136
Gear Talk / Re: Panniers and Racks
« on: August 06, 2012, 07:32:41 pm »
pdlamb and indyfabz are absolutely correct. It is Wayne, and not Dave as I posted earlier. Sorry, Wayne! How could I make a mistake like that?
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137
Gear Talk / Re: Panniers and Racks
« on: August 04, 2012, 02:35:03 pm »
I bought panniers (Pacific *something*) with inner pockets thinking they would help keep things organized. I ended up putting stuff in plastic bags, which was better for organizing. (Mostly 1 gal and 2 gal kitchen zip-locks.) It was nice to have a defined space for spare spokes, which defy placement in plastic bags. And the interior side pocket kept my Bowshield T-9 chain lube upright. (That stuff dissolves plastic.) But other than that, the interior pockets just got in the way. I'm convinced I could have packed better with just plain panniers. Next time, I'll get panniers without pockets. One feature my panniers had that I found unexpectedly nice was the top covers. The covers themselves were a pain. But they included net bags, which were surprisingly good for drying my alternate clothes. If my next panniers don't have net bags, I'll find another way to implement that feature.
The medium Ortleib handlebar bag was good for me. It was a good trade-off between too much stuff and not enough room. Ortleib has a standard and a deluxe bag. The deluxe bag includes a few useless features and one great interior zipper pocket. The pocket is just the right for my cell phone and wallet. A couple of times I parked my bike badly and hadn't snapped the lid closed. The bike fell over and a bunch of stuff fell out. But the wallet and cell phone were safely tucked inside the zipper bag. Also, I could always find these two most important items quickly when I wanted them. The Ortleib handle bar mount is very stable. Removing the Ortleib handlebar bag is easy for when you go in a store & leave your bike outside. Replacing it is equally easy and is accompanied by a most satisfying "snap". There's no question about whether it's secured. It's just too bad about the obnoxious and mostly useless strap feature. I guess the world isn't quite perfect yet.
For a supplier, check out TheTouringStore.com. Dave has been doing this for a while. He knows what your questions will be before you do. He's very helpful, and he stands behind what he sells. He doesn't sell the panniers I selected. But he sold me my rack and handlebar bag. His advice on mounting the rack to my Trek 520 was spot-on. When I had a minor problem with the Ortleib, he had an elegant solution that worked quite well. He even gave me good advice on mounting those panniers I didn't buy from him.
The medium Ortleib handlebar bag was good for me. It was a good trade-off between too much stuff and not enough room. Ortleib has a standard and a deluxe bag. The deluxe bag includes a few useless features and one great interior zipper pocket. The pocket is just the right for my cell phone and wallet. A couple of times I parked my bike badly and hadn't snapped the lid closed. The bike fell over and a bunch of stuff fell out. But the wallet and cell phone were safely tucked inside the zipper bag. Also, I could always find these two most important items quickly when I wanted them. The Ortleib handle bar mount is very stable. Removing the Ortleib handlebar bag is easy for when you go in a store & leave your bike outside. Replacing it is equally easy and is accompanied by a most satisfying "snap". There's no question about whether it's secured. It's just too bad about the obnoxious and mostly useless strap feature. I guess the world isn't quite perfect yet.
For a supplier, check out TheTouringStore.com. Dave has been doing this for a while. He knows what your questions will be before you do. He's very helpful, and he stands behind what he sells. He doesn't sell the panniers I selected. But he sold me my rack and handlebar bag. His advice on mounting the rack to my Trek 520 was spot-on. When I had a minor problem with the Ortleib, he had an elegant solution that worked quite well. He even gave me good advice on mounting those panniers I didn't buy from him.
138
Gear Talk / Re: OK, so we peddle...and we ride in the sun; where's my energy???
