Bikes | Beyond 1200

The Copenhagen Wheel

http://picasaweb.google.com/hellotopeter/Beyond1200#5510970799316672322

The Copenhagen Wheel is touted as bringing the web, online social media, green power and cycling together.

The wheel itself feels like cool technology for technologies sake, and I don’t mind that. Efforts to do new things inspire others to do new things and that all works together in the end.

All it needs now is to include a Rohloff hub and you’ll have an ridiculously expensive wheel that does a whole lot of cool things. And it will bring your bike one step closer to being the electronic beast that most cars have become.

I have to give it credit for being a super-simple way to add electric power to any bike.

Here’s a video about it:

This was from an article at The Guardian.

Shimano MTB Cycling Shoes Review Update

The original review is at Shimano MTB Cycling Shoes Review but I took new pics with a better camera, so here is an update.

http://picasaweb.google.com/hellotopeter/Beyond1200#5510940003743186482

Faithfully serving me for over a decade, this pair of shoes don’t disappoint. Being my fourth pair of cycling shoes they have lasted a helluva lot longer than any other shoes I have owned.

The typical minimal design and comfortable shape all make the shoes almost unnoticeable after I put them on and start riding. Seeing as I already did a overview of the shoes before, lets look at how they have held up specifically.

From the picture above, the areas of wear and tear are quite clear, but I’ll identify them more clearly here.

The leather has held up through all these years. It is has dried out and I have never applied anything to make the leather stronger or put back the shine. The original glossy red is no longer there, but still, bright red shoes don’t need to be shiny to be noticed.

The sole and the body started to separate a few months ago, as can be seen where the nose piece attaches to the main body. I outline how to repair shimano cycling shoes previously. After a bit of patching they are now ready to go.

With good fit, there is less necessity to have tight straps. Like the fit of a good helmet, the shoes should stay on even without being strapped in. This is true with this pair and the two straps serve as the final bond to keep your shoes and feet together. The straps combine a plastic strap part with velcro. The plastic and velcro are almost completely separated, so it seems the plastic part was superfluous and probably just there for branding purposes. The velcro still holds strong and will probably be strong enough to last for a few more years.

http://picasaweb.google.com/hellotopeter/Beyond1200#5510940111682878386

The bottom of the shoes shows the deterioration of the rubber. Seeing as I don’t walk around in these shoes much the rubber has just worn out with time, rather than from heavy use.

The wear patterns do show the most contacted points of the sole. The area around the cleat is worn out because it takes a bit of beating when the engaging and disengaging the pedal. The nose of the shoe also takes a slightly harder beating when walking.

The hardened rubber no longer provides great levels of grip when walking on slippery surfaces and I need to watch out when walking on smooth, wet floors, but then again I need to be careful when I do that with all my ordinary shoes too.

http://picasaweb.google.com/hellotopeter/Beyond1200#5510940891451020194

A closeup of the rubber near the cleat.

http://picasaweb.google.com/hellotopeter/Beyond1200#5510940791701511106

The sole of the shoe has been strong and dependable.

As I haven’t bought any new shoes in such a long time I’m not clear if modern shoes experience the same problems as all my original shoes did.

At the time I bought my first set of Shimano shoes (not this pair) many of my friends had problems with the soles of their shoes cracking or breaking.

The sole of those original Shimano shoes cracked right across, just behind where the cleat was mounted. Friends were quick to tell me that it was because I did crazy things on my bike or that I was heavy, but that’s just rubbish and as these shoes have shown, those original problems were in the design.

This pair are as strong and dependable as before, although now a little tired looking, much like the dude who puts them on every now and again.

You Can’t Do That On a Bike

Why is it that people’s first reaction to a lot of my riding or any suggestions about riding is “you can’t do that”. There are unspoken preconceptions of what you can and cannot do on a bike, and even what is “normal” to do on a bike.

In general, riding more than 5km is not “normal” on a bike, riding fast is not “normal” on a bike, riding for more than like and hour is not “normal”, folding a bike and taking it on the bus is not “normal”. The list goes on and on, but I will spare you the rambling.

So this comes down to a problem of how we define “normal”.

For most people, this is how it comes out. They don’t do those things like that, so why would anyone else.

Well, here are some of the things that people do on bikes that are slightly out of the ordinary.

