I think the Son 28 Dynamo has been a game changer for me. This time of year with dark commutes it is so reassuring to have good lights. I'd not want a bike without a dynohub now unless I was sure it would never come out at night.
Yes, definitely. But I don't even mention it because I don't have a roadie/lightweight background. I've never owned a bike without a generator of some sort, and I've had hub dynamos for decades now, and on the sort of bike I even consider they just naturally come standard (or at the very least as a delete-option, the box already ticked for you).
This thread is fascinating not only for what one can learn of the good components worth trying, and how to outfit a bike properly, but as a record of changing attitudes.
ANECDOTE WARNING: The first time I ever saw a SON close up, it was actually fitted to a road bike owned by a cyclist from Scotland who found me in front of the library. He'd broken his carbon seatpost on the way from the airport, hurting himself some. I took him down to the surgery and then home upstairs with me to call around for a replacement seatpost and a place for him to stay that night. He was a credit card tourer who made incredible distances. He allowed three days for all of Ireland including the Ring of Kerry and was flying out of Belfast in Northern Ireland on a fixed ticket. There was nothing in his luggage except a waterbottle and a credit card, a pump and a patch kit; I remember, I asked what he did with his rainproof jacket when took it off and he said he never took it off. He just washed his clothes and hung them up to dry over heaters while he slept. The SON, he said, let him start before dawn and cycle after dusk, so he made it a long day every day. The guy was a doctor, retired while still in his forties, and he looked like a whippet from all the cycling he did through many countries on these cheap fixed air tickets. He wasn't a tall guy but I still thought his bike was undersized for him, but he said that is how you size a carbon road bike. He sent the case for his bike by courier from the arrival airport to his departure airport; it was his biggest piece of luggage.