« on: July 25, 2012, 03:43:37 pm »
Hub generators work great, as long as you understand their limitations. See my review here.
http://www.adventurecycling.org/forums/index.php?topic=10463.msg52821#msg52821
Whenever you are evaluating solar panels, hub, or any other potential power source start with the amount of power you can expect to get.
http://www.adventurecycling.org/forums/index.php?topic=10463.msg52821#msg52821
Whenever you are evaluating solar panels, hub, or any other potential power source start with the amount of power you can expect to get.
139
Gear Talk / Re: Bike Shorts
« on: July 24, 2012, 10:12:21 am »Quote
I don't think that those comments are all that nutty.
+1. It's an issue for lots of guys, including this one.
Baggy shorts tend to have seams where you don't wan them. They can cause chafing as they catch on the saddle. When I wear baggy shorts, I wear compression shorts or liners underneath to prevent chafing.
140
Gear Talk / Re: Bar End shifters vs
« on: July 15, 2012, 06:29:54 am »
Having used both, the biggest disadvantage to bar-end is the necessity to move your hand when shifting. Of course, this can be an advantage if you tend to leave your hands on the hoods too much.
Bar-ends have some non-obvious advantages. It's very easy to shift two gears at once. If you're very good, you can even shift 3 gears at once. Or you can "slew" the gears, keeping the shifter one click ahead of the chain position, moving from one end of the cassette to the other. I also found that the bar-end shifter has a more positive feel -- there's a more direct connection between the shifter and the derailer.
Mostly, it's not such a big deal. You get familiar with whatever you are using. Whatever you have, it becomes part of the ride.
Bar-ends have some non-obvious advantages. It's very easy to shift two gears at once. If you're very good, you can even shift 3 gears at once. Or you can "slew" the gears, keeping the shifter one click ahead of the chain position, moving from one end of the cassette to the other. I also found that the bar-end shifter has a more positive feel -- there's a more direct connection between the shifter and the derailer.
Mostly, it's not such a big deal. You get familiar with whatever you are using. Whatever you have, it becomes part of the ride.
141
Gear Talk / Re: Bike seat comfort
« on: July 04, 2012, 09:04:48 am »
Check out http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004ELBQUY/ref=oh_details_o05_s00_i00 Pearl Izumi
142
Gear Talk / Re: Bike seat comfort
« on: July 03, 2012, 05:47:36 pm »Quote
A related issue is where the sliding occurs as your legs move up and down against the seat. The shorts should stick to your legs and slide against the seat. Not the opposite. Form-fitting shorts (or inner shorts in the baggy style) made of nylon and a slippery saddle material like leather or smooth plastic will do nicely.
+1
Preventing chaffing is the biggest issue for me. I actually had one instance where the edge of the padding was chaffing against my leg. Unfortunately, I didn't feel discomfort until considerable damage was done. I don't like the look of bike shorts (too public for my tastes), but I've always worn them because that's how things seem to be done. Recently I've been experimenting with other options. One option I tried is compression shorts and regular gym shorts (using synthetic materials -- I chose Under Armor brand). On 60 to 65 mile rides, I can barely tell the difference between this and bike shorts. That confirmed a suspicion that padding just doesn't make that much difference. Of course, that's with 10,000 miles of riding, most of it in a Brooks saddle. My sitz bones are well-adapted to spending hours in the saddle.
Quote
I predict that the next post will be in favor of a recumbent
I noticed that also. Recumbents aren't for everybody, but they seem to be a great solution for some.
143
Gear Talk / Re: Tour Bike Gearing
« on: July 03, 2012, 05:34:05 pm »
Don't start with gear sets. Start with what gearing you want. After you decide that, you can decide how to get there. I think a granny gear of 17 gear-inches is ideal. That's around 3 to 4 MPH with decent cadence. Any lower, and the bike might tip over. This should let you get somewhere around 90 gear inches on the high end. For me, this means spinning out at about 25 MPH. Sheldon Brown's gear calculator may be helpful. http://sheldonbrown.com/gears/
There is little disadvantage to fatter tires in road touring, provided you don't use "knobby" tires. I used 700c x 32 and 700c x 38 at different times. Both worked well. Keep in mind that gravel trails aren't always dry, and that the bottom of that puddle might be slick mud. Make sure you get high quality touring tires. Otherwise, you'll go crazy fixing flats. Also, get high quality tubes.
