Saw first Bicycle with a SON hub today.

On Wednesday, July 15, 2015 at 6:02:48 AM UTC+1, jbeattie wrote:
On Tuesday, July 14, 2015 at 8:08:22 PM UTC-7, David Scheidt wrote:

I have lugged steel disk brake bike. No Son though, I'm too cheap.
My dyno is a shimano. I don't get the fascination with Rivendell;
just buy an 80s bike, and save a ton. Or buy a modern bike, save a
ton, and get a better bike.

I split the dif and got an SP hub for $100.

I don't an SP but I wonder if is worth the premium over a Shimano. I do have SON amd several kinds of Shimano dynamo hubs. Maybe the SON will last longer, which might reassure me if I planned to tour Outer Smellistan and Lower Upsetstomachstan and Distant Dontdrinkthewaterifyouwanttolivestan, but I don't. For your everyday commuter in civilization the Shimano is as good as the SON, for about a third or sometimes a quarter of the street price of a SON. A SON hub dynamo on most bikes is a pose, not a feature. (Mine came on a zero-Shimano bike, take it or leave it, basically thrown in semi-free, a delete option [ROLLS EYES].)

Andre Jute
George will keep up with the BummSons for me

On 7/15/2015 4:03 AM, Rolf Mantel wrote:
Am 14.07.2015 um 22:46 schrieb sms:
On 7/14/2015 12:20 PM, Joerg wrote:

Nine fifty extra, per day? Yikes!

Oh no, my mistake. $8.50

$2 each way on VTA plus $2.25 each way on Muni. $8.50 is more than I
spend on lunch in SF.

That's why in Germany we realized 25 years ago that if you wish to
promote publich transport you need through ticketing combining the train
fare with the two bus fares on both ends (especially for season tickets).
Thanks to the public subsidies to public transportation it was
reasonably easy to implement once the politicians realized that this
feature gives a massive net benefit to commuters.

In the Bay Area you used to be able to get a free transfer, when you got
off a ferry or train. They got rid of that.

Now you can use one payment card for all the different systems, but you
still get charged each time you change systems.

I think in the Bay Area they know that people going to SF are not going
to not us public transport due to $4-5 extra per day getting to and from
the main system (BART, Caltrain, or Golden Gate Ferry) because the
traffic and parking situation in San Francisco makes driving there too
difficult and expensive. So no need to give deals.

In Silicon Valley, nothing they do can get the middle class on public
transit so no need to offer fare incentives.

On 2015-07-17 9:23 AM, sms wrote:
On 7/15/2015 4:03 AM, Rolf Mantel wrote:
Am 14.07.2015 um 22:46 schrieb sms:
On 7/14/2015 12:20 PM, Joerg wrote:

Nine fifty extra, per day? Yikes!

Oh no, my mistake. $8.50

$2 each way on VTA plus $2.25 each way on Muni. $8.50 is more than I
spend on lunch in SF.

That's why in Germany we realized 25 years ago that if you wish to
promote publich transport you need through ticketing combining the train
fare with the two bus fares on both ends (especially for season tickets).
Thanks to the public subsidies to public transportation it was
reasonably easy to implement once the politicians realized that this
feature gives a massive net benefit to commuters.

In the Bay Area you used to be able to get a free transfer, when you got
off a ferry or train. They got rid of that.

Now you can use one payment card for all the different systems, but you
still get charged each time you change systems.

I think in the Bay Area they know that people going to SF are not going
to not us public transport due to $4-5 extra per day getting to and from
the main system (BART, Caltrain, or Golden Gate Ferry) because the
traffic and parking situation in San Francisco makes driving there too
difficult and expensive. So no need to give deals.

In Silicon Valley, nothing they do can get the middle class on public
transit so no need to offer fare incentives.


I have asked numerous long distance commuters (Sacramento Area - Bay
Area) why they don't use Amtrak and local public transit for the last
miles. The answer was always the same: Too expensive. Plus schedule and
punctuality problems but those were secondary.

What _all_ these people did was buy a cheap car that gets good gas
mileage, has a reputation for a long engine lifetime and low repair
costs. Sad.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

Shimano dynamo hub for me. Seems to work as well as the Schmidt hubs for about 1/3 the cost. Two Busch Mueller Cyo generator lights. Also seem to work as well as the Schmidt Edelux light. Cyo is about 1/4 the price of the Edelux. Starbike.com sells all the lights and hubs. Cheap compared to the USA prices.

Guess I am somewhat fortunate regarding public transport. Bus fare is $2 each way per day. Cheaper with monthly passes. I live about 3/4 mile from the bus stop. Easy walk. It takes me downtown within walking distance of things I need there. Complaint is it makes three roundtrips in the early morning and late afternoon. And one roundtrip at lunch. Only runs weekdays, no weekends. So it can be inconvenient if your schedule does not match exactly.