Hubs

The SON28 has a bit more power at low speed than the SONdelux so it's a bit better for those who use the hub's power for charging a GPS or mobile telephone on tour. The Schmidt Dynamo front hub or SON (Schmidt's Original Nabendynamo) is extremely reliable and has almost no drag. Made by Wilfried Schmidt Maschinenbau in Tübingen, Germany, the hub is quiet and is designed to give at least 50,000 kilometers of trouble free riding between servicings. The hub powers many different six volt headlights including Schmidt's own Edelux II LED headlight and assorted taillights, both older halogen and LED headlamps and taillights made by Busch & Müller in Meinerzhagen, Germany, plus Supernova and Spanninga lights. Many cyclists want to charge a cell phone or GPS while they ride. The SON hubs are ideal for keeping your GPS going. There are several AC to DC converters for this purpose. When your bicycle can make its own light, it becomes a reliable means of transportation, not just a toy or play thing for an afternoon's entertainment or exercise. With an automobile, you take its lights for granted. You get in the car, turn on a switch, and drive on down the road with the light you need. With the SON, you can take quality lighting on your bicycle for granted, just as you do in a car, making your bicycle just as convenient to use for everyday transportation as an automobile. SON dynamo hubs have a five year warrantee. Thru-Axle forks and hubs are much better for bikes with disc brakes than are traditional hollow axle hubs because Thru-Axle hubs ensure perfect alignment of the disc every time you install the wheel. But with a dynamo hub, there's a catch. Standard hubs with Thru-Axles don't require the skewer to be as tight as it would need to be on a traditional hollow axle hub. The skewer only needs to be tight enough so that it doesn't come loose while you ride, whereas a QR in a hollow axle hub must be tighter, lest the hub work its way out of the dropout. So cyclists with Thru-Axle hubs quickly get used to installing the skewer less tightly than they would with a hollow axle. This can cause trouble with a dynamo hub. If the dynamo hub is not held tightly in the Thru-Axle dropouts, the hub will vibrate a bit and the axle will rotate. If it rotates enough there will be stress on the wires and the spade connectors embedded in the axle. Either the wires or the spade connectors will be damaged, and no power will come from the hub. When you first install your SON Thru-Axle hub, carefully notice the orientation of the connectors. Perhaps align them straight down if possible, with the wire then looping around and up the fork blade. Ride for a few minutes with the lights on, or with your phone charging. Then stop and notice if the connectors are still pointed straight down. If they have rotated a bit clockwise, you'll know that your skewer was not tight enough. Make the skewer tighter and do the experiment again. Once you have the skewer tight enough so that the connectors never rotate, you're good to go. **We're known for our custom wheel builds. Call or text us to get started on building up a wheelset using these hubs.