The quality of the wheel build is more important than the spoke count.
There is little disadvantage to fatter tires in road touring, provided you don't use "knobby" tires. I used 700c x 32 and 700c x 38 at different times. Both worked well. Keep in mind that gravel trails aren't always dry, and that the bottom of that puddle might be slick mud. Make sure you get high quality touring tires. Otherwise, you'll go crazy fixing flats. Also, get high quality tubes.
The quality of the wheel build is more important than the spoke count.
144
Gear Talk / Re: Help. needed in Elma Washington
« on: June 24, 2012, 11:43:28 am »
Probably too late, but call a shop or go on the Internet and have it overnighted. Instead of riding 70 miles, take a day off.
145
Gear Talk / Re: Touring Bikes Under Consideration
« on: May 17, 2012, 06:23:11 pm »
I bought a Trek 520 two years ago. It's a great bike. I love touring with it. I swapped out the rack and the saddle. I also had the dealer swap the 26 chainring for a 22. The gearing was nice, but I kept on dropping the chain off the inside of the chaingring (about once a month). Lots of times I could re-thread it without stopping, but it was a PITA. I tried adjustments, chain stops, etc. Nothing worked. Finally I decided I wanted a Rohloff hub, which certainly fixed the chain dropping issue.
I guess my point is, you want to take delivery of your bike before you go on tour. Put at least 1000 miles on it before you take off cross-country. Also, no matter what bike you buy and no matter what price point, it is always possible your bike has a defect. Put miles on it to shake things down. Do a good bit of it with your touring load, exactly as you expect to do on the tour.
I guess my point is, you want to take delivery of your bike before you go on tour. Put at least 1000 miles on it before you take off cross-country. Also, no matter what bike you buy and no matter what price point, it is always possible your bike has a defect. Put miles on it to shake things down. Do a good bit of it with your touring load, exactly as you expect to do on the tour.
146
Gear Talk / Re: Bar-end mirror & front down tube shifter?
« on: April 22, 2012, 02:56:09 pm »
Before doing major surgery on your bike, why not try http://www.amazon.com/Bike-Peddler-Cycling-Eyeglass-Original/dp/B000C17M26/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1335120654&sr=8-2. True, it takes some getting used to, but with a small movement of your head, you can scan a larger area than from a bar-end mirror. They aren't at all shaky. It's cheap (especially from E-Bay).
147
Gear Talk / Re: Cars and bike racks
« on: March 27, 2012, 07:36:12 pm »Quote
Hitches mounted to small cars like this are the ones with the tongue permanently attached.
I don't know about the Tercel specifically, but I have had a hitch rack for several cars. I was always able to find a hitch with a removable tongue. They tend to be 1" square pipe, so make sure the bike rack will fit the hitch pipe. Some hitch racks don't swing out of the way. Instead, they hold the bikes a littler further away from the car so you can open the trunk easily. I like the hitch racks that have a channel for the wheels to sit in.
148
Gear Talk / Review: charging batteries with a SON hub
« on: March 15, 2012, 10:59:46 pm »
I use a smart phone, which provides communication, internet access, a camera, and an E-book reader. If used lightly, my phone can stay charged for 2 days. Used moderately, it needs joy juice every day. I have occasionally had problems finding a place to charge the phone when on the road. I decided to see whether a hub and charger could keep my phone well fed. In addition, I use a GPS unit (2 – AA batteries) and 4 flashers (12 – AAA batteries). When riding around home, I use Eneloop rechargables. It would be nice if I could also charge those batteries, at least once in a while. I zeroed in on a SON 28 hub and a BioLogic ReeCharge
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004EBZNSU/ref=oh_o06_s00_i00_details.
