Cycling UK Forum

Hi. I'm thinking about trying a dynamo front light for the first time.
I'd be interested in suggestions for a decent bottle dynamo and light that won't break the bank.

To put that into perspective, I've been considering the Axa HR traction dynamo with the Axa nano 70 plus, so about £70 ish for the pair. Initially, I don't want to go any dearer.
Any comments on the Axa kit ? Also, what would you recommend otherwise.

as bottle dynamos go, fine. But in many cases you would be better off with a hub generator.

cheers

Yes I agree. I've just invested in a new bike so having a new wheel built up is beyond me financially at the moment.

do you have a braze-on to take the dynamo? The reason I ask is that one of my pet hates is putting dynamo brackets onto new bikes; I've seen too many wrecked paint jobs.

You can get brackets that go onto canti bosses etc, too; one of these might be a reasonable solution.

cheers

Not sure if there's a braze on actually. It's not delivered for a couple of weeks but it's a custom build Croix de Fer.

A custom build will be what you specified then?
Now using a dynohub I'd never go back to a side wall dynamo. I'd recommend making do with battery lights until you could afford a dynohub.

Axa HR is fine. I've got one on a canti bracket. I'm a bit disappointed that Schwalbe Delta Cruisers have changed their mould so its dynamo track isn't as good any more.

I use it with a pico front and riff rear, both with steady lights. £50 the lot from bike- discount. Not as good as a hub dynamo but better than batteries.

don1 wrote:Not sure if there's a braze on actually. It's not delivered for a couple of weeks but it's a custom build Croix de Fer.

No canti bosses huh? IIRC then you have only a few mounting options;

- clamp on the seatstay
- clamp on the fork
- custom made (one-off) bracket on low-rider bosses
- custom made bracket fitted to a carrier (NB will be very noisy)

the usual kinds of clamp brackets (eg some here http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/dynamos-brackets-dept127/) are practically designed to wreck nice new paintwork. Many of them contain a pointy screw to make a ground connection. If you try and use them without this, they can simply turn on the seatstay (or the fork blade if it is round section).

Many people will not mount a bracket of this sort onto a tapered fork blade because if it loosens slightly it drops the generator straight into the front wheel.

cheers

If it's a custom build why not ask them to build a dynohub into the front wheel rather than a plain hub?

+1 for the dynohub. I cannot begin to explain the joy of it just working in all weathers. Yes it takes you over budget but the joy of just switching on your lights and they work EVERY time is great

WOOLIFERKINS wrote:+1 for the dynohub. I cannot begin to explain the joy of it just working in all weathers. Yes it takes you over budget but the joy of just switching on your lights and they work EVERY time is great

+1 to that, but why fuss with switching on? Trelock LS885 (and others, such as Axa Luxx 70) come on automatically

Indeed, but in 7 years in a previous guise as a retailer the vast majority of warranty work on dynamo lights was on those with a senso function.

WOOLIFERKINS wrote:Indeed, but in 7 years in a previous guise as a retailer the vast majority of warranty work on dynamo lights was on those with a senso function.

Ah!

re the light the Axa Pico30. This is a perfectly good light can get for around £13 from Germany & fine for modest speeds in complete dark. If you are an urban rider only then some kind of flashing battery lamp better - I use some from my local pound shop. If you get your bottle dynamo and light from eg Rose cycles in Germany you can save a lot of money, esp if u want a BM Dymotec6 bottle dynamo - they cost twice as much here as in Germany. Unless you have a good braze on for dynamos ( on my Dawes 1-Down the braze on too short for my BM dynamo) , best get an AXA dynamo and the canti support they have for it.

squeaker wrote:

WOOLIFERKINS wrote:+1 for the dynohub. I cannot begin to explain the joy of it just working in all weathers. Yes it takes you over budget but the joy of just switching on your lights and they work EVERY time is great

+1 to that, but why fuss with switching on? Trelock LS885 (and others, such as Axa Luxx 70) come on automatically

More importantly - why turn them off...