Tyre tread generators

[kit-small-wheels]

Some time ago (in years....) you could get lighting generators that ran on the tread face of the tyre, usually mounted just behind the bottom bracket, and they swung backwards onto the leading face of the rear tyre when 'switched on'.

I have a Moulton APB Land-Rover and that type of dynamo/generator would be just the ticket for it, but can I find one? No! Don't even know who made them or what their proper name is either so I can't search for it.

Conventional bottle shape dymanos are no good for the APB as there is nowhere they'll fit due to the multiplicity of small tubes on the swinging rear triangle and the proximity of the cantilever brakes.

Can anyone point me in the right direction for one of these please?

 

[tyred]

I think Union and Sanyo were the main manufacturers. Second hand of ebay is your best bet.

 

[battered]

I'm not being funny, but why bother? Modern LED lights are dirt cheap, light, robust, last for ages, great battery life, good light output, why would you ever want to go back to those dreadful, unreliable, noisy, energy sapping tyre dynamos of our youth?

If ever technology's moved on, this is it.

 

[Ravenbait]

You mean a Union bottom bracket dynamo. I had one on my Raleigh Dynatech way back when. I haven't seen one in years.

Sam

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

http://www.yellowjersey.org/dynamos.html

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

from sjs cycles

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgu...tryGB&sa=N&tbs=isch:1,ctr:countryUK|countryGB

 

[andrew_s]

Try Germany (it's not actually present on the SJSC site if you go in normally rather than through google).

Most people would use a bottle dynamo (cheap) or a hub dynamo (good) these days

 

[jimboalee]

from sjs cycles

http://www.google.co...yUK%7CcountryGB

They're OK, but they won't run a 5W LED Cree through a full wave rectifier. They just about run a 3W Tesco torch through a full wave rectifier.

 

[kit-small-wheels]

Thanks for the pointers, SJS are only 50 miles from me so I'll take a run down there and talk to them.

I take the point about the LED lights, but being 67 years old I do tend to think in a similar time frame

As for bottle dynamos and dynohubs, I did say originally that a bottle type won't fit, the tubes and brakes get in the way for a bottle type. Dynohubs are a tad heavy I feel, and I'd have to rebuild the wheel that I've just spent an age trueing. I think I'll give one of those Unions a try.

 

[andrew_s]

Telephone St John Street before you go.

They are mostly a mail order only place these days, rather than a bike shop you can go in and browse around.
As I said, they may not have one in stock anyway. Google often pulls up old pages that are no longer an active part of a website.

If you can't find one, these's a pretty good chance I can find one in my junk box.

 

[ufkacbln]

Don't bother!

This is a silly place to put a dynamo, and even with the "shield" they quicly become covered in crud and muck. There is a lot of maintenance and cleaning needed to keep these working.

I used to use one, but binned it after the first winter.