Before spending a bunch of money, I looked at whether this could possibly be helpful. Reviews I could find were spotty. I have an electrical engineering background, so I was not surprised when I saw a mishmash of electrical terms. Electrical units are not hard. Power is measured in Watts – electrical watts are exactly the same as the watts we generate when pedaling. To get power, one needs force (V, or Volts) and current flow (current, measured in A or Amps.) The relationship is very simple: W = V x A (Watts = Volts x Amps). To keep my review simple, I will always use Watts. This is a valid thing to do because electronic circuits can trade off volts for amps as needed, keeping the power constant. The circuits act exactly like your bike’s gears, trading force for speed. Of course, these circuits aren’t 100% efficient, but we can talk about watts and get a good idea of how well this should work.
I started by looking at the hub. The performance of the SON 28 hub is available here:
http://www.nabendynamo.de/produkte/pdf/Prospekt_SON_28_Firma_2012.pdf
(Red graph on the first page). As the bike goes faster, the hub generates more power, up to a point. Hub power is limited to 3.5 W. The hub generates 2 W at 6 MPH, 2.5 W at 7.5 MPH; 3 W at 9 MPH; and 3.5 W at 12.5 MPH. If I’m bombing downhill at 30 MPH, I’m not pedaling, I’m having a great time, and my hub is generating 3.5 W. The power generated is not related to my average speed, but to how slowly I climb. If I stay above 9 MPH, I get essentially all the power. If my speeds drops to 7.5 MPH, I’m still getting 2.5 W. Below that, the power drops quickly. The key point is 7.5 MPH for two reasons. First, 2.5 W is the power drawn by a USB charge (5 V x 0.5 A = 2.5 W). Secondly, the hub starts limiting at 7.5 MPH. Going faster gives a little more power. Going slower gives a lot less.
My first conclusion is the hub generates enough power for a USB charge, but not much more than that. For example, my laptop charger is 65 W. There won’t be any laptop charging going on.
Using the hub to charge a smart phone or batteries requires several electrical conversions. This is what the Biologic ReCharge does. There are other, similar, units. I chose the ReCharge because it is available from Amazon and it has a reasonable price. The plastic blob that attaches to my fork converts the hub’s alternating power to direct power. A circuit inside the battery case charges the battery. A second circuit converts the battery voltage to 5 V and delivers up to 5 W of power to a standard USB connector. The charge status of the battery is indicated by three lights. When I press the center button, a full charge is indicated by all three lights turning on. If no lights turn on, the battery is discharged.
To test charging my Eneloop batteries, I also purchased two Sanyo USB battery chargers
http://www.stefanv.com/electronics/sanyo_usb_charger.html
(use some Velcro strips to strap the batteries in) and a 2-port hub
http://www.amazon.com/Plugable-USB-2-0-Port-Hub/dp/B005HKIDF2/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_t
AA batteries will charge just about as fast as AAA if I put one battery in each charger. In this charger, one battery charges twice as fast as two.
I am a slow rider, about 12 – 13 MPH average. In hilly areas, I spend plenty of time riding less than 7.5 MPH. In spite of this, everything works reasonably well. I did an out-and-back in a moderately hilly area. I started with a fully charged Biologic battery. Here are my results:
Elapsed Time Device Charge Biologic level
1:45 phone 39% to 93% 3 lights
2:15 2 – AA (1/charger) charging 2-3 lights
(break for lunch – charger turned off)
4:00 2 – AA 1 done, 1 charging 2 lights
5:00 4 – AAA 2 done, 2 charging 2 lights
6:00 none none still 2 lights
6:30 none none 3 lights
I don’t know how close to fully discharged my batteries were. I used batteries I would normally throw into the battery charger at my desk. My GPS had issued a “low” warning for the AA batteries. The AAAs were from a front flasher light that ran about 10 hours. The last hour and a half was to let the ReCharge battery recover its charge. It had not recovered after 1 hour, so I rode another half hour to see what would happen. I conclude that if I am not climbing all day, I can easily keep my cell phone charged, and even charge some of my flasher batteries. If you climb faster than I do, you can do a little better.
