#21
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Light works
$400 ? OR LESS...ColCycle isnot Nicole's Bargian Basement...those endure racer lights work...which is the idea.
the dynamo devils continue ignoring negatives on front wheel weight...where grams were fought over, adding a generator elevates discussion bet=yond grams to watts/amps.volts I guess the DD go faster cooler with more pounds. Hell with handling and response. I can see I can see I can see.... replace wires as maintenance....6mm grade 5 racks bolts here need replacement every 2-3 years or shafts fall off inboard frame holes. batteries innards are held in a shock absorbing gel I( I assume) 500 more grams at the bottom of a front suspension does what ? |
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#22
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Light works
On 8/29/2014 10:34 AM, jbeattie wrote:
I don't know if a hub dynamo is a good thing on a mountain bike and defer to those who use them. Personally, I wouldn't bother with one because of all the wiring and additional crap on my bike that would get infrequent use, being that night trail riding is not something I would do often. A battery light would be a more reasonable option, and I could simply shift a light from my road bike for trail riding. I also wonder whether a dynamo would put out enough light when I was picking my way up forested single track at 4mph. It seems to add so much complexity without a real pay-off. The calculus is different on a commuter that gets a lot of night time use. Regarding single track at 4 mph, my experience last week (when I did that with my utility road bike in our forest preserve) was fine. Admittedly, I didn't pay much attention to my precise speed, but it was certainly slow. The trails I rode were true single track, bumpy and rooty, and I was on 28mm road tires. The complexity issue is actually a trade-off. Some people prefer the "complexity" of having a dynamo on each bike, and never having to worry about having light when it's needed. Other people prefer the complexity of remembering to keep batteries topped up, of installing and removing lights, and occasionally dealing with having no lights when schedules or procedures fail. -- - Frank Krygowski |
#23
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Light works
Frank Krygowski wrote:
:As I've said before, if the "more is always necessary" rationale for :headlights were applied to other bicycle equipment, we'd all be on :motorcycle spokes and tires. Bicycle design is about efficiency and :elegance, except for most headlights. Then it switches to sledgehammer :mentality. Night trail riding is one place where you really can't have too much light. There are obstacles at all altitudes, and there tend to be lots of twists and turns, and sudden drop offs. It's ahrd enough to see everything in daylight. A dynmo isn't going to cut it. (and I have dynmo lights on all my bikes.) -- sig 16 |
#24
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Light works
On 8/28/2014 11:18 PM, Ralph Barone wrote:
Joerg wrote: wrote: http://www.autospeed.com/cms/A_112922/article.html So when do bike accessory manufacturers finally wake up and build something like this? Why do things take so long with bicycles? Until now all the lights I've tried and seen are between "barely bright enough" and utter junk. B&M Luxos U is looking pretty good so far, although I haven't taken it out for a night ride yet and I'm still wrestling with mounting. I'm just curious - what's your issue with mounting? -- - Frank Krygowski |
#25
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James wrote:
On 29/08/14 09:55, Joerg wrote: James wrote: On 29/08/14 08:27, Joerg wrote: Europeans use hub dynamos a lot. It would be possible but difficult on my mountain bike because it has a serious disc brake up front. I'd be ok with a central Li-Ion battery if some company made a better holder than those flimsy Velcro thingies. Maybe take a look here... http://www.sp-dynamo.com/8Xseriesdynamo%20hub.html When I win the lottery :-) Is it really that much? Yes, plus it weighs a pound or so and the unsuspended parts of a vehicle should be as lighht as possible. Unless the weight is mission-critical such as in brake discs where I wish they wouldn't put holes in them. I think Schmidt and Sons in Germany makes something like this but then you be looking at 100 Euros plus labor. I really don't like to do spokes. Have done it but hated it. Mine (SP PV-8) was about $150AUD delivered. Ah, c'mon, front wheel spokes are easy. On a MTB they must be super tight. That's where the lion's share of the brake force during a gnarly downhill section goes into. I'd rather have a central battery where you can get a ton of capacity at same weight. Then the bike can power lights and other gear even at standstill, like during breaks. For example, when a friend discovered a cave we were able to take the light off my bike and crawl in. I know, I know, thou shalt not do that ... I'll raise your tonne of capacity for, well, infinite capacity while the wheels keep turning ;-) A dynamo sure would be nice but I'd still like to have a sizeable battery. On an MTB you are often crawling up a very steep incline and you really do not want your lights to extinguish 1/3rd of the way up. A dynamo isn't going to produce at 2mph. For night rides on the MTB, I'd take a strap on head torch. BTW, most good dynamo headlights have a stand light that keeps the light going for 4-5 minutes at half strength when you stop. If it runs out, spin the front wheel a few times to charge the internal capacitor again. The lights I've seen were all plastic and/or on skinny brackets, those on the Lumotec lights would never survive. I need something that will