Tests (and recommendations) of bicycle parts, esp. mini-pumps, dynamo lighting & leather saddles

Tests the way they should be done: thorough and asking the right questions...

2020-4-1: My last (planned) review will be the Pedalcell dynamo once it arrives (review mostly done of the preliminary version, to be updated for the final version with different USB chip)

Update 2020-6-7: Sunup wants to send me an F12W front wheel dynamo to review. That's interesting so I will do that when it gets here and make a video about it. Review in progress since 2020-6-15...

The reason to stop doing comprehensive reviews of esp. all dynamo lighting:
I have no more interest to continue reviewing/analysing bike stuff except for things I buy only for myself to use, and I will only update my site for such reviews. The reasons are:
1. For dynamo lighting there is just about no progress in 10 years, there is barely any interest from manufacturers to make bike lamps 'great'.
2. There are other interesting things I could test and analyse related to bicycles but too few people are interested in proper reviews, they want 'entertainment' reviews.

The only way this could change is by getting paid for it in some way. But on youtube there seems very little interest in proper reviews, people want to read and see superficial rubbish, entertainment style reviews. Youtube definitely promotes superficial crap and clickbait to get money for themselves. All in all this makes me feel along with all the deplatforming (regardless of whether I agree or disagree with people, free speech is needed), it is probably better to quit my channel (WHS reviews) as well unless there come a lot more subscribers, comments, etc. to make it interesting/worthwhile despite the issues there.

Bicycle lighting analysis

What is needed in bicycle lamps and dynamos, experiments with LED light colour, effectiveness of lamps in the mist, difference between what you see in reality and beamshots, analysis of lighting regulations and much more.

For companies: Full translation of the German rules StVZO+TA (technical requirements) + FzTV (build/production requirements) in English, including analysis, summaries, build suggestions, description of the approval procedure, additional standards, information on other requirements that are not published in any standards, how the rules are going to evolve, and much more, along with consultation and help for the approval procedure included, is available to companies wanting to enter this market (for bicycles, pedelecs to 25 km/h, and more information on rules for fast-pedelecs/e-bikes). I have a sample of this for interested companies, email for information. I've also included information on whether approvals for non-standard lighting (such as lighting using non-standard power sources such as contactless rim dynamos and rim mounted lights, are likely to be succesful, with some requirements for any non standard lighting, and some examples.
The whole process is fairly involved and expensive (but still far less cost than a development of a lens/reflector). Besides the big cost of lens/reflector development, there are: the approval procedure up to 2000 euro, company verification (around 1000 euro), assigning the approval itself about 500 euro. After that comes the choice to get help or do it yourself, in the latter case you will need to get all standards and get all German text translated and then spend quite a bit of time to figure out what the requirements really entail (and keep track of how the rules change).
Additionally, for a company that wants a collaboration, I have ideas for better beam shapes for headlights, better housing and mounts, better taillights/cable management, user interface etc. ]

Bicycle lighting reviews
Headlamps, taillamps, dynamos and some oddities (non standard lights).
Leather saddles
Leather saddles, Brooks, Lepper, Selle Anatomica, modifications etc.
Mini pumps
Read here what pressure you can really achieve, not the fairy tale numbers that most manufacturers tell you which are only relevant if your name is Arnold Schwarzenegger!

Tours, interviews, bike trips

Tours of facilities with interviews etc.
Philips bike light day January 2012, Exposure in March 2019, and more to come.
Bicycle trip August 2013 through NL and Germany, testing various bicycle equipment, in particular lights....

Plans for 2020

Review of the pedalcell high power dynamo.

I have no plans for anything else at the moment as reviewing costs a lot of time/work to do it right, and there are other things in life that I need and want to do, because as I indicated at the top of this page there is not enough appreciation/youtube comments etc. at the moment to continue.

Other sections

Tests part 2: Less extensive tests: Bicycle bells, grips, gears, bike computers, water bottles, chain checkers, kickstands, pedals, tyre levers, suspension.
My channel on youtube: WHS reviews where I will re-upload some contents about bicycles from my other channel which is since August 2018, only about critical analysis of events/situations and the people responsible for them (some of those will be bicycle related).
Perhaps interesting my commentary about stuff I saw on the internet and on youtube about bicycle stuff.

Support this website! [ for more critical reviews ]

To support the extensive reviews and the brief reviews in section 2, use the paypal link below... [ Please then indicate in a message if there is something specific you would like to see reviewed/analysed, I will use those inputs then to decide what to test next (besides what I want to buy for myself to use, I will review all the products that I buy for myself in any case) ]

If you have other ideas/suggestions to continue, send me a message. One idea I had but it is likely not of that much general interest, is a series of videos on the StVZO rules, what is good and bad about them, how deviations from the rules are allowed etc. I could even publish my entire StVZO analysis if there are enough donations (but that would require a lot of donations as it would mean not being able to use that as a large part of the value of the service I provide to get companies to make compliant lighting/e-scooters).
In case there is interest in a subscription type service, to say, buy more bike lamps or more types of the latest dynamos, or even saddle types that could be interesting to try out, to compare with the leather saddles I tried out. If you want to support in this way, spread the word on this (send links to people who may be interested to my youtube channel or my website), and have a look here: https://www.subscribestar.com/whs-bike-reviews.