Endurance

http://picasaweb.google.com/hellotopeter/Mobile#5471033951220163890

A recent post on Taiwan in Cycles talked out Jure Robic, a Slovene who is considered to possibly be the world’s greatest endurance athlete. The picture above is him after 2,530 miles and 7 days, 9 hours and twenty minutes on the bike. In that time he only got 9 hours sleep and consumed a mind boggling 100,000 calories. At a different time he set a 24 hours riding record of 834.7 km.

The article in the New York Times outlines the metal breakdown he goes through in his attempts at RAAM, a non-stop race across the USA.

Definitely not “normal”

Speed & Distance

http://picasaweb.google.com/hellotopeter/Mobile#5471035309137834018

Bicycles are usually considered fairly slow, but here are some figures…

200m flying start record (HPV): 132 km/h
downhill speed record (on snow): 210 km/h
24 hour distance record (HPV): 1041.25 km

These are all records that were set on human power alone. The reality is that these were all achieved with very specialized bicycles and in perfect conditions, which might lead you to discredit them.

But not so fast, because the entire Human Powered Vehicle crowd are basically University students and people who do it as a hobby. There are no big sponsorships and to use a computing metaphor is closer to the open source crowd than to the battles of the big names.

Big Stuff Transport

http://picasaweb.google.com/hellotopeter/Mobile#5471033954412823490

Let’s get a little more practical. Moving big stuff is often a reason for cars, but just like trucks are specialized motorized vehicles more moving lots of stuff, so there are also bike for doing the same thing.

Introducing the Long John. Nope, not a pair of underwear to keep your precious bits warm in the winter, but a bike for hauling big things, typically up to 120 kg or so.

Not for long distances probably, but definitely convenient for errands.

Kid Transport

http://picasaweb.google.com/hellotopeter/Mobile#5468000275273485762

As a parent of two, one of my main struggles is with just how to take the kids along on rides. Oftentimes it is just me by myself, so I need to be able to get both on one bike.

My solution is to take a very standard production bike, put a kid seat on the back and another one between the seat and handlebars. It works, but does lack a bit of comfort for longer rides, which is where my other favorite kind of bike kicks in.

The cargo bike is designed with a very long tail, which adds stability when putting lots of weight over the rear end of the bike.

Take Them Anywhere

http://picasaweb.google.com/hellotopeter/Mobile#5470327669696775330

And finally, if you really need to take a bike with you and are short of space, something like the little guy below fold really tiny and can take you short distances.

The Hello Kitty Bike

Christina and the Hello Kitty bike

When my wife originally wanted to go riding with me and needed a new bike, the Giant Hello Kitty caught her attention.

Its first major ride was a 70km ride from Yonghe to Fulong even though she had never been a cyclist and had not done training of any kind. She threw her bag on the rack, held it down with the sprung part included on cheaper racks and just headed off. What a trooper.

Now, 7 years later, the bike is still in use. It doesn’t get nearly as much use as any of our other bikes, but it is a staple in the stable of loyal chariots.

Amongst its features are:

Big basket (with Hello Kitty picture up front)
Downtube-only “girls” bike design
Kick stand attached to rear wheel bolt
Big seat with springs for comfort (but not comfortable)
Hello Kitty bell
6-speed Grip Shift (rear gears only)
Caliper front brakes
Drum brakes at the back

The child seat at the back was most often used on my mountain bike when I used to take Christina out on bike rides. It was a little more pricey than the other models available and seemed more comfortable. It was just the right size when she was almost two years old and it is still fine now. She enjoys trying to climb up and into the seat on her own now.

Although it is not my first choice by any means, it is still a regular in our household.

I think it will continue to be for some time too.

100K on the Dahon Super Comp Folding Bike

The best way to test a bike is to ride it for a long time and a long distance.

Small niggles and annoyances are easily overlooked on bicycles that are seldom used, or only used for short commutes.

There’s precious little time to determine just how well things work as the ride is over before any poor design elements of the bike start to rear their ugly heads.

Longer rides are a true test of just how well all the parts work. After a few hours in the saddle, as your body starts to become tired and your muscles start to ache, every little creak, every little part that is slightly out of place and every uncomfortable element become painfully obvious and a constant hinderence to riding performance.

This is when the real test begins.

