Dynamo hubs

Connectors: you don't need much, but may prefer to insert bullet connectors at choice places.

Hub:I may have a dh-t780 available soon, pm me if interested. Currently in a rim, may need replacing at some point.

USB charging: use a battery bank unless you reeeeally need it.

Light: B&M eyc has been great around town. Everyone loves a Secula.

If you’re on a budget there’s this:
https://www.decathlon.co.uk/28-front-hybrid-dynamo-wheel-id_8133890.html

Not light, but it’s uses a shimano Dynamo and I imagine with the build it would survive nuclear winter. Plus you won’t cry too much if it gets pinched/totalled.

I've seen those and it's a good deal, but I want a disc hub and they don't offer one. The disc version of that hub is <£25 from e.g. SJS, then the spokes will be 21p ×32 or 36, plus I can find a <500g rim for £5 probably. Will save a few hundred grams and result in a nicer ride, as Decathlon use cheapo rims and plain gauge spokes. If I'm lucky I'll get something tubeless too.

My bad, forgot it’s not disc.

Re: lights, my only experience is exposures Revo - which is bright as balls, and do sometimes come up cheap second hand, as people generally forget exposure make a dynamo light.

Re: charging, I bought a VeloCharger, it’s £60 odd from SPA, unfortunately I can’t say much more than the fact it works and seems to be built relatively well, with a nice waterproof gland where the cable breaks - for removal. I haven’t really put it trough the ringer though so can’t comment on reliability, but I believe it comes with a pretty comprehensive warranty. They claim they’ve had next to no failures (possibly none?), I did email the guy who designed it quite a bit before I pulled the trigger, I can dig them out and see what he said if you’re interested.

In terms of wiring you either wire them in parallel (not series), which is fine - but means you won’t get full power from both the light and charger if running both together. Or you do what I did and wire them to a switch, so you can select light, charger or neither.

Another option is the K-light that’s second hand on STW classifieds at the moment (although over budget), I very nearly bought it myself and still might if no one else does. It’s basically the Bentley of Dynamo lights. The Aussie chap who designs them did a podcast interview (I think on the bikepack Canada podcast) and it’s immediately apparent why they’re ubiquitous on MTB ultra races and what-not.

Thanks, really useful. That kLite looks great... Just maybe a bit overkill for my crappy 26" town bike. Down the line I'd like to put dynamos on a few bikes and something like that'd be great off road.

I've been looking at the AXA Luxx 70 which is on Rose bikes and (apparently) has USB charging for only £40. I have a feeling they've had a mixup though and it's the version without USB, and the description is wrong. Better send them an email I suppose

I had another look, I misread the description and it says without USB charging (to be fair, the wording is a bit unclear). The USB version is £57 which is still a good deal I reckon.

PD8 for €55. Seems a good deal for someone with more money than me

https://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/2478519/

Wiring for dynamo hubs. Which forks can you run the wire from the hub to a front light internally? I know you can with the Rodeo Spork, which is currently at no. 1 on my list, but can you with any others? I've been peering at the Isen website to see how the dynamo wires run from the hub to the light, but due to @coldharbour 's moody lighting, I can't see how it's done.

Background: The Spork ticks many boxes for my forthcoming Tourer (Fast) bike, particularly the internal dynamo wiring, but they're not exactly aero. Although apparently I can order them unpainted, which is a bonus.

Spork interested me, but would have to go thru axle, which would mean the faff of adaptors or just building new wheel to accommodate.
In my searching there aren’t many (Read any) forks which fit the bill for big clearances, mudguards and front rack compatible and internal dynamo wiring.
Speak to @cake think he’s ordered one/has one..

Thru axle is fine, as I'll be building new wheels for the Tourer (Fast) bike. Since it's the Tourer (Fast) bike rather than the Tourer (Leisurely) bike I won't need big clearances, mudguards or front racks. But I do want internal dynamo wiring. But, grrrr, the aeros. The Spork's a brick.

Oh, and the Spork 2.0 is less brick-like, but it's out because it's got too much clearanceseses. Don't want 28s looking all lost in there.

Have you decided on a race yet?

Pretty much. Having asked for advice, and received much good advice, we've adopted our usual course of action, ignored it, and decided to stick with Plan A which is the Three Peaks Bike Race.

There are quite a few things in its favour. Brevity, nice route to take, good peaks, and Vienna is relatively easy to get to from Casa Cycliste. And most of all, it starts on my birthday, so that's nice.

Not exactly cheap...http://www.rideaera.com/all-road-dynamo-fork/

Ooooff, you're right, not cheap. But then again, Rodeo Spork plus shipping plus VAT plus import tax plus Royal Bloody Mail Handling Charge... Probably not that different. Yo @amey, how much your Spork set you back in total?

Is there a good, neat tidy way to connect dynamo wires so that you can take lights on and off the bike without re wiring it every time? Something that can be detached and reattached relatively easily.

New rodeo spork can run qr too. Also rodeo have a euro shop now.

I'd turned my face against the Spork, as I'd already got the bits to fit to custom wound up fork! Now not so sure..
FARK!!!!

Dyna-snap?

Bullet connectors work great. I put them down by the hub too so if I forget to unplug the wire when I take the wheel off they'll just disconnect no harm done.

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I could do that with mine if I didn't electrical tape all the wires down. Supernova rubber thing for the back and one allen bolt for the front. The wires could be held to frame with some kind of clip or maybe just less elec tape. It'd be a 5min job to remove.

Helicopter tape on a columbus futura gravel. Spork is currently the only fork that offers it, we were about to pull the trigger on some being made for us,but pound/dollar fucked us, then we spent all the money on wages and rent #thanksobama. @cornelius_blackfoot spork 2.o comes with swapping dfrop outs that will take QR. Nice guys, good fork, just not my aesthetic.

yeah, just had a look at their euro website.
Have my heart set on a custom wound up though. Despite exchange rate fuckrees, and the inevitable custom charges.
Also think the wound up will look better with the Ti Reilly frame it's going on. Also, also, don't need the level of clearance that the Spork 2.0 provides, bike will be mostly everyday commuter/dad bike (when required) and a bit of light UK touring.

That looks like the sort of thing I'm looking for.

@hippy - I've found out that I can run the rear light internally (along side the di2 cables) on my new frame and mount the rear light on the rack mount like this so if I did, it would be good to have a way of leaving that cable in the frame permanently.

My 4S had the dyno run internally on the toptube. I had those banana connectors shown above for that but they were then taped over and I never actually took the set off the bike until I snapped it so it was a bit over-engineered really.

My SP PD-8X dynamo hub has suddenly developed loads of resistance, it stops spinning after only a few revolutions and makes a clicking noise (like a freehub). It never used to do this and my other SP hub is nice and smooth.

Has anyone experienced this / had a successful repair via ison?

Does it still generate power? Maybe something got into the bearings and is being slowly crunched into dust. I'd only send mine for repair if it actually stopped working/spinning. Death to bearings!