Will a cyclist coast farther if the lamp connected to his generator is turned off?

Answer 1

yes. Energy is required to turn the generator to light the lamp. With the lamp off the energy of the moving bike goes into keeping it going forward.
I had a bike once where you could actually feel the difference between light on an off

Answer 2

I hate to be picky but from the wording of the question, the answer is no. Your question implys that the generator is engaged but that the light is not drawing current. Regardless of whether or not the lamp is connected or not, if the generator is still engaged, it will still cause the same amount of resistance. Now, if the generator is disengaged from the wheel, that's another story.

Answer 3

if the generator is still rubbing the tire, then it is creating the same amount of drag on the forward motion of the cycle..

WARNING!! by leaving the generator on the tire with the lamp turned off, the generator will burn out faster, because you are making electricity that has no place to go, and it dissipates as heat(resistance) on the windings of the generator..

Answer 4

Yes there is a considerable drag If you've got a dyno-hub try spinning the wheel with and without the light on, without the light the wheel will spin for perhaps half a minute, with the light on the wheel will stop almost dead.

Answer 5

Yes, but not by very much because the extra resistance created by the generator is extremely small.

Answer 6

No,

the energy saved thus is NOT significant enough to make any difference to the cyclist.

Answer 7

yes. every little bit helps. my friend shaved his leggs to gain that extra bit of speed in a bike race.he won by a fraction