Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

I am not sure if I am the only one who is noticing this, but I find it almost impossible to buy Hub Dynamos in Australia. I live in Logan near Brisbane QLD. I tried few major bike shops and they do not carry them, or never heard of them. Some will tell you that they are expensive in the thousands etc... However you can see them overseas and they are fairly cheap. Also another excuse is that if I stop at a traffic light, the dynamo will stop generating electricity and I will have no lights, etc...

My question is why we do not have these hub dynamos readily available at reasonable prices?

Seems strange that something green like this saving on batteries is not encourage by Bike shops here

Why? Because the Australian LBS is a backward, visionless pit of despair. The hub dynamo is the clearest indication of a serious commuter, IMO, because it does take an investment (probably equal to the cost of the bike it is on) and it makes the bike much safer and a definite participant on the road.

The issue is you have to have the hub built into the wheel, and you have to buy a light, and if you're going the Schmidt path with a decent rim this can retail around 750 bucks for a front wheel and lights. Most people are expecting carbon missile wheels for that money (and rightly so).

Of course, if you treat your bike as a serious vehicle, 750 bucks is nothing compared to repayments on a luxury car, and the Schmidt is a luxury on your bike. As I said, it comes down to the LBS lacking the vision to see that there is a market for these kinds of lights and they need to develop the segment. In Germany, that segment is a legal requirement. Gotta have lights. Why not have good ones?

I look forward to getting my Schmidt dynamo, if I could only decide on the rim to match!

sayapria wrote: Also another excuse is that if I stop at a traffic light, the dynamo will stop generating electricity and I will have no lights, etc...

No you don't, not in this day and age. Get a modern dynamo light that comes with an inbuild capacitor such as the supernova line, or Busch & Mueller line of lights and you will have lights even when stopped. My supernova E3 triple will give me 5mins light when stopped and on my commute I do not stop for more than 2 minutes at a time.

Xplora wrote:The issue is you have to have the hub built into the wheel, and you have to buy a light, and if you're going the Schmidt path with a decent rim this can retail around 750 bucks for a front wheel and lights.

*cough*

Slight re-assessment required there. I've bought and had built up, two Schmidt hubs.

$220 for the hub (bought from Starbike)
$70 for the rim (bought from Bike24)
$80 for the build

Total for dynahub wheel = $370

$80 for B&M IQ Cyo
$45 for B&M Seculite

Total cost = $555 (That is with a great 4-5 min standlight and 'senso' automatic on/off function)

You can of course do this a good deal more cheaply using a Shimano Nexus dynohub. I bought one for my son for $105 from Wiggle.

So with the same sort of rim just $450 and your rolling, wheel and lights.



You still have a few days left to obtain this special offer via BV, BTas and BWA.

what i find even stranger is that they don't sell bikes that have hub dynamo's.

Lot's of people find it to much work to firstly buy a bike, then buy a hub dynamo and then have the whole bike rebuild...
Doesn't even makes sense to me.
What does makes sense is selling commuter bikes and with the whole lot.
Hub and lights, ready to go for a fixed price.

Rather then asking for just hubs, we should ask for complete bikes.

Go to the right places and you'll find them eg. Gazelle do them




$1699 is a reasonable price for a very fine city bike made in the Netherlands.

il padrone wrote:Go to the right places and you'll find them eg. Gazelle do them

I don't know all the gazelle models,but after looking at the site the most gears you get is 7-8-9 for a dynamo hub bike.
Considering that those puppys are not light and australia has hills, i don't think they fit the bill.

They are more designed for cruizin around the city.

Would love to see more variety.

damhooligan wrote:They are more designed for cruizin around the city.

I thought that 'cruizin around the city' aka commuting was what you were talking about . A friend of mine, a retired school teacher and mother of three, rides a nexus 8sp bike on country tours, up all sorts of hills carrying loads. She did our easter ride into the Strathbogies and had a great time, some steep climbs she walked, but so did riders on derailleur bikes. Here she's about to climb Gall's Gap (14%)





No, you won't find an off the shelf road racer specced with a dynohub. I doubt this exists anywhere as a production run item. Maybe a Thorn Audax bike from UK ??

I must have confused myself then...

I was more thinking that flatbar road bikes with 27 gears are common here, and very suitable for 'australian' commutes.
They could be vey interesting bikes if they where fitted standard with dynamo hubs and light..

Mayby I have to 'make' them myself and sell them...





But gazelle defenatly is a good option, and it is blue...

damhooligan wrote:
I was more thinking that flatbar road bikes with 27 gears are common here, and very suitable for 'australian' commutes.
They could be vey interesting bikes if they where fitted standard with dynamo hubs and light..

Mayby I have to 'make' them myself and sell them...

HEY
That was my idea...
Maybe we can go into business together

Australia is no more or less hilly than many other countries all around the world, bike shops here are just really backward and are only slowly discovering proper city bikes.

