wheel query.

[jags]

what kind of money would a fella expect to pay for a front dynamo wheel  son dynamo  /good rim /' db stainless spokes.700c take 28 tyre.
cheers
jags.

[bobs]

Lots of money,  SPA cycles do good deals.

Bob

[martinf]

700C wheels with a SON dynohub are from about 300 Euros upwards, plus shipping, from one of the German online shops.

A bit heavier than what you want, and for 26 inch not 700C, the last dynohub wheel I bought was (IIRC) a tad less than 100 Euros - steel axle Shimano DH-3N72 on an EXAL ZX 19 rim, assembled in Germany but bought from my LBS. It was cheaper for me to get the ready-made wheel than to buy the parts and build it myself. That was for a utility bike.

For a lightly-loaded road bike, instead of SON I would go with one of the higher-end Shimano dynohubs (Shimano DH-3N80, aluminium axle) or for lowest possible weight maybe a Shutter Precision PV-8.

[Danneaux]

EDIT: ^^^ See: Martin's good advice. ^^^ We were both writing at once and he posted first. 


Anto,

You could possibly get the parts and build the wheel yourself to save money. I know how careful and caring you are with your bikes and painting, and very detail oriented. These are just the skills necessary to build good wheels, and I feel sure the result would be excellent.

SJS Cycles' price on the SON28 is not bad compared to competitors....£179.99 Inc VAT/€213.24 Inc VAT. Other brands are less expensive. Shutter Precision (SP) at €118-€136 Inc VAT:
https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/dynamos/32-sp-dynamo-sv9-front-hub-black/?geoc=US
Shimano makes a high-value dynamo for the money also, depending on the model

Anyway, hub prices will give you some idea what a whole wheel would cost.

All the best,

Dan.

[jags]

cheers lads yeah i think i will have to settle for a shimano wheel not that theres anything wrong with shimano  but theres a bit of bling on the son got to admit.
i have 2 great lights for night cycling and to be seen during the day (lezyne) but  the dynamo  makes for light anytime  without charging.
guess i had better start saving the pennys .

anto.

[martinf]

Shutter precision SV9 is even lighter than the PV8. But SV9 is designed for small wheels, so puts out a little less power in a 700C wheel.

This may or may not be an issue. I have an old SON 20 hub designed for 16"/20" wheels on my old 700C tourer, it works perfectly well with modern LED front and rear lamps.

Wife has a Shimano DH-3N80 on her bike - very free running and I reckon a good quality/price compromise for a lightweight bike mainly used on road.

I have an SV8 on my commuting Brompton folder and a SON on my older Brompton used for some tours. SV8 is small and light like the competing SON, seems to work just as well. I chose SP because the only Shimano hub that would fit the narrow Brompton forks is a low-range model that I suspect (maybe wrongly) would be less efficient.

The only issue I can see between SP and SON is that if the SP goes wrong it will be harder to get it repaired. SON you can send back to the factory in Germany, more difficult to do this with SP. The bearing on one side of a Shimano DH-3 series hub is easy to service at home, I think it is possible to do the other side with care, but so far I haven't needed to.

SP claim higher efficiency than SON, but I can't tell the difference between SP, SON or Shimano DH-3N72/DH-3N80 when riding.

Older entry-level Shimano dynohubs were noticeably less efficient than SON, which is why I bought SON hubs until a few years ago, but the more recent DH-3N7x and upwards seem to come pretty close to SON.

So far (touch wood) I've not had any issues with any of the family's dynohubs, whether SON, SP or Shimano.   

[martinf]

To complicate the issue a little further, SP make a switchable dynohub (so that in daytime use you can switch off the very slight extra drag compared to a non-dynohub).

This feature adds a bit to price and slightly to weight, and is IMO one more thing that could go wrong, but it might be worth considering on a lightweight bike if you use it with lights off most of the time. I tend to switch lights on all the time on a commuter, and most of the time on other bikes in winter, so I'm not interested myself.

This site has probably been posted before, he does reviews of various lighting bits. He likes SP hubs, but may possibly be a little biased as he also sells them:

http://swhs.home.xs4all.nl/fiets/tests/index_en.html

[jags]

thanks Martin that's very tech stuff for my little brain 
i think i would go for the shimano built wheel i would only use it on tours or long days in the saddle rest of the time i will be using my custom wheels.

thanks all,

anto.