Hub Dynamos in Australia

il padrone · Postby **il padrone** » Mon Mar 03, 2014 7:38 pm

Blakeylonger wrote:If you are touring, you generally don't even need a fancy dyno headlight, because, who tours at night?

I fairly frequently ride at night - a winter's eve late run into camp, the ride to the pub for dinner, etc.

Also my dynamo is running 24/7 as I have found great benefit from the extra wake-up it gives to many drivers. As I said, drag is so minimal as to be of no concern.

Blakeylonger wrote:Obviously your friends are stronger than you.

No, you missed that part of my point - most of my riding friends ride without a dynahub, and I keep pace with them with ease

Duck! · Postby **Duck!** » Mon Mar 03, 2014 7:40 pm

rifraf wrote:Hi,
I'm hoping for some recommendations and reasoning for a suitable item for my center-lock Son28.
This is used to hold the disk in place as opposed to the 6 bolts (of a 6 bolt version).
Basically a cassette lock I think (?).
I wont be utilising a disk as its my Extra-wheel trailer wheel but without the "lock" it appears there is an easy ingress to the bearings of water/muck etc. on the one side of the hub.
Thanks in advance

Ingress of dirt & stuff is not affected by the presence or absence of the centrelock nut - its sole purpose is to hold the brake rotor on. The bearings are well sealed entirely independently. The covers suggested above are purely to cover the centrelock splines when a rotor is not fitted.

Blakeylonger · Postby **Blakeylonger** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 9:51 am

il padrone wrote: Also my dynamo is running 24/7 as I have found great benefit from the extra wake-up it gives to many drivers. As I said, drag is so minimal as to be of no concern.

No, you missed that part of my point - most of my riding friends ride without a dynahub, and I keep pace with them with ease

My bad, this made it look like your friends and son use a shimano dyno and you use a SON:

Shimano is a bit worse than the SON28 (I have no experience with the SP dynahubs) but friends of mine, and my own son, using the Shimano have no concerns riding the same pace and distances as I do with my SON28

I leave my various dyno lights switched on 24/7 too, mostly because I'm lazy.

rifraf · Postby **rifraf** » Thu Mar 06, 2014 4:19 pm

Duck! wrote: Ingress of dirt & stuff is not affected by the presence or absence of the centrelock nut - its sole purpose is to hold the brake rotor on. The bearings are well sealed entirely independently. The covers suggested above are purely to cover the centrelock splines when a rotor is not fitted.

Ok, thanks Duck,
I'll look at investing in one of the suggested covers then and ignore getting a rotor lock.

My bike24 package arrived safely the next day from my last post above so all good there.
I just have to work out where best on the extrawheel trailer to mount my new E-werk.

il padrone · Postby **il padrone** » Thu Mar 06, 2014 6:35 pm

Blakeylonger wrote:My bad, this made it look like your friends and son use a shimano dyno and you use a SON:

Shimano is a bit worse than the SON28 (I have no experience with the SP dynahubs) but friends of mine, and my own son, using the Shimano have no concerns riding the same pace and distances as I do with my SON28

No, that is correct, partially. Some of my friends and my son use Shimano dynohubs. I use a SON28. Most of my friends do not use a dynohub at all.

Blakeylonger wrote:I leave my various dyno lights switched on 24/7 too, mostly because I'm lazy.

That too

But the visibilty effect (and the 'mistaken for a moto' effect) in daylight are still there and of value.

Blakeylonger · Postby **Blakeylonger** » Sat Mar 08, 2014 1:34 pm

il padrone wrote:Most of my friends do not use a dynohub at all.

verily i say, do not preach to the choir, take your gospel to the great unlit.

Aushiker · Postby **Aushiker** » Wed Apr 16, 2014 11:05 am

K-Lite, the Australian distributor of Shutter Precision dynamos is now offering a 700c pre-built wheel kit for $249.

Andrew

RonK · Postby **RonK** » Wed Apr 16, 2014 1:46 pm

Aushiker wrote:K-Lite, the Australian distributor of Shutter Precision dynamos is now offering a 700c pre-built wheel kit for $249.

Bargain...

Ordered...

Cancelled - cannot supply a silver hub.

find_bruce · Postby **find_bruce** » Wed Apr 16, 2014 8:44 pm

And Kerry is a good guy to deal with as well

just4tehhalibut · Postby **just4tehhalibut** » Tue May 13, 2014 9:12 pm

Was at my LBS today and shown a new catalogue. As I mentioned elsewhere Dosun has brought out a rechargeable headlight that has a 'Power Bank Function' to allow the headlight to recharge USB devices. On the same page they now sell dynamo front wheels based on the SP dynamo PD-8 hub, not sure if it is branded Dosun or the fine details of the rim, spokes, price (maybe $250-300) but there is definitely stock in Australia. And definitely no SP hubs available separately, whole wheels only. Ask your LBS for more details.

