Questions on SON dynamo hubs

In order to maintain your leather bicycle saddle, we invite you to download our instruction manual (FR/EN) which contains the essential advice to keep your saddle in shape.

Also, in order to maintain leather softness and aspect of the underside of your saddle (flesh side), we propose a Wax to apply without excess once a year.

The Leather Conditioner comes in complement to restore and maintain a high shine of the top side of the leather (grain) of your saddle.

Finally, we also cut and sewn in our workshop simple or integral saddle cover which is ideal when you ride in heavy rain without fenders (mudguards).

A return is possible if the saddle is not marked and is still in its original box.

To do this, we recommend that you mount the saddle on your bike and only perform a static test while riding your bike. We invite you to put on your shorts to proceed with the test in order to avoid any risk of scratching the leather with a button or a rivet.

This will allow you to see if the shape seems to fit or if it is a definite no. Still in shorts, it is possible to do some cranking on the road to get a feel for the bike, but here again, the utmost caution is required.

As you can see, if the leather shows any trace, mark or scratch, we will not be able to take it back.

The design of our leather saddles combines a traditional material, leather, with today's materials: stainless steel, titanium and synthetic materials chosen with care. Each of our saddles are made in our workshops in Burgundy.

Click to watch a video of how our leather bike saddles are made.

In our workshop we manufacture two types of bicycle saddles:

1. "Open leather" or so-called open bike saddle (with a hole or slit in the middle).
2. A "full leather" or so-called closed (or full) bicycle saddle.

The choice between an open model (with a hole in the middle) and a closed model is always complex because it depends on many parameters. Each saddle has its advantages and disadvantages.

For people who are prone to this problem, open saddles will reduce crushing of the perineum.

In addition, open leather will be comfortable almost immediately but will probably have a shorter life span than closed leather. Indeed, the opening creates a fragility

Closed leather will take longer to break in but will ultimately be more durable (we recently changed a leather that had travelled 150,000 kilometres!). This is all theory.

In practice, it also depends on the weight of the person, the type of pedalling, the maintenance, the use: weather (rain with or without mudguards), perspiration...

Naturally, we would recommend a closed model on a travel bike for its longer life.

It is possible that color transfer may occur due to rubbing against clothing worn while pedaling. This is why we recommend avoiding light-colored clothing. This is because our colored saddles are dyed and the dye is not fixed.

Leather absorbs dye and thus retains its charm. The use of paint would mask the various marks testifying to the life of the animal.

Depending on the leather, a saddle may curve more or less quickly depending on different parameters such as position on the saddle, pedaling frequency, user weight, etc.

When you notice that the leather begins to relax (feeling soft) you must quickly tighten your saddle.

We recommend that you regularly tighten your saddle in a progressive manner (1/4 turn by 1/4 turn clockwise for all our saddles except city saddles for which the rotation is done in an anti-clockwise direction) to obtain the sensation adequate.

Be careful, don't wait until it is too late because leather that is too soft will be impossible to tighten and you will have to purchase a replacement leather.

For average use, the materials used in the SON hub dynamo are sufficiently corrosion-resistant. In case of intensive year-round use and exposure to salt water, it is advisable to treat the tension axle and the hub shell with spray wax before each winter.

SON hub dynamos are equipped with grooved ball bearings, sealed on both sides and lubricated for life. They normally operate for tens of thousands of miles without maintenance and do not need to be greased or adjusted. If they are defective, they are replaced by our SON partner.

Either the skewer was not fitted correctly or the hub dynamo has become sluggish. Please check if the connections on the hub dynamo or the connections on the cable are damaged as soon as the axle is mounted well in the fork.

Like almost all hub dynamos, a SON hub dynamo supplies alternating current. In addition, none of the poles (spade connections) are grounded, so that the plugs of the SON hub dynamo can be reversed at will.

Nominal values are 6 volts and 3 watts and are achieved at moderate speed (depending on wheel size and generator). However, the real values depend greatly on the electrical load. Without a load, higher no-load voltages also occur. When driving fast, you can draw significantly more power with a suitable load.

The rated power of a dynamo headlight is typically 2.4 watts and the dynamo supplies 3 watts. The remaining 0.6 watts are for the rear light. However, a high-quality LED headlight can easily handle 3 watts and shine brighter. This was not possible with lightbulbs.

Yes, but conversely, Supernova tail lights do not have a parking light when used with the Edelux.

Yes, you can do this. You will need a charging device that regulates the alternating current of your dynamo to constant direct current. The manufacturer SON recommends the universal charger "USB-Werk" from Busch & Müller for USB devices that operate with low power consumption. Modern smartphones in browsing mode with the screen permanently lit need 2 to 4 watts of power.

Few charging devices are efficient enough to work with these devices. The most efficient devices, regardless of speed, are the "Forumslader V5" and the "NC-17 AppCon GT1".

In any case, care should be taken when charging during a bike ride: USB cables plugged into the smartphone during the ride can damage the charging socket due to shaking. Even otherwise splash-proof mobile devices can be damaged by rainwater if the rubber seal of the USB port is removed and the cable is plugged in instead. Under no circumstances should you let your smartphone or GPS distract you while driving!

Most charging adapters do not charge at all or only with a fraction of the rated power when the lights are switched at the same time. If a USB device is to be charged, it is recommended that the lights are switched off. With the universal charger "Forumslader V5", an Edelux DC 6 to 75V headlamp can be connected to its 12V output and the lighting and USB devices can still be operated - provided the charge level of the buffer battery is high enough.

Connect charging devices to a hub dynamo in parallel with the headlight, not at the rear light output of a headlight. SON manufacturer recommend to crimp 4.8 mm piggy-back connectors to the feedcable of a charging device. The headlight cable connects to the tongues on the piggy backs. If you connect and disconnect the charging device frequently, the Coaxial Junction Box will be a good choice. (see SON Accessories).

Difference between SON 28 and SON Delux hubs

The SON 28 dynamo hub delivers its nominal power of 3W from 15km/h, while the SON Delux reaches this power from 20km/h. The SON 28 dynamo hub is therefore recommended for applications requiring maximum power at low speeds, making it the model of choice if you want to recharge devices while driving.

The SON Delux dynamo hub is optimized to be as light as possible (by optimizing the winding and not by compromising the strength of the body) and to offer the least resistance to rolling. It therefore needs to turn faster to achieve the same power and will therefore be suitable for cycling at a higher pace or for bikes with smaller diameter wheels.

Compared to a classic front hub, the loss of efficiency at 25 km/h is less than 1% for the SON Delux and about 1.2% for the SON 28

We only deal with the warranty of SON products purchased in France :

Make an after-sales service request (for France only)

For any warranty or after-sales service request concerning a product bought outside France, please go to the SON manufacturer's website : https://nabendynamo.de/en/service/repairs/.