Wednesday, September 11, 2019

It's The Light Time For Night Time

I've got the silver version of this light, purchased with my own money, in 2017.
Lights. You're going to be digging yours out soon, if you haven't already, and looking for that dratted USB cord to charge it with. Yep. It's about "Light Time" in these here latitudes.

I was reminded of this the other day when a guy I follow on Instagram was showing his morning group ride and it was dark. "Gosh! Is it already time for lights?", I thought to myself. Yep. It is that time for sure. I got to thinking more about this since then.

So, the first thought I had was, that for a guy like myself, the ultimate set up is definitely what I have on the Ti Muk 2. I cannot imagine a more simple, easy, and less thought intensive way to light the night than with a SON 28 dynamo hub and lighting system. I mean.....I just pedal and the lights work! I don't have to charge them, I don't have to remember to turn them on or to turn them off. I just ride. It cannot possibly be easier than this.

Now, I know that there are downsides. Like, I would have to duplicate the expensive hub into a wheel to be able to switch out to, let's say, a Summer wheel set. That's a big ouch because the SON 28 hub for through axle fat bike set ups is close to five hundred dollars alone. Just the hub! So, I guess I could put up with a measly $200.00 LED, self-contained unit and a separate "blinky" for what? Another $50.00 for something really nice? And that would cover all my bikes? Yeah......that's a good deal.

But I'm tellin' ya. There is no denying "The Power of the Dynamo Hub". Once bitten, you'll find it hard to look at other lighting systems in the same manner. It's just the money, which is a big obstacle, to get over with those. Otherwise, yeah.....I'm completely sold on dynamo lighting now. But until the entire world decides that dynamo hubs are the bomb, (unlikely), and until I come up with a truckload of cash, (also not very likely), to convert my fleet, I'm also going to be running "traditional" LED-type lights for cycling. Oh, and what about a light for the helmet? You aren't going to run that off a dynamo hub......yet. Maybe someday. But for now, you are probably looking at traditional LED lights for the helmet as well.

So, pretty soon I am supposed to be getting in some lights for review that have some crazy features. Every year these self-contained, LED lights are getting less and less expensive and feature more and more things which I did not know I needed.

Stay tuned.......

2 comments:

Michael Lemberger said...

I've run the Shimano DH-3N70/3N71/3N72-style dynohubs for years, and while they're not nearly as nice as the Schmidts, they're still very good at what, half the cost? I currently own about 8 dynohub bikes and have come to view battery-powered lights as mostly backups.

Daniel said...

I'm currently saving up some money for a new RLT9 frame. The wheelset I'm going to have built for it is definitely going to have a dynamo hub.