Salsa Vaya, the Resurrection - TvH's touring stuff

Do it :)

Burts are most excellent tyres. I'll always preach about them. Underrated.

I wouldn't bother with it at all personally.

Metal guards are always silver. Bike looks fantastic!

Have been putting this off for way too long. And rightly so because it was a massive pain in the arse.

Can now actually take the rack off for the first time ever though.

Good work on the wiring couplers. Agree on it being a PITA, but well worth doing.

Great job, what connectors have you used here ? I'm thinking of doing the same (same bike, same lights btw)

Thanks! Still holding up well so far.

They're EC2 connectors, designed for RC model batteries I think

Good shout!
Are they soldered on or crimped?

Soldered. It's a bit of a pain, you have to fill them with solder, keep it molten and stuff the wire in, but it's certainly doable. Helping hands would be useful

Yes - these are used in model vehicles like 1/10th buggies

Pros - don’t melt under high load

Cons - easy to mistakenly reverse polarity making it an expensive day out

Cons - easy to mistakenly reverse polarity making it an expensive day out

Can be a non-issue on dynamo setups

Indeed, hence why I wired them up in alternate pairs for the rear light to prevent such mishaps, given I couldn't/wouldn't use the shaped plastic connectors

Don't want to necessitate a trip to the dodgy servo dealer in Ponders End, obvs

good times :)

Thanks ! I'll look for these :)

That's what I want on the gravel bike so I can swap between battery and dynamo lights depending on wheelset but I'd give it about a 99.99% chance of me never doing it.

 💅

How are you going to run an AC dynamo light from a DC battery?

Eh? No no no.

I have a non-dynamo wheelset that I want to use with a battery light.
I have a dynamo wheelset that I want to use with a dynamo light.
I don't want to carry a dynamo light that does nothing while using the battery light.

Clear as mud?

Thanks! Are the ones you used 3,5 mm or 4 mm?
I can't quite make up my mind, whether soldering is better, or I just need to buy a proper crimping tool.

Ah, I've just seen I have EC3, not EC2. They're 3.5mm.

I think crimping is definitely better and tougher, especially with the right tool, but I couldn't find any nice crimp on plugs

It's very worth it. I've taken the rack and 'guards off a few times now that I actually can, has led to increased ride enjoyment, though also much hurried reattachment for unforseen rain

I don't even have guards or racks to deal with, it's just a bit silly riding around with a dynamo light doing nothing. It's only because I planned to use 700C (which I have dyno for) but then got obsessed with tracking down some 650B wheels (no dyno).
It isn't that tricky either - I'd already done the same thing on the original Kinesis to aid removal (which never happened).

I always used red and black heat shrink as getting the polarity wrong with RC lipo batteries can be fun.