Ride Report: The Portland’s new lights and wheels
“Dude, that’s a nice light. I’m riding with you,” said John on tonight’s Tuesday Night Urban Assault (TNUA) ride. Then, referring to my twin DiNotte 200Ls on the bars he asked, “Now is that with all three of them on?”
“Nope. Just the one,” I replied.
“Awesome!”
Schmidt Edelux headlight
Tonight was my first real test of the Schmidt Edelux light driven by the Shimano Alfine dynamo hub, and I heard similar things all night long. It’s just plain impressive.
It wasn’t the brightest light on the ride—HIDs still out-power it—but it puts plenty of light in a useful spread on the pavement, whereas the HIDs all seem throw light up into to the trees and out into passing shrubbery. And when one of them comes at you, they put plenty of light directly into your eyes. I’m not convinced they light up the actual pavement any better than an Edelux.
Schmidt Edelux in black
The whole reason I bought the Edelux is that it doesn’t scatter its light all around the neighborhood. Its LED shines backwards into a segmented scoop-shaped reflector which directs all the light forward with final focusing through a ground glass lens.
As a result, the Edelux keeps its output in tight boundaries on the pavement. It lights up a six-foot wide rectangle of pavement from about 5 feet out to about 50 feet, judging by my night-blind eyes. There are a couple of beams sent out at about a 45° angle, and a smile of light on the ground right in front of the wheel as well.
On the streets, the Edelux’s beam becomes indistinguishable from car headlights in the lane next to me. I run the DiNottes too on city streets, mainly for the be-seen aspects. The DiNotte’s symmetrical conical-shaped beam puts a lot of light out to the sides and up in the air, which is good on city streets. That picks up signs and alerts drivers on side streets and in driveways. It’s a good thing.
Once out from under the city streetlights, by my defective eyes anyway, running my DiNotte headlights in addition to the Edelux doesn’t seem to appreciably improve what I can see, how far I can see, or how well I can see it. A wider beam would be nice in a very few places with very tight turns. Of course, I could just slow down a bit. Away from streetlights, the Edelux is just fine all by itself.
And for light on the road in front of me, one Edelux beats two DiNotte 200Ls.
I am very satisfied with the Edelux.
Busch & Müller Dtoplight XS Plus taillight
Busch & Müller DToplight XS Plus
The B&M taillight is nice too, there’s just less to rave about in a taillight. Except it’s very red—one of the reddest lights I’ve ever seen.
The .6-watt LED is equivalent to the ½-watt “bright” LED in a PlanetBike SuperFlash blinkie—widely acknowledged to be the second-best rear light after the DiNotte—but conforming to EU laws, the B&M light does not blink. It points a nice bright spot of light out the back, and is clearly visible to the sides as well.
The reflectors are angled up a bit, which seems to make them more visible when I walk up behind the bike. I would expect it does the same for motorists.
On the TNUA, super-bright taillights—especially blinking ones—can be very annoying. There are several riders I simply can’t ride behind. In group rides, (day or night) I always run with my DiNotte taillight off. I’m pleased with both the visibility of the B&M, and that it wasn’t so bright to cause complaints from other riders.
Shimano Alfine Dynamo Hub
Shimano Alfine Dynamo Hub in black.
The Shimano Alfine front dynamo hub is a very nice piece of work. When the lights are off, there’s no more rolling resistance than with my old wheels. In the work stand, you can spin the front tire and it takes a satisfyingly long time to spin to a stop.
With the Edelux’s ambient light sensor turning the lights on and off automatically, I can honestly say that I can’t tell the difference as I’m riding along. One might think that as it kicks-in through an underpass that I’d notice something. All I notice is that the light has come on. There’s no difference in feel through the bars, feel through the pedals, and no feeling of slowing down.
Even tonight on a couple of fast descents, there was no feeling of increased drag. It’s just plain amazing.
Of course, the endless runtime is also satisfying. I’ve always had to leave TNUA rides early so that my batteries didn’t run out of the way home. I’ve miscalculated a couple of times and have had to ride home without lights.
A couple of riders on tonight’s ride had their batteries run out. Fortunately, they drive to the ride, and within a group of 62 riders, you can get by with the light from other riders.
For me, it felt really nice to not have to worry about runtime at all. When I left the group, I fired-up the DiNottes (for their off-axis “be-seen” aspects) and still had at least 90 minutes of runtime left in them when I got home.
Velocity Road Rear Disc Hub
Velocity Road Rear Disc Hub for Shimano (also available for Campy).
Did I mention the rear hub? The freehub makes nice, expensive-sounding noises. Coasting along, it sounds smooth and precise, as opposed to smooth and mushy.
It doesn’t have the sharp, snapping sound of a Campy, a Chris King or a Phil Wood. I find them too loud too. The Velocity hub is quieter and sounds more like a watch than a ratchet. Very refined.
It also rolls like the dickens. It has the same frictionless feel that Yellow Bike’s hubs have. In the work stand, it spins a ridiculously long time. It gets boring waiting for it to spin down.
Velocity VXC disc-brake specific rims
Velocity VXC disc-specific hoop in Spangled Silver.
There’s more to wheels than hubs. As for the rest of the wheels, I like them a lot. This, despite the rear hoop having a defect near where it’s welded together. It has a shimmy and a flat spot there that no amount of tensioning and truing can remove. Two people have tried, one of them twice. Velocity is sending a new hoop under warranty.
Despite this, the wheels feel oh-so-nice under me. They have the same quality feel I associate with Yellow Bikes handbuilt wheels. There’s some, hard to describe feeling I get only on handbuilt wheels. They feel velvety smooth, yet tough as nails. The don’t roll so much as glide. And they don’t feel like they’re going to freak out on hard bumps.
With the old wheelset, I never jumped curbs. The wheels felt too frail. The new wheels feel robust, so tonight we jumped curbs. Plenty of ‘em, and in both directions. I felt a confidence I never felt with the old wheels. And there was nary a complaint from them.
Plus, these new rims are wider. That made the tires easy to mount. I’ve never been able to mount a tire with just my fingers. I can do it with these new rims. The additional width also means additional volume. Additional volume means I can run with less pressure.
I’m still experimenting, but it looks like I can go with a jaw-droppingly low 60 PSI in front, and somewhere between 70 and 75 in the back. On a road bike, with 28mm tires rated for 120 PSI. What that does for the ride is simply magnificent.
The Portland has always ridden nice. With the old wheels, I ran it at 70 PSI front, 80–85 PSI in the back. It rode nice, and it rolled forever. Now it rides even better, and it still rolls and coasts like there’s no resistance at all.
Summary
With these new wheels and new lights, the Portland has finally become the bike it was meant to be. And I couldn’t be happier with it.
While it’s been a capable all-weather commuter these past two years, it’s always felt limited by its wheels. The new wheels take it to the next level, where there’s no concern about equipment at all.
And with the new lights, we own the night.
