Will do so. Thank you so much for your reply.

So what happens when you put them onto a mid drive electric bike?? Could they be used to charge the battery?

​@@MrJturner74 🤦‍♂ If you only turned it on for downhills when the engine wasn't engaged you could maybe extend your range by 50m or so...

@@MrJturner74 don't electric bikes already have some kind of regen using the same motor-generator that powers the wheels?

@@confusedredditor1660 Only the stupidly expensive ones.

I appreciate that! Yep, bikes 'n travel are my two biggest passions. 🥰

@@Cyclingabout I run a Rohloff on both of my bikes. I love the sensation of direct drive with this hub. And I got them cheap from German 2nd hand market. On one bike I have a SON dynamo and the cheapest Shimano dynamo on the other. Cant complain on either one of them, except that the SON has bare metal connectors which oxidized and I had to replace the lower part of the wiring (so a win for the Shimano here).

@@peroperic3692 Interesting, I've never had that happen to any of my SON connectors!

@@Cyclingabout yeah, I accidentally squeezed the wire ends when taking out the front wheel, only to find out the light system is not working any more when I reinstalled the wheel. I unwrapped the wires (cut the housing) and the wires were green on the inside. I had some pieces of copper wire laying arround and just replaced this part of wire without soldering and put some heat shrink tubing over it. It works like a charm now. But this would be hard to fix on an expedition without the wire.

Pure passion, yep, but man (or even cyclist) does not live by passion alone! A bit of donor money helps fuel the passion. His reviews are the embodiment of scientific method. In equipment alone they must cost a bit.

Best comment

Yes but you could disengage it when not needed so you had no drag at all

@@Boss_Tanaka in my own experience the hub dynamo drag is negligible when it is not powering anything

@@Boss_Tanaka Completely neglectable if you don't have your lights turned off. More importantly: When you are actually riding in the dark, the old side friction Dynamo REALLY slows you down. If you regularry ride in the dark, they are to crappy to use.

@@sagichdirdochnicht4653 And from my childhood memories it'll also let you down at times when the tyres get wet, but I must admit that they were maybe not always perfectly aligned or in the best state of maintenance. That poor efficiency and then also powering an incandescent bulb is something I really don't miss these days.

@@Boss_Tanaka But bottle dynamos wear out after one winter

Exactly! The extra drag is a BENEFIT not a COST

You are very welcome. I'm happy I can make videos about topics that are seldom covered.

Awesome, thank you!

There are other very well made videos that show that weight also does not slow you down as much as most people think. Weight of course matters a lot in a race with everyone riding ultra-light bikes. But who cares about a few seconds or even minutes on a drive or a backing trour?

Great to hear!

Go for it!

Good choice!

That’s still less time lost than if when you do sleep it isn’t near a charger though

And still less time than spending a week in the hospital or eternity at the graveyard.

Sturmey-archer used to claim there dynohub added no friction. The vintage stuff Raleigh/SA made was always very understated but a friend told me you could feel the difference. My guess is that a 1.8W used by the lights would require 0.45 more power due to copper losses and nothing much more for magnetising and eddy current losses?

Tyre dynamos aren't great. Even the best possible ones are making 10+ watts of resistance at 15KPH, which is 2-3x more drag than the best dynamo hubs.

Thanks!

I've asked for some more information/numbers from the rim dynamo manufacturers, hopefully, I can make a video soon with their data.

I can tell you from experience going back a while, you can feel a rim dynamo very distinctly. Back in the olden days of crap batteries and bulbs the generator was reliable and ready when you needed it. When you flipped the generator off your bike felt like a rocket.

@@stevek8829 The latest ones are different! www.cyclingabout.com/rim-dynamos-can-now-generate-more-power-than-hub-dynamos/

I don't have a charging strategy, I just plug things in when they're running low on power. I just like tinkering with the numbers to entertain my intellectual curiosity! 😅

You'll have to just try it! It might be fine if you spend little time on steep roads. The gold standard on a light tourer is 23 gear inches for a climbing gear, and your setup is likely closer to 27 gear inches. If it's working for you, there's no need to change it, but if you finding yourself grinding up hills too often, switch to a 46/30t crankset and life will be more pleasant.