If you want to try the same thing, here are some tips to keep in mind.
Like many smart phones, when I plug my phone into a computer, it does a “USB” charge (2.5 W). When I plug it into the wall wart charger, it does an “AC” charge (5 W). How does it know? USB devices are supposed to ask the computer how much power they can draw. It’s part of the USB protocol. That’s how the phone knows that 2.5 W are available. How does the phone know when it is plugged into the wall wart? It’s possible the wall wart announces it has 5 W available. Or it’s possible the phone uses some other way to detect the wall wart, either as part of the USB protocol or through some proprietary method. What happens when I plug my phone into the ReCharge? Does the ReCharge have a chip to tell my phone that 2.5 W are available? Or does the phone see no response and assume it should do a USB charge? I don’t know. I have a Samsung Android phone. Biologic includes a USB adaptor they say makes the ReCharge compatible with some Apple products. Some people have reported their Apple device won’t charge from the ReCharge. Did they not use the adaptor? Is the device looking for some Apple-proprietary signal? I don’t know. To mis-quote Abe Lincoln, you can fool some of the smart phones all of the time.
I use a dedicated GPS for two reasons. First, my phone is too expensive to put out on my handle bars. It simply is not made to withstand the punishment it can get out there. My phone goes inside a padded case, inside a zipper compartment, inside my waterproof handlebar bag, with the top firmly latched. Secondly, these little devices draw a lot of power when they are active. It is very likely that some smart phones draw more than 2.5 W when they are used with mapping software and GPS active, and the display on continuously. It’s very possible that some smart phones would lose charge if used as a GPS while receiving a USB charge. (Maybe this is why those Apple products “didn’t charge”.)
When charging batteries, it’s not necessarily important to charge them all the way. When a battery gets to 90% charge, the charger slows the rate of charge to keep the battery from overheating. When using a USB charge, my phone takes the same time for the battery to go from 40% to 90% as it takes the battery to go from 90% to 100%. That’s pretty typical. Of course, if the phone is charging more slowly, the charger is drawing less power, and the ReCharge battery has an opportunity to charge up a little bit.
There’s no way to know precisely what the difference is between 3 lights of charge and 2. It might be that the ReCharge battery loses no charge while charging my cell phone. I have reason to believe that the two battery charges plus USB hub together draw more than 2.5 W. The ReCharge can deliver up to 5 W (until the battery drains). Some hubs “shut down” to avoid damaging the computer if the devices try to draw more than 2.5 W. Just add this to the list of things I don’t know.
I don’t run lights from my hub. I just stick with the flashers. However, the ReCharge can be wired in with lights if you want. If you try to use the ReCharge and the lights at the same time, that meager 3.5 W will be shared between the two devices in some wonderfully wacky way. It might be totally unpredictable. It might depend on the sequence you turn the devices on. Power might rock back and forth between the two. Whatever it does, 3.5 W is not a lot of power to share. If you wire lights with the ReCharge, you should pay particular attention to the SON hub manual. As they state, turning the lights off while riding can create a very large voltage. For many decades, cars ran by having points turn the current off in a coil, which easily generated 1,500 V to fire the spark plug. I’m not saying the SON hub will generate that much voltage when you turn your lights off, but the principle is exactly the same. High voltages can be rough on electronic circuits. So if you wire both of these devices together, you might want to take care to come to a complete stop before turning your lights off.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004EBZNSU/ref=oh_o06_s00_i00_details.
Before spending a bunch of money, I looked at whether this could possibly be helpful. Reviews I could find were spotty. I have an electrical engineering background, so I was not surprised when I saw a mishmash of electrical terms. Electrical units are not hard. Power is measured in Watts – electrical watts are exactly the same as the watts we generate when pedaling. To get power, one needs force (V, or Volts) and current flow (current, measured in A or Amps.) The relationship is very simple: W = V x A (Watts = Volts x Amps). To keep my review simple, I will always use Watts. This is a valid thing to do because electronic circuits can trade off volts for amps as needed, keeping the power constant. The circuits act exactly like your bike’s gears, trading force for speed. Of course, these circuits aren’t 100% efficient, but we can talk about watts and get a good idea of how well this should work.
