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@Greenbelt 34642 wrote:

I think lots of shop rides go right through the winter — I know ours do. However, ours definitely don’t qualify as “organized.”

It all depends on how you define “organized.”

(I think my closets are “organized.”)

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@thecyclingeconomist 34504 wrote:

Anyone have any good hurricane adaptation devices? [/url]

Wool socks. With all the rain, I expect to get wet. With temperatures in the 40s, I want wool socks.

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@Dirt 34555 wrote:

Be safe! If riding in this stuff scares you, then find a way NOT to ride. It shouldn’t be that hard to do.

This. While it needs to be repeated for Sandy, if there are ever conditions that scare you, find a way not to ride (or to eliminate the scary part).

While I’ll probably ride, I’m not going to meet Dirt for intervals at Hains Point, although with those winds at my back, it might be the only time I could keep up.

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@Greenbelt 34599 wrote:

I just asked Laurie. With Dahons, she said you can adjust handlebar height and grip tilt, saddle height and fore-aft position. She said it might be tricky to sub out saddles, though, on some of the models, and I forgot to ask about swapping out pedals (seems unlikely).

I’ve got a full-size Dahon Matrix, about eight years old, and can swap out the saddle and pedals. (The saddle iteself is not a problem when folding, but you might need to adjust the height.)Of course, the full-size ones only fold in half and although you can (or could) get a backpack-style case, it’s not the way to carry it. It’s very easy to fold and stick in a trunk or the back of a station wagon, though.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]1925[/ATTACH]

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I’ve run various Niterider lights for years. No serious complaints. (I didn’t like the TriNewt switch on the battery, but that’s no big deal.) Excellent service when I’ve needed it.

I had a Cygolite years ago and it was not bad. No real complaints, it just was not as good as the Niterider Digital Pro 12E I had at the time.

Personally, I would stay away from the companies where lights is just one thing they do, such as Topeak, Blackburn, etc. unless it was for a rear red light. (Something it seems anyone can make.) I had a Blackburn System X4 (or X6) and was not overly impressed. Among other things, the switch failed in a couple of months and I had problems with the case. It didn’t seem like it was meant to be used every day and last for years. I had Trek light, on one bike, which quickly developed mounting problems and did not focus light well.

I’ve heard nothing but good things about Exposure’s lights and may pick one of them up at some point.

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@Certifried 34419 wrote:

I never knew you were a scout leader….

If you’d ride that bike to work more often, that car would never park near you. In fact, I think a lot of cars and others would give you a wide berth….

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@PotomacCyclist 34374 wrote:

Are the reviews on DC Rainmaker still applicable to us since he no longer lives in Northern Virginia? Light is different over there in Paris. Not better. Just different.

Well, we do listen to Greenbelt, Certifired, and some other lost souls who don’t live in Northern Virginia…

(Okay, we pretend to listen to them.)

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@TwoWheelsDC 34361 wrote:

My problem isn’t cold weather, it’s getting up when it’s dark out…

People get up after the sun is up? No wonder I never see anyone when I ride into work.

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@jabberwocky 33057 wrote:

Does bacon count as a supplement?

No, it’s one of the essential food groups.

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@Greenbelt 32521 wrote:

Do they allow wheelchairs? Or UPS handtrucks?

See my other reply. When I brought this up, was when I realized that it was a small bunch of anti-bike folks. Luckily, most of them have moved in the last couple of years. There’s now even a bike rack out back.

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@benbhsu 32518 wrote:

I never understood this. Are they afraid you’re going to dirty their floors?

A few years back, the building where I live issued a letter saying we could not take bikes through the lobby because they were scratching up the floors. Yes, I pointed out that my tires were softer than those on the FedEx/UPS/USPS hand trucks and my bike was lighter than the motorized scooters/wheelchairs, but I was told that bikes were the ones scratching the floors. (It was summer, so no studded tires.) At the time, we had some anti-bike folks living here and I figured they were behind it.

My suspicions were confirmed when one of them — a resident, not management — said something to me when I carried my bike through the lobby. As I pointed out, my tires can’t scratch the floor if they don’t touch it.

The floor has been replaced and it seems, as of a few months ago, that we can once again roll bikes through the lobby.

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I saw Capable1 this afternoon at 7th and Water Street SE.

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@Bilsko 31751 wrote:

The ideal setup is something low-to-medium brightness on your handlebars and then – if you can – a medium-to-high brightness mounted on your helmet.

I’m with vvill on this. Medium-to-high on the bike, low-to-medium on the helmet — if at all. I rarely ride with a helmet mounted light, but that’s because I don’t do a lot of riding at “night” (sundown to midnight). If I had to deal with traffic in the morning, I’d probably add one.

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Rootchooper showed up about twenty minutes later.

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@dbb 31559 wrote:

So we can best advise, can you provide some information about your ride and your commute?

Since I am the person he stopped…. (He stepped out in the street and stopped me.) He has a Cannondale MTB, with panniers. He rides about 10-20 miles a day. His route has hills. He’s going through chains. He needs a much better light.

I talked about maintenance, riding, lights, etc. When he started asking where to get a good light, I suggested he join the forum, so we went to the BikeArlington site on his laptop. (Actually, I suggested the forum because I thought of the light thread and realized he could ask his other questions here, too.)

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