Dynamo Hubs

[lune ranger]

I thought Alpkit got theirs from someone else.

Pretty sure they were just rebranded and they were JTEK - not 100 % certain

Think it’s this.
I had one for a while. From other peoples experience I had an outlier - mine was cheap garbage that had all sorts of problems.
Alpkit being Alpkit fully refunded my purchase. All well and good but it also cost spokes and nipples and time to rebuild with a SON.

[dlovett]

When I bought mine a product manager said that they Love mud dyno hubs were based on the SP design but made by another company for them as SP didn't make hubs for other people anymore.

[dlovett]

If you are getting a frontier, just get the lovemud hub when sonder supply the bike.


The answer to that, is it depends... If I got for the Sonder Frontier, then it's not a dream build, but if I get an Ice Cream Truck, then it's verging on it. According to the article linked in one of the posts above, the Exposure and AlpKit hubs, are just rebranded SP ones. The graphs would also confirm what you say about more power at lower speeds from the SON.

The SON lights up a revo much brighter at the same speed as a SP. Both hubs on two 26+ wheel sets with identically tyres, running directly to the revos. It's defiantly the hub as if you swap revo's the son bike is much brighter.

[Boab]

If you are getting a frontier, just get the lovemud hub when sonder supply the bike.

The LoveMud dynamo is 100 mm QR axle, the Frontier is Bolt Through Boost 110mm.

[lune ranger]

If you are getting a frontier, just get the lovemud hub when sonder supply the bike.

The LoveMud dynamo is 100 mm QR axle, the Frontier is Bolt Through Boost 110mm.

Out of stock right now but they do a bolt through boost Juice:

https://alpkit.com/products/love-mud-juice-boost

[BigdummySteve]

I have a Son coupled with a sinewave beacon and a Son rear light, it’s an expensive setup, more so because I took the cheap options first.
The beauty of the Beacon is partly the built in charger but it’s best feature is the ability to plug a usb battery into it, in that configuration it remains flicker free, the dynamo gradually takes over as speed increases.
I’d steer clear of the Cinq5 chargers, they suffer from water damage and have some delicate connections on the head cap.
The Son rear light is another quality item and importantly has a stand light. Not all rear lights do and not all front lights supply stand light power to your rear connection, you don’t want your rear light going out at a junction stop.
Although I’m very happy with my setup the Klite stuff looks very good from an output perspective with what looks like a really good beam. It’s going to get a little messy though once you’ve added chargers and switches though.

The Son hubs are items of beauty, when you open the box it’s like jewellery, treat yourself, your worth it.

Supernova lights are also very nice, especially if you’re looking to use it on the road. I did have a LED failure on a SN rear light so perhaps stick with son out back.

My take on dynamo lights/chargers is if you’re going to do it you need do it right. You might get away with the hub but get proven lights and chargers otherwise they will be unreliable and inadequate.

[Boab]

Out of stock right now but they do a bolt through boost Juice:

https://alpkit.com/products/love-mud-juice-boost

Thanks for that, didn't notice it, as it wasn't listed on the main page...

My take on dynamo lights/chargers is if you’re going to do it you need do it right. You might get away with the hub but get proven lights and chargers otherwise they will be unreliable and inadequate.

Thanks, I've certainly got a lot to think about now.

[Hamish]

I have a Son that I have used for years for touring and commuting. It's now on a Troll having been on a Thorn and a Woodrup but is a non disk version. It has been returned twice for bearing replacements - which has been free and really quick via SJSC.

I have been considering a dynamo for bike packing. My main reservation has been that I wonder how well they would cope with frequent immersion? I understand that SON hubs have a waterproof diagram inside or something that keeps them dry... But I have never opened it up.

[Lazarus]

Re the sinewave whilst it is expensive on its own its not really that much more expensive than another off road dynamo light and a USB charger and you get the advantage that you can run it form an external battery - its very low power as well . You couold just use it as your main light and the batteries are cheap !

On high[600 lumens*] the Beacon will draw about 800mA from the battery, or 4W. On low[ 200 lumens*], the Beacon will draw about 150mA, or 0.8W.

Even ignoring the fact you are charging the battery that is qite long run times from a £20 batery bank - think mine is 10,000 mA
I really would not want to do offroad with just a dynamo light - fine for gravel rides but anythingn technicall - unless you want to hammer it its going to be interesting

As for the rest SJS cycles are your friend with every version of dynamo product imaginable

https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/search/?term=dynamo

My rear is

https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/lighting/bu ... y-fitting/
£22 and bright enough on its own and has stand by function [ at full brightness] - I do have a nother rear light on anyway when commuting that is set to very bright flash mode.

Mine is 3 years old now as a set up and I have done zero things to it since fitted but yes its not a cheap thing to decide to do but it should last your lifetime.

If you wanted cheap for road i think you could get a set up for about £250 new - road light, rear light, dynamo hub so that sort of set up is not that much more than good light.

[ScotRoutes]

I have been considering a dynamo for bike packing. My main reservation has been that I wonder how well they would cope with frequent immersion?

My XT hub has been fully submerged a couple of times recently and is functioning fine.

[Alpinum]

Any recommendations for things I should get along with a front dynamo hub, USB charger, USB top cap, front and rear lights, etc, also welcome.

I use two bikes (the only with dynohubs) with SON + Supernova E3 triple 2. One on my fatbike and the other on my everday/offroad touring bike. On the touring bike I also use a Supernova rear light.
Same for my girlfriend
Stellar stuff. Never an issue with the hub and powerful and the right amount of focus from the lamp.

From Swiss Alps in winter to everyday use to fording rivers in Iceland to crossing the Atacama, absolutely reliable.

I use the 'Forumslader' both in it's 2. and latest version. Just today I started off with 0 % on the buffer battery of the charger and 0 % on the mobile phone. After 15 km of slow snow riding (7 - 8 km/h average, below freezing) I had 21 % charge on my mobile.

Phone, GPS, light (bike and for eg. camp), sat comm, camera (Olypmus OM-D) the hub and Forumslader do it all easily.