Charlie Brown Gets a Bag

It has been bitterly cold here the last week or so which means Charlie Brown has been looking out the window wistfully while leaning against the wall.  We did manage to get out and do 2 hours of hiking over the weekend even though the temperatures were in the low 20s or lower with wind chill.  My cycling focus has shifted to indoor projects for the time being though.  I have been trying to slowly acquire some basic accessories for commuting to work.

Now I'm not what you would call a high maintenance girl who needs to carry half of my possessions around with me.  When I go to work I take my iPod, my wallet, a small pack of tissues, my current book, my gallon of water, and my lunch which sometimes is pretty heavy.  Well thanks to Globe outfitting Charlie with a rear rack I know that my lunch will have to ride on top of that.  To get the rest of that stuff I didn't figure to need a whole lot of room, but there was no way that my gallon of water would fit into a messenger bag and I didn't want to try to put all of it into a backpack.

Being "budget-minded" (aka a massive cheapskate), price was high at the top of my criteria for a workable commuting pannier.  That of course ruled out anything cool, pretty, and top of the line--but who am I kidding?  I don't go for stuff like that much anyway.  Although I can say at some point I would like my panniers to complement Charlie Brown's beautiful hues.  There's time for that later.  For now I needed something that could haul an 8 pound gallon of water to work with me and still have room for the other few things I carry.

I browsed around the "internets" dreaming and drooling and generally putting off getting something functional because I was lusting after all the higher end panniers.  Finally I snapped out of it and pulled up Amazon and looked for something on the lower end of the price scale.  I read through review after review (unlike with books or music, the reviews for products like this seem actually helpful to me!) and settled on this set.  Many reviews mentioned being able to carry milk gallons and that the panniers seem sturdy.  Since my commute is pretty short and I'm not trusting my panniers to lug about a laptop or anything really precious, I figured to just take the plunge and see what I get.  I mean, honestly, like I'm gonna know the difference between these and $200 panniers!  Oh and bonus, that set was on sale for $16 when I bought them.  Plus I got free shipping.  For that price, it's certainly worth testing them out.

I popped them onto Charlie Brown today.  It was so easy it took all of 3 minutes.  2 front straps, 2 back straps and a strap on each side.  My rack is a little shorter than the length of the body of the panniers, so it is a tiny bit scrunched, but I'll give them a good test run and we'll see how they run, er, ride.

 

 

 

I like that they have a good bit of reflection on both the sides and the back.  Added visibility is always welcome.  I also plunked my water jug in just to see if it would fit and it does indeed.  Now, I'll just need to get used to riding with an uneven load on the back.  I'm looking forward to getting out this weekend and seeing how it feels to ride with these on the back.

C'mon Baby Light My Fire

After reading this post and the ensuing comment about the glories of nighttime riding, I've been able to think of nothing else--even though I am "working" and should be plugging away at my case load.  I know that when I do get my bike, I am going to need to do some night riding because 1. I won't be able to stay off my wonderful new bike and 2. my work schedule has a possibility or changing which would mean a commute in the darkness on the days I ride to work.  So it seems inevitable that lights for my bike are in my future.  The question is which ones to get.

I've mentioned a few times that I'm a "cheapskate" but that word just has such a negative connotation.  What I mean is that I don't really throw my money around and if there is a bargain to be had, it's got my name all over it.  This is tempered by the fact that I don't want to buy things 6 times because my cheap piece of crap whatever keeps breaking.  I'm not the type of girl who buys a lot of products in my search for "the one".  I try to do some research and come up with some good ideas and then ask someone knowledgeable either at the store or sometimes I email a complete stranger who seems to know what is going on.  I'm not at the point in my life where I think about things lasting forever or until I'm 80 or the rest of my life. I want it to last awhile--say a couple or maybe 5 years minimum.   I want something that works now, is of good quality and is not super expensive.  It's a bonus if the product is made in the USA.

I've done a little looking at lights and have thought of what I want my lights to do and here is what I've come up with: 

1. I want a headlamp and an additional light mounted on my bike.  (I'm thinking mounted low instead of on the handlebars so that it is focused on the road.)
2.  I want the light/s to have setting that include flashing/steady preferably with a range of brightnesses.
3. I want the headlamp to be something I can also wear without my helmet.  (You know, for all the  spelunking I do.) No, but seriously.   
4.  I want a taillight that also has various settings.  I haven't decided if I will mount this on my rack or on the back of the seat.  Since my commute route would be through some heavily trafficked areas this needs to make me VISIBLE. 
5. I'm thinking I will need to go battery powered at this point which is fine as I probably won't be using the bike everyday for commuting.  Though I like the thought of the dynamos, honestly at this point, it's not a huge factor to me.

I don't have $300 to spend on the top of the line lighting system for my bike, but I do want my setup to keep me safe and help me feel confident with riding at night.  Since I'm scared of getting squashed this is very important.  I'm also looking into illuminating my bike as well- but that is not my first priority. I read a good article in Bicycle Times Magazine about lights last month.  Check it out here and here is one on  blinkies.   Ecovelo also has some good articles here  and here as well as stellar content day in and day out. 

A few of the candidates I have looked at so far in my limited search are (in no particular order):

Velo Orange Cateye:

Planet Bike Blaze: 

Planet Bike  Sport Spot:

Planet Bike Dynamo:

Planet Bike 1200:

 

RivBike EOS:

I don't know what other companies have a reputation for quality, or the specifics of the performance for any of the above lights.  Any reader suggestions?  Anyone have a really good or bad experience with any of these or with a light I haven't listed?   Anyone have a great lighting setup to share as an example?