survive even if a rock the size of a fist smacks to it. Happens a lot. Like Tuesday, barreled down a trail to get home, front wheel squished off a rock that size, it ricocheted from somewhere ... *KANGGG* ... smack-dab between my right foot and crank. I stopped and it was still cradled there. Took a chunk out of the crank and my shoe. Earlier this summer one ricocheted off and crashed into the handlebar. Then there's the rocks kicked up by other riders. And the occasional thick Manzanita branch. The IQ-Tec Premium light I use has a heavy steel bracket and sturdy body. http://www.xxcycle.com/busch-and-muller-cyo-premium-front-light-iq-tec-p-80-lux-1752qsndi-04,,en.php That's the ones I had seen. On a mountain bike there is really nothing you could fasten it do, you'd have to buy or build a clamp bracket. This kind of U-shape carrier will not hold up, it'll get bent real soon. This then.. http://www.starbike.com/en/son-edelux-2-led-front-lamp/ Seems to come without bracket. They need to offer with bracket. The light is super expensive as it is (would be over US$200) and then I'd expect not to have to build any missing stuff myself. Also, I hope that black ring in back ain't plastic or it won't survive. The enclosure itself needs to be metal, aircraft aluminum or something similar. I've even broken ABS. http://www.starbike.com/p/Supernova-...QaAqq58 P8HAQ My MTBing must be very tame. I haven't broken anything for ages. Maybe I'm just more careful. I've got my FS for about 1/2 year now. So far: Main suspension pivot came loose. Freewheel is almost toast. Saddle broke. Left fork seal seems to be going. Ticking noise from BB area, hoping it's just the pedals. -- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/ |
#26
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Light works
"Joerg" wrote in message ... Ian Field wrote: "Joerg" wrote in message ... wrote: not so.....night riders in the park are seen with midlevel systems both on bike and helmet....good enough for 25 mph on pavement. 25mph on pavement ... yawn What I meant is something that also holds up at 25mph on a bone-rattling trail. Like it does on cars. No super-expensive boutiques stuff, regular affordable gear, just like on cars or motorcycles. I use such trails regularly also for commutes and pretty soon it'll be dark when I get back. So right now I sometimes have three different lighting systems front an back in order to be able to switch to the next after one fails. http://goo.gl/IPoGVq Those links don't work here, produce just a blank page. You could have the about blank infection - some pages open with "blank page" in the title bar. Something to do with hijacking peoples browsers and getting a fee for every re-directed search. No, definitely not, then you'd land on a site you did not click on. But IME; that's never happened - you just get a blank page titled: about blank. I've no idea how its supposed to earn the perpetrator money, but it grows its roots into the registry like a fungus! The only way I've ever got rid of it is with a DOD wipe of the boot drive. |
#27
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Light works
"Joerg" wrote in message ... Frank Krygowski wrote: On Thursday, August 28, 2014 12:58:45 PM UTC-4, Joerg wrote: wrote: http://www.autospeed.com/cms/A_112922/article.html So when do bike accessory manufacturers finally wake up and build something like this? Why do things take so long with bicycles? Until now all the lights I've tried and seen are between "barely bright enough" and utter junk. Some of us use hub dynamos and good quality LED headlights. My utility bike has a Shimano hub dynamo and a Busch & Muller headlight. It gives me plenty of light. It does a great job of illuminating the road, with a nice even beam, and I can see it illuminating stop signs nearly a quarter mile away. The setup isn't cheap. I paid about $65 for the hub, and the headlight was a $100 Christmas gift. (I built up the wheel myself.) But I don't expect to have to replace the setup for the next ten years. To me, it's worth the expense. Certainly, it would be cheaper if it were standard equipment on every bike; but we have to face the facts, that most people in westernized countries use bikes as daytime toys. They wouldn't want to spend the money for a headlight they'd seldom or never use. While this is a road bike, last week I used it after dark to inspect some work we'd recently done in our local forest preserve. I don't know whether it would work on a wooded off-road trail at 25 mph, but it allowed me to do fine on the single track trails I was riding at much lower speed. Europeans use hub dynamos a lot. It would be possible but difficult on my mountain bike because it has a serious disc brake up front. I'd be ok with a central Li-Ion battery if some company made a better holder than those flimsy Velcro thingies. Get a really big one and clamp it in the drink holder with a jubilee clip. |
#28
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Light works
Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 8/28/2014 9:06 PM, jbeattie wrote: I would think the bigger issue(s) on a mountain bike would be (1) electric wire fatigue with suspension forks, (2) axle and internal failures on big hit bikes, (3) no stand light, and (4) less options for a bright light (SuperNova is about it apart from some of the Chinese products). Do you know any really bright (as in 2W LED) tail light that can be externally powered, won't cost an arm and a leg, and is "trail-rated" for gnarly MTB use? I really wonder how much beating the internals can take -- maybe it's a lot. I don't do a lot of trail riding at night, but my choice would be a light that works when the bike is stopped and that I can use to see my wounds. I guess one can always hypothesize unsolvable problems. Going up a steep hill on a MTB where a dynamo does not produce isn't really a hypothetical problem. 1) Wire fatigue is eminently controllable through fairly simple design. After all, off-road motorcycles do have wires. 2) Front axles break... really, how often? 3) Tons of modern LED headlights feature standlights. 4) How much light do we really need anyway? As I've said before, if the "more is always necessary" rationale for headlights were applied to other bicycle equipment, we'd all be on motorcycle spokes and tires. Bicycle design is about efficiency and elegance, except for most headlights. Then it switches to sledgehammer mentality. Oh, not just there. I for one do not like the flimsy brake pads that bikes have. I just wore out a pair at a measly 500mi. -- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/ |
#29
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Lou Holtman wrote:
Joerg schreef op 29-8-2014 0:27: Frank Krygowski wrote: On Thursday, August 28, 2014 12:58:45 PM UTC-4, Joerg wrote: wrote: http://www.autospeed.com/cms/A_112922/article.html So when do bike accessory manufacturers finally wake up and build something like this? Why do things take so long with bicycles? Until now all the lights I've tried and seen are between "barely bright enough" and utter junk. Some of us use hub dynamos and good quality LED headlights. My utility bike has a Shimano hub dynamo and a Busch & Muller headlight. It gives me plenty of light. It does a great job of illuminating the road, with a nice even beam, and I can see it illuminating stop signs nearly a quarter mile away. The setup isn't cheap. I paid about $65 for the hub, and the headlight was a $100 Christmas gift. (I built up the wheel myself.) But I don't expect to have to replace the setup for the next ten years. To me, it's worth the expense. Certainly, it would be cheaper if it were standard equipment on every bike; but we have to face the facts, that most people in westernized countries use bikes as daytime toys. They wouldn't want to spend the money for a headlight they'd seldom or never use. While this is a road bike, last week I used it after dark to inspect some work we'd recently done in our local forest preserve. I don't know whether it would work on a wooded off-road trail at 25 mph, but it allowed me to do fine on the single track trails I was riding at much lower speed. Europeans use hub dynamos a lot. It would be possible but difficult on my mountain bike because it has a serious disc brake up front. I'd be ok with a central Li-Ion battery if some company made a better holder than those flimsy Velcro thingies. The lights I've seen were all plastic and/or on skinny brackets, those on the Lumotec lights would never survive. I need something that will survive even if a rock the size of a fist smacks to it. Happens a lot. Like Tuesday, barreled down a trail to get home, front wheel squished off a rock that size, it ricocheted from somewhere ... *KANGGG* ... smack-dab between my right foot and crank. I stopped and it was still cradled there. Took a chunk out of the crank and my shoe. Earlier this summer one ricocheted off and crashed into the handlebar. Then there's the rocks kicked up by other riders. And the occasional thick Manzanita branch. You have to realize that your commute route is far from usual. Not in the Netherlands but in some parts of the world that is usual :-) Even in your area it can be. I lived in your country for six years, in Zuid Limburg. I rode over into Belgium a lot and over there we had lots of remote and rugged mountainous paths that people used as shortcuts. Many times I almost cussed my dynamo-driven lights because uphill they produced so little light that I had to hop off the bike and walk it, mostly to avoid doing an endo in a pothole that I didn't see. -- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/ |
#30
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Light works
On 8/29/2014 12:20 PM, Joerg wrote: Lou Holtman wrote:
You have to realize that your commute route is far from usual. Not in the Netherlands but in some parts of the world that is usual :-) Even in your area it can be. I lived in your country for six years, in Zuid Limburg. I rode over into Belgium a lot and over there we had lots of remote and rugged mountainous paths that people used as shortcuts. Many times I almost cussed my dynamo-driven lights because uphill they produced so little light that I had to hop off the bike and walk it, mostly to avoid doing an endo in a pothole that I didn't see. On one tour, my wife, my daughter and I passed through the Paw Paw tunnel on the C&O Canal Towpath Trail. This is on the border between Maryland and West Virginia. We had dynamo halogen lights, driven by bottom bracket or roller generators. The tunnel is long and dark, and the pathway for bicycles was narrow, rough and wet. The canal through the tunnel is filled with water. My daughter and I found that we had just enough light to see our path if we kept our riding speed up above about maybe 8 mph. In fact, the path's roughness made my speed rise and fall, so my light's brightness rose and fell as I rode. My wife wasn't willing to do that, so she took out a flashlight and walked the length of the tunnel. But as I said, that was with equipment that would now be considered a bit old fashioned. Modern LED headlights put out much more light at very low speeds, and most have standlights that put out light even when stopped. If we had modern lights, I doubt we'd have had a problem at all. That's not to say they are perfect for all riding. But I think the slow speed problem is often exaggerated. -- - Frank Krygowski |
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