RENAK Dynohubs

[AndrewLee]

Does anyone have any experience, reviews or knows who sells RENAK Dynohubs? After refurbishing the frame I m looking to buy a dynohub I was heading towards the Shimano (Cost and Aesthetics) but saw a RENAK in a shop in York - the hub had been nabbed by one of the staff and they knew little about it. It is light and hardly much bigger than an standard hub. There are some mentions of them in Forums but Google is only returning the manufacturers pages in German and a couple of retailers who appear to be out of stock - it looks really good. No discernible rolling resistance when off, very small, looks like a normal hub, light. How good is it in use? Are there any reviews / comparisons to others? what sort of lights will it work with - with regard to switching etc.

Grateful for any information.

[andrew_s]

As I'm sure you've guessed, they aren't made any more. Performance-wise they weren't any better than an average bottle dynamo, so the only advantage was the absence of roller slip. They also weren't all that much cheaper than a SON, so I'd guess that most people who were willing to pay the price preferred the lower in-use drag of the SON over the lower turned-off drag of the Renak.

Some numbers:
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/forum/bo ... 14520&v=2s

[james01]

I was interested in this design because of the zero rolling resistance when switched off. I seem to remember reports of unreliabilty in the drive mechanism, so I never took it further.

[AndrewLee]

Their website is still up and running but its links to retailers all seem to have run dry - one or two list the dynohub but have it out of stock.