NBD was Sunday, photo below – it’s generally awesome.
But the rear rack mounted dynamo lamp is pretty poor, I’m sure it’s more than adequate for Amsterdam protected cycle infrastructure, (bar them bloody Mopeds that should be in the road) but it’s not good enough for UK towns. Two little tiny LED’s, though it does at least have the stand-still function to keep it lit for a while when stationary.
What’s the best upgrade solution? Anyone in the know about these things? It seems to have some kind of standard plug at the end of the fitted cable, and I’d like to retain that rather than feed a new one through the mudguard and frame. I might supplement it with a little rechargeable, but would like the dynamo set to be the primary lights. Ta.
I had a B&M rear light which was fantastic, mounted on a rear rack – used bare wires. It had a brake light function on it too which worked really well. Wasn’t expensive.
I ran a B&M rear mudguard light for 2 years and had to solder the tabs back onto the circuit board – it wasn’t great quality.
For latest work bike build, I splashed out on a Schmidt SON rear rack mount light and it is a tiny, bright and bombproof thing of beauty. I made the rack from 12mm steel tube and ran the coax cable through it.
That’s a nicely made rack mick_r. I spotted then SON ones, but integrated cable and as I said, the routing looks like a bloody nightmare to try and rewire!
I guess the plug / connection will be an issue whatever light you buy. Cut it off and solder / heatshrink the new one unless you can identify it? Practical Cycles or Spa might also have connectors.
The son cable is very small so would be possible to tape / temporarily solder to the old cable and pull through to the front. I only run mine through the rack and then clipped to the brake hose the rest of the way fwd. Still got to tidy up the front end – running cable and front brake through the steerer and top cap. Lamp on bars to give free space on head tube for a frame mount rack. Will post in the last thing made thread when 100% finished.
What brand is your bike / rear hub? Always ready dynamo utility bikes are awesome 🙂
Another vote for Busch & Muller toplight line. Mine is 8 years old btw and on it’s 3rd bike. The brake light function is great. It’s really easy to wire up.
+ another 1 for the b&m toplight line. Really bright, and very good stand light function. It’s considerably brighter than the battery light it replaced.
Excellent piece of kit.
I had a B&M rear light which was fantastic, mounted on a rear rack – used bare wires. It had a brake light function on it too which worked really well. Wasn’t expensive
Sounds like the one I’ve got, great bit of kit. I bought it from Rose Bikes for very reasonable money before brexit put the kibosh on buying stuff from the Germans