I recently took the Dahon Super Comp for a 100K ride to test these very elements.

And this is what I found.

I’ll start with the good stuff, then move onto my dislikes.

Overall solid build

The whole build is nice. There is nothing out of place, the only small consistent noise is the rear fender, which will probably get fixed. I’m still concerned when I hit bumps or need to go off sidewalks since I’ve read the big warning sticker warning against off-road use and not riders over 105kg, a weight that I am too close to for my own liking.

Still haven’t tried folding much, but that’s another post in itself.

Relaxed riding position

This is the most upright position I’ve ridden in. The handlebar is actually about 1cm higher than the saddle. The reach from seat to handlebar is also very short, approximately 6-8cm shorter than my regular ride.

This certainly came through with much less pressure on my arms throughout. The pain I sometimes start to feel from my palms did not happen during the ride. This could also be, in part, due to the nice comfy grips.

Comfy grips

I’ve eyed these new “ergonomic” grips for a while and wondered if they really work well. The ones on this bike are fat, softish and have the ergonomic bump facing the rider. The bump is supposed to support the ball of your hand so your wrists don’t rest at an extreme angle.

These grips tend to slip while riding, meaning that they start to rotate backwards slowly. This would be eliminated by a set that have fasteners at the ends.

Comfy seat

Maybe I’ve been riding on the vicious Selle seat for too long, but this seat felt very comfy. It was comfortable throughout the ride.

Front shifting very heavy

No matter how much I try to adjust them I can only get a decent match on the setup. The match of the three speed shifter with a two-ring crankset is not good. My other bikes has not needed the gears adjusted in over two years and works precisely every time.

The upside is that on flats there was almost no need to change chainrings.

But, the downshift is too much lighter than the upshift. Although the upshift is heavy, just a small nudge on the shifter could push it down to the smaller cog. I don’t expect the downshift to be tougher, I expect the upshift to be better.

Poor water bottle position

Bad cage design aside, getting my Zefal Magnum bottle in and out was a bit of a squeeze. The top of the bottle hits the stem.

I had to use a slightly sideways motion to slip the first part into the cage, then push in as normal.

Stupid brake levers

There are times when developments are made for no reason, and at other times it seems like products are deliberately downgraded to be crappy.

These levers feel like that.

The braking action is fine and the barrel adjustment works as expected. But the position of the fastening screw is ridiculous.

On longer rides it is necessary to move your hands around on the handlebar to give you hands a break. Rather than the usual position for the screw, down and out of the way, it has been positioned in the exact position where it will press directly into the palm of my hands when I rest my hands there. It is still possible to put your hands there, but it’s very awkward and I had to twist my wrists in a slightly strange position for that.

Disintegrating rubber handlebar guides

In order to assist with the disassembly and reassembly of the bike, the handlebar has two rubber stoppers to indicate where the center of the bar is. This helps when putting the handlebar back on the stem as the stop mark the right position.

However, after a few rides the rubber has started to deteriorate, so if you rub your hands on them you’ll get black marks on your hands.

This has little bearing on riding, but is a concern for commuters who are riding in their smart clothes. Last thing they need is to get black marks on their clothes.

Rattling rear fender

The rear fender rattles a bit. This got progressively worse throughout my ride.

I narrowed this down to the clip that fastens between the seatstays. It might just need a bit of crimping, but after that is sorted out it should be a very quiet ride indeed.

Conclusion

My test ride was a bit faster than I’d intended, simply due to time constraints. At a slightly slower speed this bike would probably be fine for over 150km. And as I’ve stated before, that’s even easier if the bike fits you.

The feel of the bike is good, the ride is smooth and the brake lever clamp was the only persistent niggle throughout.

Overall I’m pretty happy with it.

Dahon In The Morning

The morning sunlight can make anything look good and shiny.

On my way back home along the riverside path, the morning sun was shining down, piercing through the slight chill in the air.

Here’s a few shots I took of the Dahon. I had been waiting for good, strong sunlight and I got it.

Yep, that’s me below. Not a shadow panda, but I’ll get around to one of those another day.

Taipei Bike Show 2010

This years show was pretty awesome with a wide scattering of bike and bike parts from big name brands down to much lesser unknown brands, and those without brands.

