Who needs a kickstand?
It was fitting that on the last Friday of 2010 my last bike ride was my Bike Friday Tikit. I needed a pre-NYE haircut and who needs the hassle of driving?
What lock?
My trusty little buddy got me there and back with a smile. I enjoyed the warm sun and the quiet streets. 2010 was a great year. I’m glad my Bike Friday was a big part of it.
It always starts so well...
I’m getting a bit freaked out.
Getting my Baja gear together...
Each year when I go to Baja I trim my gear a bunch. I’m taking way less than last year, but…
Arrggghhh....full again!
…my truck is always full! How can that be? You’d think when you take 30% less stuff there should be 30% more free space, but it never works out that way…=-)
Oh well…I’m going to blame the house elves!
From Duncan's City Ride Blog
Hard not to like that!
I don’t post much recumbent porn these days, but this image was worth its own post. You can buy these bags here. Go Ortlieb..=-)~
Ortlieb Recumbent Backpack...
Josh turned me onto this Ortlieb rack top bag that is also a backpack. I love my Ortlieb panniers and my Velocity backpack so this seems like it could be a winner.
Backpack straps...
I currently have an Axiom rack top bag that I don’t love and it’s not waterproof so I’m open to something better.
More strap detail...
The problem with all multi-function bags is that they may not do any of their functions well. So my question is does anyone out there actually own one of these and if so can you tell me a bit about how it’s working for you?
Available in basic black...
"Away Team - set phasers for stun!"
Andrew posted a link to an interesting study from the Journal of the Australasian College of Road Safety about how visible cyclists really are on the road. You can read the whole study as a PDF here.
This is an abstract from the paper:
“Visibility limitations make cycling at night particularly dangerous. We previously reported cyclists’ perceptions of their own visibility at night and identified clothing configurations that made them feel visible. In this study we sought to determine whether these self-perceptions reflect actual visibility when wearing these clothing configurations. In a closed-road driving environment, cyclists wore black clothing, a fluorescent vest, a reflective vest, or a reflective vest plus ankle and knee reflectors. Drivers recognised more cyclists wearing the reflective vest plus reflectors (90%) than the reflective vest alone (50%), fluorescent vest (15%) or black clothing (2%). Older drivers recognised the cyclists less often than younger drivers (51% vs 27%). The findings suggest that reflective ankle and knee markings are particularly valuable at night, while fluorescent clothing is not. Cyclists wearing fluorescent clothing may be at particular risk if they incorrectly believe themselves to be conspicuous to drivers at night.”
Thanks to the Aushiker Blog for posting the link to the study.
Photo: Cool Tools...
The US Military has developed weapons based on the concept that ultra bright lights can temporarily disable the target’s central nervous system incapacitating them. It appears that a number of bike light companies are using a similar approach to tail light technology.
Let me say categorically if your belief is the more light you are pumping out the back of your bike the safer you are – you’re wrong. Drivers drunk and/or distracted crash into police cruisers with their flashers going regularly enough that some researchers hypothesize that bright lights cause you to look at them and you steer where you are looking:
~85% of car bike collisions are from cars turning or crossing the cyclist’s path while only 10% involve a car overtaking a bike and hitting it from the rear. So you should be far more worried about cars coming the other way than from the rear.
I’m not suggesting you don’t use a rear light or that it should be feeble. What I am saying is buying the brightest light possible and shinning it into the eyes of drivers and cyclists approaching from the rear is not smart and is not going to increase your safety. It may even decrease your safety as you are impairing their vision and ability to operate their vehicle most profoundly as they are about to pass you – a time when you want people in cars to be at 100% performance.
How do you know if you are doing something wrong? Swap bikes with a friend and ride behind him at varying distances on a dark MUP or dark street. Note how you felt as you were exposed to the light from the back of your bike. Try the same thing, but this time in a car on a dark road and then a busier road with more lights. Again note how visible your bike was and how the lights you are using felt from that perspective.
