has anyone here got an old sturmey archer dynohub that they’ve successfully bought a lamp to attach to?

my missus’ pub bike has a dynohub on it dating from the late 40s. I’d like to make use of it, rather than sticking a plasticky led light on what is otherwise a classy steel and chrome (and rust) covered old school beauty (the bike, not the missus – she is neither old, nor rusty!).

I think the hub is rated to 6V and about 1.8W. Most newer dynamo lamps seem to want 2.4 or 3 watts, which this is going to struggle with! They also cost a small fortune; I just want something that I don’t have to replace batteries in, looks nice and won’t piss me off to much when/if it gets nicked.

Cheers,
Dave

Goes up to the shed to look.

EDIT – I thought I had a NOS Union dynamo set with chrome front and rear lights. I couldnt find it, but I doubt, I’d have thrown it out. If it turns up, I’ll give you a shout.

Any 6V light should work, no?

ebay?

I have a 70s/80s one, it says 6V,2.4w, from a Union dynamo set. Give me a couple of minutes I’ll bob a pic or two up.

I need to source a few, so I’ll look when at work. We have loads of specialist lamp catalogs

I would use an old school head unit and put a modern led in it. Get a lot more light / run a decent tailight as well

Busch and Muller make a couple of retro style lights. Though not sure if they actually look classy, or just plasticy.

eg the Lumotec Classic
It should work fine with a 1.8W hub, it will just not be quite as bright at low speeds.

Or older, cheaper model, with halogen bulb, not as bright: Lumotec Retro

completely forgot I posted this last night.

I had a bit of a look on ebay and in some shops, but everything old enough to work with the power output seems to be somehow desirable, and therefore expensive.

@midlifecrashes – would that work with my hub? are you selling?

Cheers,
Dave

YGM

It doesn’t matter which lamp casing you get, you just have to fit the correctly rated bulb.

A quick internet search finds this:
http://www.thebikelightshop.co.uk/Unio-nClassic-Front-Dynamo-Bike-Light-including-Cable.aspx
Also plenty of old lamps on ebay.
Then get bulbs from here:
http://www.reflectalite.com/lightmodel.html

The Lumotec Retro is at least real metal, not metallised plastic – doesn’t look half bad on the bike.

Just tried it with 4AAs, it works OK. Should be fine with you hub if you’ve got 6V. There seem to be loads of LED bulbs around now you could try if you want to brighten it. I’m not selling though, couldn’t take money for it. Send me your address in an email and I’ll get it to you.

wow, thanks for the offer midlifecrashes… YGM

Dave