jbeattie wrote:
On Friday, April 2, 2021 at 7:41:20 AM UTC-7, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 4/2/2021 12:11 AM, jbeattie wrote:
On Thursday, April 1, 2021 at 7:15:45 PM UTC-7, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 4/1/2021 7:45 PM, jbeattie wrote:
On Thursday, April 1, 2021 at 3:56:59 PM UTC-7, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 4/1/2021 5:41 PM, wrote:
On Thursday, April 1, 2021 at 10:59:48 AM UTC-5, Frank Krygowski wrote:
I think a lot of skepticism of dyno systems is due to "safety
inflation." Whatever was good enough last year _must_ be dangerous this
year, because there's something that claims to be "better." It applies
to riding without protective headgear, sliding our feet into toe clips,
removing our hands from the brake levers to shift gears, riding in
daylight with no lights, riding our bikes on roads that don't have walls
between cars and bikes, and much more. It amounts to retroactively
imagining past dangers we were never aware of.
--
- Frank Krygowski

Responding only to the toe clips comments. I vaguely remember
riding with toe clips back in the 1980s. It was 30 years ago. I had
Alfredo Binda toe straps. I got my first set of Time clipless
pedals in the early 1990s. I was delighted to retire the toe clips
and never ever use them again. Clipless for me. SPD or SPD-SL on all my bikes.

I've had bikes with stem mounted levers, downtube levers, bar end
levers, STI, and Ergo. I'll rate STI and Ergo as a tie. Both are
vastly superior to the others. I'm not going back.
Preference is one thing. My point with the list I gave is that all of
those items have been touted, at least by some, as either necessary or
highly desirable for "safety" purposes.

Yes, all modern improvements are the result of irrational fear. Take
the toilet -- and computers for example.

Nobody in my cohort ever touted STI or step in pedal systems as a safety improvement.
Hmm. I thought lawyers were supposed to be good at the fine print. And
heck, my posting was in normal font!

What did I say? I said nothing about your cohort.
I said the items in the list were touted as safety improvements by at
least _some_ as either necessary or desirable for "safety."

Examples: Some of the young racers in that comparative road test (modern
racing bikes vs. older racing bikes) were worried about the safety of
taking their hands off the brakes to shift.

Some guy said something about something. My cohort is not lawyers but
regular racers who were riding DT shifters when STI was introduced. It
was not promoted as a safety device. I remember lining up at a start
with my DT shifters next to some early adopter with STI, and his
comments was "its my secret weapon" -- and not "I'm so scared; thank
God I don't have to take my hands off the bars!"

Years ago, we had a poster here who said older pedals were unsafe, that
people should change their pedals. (Sorry, I admit I can't find the post.)

We've had posters here who have said unbelievably stupid things. I
switched to clipless because they were more comfortable and stiff with
a more positive connection to the pedal. There was no safety claim being made by Look.

Scharf has gone on and on about the danger of riding in daylight without
a DRL. And companies are definitely pushing ultra-bright taillights for
daytime use. We've had people here describing their purported safety
advantages.

Joerg has gone on and on about the dangers of riding on ordinary roads,
those without separation between motor vehicles and bikes. And living in
Portland, you can't possibly have failed to hear safety claims for
"cycletracks."

And the myth of a bike brain injury epidemic was created to sell
helmets. Bicyclists are only a tiny percentage of serious TBI cases, yet
a huge slice of America thinks nobody should ever pedal without
styrofoam "safety" gear.

My helmet has saved me from some stitches. Yes, you've never had an
accident of any kind because you are superior. We less superior people
may benefit from wearing a helmet, particularly off road -- and
particularly in the conditions in which we inferior people ride, e.g.
snow, ice, rain and on trail.

Dyno hubs and lights are for the Radio Shack set.
The "Radio Shack set" may like them. So do many members of the
"practical transportation set." The "long distance travel set." And the
"I don't want to keep fussing with batteries" set. There are others too,
I'm sure.

https://bikeportland.org/wp-content/...77316413_h.jpg I would
hazard a guess that approximately one of those transportational riders has a dyno lights.
Of course! This is America. Only two or three of those riders have a
light at all.
I rode across the US from east to west and north to south with a
battery light. I did have a roller dynamo while commuting in San Jose in the 70s.
I did east to west with a roller dyno and a halogen headlight. I'm
betting your battery light was nowhere near as effective as my various
B&M lamps, yet we both survived. Yet you seem to now be claiming my
lights are ineffective.

BTW: The worst experience with the light set I had on that trip was
where the C&O Canal Towpath passes through the Paw Paw Tunnel in West
Virginia. The tunnel is long and dark, with a very narrow walkway next
to the remains of the canal. I was forced by the narrowness and bad
surface to ride very slowly, maybe just 2 mph, so slowly that my light
was too dim to show the way very well.

BUT: My modern LED headlights light up as soon as the bike moves. And
most of them have "standlights" that would give enough illumination for
walking even if I somehow had to carry the bike.
But you don't have to like them. In fact, you don't have to keep the set
you have. I can trade you for an Oculus that will blind your enemies.
Think how safe you'll feel!

Hell, I built the wheel and hand drilled and tapped the cast aluminum
crown on my CX bike just to mount the mood light. No way I'm getting
rid of it. Is it as bright as my L&M urban 800 lumen light that cost
one fifth and weighs one quarter of my dyno set up? No. Does my dyno
light run forever, yes. That's worth something.
Hmm. It's terribly dim. It's just a "mood light." But you love it.

OK. Enjoy it.

I don't love it. I would love a dyno light with a solid 800 lumen
output, a little more upward spew and a stand light that was stronger
than the light on my give-away key chain from Wells Fargo -- and one with
a battery so I could use the light off the bike. We transportational
cyclists often need a light for use off the bike. A flasher would be
nice for dusk and dawn, but not required. And while we're wishing, how
about something lighter and more efficient than a bunch of magnets
whirling around. There must be some other way of harvesting electrons.

-- Jay Beattie.

Exposure do a higher powered Dynamo.

https://exposurelights.com/products/bike/dynamo-lights/revo-dynamo

I have few of their lights, I like that the lights are well made and can be
repaired!

Beam shape seems to be road ish but not German as you where, I don’t have
problems with blinding folks with the Exposure Strada on low beam.

Roger Merriman