At this rate SP dynamo hubs will be as common as muck. I look forward to the day when I can recycle old SP hubs from bikes off the verge rubbish collection like I can now do for suspension forks.

RonK · Postby **RonK** » Tue May 13, 2014 10:38 pm

Bargain wheelset for audax. Pro-Lite Bracciano with SP SV8 dynamo hub.

singlespeedscott · Postby **singlespeedscott** » Wed May 14, 2014 1:42 pm

RonK wrote:Bargain wheelset for audax. Pro-Lite Bracciano with SP SV8 dynamo hub.

Needs more spokes.

Crawf · Postby **Crawf** » Wed May 14, 2014 3:58 pm

singlespeedscott wrote: Needs more spokes.

+1

warthog1 · Postby **warthog1** » Wed May 14, 2014 10:05 pm

Not sure about more spokes on the front, 24 is fine IMO.
Depends on the rim and quality of spoke/build as to how many are needed. I'm running a 32 spoke wheel set on the commuter at the moment. Never broken so many spokes in a wheel set. The rear is 4 and counting and the front 1 in about 6 k km.

Blame tapatalk

RonK · Postby **RonK** » Fri May 16, 2014 1:29 pm

singlespeedscott wrote:
RonK wrote:Bargain wheelset for audax. Pro-Lite Bracciano with SP SV8 dynamo hub.
Needs more spokes.

Can't see why - according to the many posts elsewhere on this forum the Braccianos enjoy a reputation for be quite rugged.

The real disappointment to me is that the SV-8 has been used instead of the PV-8, for the meagre weight-saving 23 grams, but reducing the output from 6V3W to 6V2.4W.

warthog1 · Postby **warthog1** » Fri May 16, 2014 2:36 pm

RonK wrote:
The real disappointment to me is that the SV-8 has been used instead of the PV-8, for the meagre weight-saving 23 grams, but reducing the output from 6V3W to 6V2.4W.

I hadn't realized that. I wouldn't buy it for that reason, not the spokes

singlespeedscott · Postby **singlespeedscott** » Sat May 17, 2014 8:22 am

RonK wrote:
singlespeedscott wrote:
RonK wrote:Bargain wheelset for audax. Pro-Lite Bracciano with SP SV8 dynamo hub.
Needs more spokes.
Can't see why - according to the many posts elsewhere on this forum the Braccianos enjoy a reputation for be quite rugged.

The real disappointment to me is that the SV-8 has been used instead of the PV-8, for the meagre weight-saving 23 grams, but reducing the output from 6V3W to 6V2.4W.

There all great until you snap a spoke and then all of a sudden it wont fit through the brake pads becuase it's so out of true.

warthog1 · Postby **warthog1** » Sat May 17, 2014 2:35 pm

singlespeedscott wrote: There all great until you snap a spoke and then all of a sudden it wont fit through the brake pads becuase it's so out of true.

Its a 24 spoke which is not bad on a front wheel. Because its a front wheel and doesn't have the offset for the cassette like a rear wheel, IME they don't actually end up that out of true if and when a spoke does break. I've had the hub break around the spoke hole on an 18 spoke front and a spoke on a 16 spoke front wheel. Both were still rideable, didn't even need to undo the brake cable.

Blakeylonger · Postby **Blakeylonger** » Sat May 17, 2014 3:18 pm

2.4W is fiiiiiine. please. I've hooked a Cyo up to a 1.5W hub and that was powered adequately. As long as you're not using stupid lights like the supernova or exposure it's a non issue.

I'm powering a cyo premium and a saferide taillight from a sondelux and an eyc from an SD-8 and both are at full brightness at any speed you'd actually be riding at.

If you desperately need the extra watts to power your garmin this isn't the wheelset for you. But a cache battery is a better option anyway.

rangersac · Postby **rangersac** » Tue Aug 19, 2014 10:00 pm

So for the dynamo hub aficionados here I've got a question regarding nipples unwinding. I recently built up a Velocity Synergy rim with Sapim double butted spokes, laced to a SP-PV8 36 hole hub. The spokes were stress relieved after building, but I did not use any thread locker. After riding it for about 200km I've had some of the nipples unwind. Is this possibly related to the extra vibrations from the dynamo, or most likely because I'm a useless wheel builder?

find_bruce · Postby **find_bruce** » Wed Aug 20, 2014 10:17 am

Much has been written about vibration of dynamos, but to be honest I am unable to detect it - maybe I have just got lucky with both frames & forks. If I had built the wheel I know where the smart money would be betting as to the cause

My first guess would be spoke windup. I presume you are lubricating the thread and the rim. The advice I follow is to overtighten each spoke by 1/4 turn and then back it off the same amount

rangersac · Postby **rangersac** » Wed Aug 20, 2014 10:48 am

Thanks, yep lubricating the threads and the rim but haven't tried the overtightening trick. I'll give that a shot tonight when I get home.

find_bruce wrote:Much has been written about vibration of dynamos, but to be honest I am unable to detect it - maybe I have just got lucky with both frames & forks.