Although my primary focus is bikes, what I was aiming at with this show is to see just how well local companies manage to represent themselves to a worldwide audience. Not just to see what the big guys like Merida, Giant and Dahon are doing, but smaller guys who have carved out good niches for themselves.

Here’s the lowdown.

Amoeba Bikes

Amoeba make a whole host of bike stuff including handlebars, stems, bar ends, frames and other bits and pieces.

Amoeba are an example of a parts company that have really poured their efforts into their brand. I recognize this brand from years ago and even here at the show, the use of the manufacturing company’s name only appeared in some small places.

This emphasis on brand has, I think, given them a decent and permanent spot on the parts choice list of many riders.

This is their road bike model.

Bear’s Bikes

Bear’s Bikes is a local company making single speed bikes. These guys were sharing a portion of a booth with another company, but Bear’s were getting the vast majority of the attention.

Their stand was really well done. In a tiny space they managed to pack in just the right amount of bikes. They also have videos on the go of them and their buddies riding these bikes and doing all kinds of tricks and stuff. And the two guys manning the stand had intimate knowledge of their products, how they work and what they are good for.

This is a shining example of what can be done with a few contacts, enthusiasm and hard work. I’m not sure how well these bikes are selling, but they are riding on the wave of fixies and single speeds that seem to be doing the rounds at the moment. The main guy is also involved with Giant in some way, I can’t quite remember how.

They also have a bunch of videos on the Bear’s Bikes YouTube channel. Here’s my favorite one of the main dude doing some stuff that I would assume would break the bike.

Dodsun Bikes

The Dodson shown above features a Shimano Nexus hub and some pretty good looking, but probably extremely non-functional fenders. The more interesting bike was the one below.

The bike shown above is their classic road bike frame. This was mated to what the sales guy called the Campagnolo ’59 commerative groupset, made in the likeness of their 1959 groupset.

It had a really retro feel to it, especially with those downtube shifters.

Pictured above is a flat handlebar road bike from Dodson.

Favor Bikes

Favor Bikes are a local frame and fork manufacturer, the bike pictured above is based around their Spun single speed frameset.

HydraKnight

HydraKnight make bags, hydration kits and panniers. Although I don’t use a drinking bladder much anymore I used to use them all the time.

One of the primary things I like about local stuff is the price. I know the Camelbak was always a big investment of money, so I ended up using it for way longer than it was intended to be. My current Camelbak is over 10 years old.

The bladders are very solid and they incorporate some interesting designs. There is a bladder with two compartments inside so you can store an energy drink in one and water in the other, or any combination you can think of. The tubes from the two compartments are fed to a switch that selects which bladder to get liquid from, then goes to the section of pipe with the drinking thingy on the end.

The other cool thing was a range of very waterproof bags for commuting and touring. They come in different sizes and also include a handlebar bag that’s also waterproof.

Nankon Bikes

This long tailed cargo bike from Nankon was one of the highlights for me.

I have had my eyes on this style of bike for a long time now. With two kids it’s a bit of a mission to do any riding with them and I don’t have a bike setup quite right to take them both at the moment. Also the pricing on these is pretty expensive, with the well-known Surley Big Dummy cargo bike going for over US$2,495 as a full bike. This one would appear to be in a better price range and it’s made with aluminum rather than chromoly.

I’m hoping to get to try this one out sometime after I get in contact with them again.

The cyclocross offering from Nankon.

Girly Single Speed

This was propped up against a wall, I have no idea what company makes it but it looks pretty flash. The mix of the red aerospoke on the front, deep section white rim on the rear and gold cranks and handlebars are really stylish.

Free Parable

“Smart Low-Tech” is the moto of the folks at Free Parable. Based in Kaohsiung they design stuff for bikes.

Pictured above is the T1, which is a suitcase/trailer. When the wheels are folded up they are just like the little wheels on a normal suitcase. When they’re folded down they are read to act as a trailer that easily clips to an attachment on the quick release.

They also have what I’d like to call an inverted waterbottle holder. Instead of putting the bottle into a cage, you put an attachment onto the bottle itself, that attachment then clips to the parts on the bike. This allows any standard bottle to be clipped onto the bike.

Lastly was the Monkii, which is a folding tool carrier.

Polar

Sorry, couldn’t help myself.