How to be safe without burning out other folk’s retinas:
Just like wearing a helmet doesn’t mean you’ll be safe on your bike – using the most powerful light you can get your hands on and assuming it will mean you are safe on the roads at night is a mistake. By all means use a bright tail light [and wear a helmet], but make it part of a bigger plan for night time safety not your only line of defense. And when you are holding that Dinotte tail light in your hands thinking how safe you’ll be when you turn it on and aim it into the eyes of over taking drivers consider for a moment that it’s a weapon and try approaching your bike from the rear on a dark street/MUP. If you can’t see anything, but a huge red spot for 20-30seconds afterwards maybe consider that your light may actually impair your safety or someone else’s as that dazzled driver passes you at 55mph.
Planet Bike Blinky 7...
PS – if you have any older LED tail lights like this Blinky 7 from Planet Bike consider putting them back into service. Instead of one uber bright LED that focuses all it’s light in one intense spot they use a bunch of bright, but lower power LEDs that push out light over a wider area. When you consider a wider viewing angler they may even be more visible than their brighter siblings. I’ll be using one of these on my rando rig along with a bunch of reflective material. It will be more than bright enough [on solid mode] to be seen on the rural roads/highways typical of Canadian brevet routes, but not as deadly on the eyes of randonneurs that may be following me for several hours.
Take me to your leader Earthling...
Reflective gear has seen as many advances as modern bike lighting. It’s bright when a car or bike’s lights strike it. It’s cheap and it lasts for years with no batteries to charge or electric circuits to fail. For some reason cyclists treat reflective material as an accessory. It’s fine for the trim on our rain jackets or a nice to have on a messenger bag, but not something we think about with the same importance and focus as we do bike lights.
That’s a mistake.
As a driver I often spot a cyclist up the road because of their reflective material before I see their lights. Pumping ankle bands are distinctively a signal there is a cyclist ahead. My brain is trained to think cyclist, runner or road worker when I see reflective material. All of which demand some extra care as I approach them.
"X" marks the cyclist and arms signal my turns...
By all means fit your bike with effective lights, but also make sure you have made good use of reflective material as well. Ankle bands are small, cheap and useful if you are wearing street clothes. They really catch the eye of a driver. Reflective gloves make your turn signaling much more effective and they’ll fit over gloves in cool weather. A reflective vest or sash is easy to wear over anything and packs away into a small corner of your bag during the day.
You don’t have to wear all the stuff I have on in these photos, but wear a couple items to make yourself more visible without needing to add the weight, cost and complexity of more lights.
Pacenti Pari-Moto 650B 38mm tires...
Having looked at 650B bikes recently the one question that I needed to resolve if I went with the less popular 650B size was what tires to use? If they stopped making 650B rims I could buy 8 and be set for 20yrs, but tires don’t last that long and don’t have the same shelf-life as a rim. Having said that the Greenspeed Scorchers have shown me that you really only need one awesome model of tire for a given wheel size to be happy. So I don’t care about having 15 choices. I just need a couple awesome ones.
Looking at 650B rubber it seems like the two kick ass tires are Grand Bois Hetres [42mm] and Pacenti Pari-Motos [38mm].
Grand Bois Hertres 42mm 650 tire - Photog unknown...
The Pari-Motos are 127TPI & 280g with a true width of 38mm sold by Velo Orange for $59USD. They are very thin which makes them light and fast, but not very durable. Jan Heine at Bicycle Quarterly calls them an “event tire” because their thin casing [1.3mm compared to the 2.3mm of the Hetres] will wear out in ~2000kms on the rear. The Hetres are 412g and 42mm wide sold by Compass Bicycle [aka Bicycle Quarterly] for $68USD. The more robust Hetres hold 16% more air and should last over ~4000kms on the rear.
That sounds like two great options to me. Pari-Motos for brevets where speed/efficiency is key and Hetres for training and general use where long life and some extra plushness matter more.
Low beam on F150...Dual Dinotte 200Ls at 10m...
