People often ask me about the tweed bags on my Pashley — they’re “Nigel Smythe” bags from Rivendell Bicycle Works. Rivendell is mostly known for making smartly-designed, exquisite, lugged-steel bicycles. What most people don’t know is that they’re also very good at designing and producing bike bags and panniers. Their bags have a traditional flavor, and they’re not necessarily for everyone, but if you have a thing for canvas and tweed, you should definitely check them out — they’re super-nice. Riv is a small company, and like any small manufacturer, their inventory fluctuates, so check their site now and again if you don’t see what you’re looking for the first time around.

Rivendell Bicycle Works →

The Planet Bike Blaze 1W is an economically priced one-watt LED headlight that can be used as a primary headlight for commuting, or as a powerful, forward-facing flasher for urban settings. The body is made from high-impact plastic, with an alloy center ring that serves as both a reinforcement and a heat sink for the LED. It uses a highly efficient, lifetime Cree XR-E P3 LED as its light source.

Mount
Included with the Blaze is a universal “QuickCam” quick-release mount that fits any handlebar and can be quickly removed without tools by flipping a lever. With the push of a separate button, the light slides off the mount while the mount stays on the handlebar; this is a great feature for those who park their bikes outside where accessories are vulnerable to theft.

The QucikCam mount is identical to the mount I’ve been using with my B&M Ixon light for the past couple of years. I pretty much abuse the mount—moving it from bike to bike on a regular basis—and it has held up well.

Modes
The Blaze has three light modes: low, high, and “Superflash”. On low, it’s not bright enough to use as a primary headlight, but it works fine as a “be seen” light. On high, it outputs an impressive 70 lumens, more than enough to be used as a primary headlight for urban/suburban commuting where some ambient light is present. In Superflash mode, the Blaze is blindingly bright and eye-catching (see video below). Think of a Superflash tail light with a forward facing 1 watt emitter instead of a 1/2 watt emitter, and you get the picture. The staccato flash pattern is the most eye-catching I’ve seen and it sets this light apart from its competitors. If you’ve been searching for a high-intensity urban front flasher, look no further.

Beam
The Blaze has a typical American-style round beam pattern with a markedly bright center that quickly drops off at the edges. The beam is tightly focused which makes it seem brighter than its 70 lumen spec would indicate. The trade off for a brighter center beam is less light off-axis toward the edge of the road.

Blaze on the left (high), Fenix L2D on the right (general/high)

The Competition
It’s natural to compare the Blaze to the Fenix L2D because the L2D is generally considered the current leader of the pack in sub-$100 LED headlights. Here’s how it breaks down.

The Blaze wins on price. It can generally be had for $10-15 less than the L2D and the Fenix isn’t supplied with a mount (it’s a flashlight). A decent mount for an L2D will run $10-50, so you’ll want to factor that in when considering the purchase price.

The L2D wins on maximum output but falters on run time. In “turbo” mode, the L2D outputs an astounding 180 lumens which is unheard of in a light of this size and in this price range. But there’s more to the story than just max output. At 180 lumens, the L2D barely gets 2 hours run time using high quality NiMH rechargeables. Most bike commuters will want more than two hours between charges and consequently they’ll run the L2D in the lower output “general” mode. On this lower setting, the L2D outputs 107 lumens with a run time of 4 hours. Taking that into consideration, suddenly the Blaze looks pretty competitive, with a 70 lumen output, and a much better 7 hour run time. It’s an individual choice whether max output or longer run time takes priority.

The Blaze wins on ease of use. Assuming you’re running rechargeables (hopefully you are), the nearly 80% longer run time saves a lot of battery shuffling over time. It’s also easier to remove from the bike, and the battery compartment is easier to open and close.

