I just bought a Dutch Union Safari (circa 2000-2009?) off Craigslist to use as my errand/commuter/"junk" bike and it came equiped with bottle dynamo head/tail lights. As I am fairly new to this style of bike light, I have a few questions I was hoping someone could answer.

1. I will need to replace the tires soon and the current tires have a "generator strip," raised grooves on the side wall for the dynamo to rub against, is this strip nessecary or will it still work with smooth walled tires? I am currently running both dynamo and battery/rechargable head and tail lights since the lights i already own are brighter than what the dynamo generates and the dynamo lights shut off as soon as the bike stops moving but i like having the dynamo as a backup/failsafe.

2. How difficult would it be to replace the current incandescent fixtures with more modern LED fixtures? Is it just a matter of disconnect whats there and reconnect new lights or are there additional modifications nessecary?

3. I have found LED replacement lightbulbs built to install/screw in to the existing lights (built especially for this purpose), this seems a much more economical option at $15-$20 than replacing the whole system, just wondering if anyone has experience with these bulbs? how well do they work?

Thanks for your help.