Custom Oak Cycles 650B French Randonneur Project.

That too, it will have a Son hubs that'll powered the light and possibly GPS too.

Ed, how does the wireless power work? Surely it can't pass juice through the metal of the frame.

Ed, how does the wireless power work? Surely it can't pass juice through the metal of the frame.

Not sure, wire either go inside the fork or use the fork to pass through the electric.

Ed, how does the wireless power work? Surely it can't just pass juice through the metal of the frame.

ftfy

Unless you're Tesla, electricity needs a circuit. Somehow you need to have two conductive paths from the dynamo to the light that are insulated from each other. But you *can *get away with just one insulated wire and use the frame as the other half of the circuit.

This system is explained here: http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/schmidt-sl.asp
There is one wire. It contacts the hub via a specially made right hand dropout, the inner face of which is insulated from the rest of the fork.

The whole frame is metal, so you can't make a circuit around the bike without putting a plastic spacer down the centre of the frame (structurally, this would probably not be a good thing I feel). And you can't go source to ground with rubber tyres. I'm intrigued now.

Oh, nice (theoretical) build so far Ed, btw. I 'm liking the use of 650B - it's a nice wheel size for this kind of thing. I'm still trying to convince my wife to use them on her build.

Using the headset bearing to complete the circuit on the 'earth' side may cause brinnelling of the races. It has always been considered a no-no on motorcycles, but the amperage may be a lot smaller for this sort of thing.

"I told you not to get the 1.21 gigawatt model, Ed!"

http://www.colourbox.com/preview/2454824-225857-the-bicyclist-on-a-bicycle-in-a-jump-on-a-background-of-the-sky-and-flash-lightning.jpg

Ordered the stainless steel fork end, should be here next week for Ryan.

This system is explained here: http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/schmidt-sl.asp
There is one wire. It contacts the hub via a specially made right hand dropout, the inner face of which is insulated from the rest of the fork.

THANKS!

I searched a fair bit and couldn't find any info. Lookin fwd to reading bout it.

Oh and has anyone seen that YouTube of the two people tesla fighting ?

I too couldn't find any into until that link.

Ed, if you travel at 88mph on that bike, will you go backwards in time..?

Where I'm going, we don't need tarmac.

Oh man.

Oh man, oh man...

This is going to be so lovely.

Are you getting your wheelset built by spa cycles by any chance? From a glance they seem to do a good wheel build service and you can get SON hubs

There is a frame on here I'm interested in building up and I've been toying with the idea of a SON28 dynohub, but it is a fair whack more expensive...

Have you have any experience with one before?

Hold on a sec, just read through the thread, you already have a wheelset?

I know yousaid they were a stop gap but are you replacing them so soon? (before it's built?? :p )

Coincidence that the CTC magazine that has dropped through my letterbox today has good articles on Dynamo lighting/hubs withfull comparisons of different brands price/weight/efficiency etc etc, as well as one on GPS units.

If anyone wants me to scan it in the near future feel free to PM and I can do so

I'm not building a new wheelset yet, merely need the fork to be compatible with the new SON wireless dynamo hubs.

It will have a new wheelset before the London-Edinburgh-London Audax thought, a necessary frankly.

Gotcha.

I was relieved to read that the drag with light on and off is pretty negligible, on the modern dynamo hubs anyway.

The drag were noticeable on the cheap Shimano hubs, but the kind of drag that you'd forget about while riding a Century every day.

For budget, I'd go for the Shimano, the Velo Orange one look promising.

Coincidence that the CTC magazine that has dropped through my letterbox today has good articles on Dynamo lighting/hubs withfull comparisons of different brands price/weight/efficiency etc etc, as well as one on GPS units.

If anyone wants me to scan it in the near future feel free to PM and I can do so

Ooh, I would definitely like to see this...
I was just pondering this yesterday -there's a coincidence.
I'm thinking of a dynamo hub for my city bike and although I've always admired the Schmidt hubs it'd be overkill for a town bike.
Although I could justify it if the wheel did double service on a randonneur bike, which I don't yet have.
Custom drop-outs would be nice so I wouldn't have to faff around with wires....
:-)

Are the new shimano ones any good?

Ooh, I would definitely like to see this...
I was just pondering this yesterday -there's a coincidence.
I'm thinking of a dynamo hub for my city bike and although I've always admired the Schmidt hubs it'd be overkill for a town bike.
Although I could justify it if the wheel did double service on a randonneur bike, which I don't yet have.
Custom drop-outs would be nice so I wouldn't have to faff around with wires....
:-)

Are the new shimano ones any good?

PMed

And from that article and what I've heard, the shimano hub does fairly well when compared with Schmidt and the likes.
Older versions of the shimano dynamo hub I've heard anecdotally have a significant,noticable drag, which is absolutely fine for a town bike, but you may end up resenting when tired and pushing to make that next checkpoint on a long randoneé.

P.s. Ed when do we get to hear more info on this?? :p

Ed, I assume you'll be keeping theVO wheelset as a spare, if not -
Dibs.
always wanted to build a 650b bike with stupid big tyres. I even have a pair of Honjos in the loft.

Jordan. cheers for that - I await the scans...
I was out with Skully the other night, he on his rat/town bike - dyno-hub (with stand light), 2 racks mudguards and Toad of Toad Hall horn, me with my crooked Pennine (rhymes with panini) with no 'guards and crap light cause I've mislaid my Hope. Made me feel under-equiped.
I was going to scrap it and stick the mavic track hub wheels on the city bike - but I have a close ratio 3 speed Sturmey Archer built on a MA2 that needs a front -so maybe a dyno hub on an MA2 -proper old man bike.
Then I can get the Pennine straightened and stick some Salmon 'guards on it and have way too many bikes again.

Jordan. cheers for that - I await the scans...
I was out with Skully the other night, he on his rat/town bike - dyno-hub (with stand light), 2 racks mudguards and Toad of Toad Hall horn, me with my crooked Pennine (rhymes with panini) with no 'guards and crap light cause I've mislaid my Hope. Made me feel under-equiped.
I was going to scrap it and stick the mavic track hub wheels on the city bike - but I have a close ratio 3 speed Sturmey Archer built on a MA2 that needs a front -so maybe a dyno hub on an MA2 -proper old man bike.
Then I can get the Pennine straightened and stick some Salmon 'guards on it and have way too many bikes again.

I always thought that Pennine was pronounced as in The Pennines, you learn something new etc etc :)

And yeah I know what you mean, sounds like a good idea*

*More bikes that is :p

Gaaagh!
That article still makes me want to buy the Schmidt SON Delux.

1. It's Guaranteed for 5 years
   
2. It's optimised for LEDs
   
3. It's proven -lasts for ever, the next best on test (SP which is only £90) has had 'reliability issues'.
   
4. It's an extra £100 ;-)
   
   

If the SP had a proven track record I'd be sold, I'm still pretty tempted, Shimano isn't even in the running though...

I can actually see dyno hubs becoming much more the norm -charging your laptop or phone or electronic shifting, how very 21st Century.
Well done us!