Gearing Up

At the beginning of the riding season I always look for a few things that will make my riding experience a little better. Sometimes I'm looking for a better pair of gloves or a jersey with big pockets. But before I explain a couple pieces of gear that I found this year let me explain the picture at the top of the post.

This is a picture of a statue of Thomas Paine in Bordentown by the river. He actually lived in Bordentown in the latter years of his life. I guess it is appropriate for a man who wrote the famous pamphlet "Common Sense" to be wearing a mask. A few of us passed by this statue on Saturday after meeting up at the Peter Muschal school. It was a little winding but warm day and a good day for ride.

Back to the new gear. I have had a little bento box, for the past few year, on the top tube of my bike that I use to store my camera and phone for quick access. The one I have but was a little small and moved around a bit. When I got a new phone which was a little larger it was hard to fit in the box. So I looked for a new one and found one a little bigger.

This one has a lot more room and is a lot stiffer than the old one. I can easily fit my phone and camera and even fit a few bars in there. I was a little concerned that it would be too big and I would be banging my knees on it but because the bag is so stiff and doesn't move at all that isn't a problem.

This bag is a the ROCKBROS bike frame bag. It opens with a zipper in the middle so its a little harder to open than the old bag but it is also more water proof. They have two sizes large and medium and I got the large although the medium would have probably been big enough I'm glad I have the extra room since I am bring more on the rides these days.

The second piece of gear I just got was some new lights for the bike.

I never had a headlight but since I'm doing more solo rides I thought it would be a good idea to have a flashing light on the front of the bike. This set came from amazon and is a small usb rechargeable light. They have 6 different light modes and seem pretty bright. The rubber mounting bands make them easy to put anywhere on the bike. The headlight isn't for night time use but should help me be more visible in low light conditions.

The last product I wanted to mention Cold Shrink Tape. Its like a combination of electrical tape and shrink tubing. I got it because I had some frayed wire on a power cord I needed to fix. I tried using electrical tape but the diameter of the wire was wider by the plug so I could never get the tape to wrap correctly and it would start to unwind after about a month. This cold shrink tape a is silicon tape that stretches and bonds to itself. It was a lot easier to apply. You actually stretch it so it better conforms to what you're covering. It is not sticky but just bonds to itself and feels really durable so I think it should last. I'm thinking it will be perfect for wrapping the end of bar tape. It should be more durable than electrical tape and because its not sticky won't leave any residue. 

 It amazes me how much equipment and accessories for bikes change over time so I will continue to keep looking for stuff to make riding easier and safer.