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  • The real talk is that you don't need a dynamo for London - those £10 USB Ali express lights (which are leyzene copies I think) are 100% fine for London. But a dynamo is nice to have in London.

    Unless you're desperate / need to have thru axle it's simply wasting money getting anything other than the nice shimano hubs which are well cheap even from new. All the reduced drag chat from other brands is just marketing bullshit. And if yod spend ~£35 on any front dynamo light it will be fine for London. I have the IQ X and it's like a motorcycle light basically. Hugely unnecessary for town - but appreciated in dark country lanes. You don't need a stand light

    And great rear lights are cheap as hell. £15max. +£80 rear lights for clean lines is a fashion statement only.

  • All the reduced drag chat from other brands is just marketing bullshit.

    Highly inaccurate.

    Spin and Shimano next to a SON and you can see there is a huge difference; we have a demo stand to show this. Shimanos work well, but they are slower and heavier!

  • Your marketing stand shows the more expensive models as being faster? ;)

    60kg rider / 30kg bike and gear / 100 watts. Non-Dynamo Hub = 23.83km/h.
    Most efficient hub: on – 23.29km/h (5.25w extra drag) +2.3%
    Least efficient hub: on – 23.19km/h (6.25w extra drag) +2.7%

    "The most efficient dynamo hubs when switched ON add between 3min 24sec and 5min 47sec to a flat ride over 100km when compared to a regular hub."
    https://www.cyclingabout.com/dynamo-hub-drag-lab-testing/

    So even if you double the least efficient dynamo your adding only a few extra minutes over every 100km. That's beyond negligable for commuting and only slightly affecting times at a 200km audax - which I'm sure could be gained back elsewhere in bike position or tyre tread.

    Round of applause for the ultra endurance cyclists who need to maintain the minutes over slow cycling for weeks on end against the clock. The 99% of other cyclists will never need or nor notice any demonstrable difference.

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