I was asked for more photos so here they are. This one shows F150 on low beams at 10m. Camera is position as if passing in a car.
Same setup as above, but camera positioned as if passing bike...
In this shot I just moved 1m to right to simulate position of car passing the bike.
F150 on low beam...camera 20m away...
This is a shot with F150 on low beam from 20m away positioned as if passing the truck in a car.
Same shot as above 1m to right to simulate passing the bike...
F150 on low beams from 20m camera 1m further to right than shot above to simulate driver of car passing bike.
F150 on high beam at 10m...
F150 on high beam at 10m positioned as if passing truck.
F150 on high beam at 10m...
Camera moved 1m to right to simulate passing bike at 10m.
F150 on high beam at 20m...
F150 on high beam with camera at 20m positioned as if passing in another vehicle.
F150 on high beam at 20m...
F150 on high beam with camera at 20m, but positioned 1m to right to simulate passing bike.
Two Dinotte 200L lights at 20m...truck lights off...
Dual Dinotte 200L lights mounted on Sharon's bike...
A member of the Bike Forums.net rando sub-forum wanted photographic proof that symetric bike lights where more blinding than a vehicle’s head lights so I took these photos this morning.
Dual Dinotte 200L lights & Ford F150 on low beam...
Dinottes are far more blinding than two full size pick truck head lights. The truck is actually emitting far more light than the Dinottes, but this light is aimed down at the road so I can drive safely at 120kph on a pitch dark highway. Aimed this way the light doesn’t bother oncoming traffic.
Dual Dinotte 200L lights & Ford F150 lights on high beam...
Both sets of light are blinding and quite irritating. Note that the Dinottes hold their own against a full size pick up truck with its lights on high beam.
B&M Ixon IQ & Ford F150 on low beam...
B&M Ixon IQ and F150 on low beam – both sets of lights are clearly visible to oncoming traffic, but neither are blinding and both sets of lights put the majority of their output where it’s actually useful – on the road.
Viva Mexico!
For the kiteboarders out there here is what I am taking to La Ventana, Baja Sur, Mexico this winter for gear:
For Sharon I’ll bring:
For wearing in the water:
Nothing rocks the beach like a Pugsley...
I haven’t thrown a leg over my Surly Pugsley since last winter. Totally sad, but moving and kiteboarding has really eaten up all my free time….=-( However, there is no other machine for the beaches and deserts of Baja that can tackle anything that comes along. So I’m happy to be checking over my fatty. Getting a few spares together and making sure she’s ready for another run south of two borders!
I can taste the warm tacos and cold beer already!
When I get to La Ventana I park my truck until it’s time to drive back. I’m strictly human power down there and I love the slower relaxed pace that comes with walking and biking for all my needs.
Fairfield Bicycle Shop - Victoria BC....
I don’t really have a LBS in Victoria where I feel as at home as Bow Cycle in Calgary. Maybe that’s going to take a lot longer. Maybe that won’t ever happen. However, I have to give the Fairfield Bicycle Shop some credit. I’ve been looking for some odd parts this year that I fully expected I would have to order online. In each case I figured I might as well try and buy local if I could, but really didn’t expect to be successful. And in each case Fairfield had exactly what I was looking for.
For example they had a Rohloff dual wheel chain tensioner. Exactly what I needed. $50 less than the best online price I had found and available right away so I could finish my bike build. You can’t really ask for more than that.
Merry Christmas Fairfield Bicycle Shop!
The focused B&M lights I ordered came in from Peter White Cycles yesterday. I don’t have my dynohub wheels setup for the B&M IQ Cyo lights, but I figured I’d test out Sharon’s Christmas present – a B&M Ixon IQ. Happily the packaging is re-sealable so I can put it back inside so she can open it up again herself. The first thing you notice is the Ixon IQ is larger than a typical bike light I’m used to. This is because the focused optic is a larger module and it holds 4 rechargeable NiMH batteries inside it. The case is made from high quality plastic and is quite light weight. It comes with a universal bar mount that’s designed to work with oversized and standard diameter bars. I tried it on two standard diameter bars and it works well. The mount can be left on your bike and the light housing slides off with a QR button for safe keeping at a stop. The Ixon IQ has one button which offers two modes:
Sharon's bike setup for the light test...