[ Note: I deleted patreon as it is part of the problem of removal of free speech by deplatforming people. The importance of free speech (so also of views by people you disagree with!) is related to finding the truth, as I will explain in my upcoming project soon. They also gave the terrorist organisation BLM a donation, which is an organisation similar to all complainers and whiners about western society: Trying to destroy society and its achievements and revising the truth to untruth. ESAD to BLM! ]

If there is enough support I could do e.g. a comparative review of all of Berthoud's leather saddles with the best of the Brooks saddles (esp. the B17 and Imperial, Team pro) and with bicycle lighting there are ways to go such as finally make full comparison videos with switching between lamps while riding to show the differences, and of course some more of the latest dynamo headlamps and pedelec lamps.

My test bike was stolen Thursday evening 9 Aug. 2018, in NL/Leimuiden. If you see it in NL let the police know and send me a message...

Maybe it's on the way to Poland, or some such destination, but in case it stays in NL, if you see it let the police know and send me a message...

Nederlands: Cannondale fiets, type Vintage, zwart, schijfremmen, Dit is mijn testfiets, opvallend door 2 verschillende pedalen voor testen, dito 2 verschillende handvatten, 3x9 versnellingen, bijna alles is zwart, zadelpen: Descendant, zadel: Brooks b17 imperial (uitsparing in het midden) zwart, linker handvat kurk, rechter handvat leer bruin, fietscomputer: O-synce, achterdrager vervangen: was Cannondale's eigen merk (maar die was gebroken), is nu Atranvelo, Stuureinden van Ergotec, ligstuur (alleen de arm-steunen) van Ergotec, koplamp: Herrmans H-one S (met plakband waarop V2 geschreven staat, dit is de versie met neutraal wit licht), achterlamp Spanninga Solo. Continental achterband, voorband is een Compass Barlow pass 38mm vouwband (door een lezer van mijn site gestuurd om te testen/vergelijken)

English: Cannondale bicycle, type Vintage, zwart, disc brakes. This is my test bike used the last 2 years for testing lighting and pedals and grips etc. And so it sticks out by having 2 different pedals for testing, ditto 2 different grips, left grip cork, right grip leather (brown), 3x9 gears, almost everything is black, seat post: Descendant (contrary to the pics), saddle: Brooks b17 Imperial (so with cutout in the middle) in black, bike computer: O-synce, rear rack: Atranvelo (I had to replace the original rack which was Cannondale's own brand, which broke), bar ends from Ergotec, aero bar (but only the arm rests mounted) from Ergotec, headlamps: Herrmans H-one S (with tape on which I wrote V2, this is the 2nd version of the H-one S with neutral white light), taillamp Spanninga Solo. Continental rear tyre 42-622, front tyre is a Compass Barlow pass 38mm folding tyre (sent to me for testing by a reader of my site)

Numbers on the frame: 57 1 086.128 (so: 571086128) / UN..571 (can't quite make it out)

Pics:

Changes from 6 Nov. 2017:

Nov. 2017: 1. Removal (well, moved to here, and I have no intention to update these test) of all smaller sections such as about minitools and gears etc. as I will go back to basics, 2. Removal of all Dutch/German pages: I have not kept the pages in Dutch in sync anyway, as it costs too much work and the sales side does not support putting in a lot of work. There were only a few pages in German. 3. Separate the bicycle lighting reviews from the overviews and technical analysis. The reviews are to be linked to as 'examples' to show problems in lights/dynamos in the analysis section.
In 2018 I will mostly stop selling bicycle stuff (only continuing with some Brooks saddles and modifications), as there is just not enough appreciation for what I do, i.e. the sales are far too low for the effort and guidance that I give in reviews. So I will have to do something else, and possibly work with a manufacturer, though the bike industry is really reluctant for any change and not interested in suggestions for improvements or even new ideas as is shown in what has been produced the last 6 years in dynamos and headlights, which is not impressive and barely improving over what we had in 2011. That means my interest stops, unless finally some manufacturer wants to make real improvements.

The method: How to do tests the right way, including how to determine what is important for tests

The following is only of interest if you are interested in understanding people, I explain a lot of the behaviour of people related to discussions on forums, newsgroups etc.

The truth and the method. Here I analyse some misconceptions and tell you about what it means to make a good review, what do you need to measure (if anything), and what it means to be scientific. Being scientific is not about doing measurements, but about the way you analyse what needs to be analysed... You don't need to measure the exact temperature of a room to know whether it's too hot, too cold, or just right for you. Same with vibrations by dynamo hubs... A few topics: Do you ride faster with smaller wheels? Do you ride faster with a lighter bike? Does dynamo efficiency really influence your speed? The answer is no, or not significantly at best in case of dynamos, but many people think it is a big influence. Countering misconceptions about these and other topics is a big part of the process of doing proper reviews!

Last modified: 2017-11-9