On Wednesday, March 8, 2017 at 4:05:58 PM UTC-8, jbeattie wrote:
On Wednesday, March 8, 2017 at 2:10:48 PM UTC-8, Doug Landau wrote:
On Wednesday, March 8, 2017 at 1:18:47 PM UTC-8, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
One ofthe things that I've noticed about decent bicycle lights whether internal battery, exteranl battery or dynamo is that for the average person the light is expensive. I bought my CygoLite Riover II light nearly ten years ago and I ONLY bought it becausethe bicycle shop gave me a money back guarantee if it did not meet my riding needs. Mountain Equipment Co-op (aka MEC) here in Canada also offers a moneyback guarantee if something doesn't meet the customers needs.

With a dynamo hub system that's pretty hard for a shop to do unless they offer the customer a loaner built up dynamo hub wheel. I KNOW thatthe hub dynamo light I tried otside a shop in another city about 50 kms from me did NOT match the brightness road illumination of my CygoLite Rover II light and especially at low speed.

My questions then are; #1. do you go to the expense of buying a bicycle light without having a money back guarantee if that light doesn't wrok for you the way you need it too? and #2. do any shops you use give such a guarantee if you want it and would they stand behind that gurantee?

Cheers

As you might remember I was hit from behind while riding to work October 2015. Although it was 9AM it changed my spending strategy W.R.T. lights. I felt bewildered by my previous desire to spend $30 on a headlight, went to Performance and put down closer to $100/ea for two identical USB rechargable headlights, $50/ea for two USB rechargeable taillights. One to keep charging on desk at work as I am forgetful.

I am now pricing $300 hubs from Peter White Cycles. For what reason I was trying to save a few tens of $$ on headlights in the bike-commuting years of the past, I know not.

A dyno hub or hub hubs?
Huh?!? No understand. I thot(assumed) that all the hubs on PWC are dyno hubs, no?

As for lights, my L&M SECA 1400, which is all the light anyone could ever need, was $89 off a sale table. Apparently, that model was discontinued in favor of an even brighter light for lumenaholics. http://www.lightandmotion.com/choose-your-light/seca My all-in-one was $47 on super-duper discount at the winter sale at Western Bikeworks -- the L&M Urban 800 I've been talking about. Either of those would be fine for commuters who have no problems remembering to charge.

Oh gawd. Now I'm reading the L&M website. But I thot you ran a Luxos B?

Now, the dyno hub I got on sale, too, for $100, and I still have my first purchase -- A Supernova E3 that I have to sell on eBay because it sucked as a commuting light (basically useless stand light and poor light output at low speeds climbing), and then I dumped a bunch of money into a LUXOS B -- just because I wanted to continue down the dyno light rabbit hole. None of that stuff was returnable after I had trimmed wires or built the hub into a wheel. I'm out a ton.

Hmm. Uhm.... ... ... Er. This raises still more questions... will take me a few to figure out this comment.


And about building the wheel. I've built a lot of wheels and have a first generation Park stand purchased in 1980, gobs of spokes from old projects and retired wheels and even some rims knocking around that I could lace into a dyno wheel. The cost to me beyond the hub was a bottle of beer and the time to build the front wheel. For normal folks, the total is $250 plus shipping (CR18 rim/QR). http://www.perennialcycle.com/produc...idproduct=6683

So, you're easily looking at $400 for a mid-fi dyno set up: $250 wheel and $150 light. None returnable in the event you conclude that the light sucks. But, at the end of the day, you have a light you don't have to charge and that runs as long as you do.

Well hell I already spent $1K on a used lance armstrong replica trek 5200, and another $900 on a kestrel talon, just for fun, when the fact is any ol' steel 7-speed roadbike like a $150 Saronni with 105 - or a $250 pristine 1990's taiwanese schwinn paramount - would serve just as well. So what the ****.

That said it is always fun to get kool stuff for cheap, and I'm still enjoying the many items I bought from the sale table for $5 when Los Gatos Schwinn finally went out of business in the late '90s. I still have one of the several Mavic Open Pro 36h rims I got for $5/ea, and another $5 item was a wooden letter-tray full of DT and wheelsmith stainless spokes. Most double-butted, the box must weight tens of pounds and have 30 or 40 bundles each of 50-100 spokes in increments of 1mm from 250-something to 30-something. There were also 3-4 Bontrager Mustang and Clydesdale rims also $5/ea. And a bunch of ultegra, 105, and Joytech hubs also $5/ea. So I bought a copy of "The Book" and have been built a half dozen wheels so far for $10.10 each and still have a few rims and 10 or 20 Lbs of spokes to go.

In fact I'm so swimming in SS wheelsmith spokes that I'm also using them as dirtbike-exhaust-pipe-spring-removers, bong pokers, etc.