it at night.)

But, I did this for the novelty... I would have had more than enough opportunities to charge the battery from wall outlets while shopping, eating, etc. That said, I really did enjoy it.

And, some days I do enjoy starting before sunrise, and I like the reliability of a generator for this. I know it's not hard to just carry spare batteries and change as necessary, but I prefer the convenience of the generator.

As others have said, the value of a generator on a commuter is more clear, but I'd say just go for it if you're tempted. Why not?

GamblerGORD53

I have a Sturmey Archer XL FDD Dyno drum brake. It's over 11,000 miles on 3 bikes with not a speck of trouble, now with a Rohloff on tour. Not as good as a disc brake but Ok. My lights are never off now and plenty visible, even in broad daylight. Everybody notices them. Whatever drag it has is NBD. I haven't got around to the charging stuff yet. So maybe a flashlight would do when days are 15+ hours and not raining much. I've been needing them 24 hours a day here when clouds are low or it's dark at 5:00. Dyno's are the ONLY way to go. Opposing headlights will still blind you. I even did a mountain pass in the dark. Doh ... I'm pretty sure your batteries and charger weighs the same as my hub.

I have been using maps on a Samsung S5 in airplane mode in Vietnam. It shows the point where I am, sometimes slow. From there it is easy to choose the what to go. Could maybe go 2 days this way. I would never trust GPS zombie directions. So far my 6 ft paper maps are just passengers.

MichaelW

best bottle dynamos:
Nordlicht
Busch + Müller
Dynosys Lightspin

mounting system is critical to performance. Simple chainstay clamps should be avoided.

staehpj1

Why? I thought the Dynamohalter bracket was supposed to be a good way to go.

Tourist in MSN

That is a lot of power making you a real power user.

I assume you mean a bottle generator, the name is from the shape of them. I have an old Union on my utility and errand bike. I like it for riding home from the grocery store in the fall when the sun goes down early, but I can't imagine wanting to use one for four or five hours of the day. But if you want to go that route, the price is a lot better.

I do not know if the new bottle generators are any better than the old Union ones, you would have to do some research. You might be able to find an old Union at the used bike store run by Budget Bike on Regent, I bought one there several years ago, I think I paid $9. If you get a used one to try out, it might be due for some lubrication.

For several hours of use each day I think the dyno hub is the best option, especially for a power user. I am quite happy with my SP Dynamo hub. Whether the light is on or off, I can't tell the difference in drag. It costs more than most of them but was less than half the price of the SON. I could not fine a USA dealer, I bought mine new, shipped from Taiwan on Ebay.

pdlamb

+1 to the above.

At least when I'm on tour, a 4-AA or even 4-AAA light works in the dark thunderstorms, and I try (not always successfully) to avoid those.

Dyno lights are also great for brevets.

Spring and fall are the problems. When you get called into a meeting that lasts until you normally get home, just before sunset, in the fall, you wish you had mounted the battery powered headlight that's sitting quietly at home. Or when advancing daylight leads you to take the lights off and pack them away, only to have to get into work for something way earlier than normal, having that dyno hub and light start to pay off.