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I'd also add it depends on your sleeping strategy.
If you're sleeping longer most night, you're riding less in the dark. And don't need a light for long.
If you like riding at night (and people do) then you'll want a dynamo.It really is a preference thing. But if you're not short for cash, I'd just take one. They're super useful.
It's 4w, or at least my son is. At even a poor 150W that's only 3%. It's nothing. You'll loose more forgetting to pump your tyres up to a nice psi every few days. Or carrying 1kg? of batteries does. Or the time spend sorting charging them.
Don't knock it until you've tried it!
There are good reasons to use dynamos but some of that is not right: battery lights are perfectly fine for riding all night and it only takes 5 hours max to recharge battery packs (if you have the right charger) so they don't compromise any sleep strategy that has more than one 5-hour hotel stop on the entire TCR (that is what Rimas actually did, using my batteries, last year!) And batteries don't weigh anything like a kilo.
The threshold power calc is based on an 'average' rider with a threshold of say 240W who is likely to be down to c.120W, 50% of threshold, after the first couple of days. Most dynos take about 6W when they're on which is 5% of 120W. With the dyno, he is down to 114W, making it equivalent of 50% of a 228W threshold.
I'm not trying to evanagelise about not using dynos, but if someone asks for the info it's only fair to give them it!
frank9755-
I wasn’t hating on batteries. I use them in conjunction with a dynamo.
In fact I was advocating them for a lot of people, as they really don’t ride in the dark much they have less need for a dynamo.
My text wasn’t worded well. I meant if you like riding st night (riding all night, and sleeping during the day) you’ll find a dynamo really useful.
However, if (like most) you sleep most hours of they dark, a battery setup will work just fine.
skinny
I'd also add it depends on your sleeping strategy.
If you're sleeping longer most night, you're riding less in the dark. And don't need a light for long.
If you like riding at night (and people do) then you'll want a dynamo.
It really is a preference thing. But if you're not short for cash, I'd just take one. They're super useful.
It's 4w, or at least my son is. At even a poor 150W that's only 3%. It's nothing. You'll loose more forgetting to pump your tyres up to a nice psi every few days. Or carrying 1kg? of batteries does. Or the time spend sorting charging them.