It's definitely there for me on my current frame. There are two particular speeds it stands out at, firstly at around 10kph which is only noticeable when I am coasting with the kids, but also between about 45-50kph. It's not unpleasant, just a faint vibration which is only detectable on smooth hotmix anyway.

wqlava1 · Postby **wqlava1** » Wed Aug 20, 2014 9:51 pm

Like Bruce, I cannot feel hub vibration except when holding the axle in my hand, not installed on the bike. The only wheel that I only got quite true and didn't check tension with my meter was my Rohloff hub. I took it for a first ride, up Mt Lofty and back down Greenhill Rd in Adelaide, a loop of under 30km. It was loose with the rim wobbling against the brakes by the time I got to the top, and I came down very gingerly. Several nipples were only finger tight by the time I got back to near the CBD. I tightened it up with a spoke tension guage (which I'd not used first time as I'd been in a hurry) as well as getting it true, and it is still true and strong. A memorable lesson for me, and maybe of some relevance to your situation. Just feeling how tight a wheel's spokes are by hand isn't enough to check that the tension is sufficient, though you can listen to them ping and get something near even.

Aushiker · Postby **Aushiker** » Wed Oct 01, 2014 12:16 pm

Initial thoughts on a SP PD-8X Dynamo Hub and K-Lite lights at Traversbike.com..

The hub arrived first and I built it up using a Travers carbon 29+ rims which are tubeless compatible and a feathery 540g, which saved 500g over a Northpaw rim with innertube. I did what anyone does when they take a new hub out of the box, I tested the bearing for smoothness, smooth isn't the word these were positively notchy! so much so that I considered stopping the project there and then. I cant put these on my bike! I had read the reviews before I bought the hub but I wasn't expecting them to feel this rough. I had the hub and rim so went ahead and built it, they laced up just as any other hub, there is an arrow down the middle to show you the direction of rotation but as this was going on a mountain bike with disc brakes you can only put it in the dropouts one way.

Once built up, especially when you have mounted the tyre the notchiness all but disappears to such a degree unless you were told or spotted the small plug you would never know it was a dynamo hub. In use on the trail, I couldn't feel any extra draggy, from the figures published on the SP site the drag ranges from 1-6 watts. The SP PD-8X was quite underwhelming, its just felt like any other hub! Which is praise in its self.

Andrew

petie · Postby **petie** » Wed Oct 01, 2014 1:19 pm

Aushiker wrote:

Initial thoughts on a SP PD-8X Dynamo Hub and K-Lite lights at Traversbike.com..

The hub arrived first and I built it up using a Travers carbon 29+ rims which are tubeless compatible and a feathery 540g, which saved 500g over a Northpaw rim with innertube. I did what anyone does when they take a new hub out of the box, I tested the bearing for smoothness, smooth isn't the word these were positively notchy! so much so that I considered stopping the project there and then. I cant put these on my bike! I had read the reviews before I bought the hub but I wasn't expecting them to feel this rough. I had the hub and rim so went ahead and built it, they laced up just as any other hub, there is an arrow down the middle to show you the direction of rotation but as this was going on a mountain bike with disc brakes you can only put it in the dropouts one way.

Once built up, especially when you have mounted the tyre the notchiness all but disappears to such a degree unless you were told or spotted the small plug you would never know it was a dynamo hub. In use on the trail, I couldn't feel any extra draggy, from the figures published on the SP site the drag ranges from 1-6 watts. The SP PD-8X was quite underwhelming, its just felt like any other hub! Which is praise in its self.
Andrew

Interesting, I think that's probably incorrect about the bearings though. That would be the magnets in the dynamo feeling very notchy. Anyway, good to hear they persisted.

I have finally hooked up my Philips saferide and lumiring after receiving them as a gift nearly 2 years ago. The saferide lives up to the hype, haven't managed to ride behind myself to check the lumiring, but I'm sure it's satisfactory. I built up a pd8 with velocity blunt sl's and they are so much more pleasant to ride than my previous wheels.

I can't remember whether I posted here or not, but I have been running another pd8 and kLite on my mtb in all weather and terrain for about 9 months without issue.