Summary
As prices on LED commuter-style lights have plummeted, the lights themselves have gotten brighter and more efficient. The Blaze 1W is a good example of this; just 2-3 years ago, a light of this quality would have run $100 or more. Now, for under $50 you get a light that’s lightweight and durable; has a max output of 70 lumens with a 7 hour run time; comes supplied with an excellent quick-release mount; and has the best flashing mode I’ve ever seen in a headlight. Team it up with a Superflash tail light and you have the best value on the market in a truly functional, battery-powered lighting system for bike commuters on a budget.

Specs
List Price: $44.99
Maximum Output: 70 Lumens
Emitter: Cree XR-E P3
Modes: High/Low/Superflash
Run Times: High=7 hrs, Low=14 hrs, Superflash=20 hours
Batteries: 2/AA

A note on batteries: I recommend rechargeable NiMH AA batteries because they’re ubiquitous, cheap, environmentally friendly, and hold plenty of juice for today’s highly efficient LED lights. Please consider using rechargeables — the last thing we want to do is trash our landfills and pollute our waterways with spent alkaline batteries. Read more on rechargeable batteries here.

Visit Planet Bike →

Who wouldn’t support that return on investment?

SDOT →

This morning’s sunrise.

The Tweed Run →

I must apologize to the small number of my readers who are still on Internet Explorer 6 (IE6). If you are, you’re looking at a broken website with weird gray margins and a third column that resides at the bottom of the page. It’s a bummer, and I’d love to fix it, but here’s the deal…

Internet Explorer 6 is an 8-year-old, non-standards compliant browser. I no longer have access to a computer that has IE 6 installed, and Microsoft doesn’t allow you to run multiple versions of their browser on the same computer, so I have no way of testing my layouts in IE6. Just this fact makes it nearly impossible to resolve the broken layout – you can’t fix what you can’t see.

IE6 is notorious for breaking pages that work perfectly well on every browser that came after it, all of which are far more standards-compliant. Also, being such old technology, it doesn’t properly display transparent PNG files – this is where the gray margins come in. It’s possible to fix the 3-column issue (but not easily and not with the same layout), but there’s no reasonable way to fix the gray margin problem without diminishing aspects of the design that I’m not willing to compromise on.

I’ve always hated those “optimized for so-and-so browser” buttons. It’s always been my opinion that web developers/designers should do whatever is necessary to make websites work reasonably well on all current and most not-so-current browsers. There is a limit though; at some point, designing for defunct browsers becomes an exercise in futility. Up until now, I’ve always made sure my sites work properly in Internet Explorer 6, but at this point I can no longer justify the considerable time and effort it would take to get EcoVelo working properly in an 8-year-old browser. So I’m going to break my own rule and for the first time say my site is “Optimized for Firefox 3, Safari 3, and Internet Explorer 7“. If you are using anything other than one of these current browsers, all bets are off. And if you’re stuck on IE6, consider doing yourself a big favor by upgrading to a modern browser (they’re all free). These new browsers are far superior to what you’re currently using and they will considerably improve your web browsing experience.

UPDATE: The column wrapping issue is resolved (Thanks Colin!).

Firefox 3 →
Safari 3 →
Internet Explorer 7 →

The recently awarded grants to the League of American Bicyclists and the Thunderhead Alliance have brought SRAM’s total bicycle advocacy donations to $1,000,000 so far.

From the SRAM Cycling Fund Website:

Kudos to SRAM!!

[via Cyclelicious]

As much as I like to dictate to my body what it should do, as I get older I’m noticing it doesn’t always want to cooperate the way it used to. Last year, I rode myself into a serious case of tendonitis in my knee that limited my on-bike time for a few months. It was a classic case of mind versus body, with the body eventually having the final word and saying “enough”.

With the help of a good physical therapist and a wonderful wife that reminded me on a daily basis to not push too hard, I eventually healed up and I’ve had a few months of relatively pain-free riding… until this week. I’m not sure when it began, but somewhere along the way I started riding harder and started taking fewer rest days off the bike. On top of it, I fell back into my old habit of ignoring my body’s signals, and when my knee started getting sore a couple of weeks ago, I looked the other way and convinced myself one or two days off the bike would be enough. Well, it wasn’t.

