(Lack of ) Fog on the Tyne

Riders gathering at The Bike Park for a Saturday Social

Given we had high pressure in charge blowing cold damp air in from the North sea for the last week, I was expecting fog  and mist on today's ride around the coast. Luck held out and although it was cool and cloudy there was a distinct lack of fog.

Ten of us set off from The Bike Park and headed off down the Westway and crossed the A194 before connecting up with NCN route 14 heading towards South Shields centre.

Once down at the Tyne a quick photo call beckoned near the Shields ferry landing before cycling along Long Row, and then Wapping Street

When we joined River Drive, Doug suggested zig zagging up to Green's place as it was to be improved and used as the recommended cycle route. Once we got to Green's place, there was a road crew already busy resurfacing was was a badly holed  road. 

From there we headed to the  Lawe top, and then down through North Marine Park all the way to Haven Point. A quick hop over the zebra took us into South Marine park where we skirted the boating lake  and miniature steam railway to Beach road.

From there it was an easy ride along the prom to Gypsies Green, and then along NCN1  to Marsden bay, where we then used a cut to link up to Lizard lane. We quickly crossed and then headed along Quarry lane back to Temple Park

The ride was approximately 10 miles, but some silly fool forgot to start their Garmin for a mile or two.

the next Saturday social will be on the 2nd of April

Dynamo lights on a budget

So do you want bright reliable lights that last forever (almost) for about 60-80 quid? Here's how

Battery lights are everywhere, from the cheap pound shop specials that are worse than useless to mega lumens USB chargeable artificial suns from Ebay & beyond.

They all have one disadvantage. At some point they will either die on you mid ride, or you forget to charge them. So you either carry multiple lights, or spare batteries or both.

There is an alternative - Dynamo lights, which seem to be forgotten secret amongst UK cyclists
Most people only remember the horrid bottle dynamos of old that slipped as soon as the tyres became damp and were like riding with the brakes on and were about as effective as a candle in a gale.


Both my bikes which I alternate between for commuting have dynamos which give out reliable bright light without any noticeable drag. I actually run with the lights on permanently during the winter months as there's no gain from turning them off.

Most battery lights are quoted in terms of lumens. This is just the total amount of light put out by the light. Most of them though have no directed beam, so the light shoots everywhere. Dyno lights are made to german SvTZO standards and have directed & focussed beams. It is the focussed area of the beam which is measured in Lux. Sadly there seems to be no direct comparison between the two measures.

This is about dyno lights on a budget though, hence no mention of SON dynamos, or expensive front lights.

My setup

Wheels & the generator

Both bikes have budget Shimano DH-3N31 hubs. I bought mine ready built into complete front wheels from Taylor Wheels in Germany at about £40 a wheel, which makes them a quick drop in replacement. Rims are basic but hard wearing and functional. My first wheel now probably has about 6000 miles on it through all weathers and is still true. Wheels are available in all sizes and with nuts/quick release, and with disk brake mounts. I use the hub with wheel nuts to increase security. As I run hub gears anyway which are nutted not having QRs is not a major issue for me.

Front lights

I originally bought ultra budget Secu-sport LED front lights and broke both.
I'm now running a 75lux Herrmans H-One-S lights on both bikes which is wonderfully bright, and about £25-£30 from EU web shops or Ebay

Each light comes with a long length of cable for connecting to the generator, and female spade connectors for connecting to a rear light. There's an on-off switch, but I just leave them on all the time

Rear lights

My rear lights differ more, but both are rack mounted.
The first is a Herrmans H-Track which was about £9, and projects a ring of light from central LEDs around a large rear reflector. the second is a B&M Toplight Line Plus (£18) which has a bright horizontal line of light above a large reflector

Herrmans H-track

B&M Topline Plus

Both are bright from a distance, and little to choose between them on the road.both of these lights are designed to fit a rear rack with a light bracket with 80mm spaced holes.
For the bike with the Herrmans, I needed to buy a Topeak adaptor for a couple of quid as the rack had a bracket with 2 vertical holes.

Putting it all together

It's very simple to put all this together and make it work. the front lights are pre-wired.
You'll need some 2 core speaker/auto cable & some 2.8mm male spade connectors (Halfords calls them audio connectors) and a crimping tool if you want to make your own wiring to the rear light, or you could buy a ready made cable with connectors. Crimpers & connectors are cheap though.

1. Fit a rim tape (velox cloth is best) and tyre/tube to the wheel and fit to the bike.
2. Fit the front light to the bike.
3. The hub comes with a plug in connector remove it & push the wires in from the front light into it and plug into the hub.
4. Spin the wheel & turn on the light and bingo!
5. Measure a length of cable, and crimp male spade connectors to each core at each end ( 4 in total)
6. Connect the cable to the short tails on the front light, and to the rear light, carefully making sure you keep the polarity (+ to +. - to - )
7. Spin the front wheel, and both the front and back light should light. If the rear doesn't, then carefully check to make sure you haven't crossed the connections.
8. Once it's working fit the rear light to the bike, and secure the cable with cable ties. Electrical insulating tape will do a fine job of weatherproofing the connections.

Link to the Shimano generator fitting & wiring instruction (PDF)

This is a really comprehensive guide to dyno lights with shots of the lights in action

Any questions, ask away in the comments

B

B

How not to encourage people to ride bikes...

If the masses are ever to be convinced that riding bikes will save their money, lives, and planet, then they need to be convinced that cycling is fun, convenient and safe.

Not suggest that the best way to be safe is to dress in garb resembling a police officer from a distance, like Bike Week has done on their twitter account here. This is just another notch in the arms race! Need to get the message to drivers to look, not make cyclists wear fancy dress!

Or to offer free "survival kits" to newcomers when they complete a cycling introduction course like this scheme in Gateshead. Give stuff away, but call them "goody bags" or similar. Wikipedia defines survival as "the struggle to remain living" Hardly the stuff to get mothers and children riding.

I know these guys mean well and do a lot of good and hard work promoting cycling, but at best these do not help to "normalise" riding a bike, and just perpetuate the myth that it is dangerous.