are there any rear lights (rack mounted preferably) that are as decent as, say, a superflash? decent meaning bright/noticeable to drivers in an urban setting w/ plenty of ambient light at night. a dyno-powered rear light would be nice, but not if they’re weaker than my superflash…
A seculite is about the same brightness as a superflash on steady.
None of the fancy kraut lights are going to blink, if you want a seizure mode you’re gonna have to DIY.
Has anyone used or owned both the shimano and schmidt hubs?
Thanks for the tips, folks!
I know that isn’t everyone’s experience but I still wasn’t wanting to hear this. Was definitely planning on the cheaper Cyo; maybe I’ll give it a little more thought.
By the way, what are the mounting options with both the Cyo and the Edelux? I can’t work out where exactly where/how you mount them from the pics? Well, it looks like the Cyo could get mounted on the front brake bolt but what about if you have a bag? And can either/both of these lights be mounted upside down? I’m sure I heard somewhere that you can’t?
Mounting one upside down would defeat the entire purpose of importing a fancy kraut light 
Can you prove you’re not the antipodean sol and figure out why all by yourself?
As for how you mount them properly, they both have exactly the same kind of mount point, a sideways 6mm hole at the rear base:
The default option is to use a piece of thick looped wire that forms a 6mm hole facing the bike (as shown on the Cyo above) which gets bolted to the brake hole in the fork crown. The lights all come with the one shown above, but there are a bunch of other designs also sold by starbike.
If you have a handlebar bag rack, you mount it to that with some simple flat stock / bolts / spacers.
I have a Cyo mounted to a forward fender strut, using a flatter mounting bracket meant for using behind a brake caliper:
[quote=kevinwulf]
By the way, what are the mounting options with both the Cyo and the Edelux?[/quote]
Most dyno lights mount in the same manner. Lots of options: http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/light-mounts.asp
Even more if you have a rack and or fenders. Use some creativity.
[quote=Buffalo Bill]Mounting one upside down would defeat the entire purpose of importing a fancy kraut light
Can you prove you’re not the antipodean sol and figure out why all by yourself?[/quote]
Oh shi… Cos optics designed for upright mounting so I’d have to open it up and rotate the internals.
Phew wipes sweat from brow
You pass, but missed out on extra credit – the internals are not rotateable, you’d have to build a whole new housing and somehow align the reflector properly. The Cyo is vented on the bottom and would flood upside down. Neither can be dismantled without destroying the housing.
i got several hours of night riding in last week’s 300k… paired up with a guy riding a SON wheel, i was on my shimano one. we both had the Cyo lights, his with the narrow beam and mine with the wider one.
pretty rough comparison, but the light output looked comparable. both bikes rolled straight. he shared his trail mix with me.
nevertheless… atmo if you’re going custom build, just buy a SON. the shimano hubs can be had on some pretty great deals for prebuilt wheels, though
(i think the same hub by itself is like 110-130ish, and somewhere else on tarck you can find the super rad euro deal on SONs)
dq: i have a chance to get a sanyo H27 hub to V-O rim for $100. should i pull the trigger on that, or spend another $65 (after a price match discount) to get something like this?
http://www.universalcycles.com/shopping/product_details.php?id=35520
or, should i re-lace a wheel my current generator wheel – that same hub, to a 700c A719 rim – to a 650b rim?
saving up for a SON would be nice, but unless starbike can ship stupid-fast, it’s not really an option for me right now
hmm
My last starbike order shipped same day and showed up 5 days later, the one before that took a few days to ship and showed up in 5 or 6. You can tell on their site what they have in stock and what they have to wait on + how long.
Sanyo deal sounds pretty good, you’re paying $10 for spokes and wheelbuild vs. retail for hub+rim. The hub is pretty much the same quality as the Deore LX one: same weight, Sanyo might have less vibration.
VO Rim is matchier to the CR-18 rear, but the Dyad is better. Additional matchiness to consider: current CR-18 wheelset on the Tachyon has Deore LX hubs.
I would not relace your existing 700c wheel, better to use as built or sell.
Cool, I’ll probably go with the V-O wheel, hard to beat that price.
For some reason I was thinking there was a bigger quality difference between the two hubs (Sanyo and Deore).
Hmm, I wish Starbike carried Carradice gear, so I could combine my Euro orders for super deals rather than doing an extra order from SJS.
What size bag are you looking for? I have one im planning on selling.
something pretty stout. whatcha got?
Nelson long flap. 12 L. I ripped off the side pockets though so it works as a front bag as well as a saddlebag. I’ve been using toe straps to mount it that i could include.
Tarckmessage’d.
The shimano top end hubs are quite good. Low resistance, good output. In the shop I used to work at, we did have some problems with some of them developing a ratcheting sound, but Shimano replaced those hub internals under warranty.
One other problem was the general unavailability of the left hand cone. Shimano Benelux never had them and when they did they cost a whopping 15 euros!
In the end they just said ‘buy new internals’. Almost as expensive as a new hub.
The other thing is the right hand cone. The one underneath the plug, which can be replaced but that is a very finicky job and if you’re not careful you’ll break the tiny wire after which it is exit hub. Also that cone was just as unavailable.
how to make a servicable hub unservicable. SON FTW, if you ask me.
bens is selling schmidt’s at good (but not quite starbike) prices
http://www.benscycle.net/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=0&keyword=schmidt
Okay, my piece of shit Knog front light just thought it would stop for no reason.
I guess now is as good a time as any for a dynamo hub and front and rear lights. I’ll look through this as soon as I’ve got a minute, but if I had to buy something quickly, what is the most affordable and what is the most awesome?