I ordered a little wallet for myself from these guys over at Totally Tubular Design because I heard they were made of recycled bike tubes. Cool. Then I got a little purse for my wife because they looked so cute and girly. It was so cool, I got one for myself (a little less girly). The products are great. They are made from recycled bike tubes and tires, and the liners are made from other random scraps of recycled cloth, leather, etc. They are sturdy and solidly-built with big fat threads and heavy materials - I love that. I can't say that they are particularly precise - they don't lay exactly flat, they are not perfectly rectangular - but that's part of the charm. Besides a cool product though (and great friendly service), I had a great idea that makes my commuting happier: Put your little loose nonsense (keys, wallet, phone, quarters, whatever) in this little bag and then put that in your big bag (I'm thinking messenger bag or panniers). Then it will all be there in one handy place instead of loose amongst the sweaty clothing, spare tubes, bottle caps, U-lock and all that other crap in there. It's working great for me, and it makes me happy every time I grab it and unzip that super-chunky zipper.
Rapha is easily my favorite outfitter of expensive European bicycle gear. They have a great design team and the quality is top notch. Rapha is also a group of dedicated epic riders and recently they've been spending more time on this side of the Atlantic—with a lot of it right here in the Pacific Northwest. You can follow their exploits over at The Rapha Continental on the Rapha website.
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Sometimes there is nothing better than brand new bar tape to make me fall in love with commuting again.
$12.02 does a world of good to put a new shine on this old girl. She rides faster than ever before, getting me to the bus stop on time. Just when I was growing tired of the tedious commute and my dirty bike, I realized that with a new outfit, all was young, fresh and new again. Off I go, conquering the streets of Boulder and Denver during my AM and PM commute.
In cycling there's a delicate balance between having great gear and bankruptcy. We liked to be kitted up in great gear and pimp our rides with the best components but it aint cheap. It's a hard line for us bike huggers, but now we have Chain Love.
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Last Sunday... two friends, rising sun, bikes loaded, coffee in hand... another epic morning on Tiger Mountain looming. We travel through Seattle, go East on I-90, past the calm waters of Lake Washington to exit 25 (Hwy 18) and discover my friends brand new $2400 Specialized Stumpjumper was missing from my hitch rack. Seriously.... gone.
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Just saw this company online and thought I would pass it along.
Proper mainTAINTanance of the perineal area is essential during high level training and racing. Nothing can ruin stage race success faster than an infected saddle sore.
—Dave Zabriskie
Check out dz-nuts!
The days are getting shorter again, the fair-weather commuters are returning to their exoskeletons and the cyclists are turning on their headlights again. I'd say that 80% of the night riders (knight riders!) have headlights. They are the same ones that have yellow bike jackets or anything made from lycra. That guy that commutes in jeans on a crackle-paint mountain bike with half-flat tires does not (but you can usually see even him sufficiently because of his flapping flannel shirt). A little glowing LED goes a long way to improve your visibility. A bike with a light is much safer than a bike without a light. Common sense and statistics back it up. But might we be even safer?
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