Since the days are getting shorter I’m starting to think about upping my lighting system to a dynamo setup. And why not get the best? So I’m thinking about a SON.
Starbike in Germany are about the cheapest around: starbike.com » Hubs
(prices are 19% cheaper than listed there because you take out VAT - a silver SONdelux ends up being less than A$200. I think the RRP on these is over A$400)
So basically, I’m looking for (up to) 3 folks interested in getting a hub and/or lights. It’d be perfect if we could spend over 500 euro (for the cheap freight) and less than 700 euro to avoid the gst here in Australia.
I’m in Melbourne, so if it’s Melb folks involved we’ll save on me having to ship them out. And if a swag of people are interested, perhaps we can organise a couple of orders.
Post your thoughts/interest/questions here or via pm.
Lol. I thought about retorting with a joke about it not being the right colour or hole pattern or something but decided that was probably in bad taste.
They look quite nice, and it’s very tempting, but I can’t help but think that for the same price I could get Ayups and have lighting that’s interchangeable between bikes.
Ayups are great. No question about it. I guess the differences, to me, are that are Son setup will likely be lighter, cos no heavy battery pack and will never need recharging. And it should last for years and years - I’m not sure what sort of life you get from an Ayup battery pack bbut I imagine it’s a couple of years at least. The dynamo setup is easy to swap to different bikes, so long as they take the same front wheel.
But yeah, I don’t think of this setup being better or worse than Ayup. I’m sure you’d be happy with them.
I actually waited an extra year before deciding to purchase a dynamo hub because of Velo Orange’s claim that there’s was going to be “a game changer”. Turns out that all it has is an off switch letting it spin a tiny bit easier than with it switched on. I’m not sure if the performance but folks who’ve used all of the currently available hubs (Shimano, Novatec SON, etc) say that they all put out the same strength of current.
The Son, however, has the lowest rolling resistance and is the lightest. And folks say it is the best made. It’s also the most expensive. Pick your king, I suppose. I’ve not heard any horror stories with the cheaper hubs. In fact, owners seem really stoked on them.
Have you thought about these St Kilda Cycles | Schmidt Hub Dynamos. Vince is the importer for these guys at st kilda so you would be getting good prices. I don’t work for st kilda but I know Vince and he is one of the best mechnics in melb so the tech back up would be great.
IMHO: I have a 3N80, and I really like it, mild vibration in the bars sometimes noticeable. Probably the best price/performance hub out there. I have a Novatec that I picked up on super cheap closeout that’s not as nicely finished, bit heavier and bit more resistance, but will do a good job I feel. The Schmidt is definitely the nicest, lightest, lowest resistance, longest lasting, and you’ll forget the price in time.
Okay, so there’s, like, three of us. Which is cool, except we want $1000 worth between us. And since we’re cheapskates who don’t want to pay the GST, it’d be really super nice if one more person was keen so we could split the order in two and get good times and cheap freight for all!
C’mon! Now that daylight savings is over, you know you want a superior lighting system at the world’s best price.
