Bicycle Fixation Weblog
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02/19/2013: "Seeing the Light"
In just toddled over to the credit union down the street, where in addition to cashing a mighty ten-dollar check, I availed myself of the dead battery drop-off. This is ia little plastic column in the building lobby, wehre you pop in old batteries for a company that recycles them.Recycling batteries is good, but not using them is even better, and the thunk of the battery falling into the pile reminded me that I will be making far less use of this service soon: for nearly all the parts for my new wheels, with dyno hub, have arrived.
I wanted new wheels for my poor old Bottecchia anyway, as the current ones have seen nearly 40,000 miles of LA potholes—though they are still true! They are also a bit narrow for the Schwalbe Marathon 28mm tires I favor.
The new wheels will have rims by the same manufacturer—Ambrosio—another Miche track hub in back, and an unknown quantity, the Shutter Precision dyno hub, in front. Headlight will be a Busch & Müller Cyo R, taillight will be the very bright B&M Seculite I had on another bike (with a bottle dyno) for several years.
The SP dyno fulfills three requirements: 1) It claims fairly low resistance with the lamp on or off, 2) it uses sealed bearings, and 3) it does not cost anywhere near the two hundred eighty dollars of the world-standard Schmidt units.
I am very much looking forward to night rides that don't begin with the nagging fear that my batteries will run out before I get back home (it has happened several times), and even more so I look forward to generating that much less chemical waste, be it recycled or not, as I pedal around town.
Of course I'll let you know how it all works.