Of course no show in Taiwan is complete without the scantily clad girls. Unlike Computex though, they were few and far between, and most of them were for slightly less heard of local or Chinese brands (it’s a local thing).

The lady above was a bit surprising as she was modelling for Polar, but it looks like all their stuff is made here. Polar are best known for their range of hear rate monitors.

Lian Hang New Product

These two were dressed just like the computex ladies, those shiny, plastic skirts and tops. Okay, okay these are my only pics of girls.

A Great Show Overall

After seven hours at the show I still only managed to get a good look at and talk to about 20% of the exhibitors, another 15% were just quick looks without talking to anyone.

Next time I hope to get more time to check everything out better. I was really impressed with the whole layout of the show and was amazed at how great it is go on a trade day as opposed to the weekend where it’s just a madhouse.

My First Impressions of the Dahon Speed Comp

Well over the weekend I managed to get hold of my first real folding bike. The impression so far has been good, but many of my concerns about these small bikes are still there.

My only experience with folding bikes in the past was a sub-NTD2000 ($60) bike which was kinda fun, but so flexy and small that it was no good for any distance further than the end of the block. That gave me the impression that they’re all like that.

I was wrong. Here’s why.

First Impression

The first thing I noticed is that the bike is pretty light, with everything smaller than a normal bike it ends up being on the light side. It’s not as light as a well-specced road bike, but for a small frame made from 4130 chromoly and a seatpost to match, there is a good balance.

I was going to talk about body position and setup on such a small bike, but will save that for a later post.

All that I need to say for now is that for commuting it is a comfy position. I’ve set the handlebars to the same height as the saddle, which is a little more relaxed than my main bike.

Overview

The bike features the following bits and pieces:

folding frame (made of Chromoly 4130)
foldable pedals
double chainring (39/56)
eight speed rear cassette (with MTB ratio)
grip shift (three speed front shifter for only two chainrings? odd.)
16″ wheels
front and rear fenders
straight-pull brakes
dia-compe levers
ergonomic grips
curvy downhill-style handlebars (with less width)
massive, long seatpost
saddle with beam
rear rack
front/rear reflectors

Gearing

With two chainrings up front and an 8-speed MTB cassette at the rear, you get 16 gears to choose from. Plenty for city riding and commuting. These give a lot of range for climbing some smallish hills and moving along at cruising pace of up to 40km/h.

But I have a gripe. Of course I do.

Through the city I usually maintain a 20-25km/h pace, which is a balance between not going too slowly and not breaking into a torrential downpour of sweat. At this speed I am firmly in the bigger chainring and shifting amongst the middle cogs at the back.

But the mountain bike cassette has too much range. The lowest combination on this bike would be suitable climbing very steep hills, and I mean spinning the cranks while going at 5km/h sort of hills.

Just not necessary.

I’d rather have a road cassette with much closer gears for a lot of variety in the 13-28km/h range. The gaps between gears at the moment are just a bit too big.

With that said, the gearing all works as advertised. The front shifting is very stiff and takes a heavy twist to get to the big chainring. The rear shifting is smooth and precise.

Handling

There is inherently less stability when using smaller wheels. That’s one of those scientific things that teams of people in lab coats have spent years analyzing and found to be true.

Larger wheels roll better, roll over bumps better, give slightly better power output and are more stable at speed. Smaller wheels are lighter and more maneuverable.

I was actually expecting the steering and handling to be worse than it turned out to be.

My unscientific test (I should get a lab coat for authority) of stability is riding hands free. That balancing turned out to be very difficult, but doable. On an MTB or road bike you can keep riding without hands until you run out of road or trail. The effort to stay upright was almost not worth it as the constant counter balancing was very tiring. It is still doable however.

It should also be noted that one side effect of the small wheels is that although the overall size can okay after adjustment you are still perched very high the wheel hubs, which might be a contributing factor in the lowered stability. But that is inherent in the design, so I can’t really fault it for that.

Bumps are not fun and the super long stem and seatpost amplify the effect of stutter bumps on roads. Even at a measly 25km/h I felt something would break or I’d lose control. The leverage makes those bumps very much bigger and I’d warn you to ride them carefully, something akin to the lightweight riding style for cross-country mountain biking would do fine.

Braking

Well, I stopped. Good enough?

Not quite. The little wheels are not perfectly round which is not unusual for many wheels. They take a pounding over time, they’re not built quite right and they just end up slightly unround or not straight.