Naturally being Christmas Eve I decided to run another light test. I put the Ixon IQ on Sharon’s bike with a Planet Bike Blaze 1W [she normally uses two of these for her commute] as well as my two Dinotte 200L’s….one of which has a DIY vertical cut off hacked on to it. Just looking at the lights the B&M is a lot bigger. The Dinottes are smallest with the nicest casing, but there is a battery pack req’d for each as well as a power cord between the light engine and battery pack…which taken in total isn’t as lovely or neat a setup. The buttons on all these lights are easy to use and the Dinotte and Ixon IQ both provide some useful feedback on the battery level via the lit up button.
Video note: the video seems quite dark when uploaded to Youtube. The Planet Bike Blaze has a spot beam visible to the eye and the Ixon and Dinottes are actually quite bright.
Prior to running this test I aimed all the lights as I would to use them while riding. Then I setup a camera on a tripod in my yard at about cyclist/pedestrian/motorist’s head height. I’m 5’11″ so I went slightly lower than my own head to capture the viewpoint of the majority of folks out there. I then used the following test format:
Planet Bike Blaze 1W
Conclusion: effective visibility only light, but should be aimed down to avoid blinding others and preferably used in solid on mode to avoid irritating others. If all you need is a be seen light and take care with how you aim it than for $20 it’s a decent value.
B&M Ixon IQ
Conclusion: Very impressive light. Very functional and easy to use. For the money the best battery powered bike light I’m aware of.
Dinotte 200L
Conclusion: A well made high quality light, but performs poorly when compared to Ixon IQ. Given they cost the same amount I can’t recommend this light.
Video note: this video is also darker one Youtube than actual light beam was to eye.
This video shows what it’s like to ride with the Ixon IQ on a dark MUP as well as some sections with additional ambient light. My speeds where between 15-20kph mainly because riding faster with one hand in the dark isn’t a great idea! Note that the people I pass are visible, but not blinded. With my Dinottes they would look away as I passed or cover their eyes and their tone when greeted would be somewhat irritated [I've been yelled at because my Dinottes were so harsh on other cyclist's and ped's eyes].
Video note: the brightness of the Ixon IQ’s beam pattern in this video is more representative of what it looks like to the naked eye.
I shot one last video to highlight how effective the Ixon IQ’s beam pattern was at putting light exactly where you need it, but not blinding people. Also note that there is more than enough spill light to see the bike. Riding through town I found the Ixon IQ did an okay job of illuminating street signs, but for a brevet I might want a second light [perhaps helmet mounted] that I could use specifically for this purpose.
The photo above shows how bright the Ixon IQ is to the naked eye. My video camera loses a lot of the brightness and when uploaded to Youtube it gets dimmer again.
Overall Impression of the Ixon IQ
Awesome. This light exceeded all my expectations. The thought and careful design that’s gone into the beam pattern is impressive. You get exactly the light you need where you need it and nowhere else. One reason I didn’t buy this type of European light earlier was that I assumed it had to cost a fortune, but at $110USD it’s the same price as a Dinotte 200L and out performs the Dinotte handily. Until I get a dynohub sorted for my rando bike I’ll have to “steal” this light from Sharon for my longer brevets…=-) Two of these lights would be a great rando setup that could be swapped to a commuter bike during the week. If you need a high quality battery bike light for street/MUP use I can’t recommend anything better. A few final points:
BTW – my original test videos are brighter and easier to see than once uploaded to Youtube. If you’d like a copy of the original videos click here. Videos are being uploaded as I post this so if you can’t download them quite yet give it an hour and try again.
Gnarly Santa!
