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Archives for December 2009

Be Seen, Be Safe

12.03.2009 by Ray Niekamp // 8 Comments

The clock has been set back, the leaves have fallen and it’s dark and cold mornings in many places. I ride for fitness so I ride my bike instead of walking on a treadmill or using an elliptical trainer in at a health club.

I’m fortunate that the part of Northern California that I call home allows me to ride year round. Barring rain, I’ll get out if I can. I don’t have to deal with the real nasty winter weather of snow, ice and sleet, that type of stuff.

But the darkness is another matter. Being out on a bike in early morning without proper visibility is a recipe for disaster.

Last year when I was out riding before sunrise, I scraped by with a rudimentary headlight. I purchased this Cateye headlight because it was affordable and I didn’t know anything about cycling lights. I thought a light was a light.

And quite frankly I couldn’t get my mind wrapped around paying $200 for a bicycle light. That was the cost of a light that a cyclist friend recommended to me.

I quickly learned the difference among lights. I discovered the Cateye was best suited for riding in lighted areas, meaning it’s a light you use that was best for being seen but not to help you see, at least if you’re riding in areas that aren’t well lit.

Well this year I replaced it with a Cyglolite dual LED headlight with a rechargeable battery. This puppy enables me to see in darkened areas where I wouldn’t have thought of going with the Cateye. It has a number of different settings – high, medium and low beams. It also has a flash setting, a setting for walking, although it’s awkward to carry on a walk because of the battery pack and an SOS flash setting.

Recently I started a ride with it on high and ended the ride with it on low as the sun rose. The separate battery pack, which I attach to the front of my bike, keeps the light going for several hours. I like this light, it does everything that I want it to. I guess it should as even on sale and with an additional discount it was about 10 times the cost of the Cateye.

On the back of my bike I have a flashing taillight and I make sure to wear plenty of reflective clothing. I have a vest similar to what crossing guards or outdoor workers wear, a “screaming yellow” jacket, reflective bands and also reflective logos on my shorts and other clothing.

Afterall, being seen is a step toward being safe.

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Categories // Safety Tags // Blount, guest post, lighting, Safety

What’s Your Tire Pressure?

12.01.2009 by Ray Niekamp // 6 Comments

From time to time, I’ve fiddled with tire pressure settings on my bike, but have settled in at a psi that I think works for me.

The 23 mm tires that came with the bike listed a max pressure of 115 pounds. I used to pump them to 105, for no particular reason, except that 115 seemed like it would give me a really hard ride — just a guess on my part. When I switched to 25 mm tires, I reduced the pressure to 100 pounds for awhile, but lately I’m back at 105 again.

I was influenced by the Sheldon Brown post which says the load tires must support dictates the pressure. Since I weigh roughly 210, the 105 psi per tire made sense to me.

But now, I’ve come across something else. An article from Bicycle Quarterly says the optimum tire pressure is that which results in a “tire drop” of 15 percent. Tire drop is the amount of compression in a tire when it bears weight. According to the article, anything more than 15 percent reduces your speed. If your tire drop is less than 15 percent, your ride will be less comfortable.

A graph accompanying the article shows tire pressures for different rider weights and different width tires. Turns out that I’m pretty close to where I ought to be, but there’s a wrinkle: the tires are supposed to be pumped to different pressures. On a road bike, the weigh distribution is 40 percent front, 60 percent rear. Yipes! In my case, that means my front tire would be inflated to only about 85 pounds, and the rear to 125.

I’ve gone with lower pressures on the front before, and wound up with a pinch flat for my trouble. So while I find the tire drop article interesting, I don’t think I’ll be making any drastic changes in my tire pressure any time soon. What’s your take?

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Categories // tires Tags // tires

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