Unfortunately the same leverage that comes through when hitting bumps also comes through when braking. Just a small imperfection in the rims makes the braking very stuttery. This is mostly solved with a good wheel truing. If you can do that yourself, great, if not, it might be worth having a decent wheelbuilder tension the spokes correctly and work out any slight imperfections in the wheels before putting the bike into heavy use.

Having become accustomed to the feel and power of disk brakes, these do feel a little less powerful, but great for the slower speeds the bike is intended for.

Folding

I still haven’t figured it out.

I tried without the manual and was a little confused. “It’s not really that small,” was my first thought.

Well, as it turns out I’ve only had to fold it twice so far. Claimed folding time is less than two minutes.

I still have a soft spot for the Strida folding bike simply because of its super foldability. This doesn’t fold up as easily as the Strida’s 15 seconds, nor as small, but does give a range of gears that the Strida doesn’t.

Comfort

The ergonomic grips were good on my hands, giving support where needed.

The saddle is soft enough and well designed. Softer than a race seat, but not a big cushion. I’d say it’s a racing-shaped seat with cushion-like padding. Comfortable after and hour of riding.

The riding position is relaxed. If it doesn’t feel relaxed, get your local bike shop to help you out with that.

Who is this bike for?

Considering the makeup of the components and the price and quality of the bike, it would be ideal for a regular commuter who covers up to 10km on their daily commute.

It’s not a cheap bike, which puts it out of the bargain bike range, but it won’t be suitable for longer riding like touring. Big bikes are always more comfortable for longer rides, but if regular folding and transporting on public transport is required, this bike would do the trick and do it comfortably.

Step Into the Light – A Short Guide to Bike Lights

After two rides that ended up in total darkness it’s about time I took a look at lights.

Lights have become an accessory for bikes. Years ago it wasn’t like that.

When you buy a car or motorbike no-one says, “Would you like lights with that?” Somehow it has fallen out of fashion to have lights on bikes, when in fact they are very useful and a very important part of night-riding safety.

Why no lights?

The reason there are no lights most likely comes down to fashion.

As bikes became more and more hi-tech and racers migrated from being great all-round athletes who would go huge distances without support so the bikes adapted to meet that purpose. People would inevitably want a bike like their favorite rider, so slowly the “cool” bikes were made without adequate clearance for fenders (or even slightly wider tires), without eyelets for racks and without lights as standard.

So the vast majority started to do without them and now they have become an add-on part, not considered as part of a standard bike.

Which is a bit of a pity.

It keeps people from riding at night because you have to get something else to make it safe. That then means more expense which most people don’t really need.

So if you want to ride at night anywhere outside the city, where that inescapable glow starts to disappear, then you better get some. Although the options are not huge, there is a lot of quality stuff around, for the best you’d have to do some searching though.

Which lights?

The answer seemed pretty obvious to me before: whatever they sell at the bike shop.

But this does not start to cover the vast range of lights for those who spend more than just a few hours riding their bikes at night each year.

My typical setup in the past has been (usually Cateye brand)…

Front light – usually with 3 or 4 batteries, previously halogen bulbs, more recent years it’s LED
Rear flashing light – 3 to 5 LED lights, usually powered by 2 batteries

A full charge will give quite a few bright hours on the front light and many more hours of “just enough”. The rear one will flash for a lot longer before needing replacement.

Beyond these I have had a dual-light with big rechargeable battery before which gave a decent amount of light for a pitch-black 5km tunnel ride before the tunnel was officially opened. Being of the older Halogen-bulb sort, the battery would not even last two hours with both lights on.

Enter the dynamo

In Germany, every bike sold is required to have a dynamo (front hub that generates electricity) and front and rear lights. And that is by law. And enforced.

So that’s a good place to start.

Having to install these things on every bike for such a long time, a huge number of high-quality front hub dynamos are produced in Germany.

The first thing that came to mind was exploding lightbulbs. But thanks to much improved technology and electronics the better dynamos will not destroy any lights as they are limited by electrical circuits and the power produced is smoothed off too.

They’ve also become more efficient. Almost to the point where it would not be noticeable. I mean like less then 5 minutes lost through inefficiency for every ten hours of riding, and for the amount of light they can produce it beats carrying a big, fat, heavy battery for the whole trip. You’re also saving the environment by saving batteries and you get that tingly feeling of self-sufficiency.

