Why Don’t American Bikes Have Dynamo Lighting and Other Post-reArrival Thoughts

Among the many reverse-culture-shock events I’ve been subject to in the past two weeks, one of the most shocking (okay this may be a slight exaggeration) was riding my American bike again for the first time. The bike and I have been through a lot together–in fact, we’ve been together for like 10 years–but after riding my European bike around for the past 10 months, I have to admit, it felt strange to be riding my mountain bike again, especially in the city. The seating felt all wrong, and the tires felt wrong…the whole thing just felt strange.

Don’t get me wrong, I still love my American bike (I do! I ❤ u), but I am really a sucker for those cute Dutch-style commuter bikes that come in sleek black with a lovely, handy basket on front, that make any woman look effortlessly chic running errands……..well, a girl can dream.

So my dad and I went to Scheels (talk about another reverse culture shock) to browse bikes–because that is my idea of fun as an adult–and while I wasn’t really surprised that they only sold mountain bikes and racing bikes–because who would use a bike to commute when you can drive a monster truck–can you believe that not a single bike was sold with a built-in light!?! (Maybe if you are an American, you can believe this). However, my recently developed German sensibilities were shocked, I tell you, shocked!

I thought back to my beautiful, if not ancient, pink bike in Germany, and how it had a lovely old-style bulb on the front that illuminated my path in the dark and kept me from hitting many a stone in the dark and from being hit by many a car on harrowing trips at five p.m., when the sun had already set. The light was self-generating, surprisingly bright, and always made me feel like Audrey Hepburn cruising through the street–and really, any invention that makes a woman feel like Audrey Hepburn is pretty brilliant (pun intended 😉 ). It was eco-friendly, you didn’t have to worry a battery failing, or about it getting stolen because it was attached to the bike….oh I could go on about it’s many wonderful attributes.

I tried to describe the beauty of this lighting function to the man in the bike-section at Scheels, but alas, to no avail. He seemed confused by my attempts to describe a non-battery powered light that was somehow “connected to the tire” and “self-generating.” “Maybe we carry those online?” he offered. Fortunately, Scheels had free wifi (how modern!), so I hastily typed the vague words “bike lighting systems” into the ever-trusty Google and–low and behold–was led to an entire page on Wikipedia (of all places!) discussing the evolution of bike lighting systems through the years. The kind of bike lighting system I was in fact looking for was called: “dynamo.” Now, if you’re a bike snob, chances are you might have known that already. Anyways, I didn’t because I’m only an amateur bike snob. So I proceeded to read this fascinating Wikipedia aloud as I trailed my father through the rows of kayaks, wet suits, and endless fishing gear of Scheels, oblivious to the wild heads of deers and boars jutting out from the ceiling around me.

The Dynamo system is in fact originally German, which is probably one of the reasons why it’s so well-made, and it was (according to Wikipedia) required for all bikes produced in Germany (I mean, leave it to Germany to put the safety of its biking citizens first!) up until 2013, when certain battery powered lights were finally allowed. So pretty much any European road bike, but especially any bike made in Germany, will have a dynamo lighting system.

The Dynamo system! Who knew? How fascinating!

Well, what was I waiting for? How did I get this genius kind of bike into my life? I eagerly and naively googled, “How do I get one of these babays in the US??” not prepared for the next shock to the system–and I really must complain about this, because it is simply ridiculous: it is almost impossible to get a bike in the US with a dynamo system without spending upwards of $1,000.

Youguyz, seriously!!! I am not joking. $1000+! For a bike that’s a dime-a-dozen all over Europe, that you could easily buy used for less than 100 euros in Germany. Over $1000 and only made in elusive, obscure bike shops somewhere in hipster hideouts in California. What is this nonsense?!

After I dried my tears and googled “importing bike fees” and cried some more, I came across several fascinating articles discussing this very, sad, phenomenon that a few other Americans abroad have discovered after returning back home and having left their precious, European bikes in their homeland. Alas, once we realized how difficult it would be to find such a bike stateside, it was too late to bring out lovely, cute European bike with us.

[Also, isn’t it slightly ridiculous that road bikes are sold in the U.S. without lights on them and we think some dinky, tiny battery-powered light is supposed to cut it when it comes to bike safety??]

In other news, among the many projects I’m undertaking for the summer, I intend to become a bike activist and share my love of the dynamo lighting system with fellow Americans, because they probably just don’t know what they’re missing. And if demand increases, then maybe I’ll be able to buy a bike with a dynamo system for less than $1000 someday. 😉

In the meantime, I will be hatching a plan for bringing a bike back with me when I return from Austria.