Cell bikes sells dynamo stuff, I think they used to offer a dynamo light wheel as an option.
http://www.this link is broken/search-result?search=dynamo

Either way it's a lot cheaper and there is a hell of a lot more choice if you import from places like www.starbike.com. I have a complete dynamo setup on my raleigh twenty which cost a total of $110 (bike already has a dynamo hub) - this is front and back LED with standlights
http://smutpedaller.blogspot.com/2010/0 ... grade.html

I'm merely quoting what a specialist commuter LBS emailed me in the Aussie dollars... I know you can do it much cheaper, I'm just explaining the rationale behind why the LBS doesn't bother going dynamo. They lack the vision because they can't make it much cheaper. The Shimano setup was much cheaper but I didn't want a Shimano hub sucking up my valuable horsepower (mainly due to scarcity)

Just came across this hub dynamo that I've never heard about. Interesting, I'll read up on it.




Reviews of a selection of dynamos (some that I've never heard of) can be found here. Unusual to read his criticism of the SON28 as having too much vibration through the handlebars. I have never noticed any significant problem here - sometimes I can pick up a slight flutter, not what I'd call vibration

Baalzamon wrote:

damhooligan wrote:
I was more thinking that flatbar road bikes with 27 gears are common here, and very suitable for 'australian' commutes.
They could be vey interesting bikes if they where fitted standard with dynamo hubs and light..

Mayby I have to 'make' them myself and sell them...

HEY
That was my idea...
Maybe we can go into business together

Sounds fine by me...

damhooligan wrote:

Baalzamon wrote:

damhooligan wrote:
I was more thinking that flatbar road bikes with 27 gears are common here, and very suitable for 'australian' commutes.
They could be vey interesting bikes if they where fitted standard with dynamo hubs and light..

Mayby I have to 'make' them myself and sell them...

HEY
That was my idea...
Maybe we can go into business together

Sounds fine by me...

Would the bike model be called the "Damzammon" or the "Baalhooligan" ?

mitzikatzi wrote:

damhooligan wrote:

Baalzamon wrote: HEY
That was my idea...
Maybe we can go into business together

Sounds fine by me...

Would the bike model be called the "Damzammon" or the "Baalhooligan" ?

il padrone wrote:Just came across this hub dynamo that I've never heard about. Interesting, I'll read up on it.




Reviews of a selection of dynamos (some that I've never heard of) can be found here. Unusual to read his criticism of the SON28 as having too much vibration through the handlebars. I have never noticed any significant problem here - sometimes I can pick up a slight flutter, not what I'd call vibration

I too have not noticed any vibrations coming from my SON28 either. I'm running Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres with my current Son28 in a 36 spoke configuration so that may have something to do with it.

the price of a dynamo setup is still quite pricey.

I commute everyday and I consider it a nice to have.

eeksll wrote:the price of a dynamo setup is still quite pricey.

I commute everyday and I consider it a nice to have.

Ah but the luxury of NOT having to charge batteries, or worry about batteries going flat on a ride with failing light.

Baalzamon wrote:Ah but the luxury of NOT having to charge batteries, or worry about batteries going flat on a ride with failing light.

And run the lights day and night regardless..... because you can

Baalzamon wrote:

eeksll wrote:the price of a dynamo setup is still quite pricey.

I commute everyday and I consider it a nice to have.

Ah but the luxury of NOT having to charge batteries, or worry about batteries going flat on a ride with failing light.

initially why I went and researched them quite thoroughly. Came home a couple of times in the dark and noticed my rear light was not on!!! That and I like to tinker and play around with things.

I am also still a bit unsure how visible the rear lights are compared to my current one (radbot 1000) especially when its pouring with rain during peak hour, also no flashing mode. And it was going to cost at least $400 before figuring out shipping.

damhooligan wrote:

il padrone wrote:Go to the right places and you'll find them eg. Gazelle do them

I don't know all the gazelle models,but after looking at the site the most gears you get is 7-8-9 for a dynamo hub bike.
Considering that those puppys are not light and australia has hills, i don't think they fit the bill.

They are more designed for cruizin around the city.

Would love to see more variety.

Hi Guys,

I hope you don't mind I chime in here.
I thought I would add to this discussion by saying that a Gazelle bike is totally fine for hilly areas but you have to choose the right model.

It is true for most of the hub gear bikes that they are designed for more shorter city riding. However I have done 100's of kms in hilly areas with the derailleur versions and they work great. In fact I regularly pass other people on mountain bikes because the Dutch Hybrids have narrow tyres, efficient geometries and high quality components.

The derailleur bikes are lighter weight and therefore feel more lively but they have all the features to make them perfectly practical in city uses too. I would argue that these bikes are the perfect bikes for many Australian uses actually.





And then you can get the 11-speed Alfine versions as well, which can go just about anywhere.


Cheers,

Paul

Usual about vibration from a SON, I could only think of a 'one off' issue and would need a second trial to see if it was the hub or other factors.
Incidently, I spoke with the chief engineer of SON in March, they are a small outfit and well regarded.

In Australia, I see a growing interest, trend towards bikes with hub dynamo's as city biking / commuting grows.

IMO, you don't need super low gearing for city riding anyway, even in Sydney. Not enough to justify the complexity and maintenance of a 3x9 derailleur setup for your average joe commuter. The 7/8 speed gear hubs have plenty of range for city riding.

As for visibility of lights, i'd say generally most dynamo lights are generally better designed because they are usually built to German standards which are quite strict. Side visibility I'd say is much better generally speaking. Also I find solid lights much easier to track than flashing rear lights.

The other reason I think dynamos are pretty rare here is because they are difficult to install. In countries where they are commonplace they are almost always factory fitted. Battery lights prevail because you can just strap them on.