Lights

Along with everything else, the lights have taken a few big steps in their efficiency and maximum output potential. The most notable difference is the introduction of LEDs. With up to 50,000 hours of use compared to a few hundred hours for halogen bulbs, there is a lot to like. They also use less power than halogens.

They also come in a huge range of shapes and sizes too most of my information comes from Peter White Cycles headlight page where he covers the spill of the lights and a lot of information for anyone looking to compare lights.

For the moment

I am still to pour any big amount of money into lights. That was my intention, but I’ve been less drawn to investigating recently.

The main drawback has been the price. Most of these products are from smaller companies who specialize in these parts, which makes them expensive, or at least out of touch with the currency of Taiwan. For some items the price is only suitable for an enthusiast with money to spare.

So if you’re doing any night riding, make sure you’re kitted out with the right lights for your rig.

The Broken Seatpost

I take a long time to learn my lesson.

There are plenty of documented times when bike maintenance should have been done, but didn’t get done, resulting in a not-so-good ride. There are other times when I’ve done some slightly crazier offroad riding and broken parts, which is to be expected, and that is all in good fun.

But this time the blame falls squarely on crappy bike parts.

The Start

I was heading off on a ride early in the morning, I started at 4:15, which was a little later than planned, but that’s par for the course.

The destination was the 600m peak of the hill between Shrding and Pinglin on the 106A. To get there I had to head off towards Nangang, pass by Academia Sinica Road then head on.

Now, the most obvious way to Shrding is by going over the 109, but I wanted to try something new. With Google street view on hand I planned a decent looking route over a smaller road that would achieve the same elevation, but add some variety to my ride.

A Little Lost

The main turnoff to the road up the hill was where the Google car had decided to go the other way, so I was on my own to figure out which roads went where.

I made it through the first intersection unscathed, keeping to the left and avoiding a detour to a deadend in the middle of nowhere. But my luck would change.

Later I was faced with a similar choice.

The road to the right didn’t seem to have any more lights while the road that dropped sharply to the left was well lit. So I took the path down.

Grab a Fistful

Something I love about roads in Taiwan is that there is no maximum grade. If that’s where the road has to go, then that’s where it has to go.

Back in South Africa there were some steep hills, but they were all limited in how much they would challenge my breaks when needed.

So on the way down this “little” road down I ended up braking so hard that I had to carefully alternate front and rear brakes to give them time to recover from the glazing over that occurs during heavy, continuous braking.

And…

It was the wrong turn…

just a dead end…

should’ve taken the other turn, so I had to slog back up after trying to check my location on the map (BTW a map on your phone is only really useful if you have a GPS to pinpoint your location, duh, I don’t have a GPS).

So up I went, kept following the road, the lights returned and then I started heading down.

The Bang

Riding in the dark requires and abnormal amount of trust in the state of the road you are riding on.

Very few bike lights will light up enough road to allow for evasive maneuvers when travelling at 30kmph+

So I was following the road as usual, keeping to the parts of the road I could see, or at the very least not riding off the edge of the road.

When I spotted a construction team I had to change tact and move left into a darker area….

Whack…

Slide…

Quick recover…

Although my front wheel made a big move to the right I did manage to stabilize and continue.

But something wasn’t right. The saddle felt strange. I put it down to the seat being shifted slightly during the little incident that just occurred. I continued, and finished a wonderful ride to the top of the big hill.

Holiday Time!

So I headed back to the office and went off to the Taipei main station for a slightly early holiday (on a Thursday, a got the day wrong in the video).

Disassembling my bike outside the bus terminal and shock and horror I see my seatpost is bent, no quick realignment of the saddle needed, but a full replacement of the seatpost. And this is the third one I’ve had that’s bent, just none of the others have bent so far.

The insanity is that until more recently Giant have insisted on installing 27.2mm seatposts with a big old shim, whereas the inner diameter of the seat tube is actually made for a 30.9mm seatpot without a shim. Dumb, dumb, dumb, raise the skinny one to a height suitable for me, put my fat ass on the saddle and the poor seatpost doesn’t have a chance.

Well, all should be good and well in seatpost land from now on.

Here’s hoping.