I started by looking at the hub. The performance of the SON 28 hub is available here:
http://www.nabendynamo.de/produkte/pdf/Prospekt_SON_28_Firma_2012.pdf
(Red graph on the first page). As the bike goes faster, the hub generates more power, up to a point. Hub power is limited to 3.5 W. The hub generates 2 W at 6 MPH, 2.5 W at 7.5 MPH; 3 W at 9 MPH; and 3.5 W at 12.5 MPH. If I’m bombing downhill at 30 MPH, I’m not pedaling, I’m having a great time, and my hub is generating 3.5 W. The power generated is not related to my average speed, but to how slowly I climb. If I stay above 9 MPH, I get essentially all the power. If my speeds drops to 7.5 MPH, I’m still getting 2.5 W. Below that, the power drops quickly. The key point is 7.5 MPH for two reasons. First, 2.5 W is the power drawn by a USB charge (5 V x 0.5 A = 2.5 W). Secondly, the hub starts limiting at 7.5 MPH. Going faster gives a little more power. Going slower gives a lot less.
My first conclusion is the hub generates enough power for a USB charge, but not much more than that. For example, my laptop charger is 65 W. There won’t be any laptop charging going on.
Using the hub to charge a smart phone or batteries requires several electrical conversions. This is what the Biologic ReCharge does. There are other, similar, units. I chose the ReCharge because it is available from Amazon and it has a reasonable price. The plastic blob that attaches to my fork converts the hub’s alternating power to direct power. A circuit inside the battery case charges the battery. A second circuit converts the battery voltage to 5 V and delivers up to 5 W of power to a standard USB connector. The charge status of the battery is indicated by three lights. When I press the center button, a full charge is indicated by all three lights turning on. If no lights turn on, the battery is discharged.
To test charging my Eneloop batteries, I also purchased two Sanyo USB battery chargers
http://www.stefanv.com/electronics/sanyo_usb_charger.html
(use some Velcro strips to strap the batteries in) and a 2-port hub
http://www.amazon.com/Plugable-USB-2-0-Port-Hub/dp/B005HKIDF2/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_t
AA batteries will charge just about as fast as AAA if I put one battery in each charger. In this charger, one battery charges twice as fast as two.
I am a slow rider, about 12 – 13 MPH average. In hilly areas, I spend plenty of time riding less than 7.5 MPH. In spite of this, everything works reasonably well. I did an out-and-back in a moderately hilly area. I started with a fully charged Biologic battery. Here are my results:
Elapsed Time Device Charge Biologic level
1:45 phone 39% to 93% 3 lights
2:15 2 – AA (1/charger) charging 2-3 lights
(break for lunch – charger turned off)
4:00 2 – AA 1 done, 1 charging 2 lights
5:00 4 – AAA 2 done, 2 charging 2 lights
6:00 none none still 2 lights
6:30 none none 3 lights
I don’t know how close to fully discharged my batteries were. I used batteries I would normally throw into the battery charger at my desk. My GPS had issued a “low” warning for the AA batteries. The AAAs were from a front flasher light that ran about 10 hours. The last hour and a half was to let the ReCharge battery recover its charge. It had not recovered after 1 hour, so I rode another half hour to see what would happen. I conclude that if I am not climbing all day, I can easily keep my cell phone charged, and even charge some of my flasher batteries. If you climb faster than I do, you can do a little better.
If you want to try the same thing, here are some tips to keep in mind.
