I have to replace a pair of old Kenda 1220 26 x 2.125 Whitewall tires. They have dry rot. When I take them off the rim, another big chunk of rubber falls off the wire bead. Tread is about gone too. I use them with a tire scrubber (bottle generator) and back then they were made with a ribbed sidewall ( for scrubber traction in the rain I think ). I looked all over for a wide whitewall made this way but did not find one. So a pair of Schwalbe Returner HS 361 is on the way.
Tires For Use With Generator ??-Yes!!
- Thread starter clamdigger
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It has been a long time, but I have seen generator specific tires. Heavy!
If you are going to use it, I have no help, but converting now would save you looking for a grail!
Oh yeah, convert it to l.e.d.s and a battery.
If you are going to use it, I have no help, but converting now would save you looking for a grail!
Oh yeah, convert it to l.e.d.s and a battery.
Convert to batteries? How about converting to a "dynamo" hub?
Don't you still got to have a battery there? We do here, lights have to stay lit up at rest.
Either way is better than the tire popper!
Hub generators are cool but even with the lights off there's always a little drag. Long distance roadies used to run a rub type generator, but instead of the typical grinder bit, they'd have about a three inch diameter rubber wheel which increased the leverage and surface area, thus allowing a lot less spring tension. Haven't seen any lately though. A friend bought me a high end lithium powered light for Christmas a while back and it absolutely ROCKS!!! 
Low setting is brighter than most bike lights, and lasts something like 20 hrs on a full charge. High setting is nearly as bright as a Buick headlight, and it has built in strobe and SOS settings as well.
Low setting is brighter than most bike lights, and lasts something like 20 hrs on a full charge. High setting is nearly as bright as a Buick headlight, and it has built in strobe and SOS settings as well.
Don't you still got to have a battery there? We do here, lights have to stay lit up at rest.
Either way is better than the tire popper!
Decent lights these days have a capacitor built in. My tail-light says lit for at least 5 minutes after I park it. Headlight stays on for probably2 or 3 minutes. The only problem I have is, if I lock a bike with that kinda light up, well-wishing passers-by will switch it to "off" and it confuses the bejeezus out of me when I start rolling and it doesn't light up.
Hub generators are cool but even with the lights off there's always a little drag. Long distance roadies used to run a rub type generator, but instead of the typical grinder bit, they'd have about a three inch diameter rubber wheel which increased the leverage and surface area, thus allowing a lot less spring tension. Haven't seen any lately though. A friend bought me a high end lithium powered light for Christmas a while back and it absolutely ROCKS!!!
I know a lot of ppl who run battery lights and love'm, but it gets my goat that I'm creating all this power, just by pedaling and rolling, that's going to waste. Plus, i'd be really steamed if I ran out of juice during a ride.... and I'm not the type who'd be diligent about keeping rechargables charged up.... So, hub dynamos are where it's at.
It's true that, technically, the hubs will always have drag, even if the lights are "off". These new hubs, though, are so low drag, it won't make a difference for your commute times or anything like that. There are super-high end hubs that create almost zero drag (like the Schmidt SON, which at about $300, better not have any drag), but even the cheaper Sturmey/SRAM/Shimano offerings produce no discernible drag, as measured by my rear-end as I ride one of my generator-hub equipped bikes right before/after I ride one of my regular-hub bikes.
These new hubs produce so little drag, almost any roadie who needs a light will run something battery operated, or a generator hub. At this point, the bottle doodads are for retro ppl, ppl who really ove their existing hubs, and ppl who can't afford a generator hub. The
Peter White, who sells a lot of dynamo stuff, from entry-level to the highest of high-end, thinks the Sanyos are really good. If you click the link, scroll down and check out what he has to say about drag....
-Rob
**I'm just playing; I know how to spell "randonneur". I like t call it "audax", like the Brits do, just to rattle the fake-French guys' cage a little bit....
Schwalbe Returner whitewalls, "Retro Design Tires For The Cruiser Cult" arrived today. 1st up : they have the ribbed upper sidewall. Spec is SBC compound (same as Big Apple ) unknown "puncture protection". Intriguing tread.One cosmetic downfall is the whitewall on one side has a 10 1/2" long black logo, 1/2 the width of the whitewall.Review to follow,when the Indonesian rubber meets the road and trail.
Review; now I know how the Returner got its' name.There was the sidewall issue.Looks like a vandal used a black ink, wide felt tip pen, and drew a 10 1/2 '' line directly over the ( not ) white sidewall. I spent time with CR to no avail.Took them out in the daylight to compare them to my old Kendas,and they look beige wall.So,I found the same Kendas at LBS,tagged Sunlite (J&B)
