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I remember those lights. I also remember that the way the generator rode/ground on the sidewall offended my young engineering sensibilities. I don’t know how I worked that out; I guess I probably saw a bike fitted with one with obvious sidewall wear.

I also remember being horrified by how much resistance they added. That was enough to put me off.

When I got a bit older, maybe junior high or highs school, I wanted one of the bottom bracket based dynos (it looks like they were made by Sanyo and Soubitez), but not quite enough to buy one. At about the same time, I got a touring bike that had internal wiring for one.

I didn’t actually get a bike light until I was in college. My parents sprung for what must have been an expensive ($50-100 at the time) rechargeable one as a christmas present. It had a housing like a standard bike headlamp, but rather than mounting on the bike, it had a bracket that allowed quick installation and removal from a helmet. The NiCd battery pack was dipped in black Pasti-Dip and connected to a lead from the light using RCA connectors. It was impressively bright for the time. Unfortunately, I think I only had it for a year before managing to loose the battery pack. By then the company might already have been out of business (maybe it was on clearance when my parents bought it). I looked into building a new pack, but the cost of the cells was probably about the same as two weeks of groceries.

I haven’t ridden my bike in years, though I did make some progress in refurbishing it over the last couple years. I still need to install the new brake cables I bought, and get new tires. Once it’s operational, it’s going to be lit up like all get-out!