I hope everyone out there has a happy holidays. Stay warm. Stay safe. =-)
Sharon is in Huston TX with her family so I’m flying solo. I’ll be in Tofino from 25-27 Dec to celebrate the lesser known holiday of Surf-mas…=-)
Ugly, but effective...
Don’t dry your shoes on a hot radiator. The rubber outsole will come unglued like it did to my 5.10 Impact Lows…user error!…=-( Shoe Goo aka Free Sole to the rescue. The fix is admittedly ugly, but the repair will hold long enough for me to wear out the rest of the shoe.
I can live with that!
Tweaking my saddle...
I posted some info on my randonneur-ized cross bike over at my Bow Cycle Blog.
Photo: Alex Wetmore
Update: Lane at CETMA is going to build me a PR rack for my Tikit. It will include a mount for the Brompton O-Bag QR bracket so I can just drop the O-Bag on the rack without having to strap it down or have it jump off on a bump. I’m going to drop off my Tikit on the way down to Baja and hopefully pick everything up on my way back home. Lane will have my Tikit as well as my O-Bag and Brompton QR bracket so he can fit everything up nicely. If you want the same setup drop him a line since he will have everything in hand as well as a bike to test fit things it will never be easier to order a Tikit PR rack.
I’m stoked. The only thing I was jealous about from the Brompton world was their front luggage. Now I’ll be able to have the great Tikit ride & fold with handy Brompton quick release front luggage and the utility of Alex’s PR rack. Sounds killer to me…=-)
Alex Wetmore is one of those smart guys that’s also handy enough to build the stuff he thinks of – a wicked combo for sure. I love his idea for a PR Rack on a Bike Friday Tikit. The more I ride my Tikit the more I think this makes a ton of sense rather than messing with panniers. I could strap on my bike messeger bag or a box or paper for the office with ease. I think I’m going to make one of these happen in 2011. Getting a custom rack built has some expense involved in design and getting jigs ready that could be used for many future racks. If you have any interest in one of these for your Tikit let me know. I could do the coordination with a rack builder and everyone who wants one pay him and have a rack built shipped from his shop. The result would be faster, easier and cheaper than 5 or 8 people getting custom racks for their Tikits.
Brompton O-Bag made by Ortlieb...
Supermodel Thin...
I bought one of the first generation Apple MacBook Air ultra-thin laptops. I was admittedly seduced by the sleek metal case and amazingly thin profile. It’s hard to believe there is a full fledged computer inside that package. The cost given the performance of the internals is high, but as someone who uses a computer a ton I give a lot of points for ease of use and aesthetics. After two years the initial crush has worn off so I thought I would post my impressions of this product.
Keep in mind Apple has come out with two newer generations of MacBook Air since mine so my comments may not fully apply to the newer beasts. Sharon liked mine so much she bought a 2nd generation Air and my friend Deanna just got a 3rd generation Air. Sharon uses it as her only computer and is fully satisfied with it. Deanna is doing a graduate program and wanted something portable to take to school. When I use Sharon’s I can tell it is noticeably faster than mine. I imagine Deanna’s kicks some serious butt and I hear they’ve improved the battery life.
Because I use a computer for so much of my critical work tasks I wouldn’t be happy with an Air as my sole computer. For that job I’ve got a 15″ MacBook Pro hooked up to a 32″ monitor. But, for most everything else the Air is plenty powerful. It’s also so easy to take along and use you’ll find you get a lot more opportunities to hit that power button than you would a bigger laptop. Even though we have bigger screens at our disposal Sharon and I will often watch a movie on the Air. The smaller screen is so bright and sharp it’s easy to forget that it’s kind of small. Plus the Air happily sits on your lap without cutting off circulation to your legs.
Would I buy another?
Absolutely. This is one of my favourite and most useful computers to use. The cost is high so it definitely falls into the luxury item category, but as long as I can afford it I’ll be buying myself a new one when this one breaks or just gets too old.
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