Like many smart phones, when I plug my phone into a computer, it does a “USB” charge (2.5 W). When I plug it into the wall wart charger, it does an “AC” charge (5 W). How does it know? USB devices are supposed to ask the computer how much power they can draw. It’s part of the USB protocol. That’s how the phone knows that 2.5 W are available. How does the phone know when it is plugged into the wall wart? It’s possible the wall wart announces it has 5 W available. Or it’s possible the phone uses some other way to detect the wall wart, either as part of the USB protocol or through some proprietary method. What happens when I plug my phone into the ReCharge? Does the ReCharge have a chip to tell my phone that 2.5 W are available? Or does the phone see no response and assume it should do a USB charge? I don’t know. I have a Samsung Android phone. Biologic includes a USB adaptor they say makes the ReCharge compatible with some Apple products. Some people have reported their Apple device won’t charge from the ReCharge. Did they not use the adaptor? Is the device looking for some Apple-proprietary signal? I don’t know. To mis-quote Abe Lincoln, you can fool some of the smart phones all of the time.
I use a dedicated GPS for two reasons. First, my phone is too expensive to put out on my handle bars. It simply is not made to withstand the punishment it can get out there. My phone goes inside a padded case, inside a zipper compartment, inside my waterproof handlebar bag, with the top firmly latched. Secondly, these little devices draw a lot of power when they are active. It is very likely that some smart phones draw more than 2.5 W when they are used with mapping software and GPS active, and the display on continuously. It’s very possible that some smart phones would lose charge if used as a GPS while receiving a USB charge. (Maybe this is why those Apple products “didn’t charge”.)
When charging batteries, it’s not necessarily important to charge them all the way. When a battery gets to 90% charge, the charger slows the rate of charge to keep the battery from overheating. When using a USB charge, my phone takes the same time for the battery to go from 40% to 90% as it takes the battery to go from 90% to 100%. That’s pretty typical. Of course, if the phone is charging more slowly, the charger is drawing less power, and the ReCharge battery has an opportunity to charge up a little bit.
There’s no way to know precisely what the difference is between 3 lights of charge and 2. It might be that the ReCharge battery loses no charge while charging my cell phone. I have reason to believe that the two battery charges plus USB hub together draw more than 2.5 W. The ReCharge can deliver up to 5 W (until the battery drains). Some hubs “shut down” to avoid damaging the computer if the devices try to draw more than 2.5 W. Just add this to the list of things I don’t know.
I don’t run lights from my hub. I just stick with the flashers. However, the ReCharge can be wired in with lights if you want. If you try to use the ReCharge and the lights at the same time, that meager 3.5 W will be shared between the two devices in some wonderfully wacky way. It might be totally unpredictable. It might depend on the sequence you turn the devices on. Power might rock back and forth between the two. Whatever it does, 3.5 W is not a lot of power to share. If you wire lights with the ReCharge, you should pay particular attention to the SON hub manual. As they state, turning the lights off while riding can create a very large voltage. For many decades, cars ran by having points turn the current off in a coil, which easily generated 1,500 V to fire the spark plug. I’m not saying the SON hub will generate that much voltage when you turn your lights off, but the principle is exactly the same. High voltages can be rough on electronic circuits. So if you wire both of these devices together, you might want to take care to come to a complete stop before turning your lights off.
149
Gear Talk / Re: REI tubes
« on: March 06, 2012, 06:26:07 pm »
Amazon is good for some things, including Michelin tubes. I had a bad tube. Shortly after that, I got a puncture flat that happened to be right on the seam. I couldn't make the patch work. The second flat wasn't the tube's fault, but the difficulty in patching it was. Disgusted with bike shop tubes, I went to Amazon and found they sell seamless Michelin tubes. I ordered some and found them to be of good quality. I haven't had a problem with tubes since I switched. I don't know why bike shops stock only cheap tubes. Maybe they think nobody thinks about tube quality. Good tubes are available.
150
Gear Talk / Re: bike maintenance on tour
« on: February 11, 2012, 10:28:58 pm »
I'm glad you mentioned about the dirty hands. It reminded me about something I carry that might be helpful -- a pair of those blue plastic gloves. They are very light and take almost no space. Keeps the hands clean for those messy chain repairs.