@@Cyclingabout LOL, my Surly has 18 gear inches for the lowest gear. I love the way that heavy old truck climbs up hills.

You don't notice the dag at all, at least I don't. A better quality tyre would make far more different and more than offset it.

Nothing wrong with that setup! It's VERY common in both Japan and China.

Just speak english.

@@bypander801 Googlize: it's not insurmountable...

My charger has stopped working 2-3x since I got it. I just take the top cap off and dry it out in the sun and it comes back to life. But apparently, I got one of the first production units (early 2019), and Cinq told me they have improved the waterproofing since. I'm currently waiting for a new unit, but for some reason you cannot ship batteries out of Germany currently?!

@@Cyclingabout thanks for your answer :) i might really go for this investment then. if you are from the uk then i think ur generally unlucky if it comes to anything like shipping at the moment. hope you get your unit soon. have a good one 👍🏼

There is a lot of cover and I don't want to make my videos long. I always say the important details from the data, so the visuals are really just here for if you want to come back and dive deeper. Alternatively, there is always a written version on CyclingAbout.com.

I've never busted those wires, so not too sure of a fix. Perhaps you need to ensure some extra length in the cables?

I agree. Everything about the SON is great - the efficiency, reliability, bearing life and finish.

Their price is also "great" :-( As far as I've seen SON hubs are a bit lighter than Shimano so the weight penalty compared to non-dynamo hubs is reduced. That also reduces time loss uphill a bit.

Battery or solar is the only real solution for sub-10KPH.

Interesting. I would have thought once the capacitor was charged the drag would lower but maybe there are more losses.

That's an interesting observation. As 'anywhere roam' mentioned, I would've suspected that the capacitor would take a very minimal power draw once it was full...

I had some faulty cabling and I was surprised to discover I could feel when the connection was good vs. not. Once I installed the switch I did some testing after charging the standlight for over an hour and it was still very noticeable! I have wondered if it's unique to my specific light or if it's related to all of the B&M standlights. I do have an IQ-X on the way and will be checking it out.

No, you cannot disengage most dynam hubs. But as you can see, the drag is absolutely minimal. 7 seconds per hour in the best-case scenario, 54 seconds per hour at the worst. That's compared to a high-quality sealed bearing hub - expect these time differences to be reduced with cheaper hubs. Solar can be great if you rig it up well. I personally don't like the hassle compared to my dynamo setup, but people get good results.

I get hassled about my lights all the time too. 😅

why ur light dont have on/off switch?

@@farikkun1841 To make it waterproof - any button that you put on a bicycle light is a possible place that water can get in and stop the light working. Before I upgraded to a hub dynamo I got through endless front and rear lights because their battery compartments or on off switch let water in and damaged the electrical circuit. Properly designed dynamo lights have no on off switch and instead use a capacitor to store power for about 5 to 10 minutes and then you can just walk away and leave the bike and the lights go off when the stored power runs out - but they light back up the instant you move the tyres and cause the dynamo to turn.... so in practicality they are always switched on and never need switching off. This is a lesson the people who designed the worlds loudest bicycle horn, called 'The Hornit', need to learn - I bought one a few months ago and on two occasions its ended up going off at 140db in pouring rain and the only way you can stop it is remove its batterys and the only way to do that is spend ages fiddling round trying to undo a tiny tiny tiny philips screw that holds the battery compartment shut and yet still allows water in..... if your going to make things that hang off a bicycle and they work with electricity then make them waterproof.

@@farikkun1841 My commuter bike has an on of switch for the lights. I leave them on permanently, just to be seen better by cars. The drag you get is not noticable, and I'd rather spend some money on replacing the LEDs every few years than get hit by a car.

It's the magnetic poles creating an electric charge as they pass each other.

Dynamo hubs don't create energy. They convert mechanical energy from the rider into electrical energy at less than 100% efficiency.