To make a long story short, I ended up laid-up over the weekend, off the bike again, and sorely P.O.’d at myself for making the same mistake that I made just last year.

The good news is that I now have more weapons to combat my knee pain in the form of stretching and strengthening exercises picked up from my physical therapy sessions last year. Even though the pain for the first couple of days was as bad as last time around, I’m recovering much more quickly and I’m already back to walking a fair distance every day. I should be back on the bike within a week if things continue to progress along at this pace.

This recent episode got me questioning why it happened again and what I might learn from the experience. Why can’t I slow down and take a break when I should? Why do I have to push my body to the point of injury before I can excuse myself for taking day off?

The reason, of course, is this commitment I’ve made to myself, this—I hate to say it—obsession with minimizing my car-time and getting where I need to go using as little energy as possible. And the solution to my problem, of course, is a little moderation. I need to ease up and take a few rest days if my body is hurting. I need to not mentally beat myself up for “wimping out” and accepting a lift to the train station. I need to give myself permission to conserve my body so I can keep doing this until I’m 90 years old. And most importantly, I need to remember that it’s not what happens this week or the next, but what happens over the long run, that really counts.

Transportation for America has created a Google map that shows service cuts, fare increases, and job losses related to transit cutbacks.

View the map here →
More information →

“Someone Stole My Bike” is a new website that documents the stories of people who have had their bikes stolen. The short interviews — most are less than a minute long — are quite entertaining in a sort of “rubber-necking” kind of way.

Someone Stole My Bike →

This is old news, but I just ran across it and thought it was pretty cool.

Read the full story →

Volunteers from the Washington Area Bicyclist Association parked over 2000 bikes during the recent inaugural festivities.

View the WABA Inaugural Bike Valets Photostream →

Image © Bicycle Design

Torkel Dohmer’s recumbent design took top honors in Bicycle Design’s “Commuter Bike for the Masses” design competition. I was pleasantly surprised to see a recumbent chosen as the winner since they typically don’t garner much respect within the mainstream cycling community.

Torkel will receive a Cannondale Bad Boy 700 for his efforts.

Read about it here →

Why? Because I’m a graphic artist and I can’t resist stuff like this. Why not? Politics.

Make your own at Obamicon →

p.s. – If you make your own, send it to me and I’ll post it in the comments below.

The full name of this website is “EcoVelo: Eco-Friendly Bicycling”. A few people have asked what we mean by “eco-friendly bicycling”, since all forms of bike riding produce no pollution. We define eco-friendly bicycling as, “Using a bicycle in place of a polluting vehicle to reduce our environmental impact.” This could mean a single trip to the grocery store or a full-blown car-free lifestyle — as long as a car trip is replaced, the impact has been reduced and the activity falls into what we think of as eco-friendly.

Typically, all forms of bike riding are assumed to be eco-friendly. You get on a bike, you go for a ride, and no fossil fuels were burned in the process — it seems pretty obvious and intuitive. Even bicycle racing, on its surface, appears eco-friendly. But upon closer inspection, recreational bicycling is only “eco-neutral” in the same way watching television or playing basketball are eco-neutral. Partaking in an activity that produces no pollution is not the same as reducing your overall environmental impact. You wouldn’t say “eco-friendly television watching”, even though watching television produces no pollution.

This is not a dig on recreational bicycling. The fact that it’s a healthy, enjoyable activity has its own value and rewards. Plus, (and most importantly) it may eventually lead people to riding a bicycle for transportation. But let’s not delude ourselves; riding solely for pleasure doesn’t replace a car trip or take a single car off the road. If we really want to reduce our environmental footprint, we need to look at bike riding as a healthy and enjoyable way to replace motor vehicle trips.

This is a Cyclocross bike that I built from the frame as a commuter bike. It has drop bars but a long steerer tube to put the bars up level with the seat. I have a Rohloff hub in the back and a Schmidt SON dynamo hub on the front wheel. It is equipped with SKS fenders and a Jannd rack. I use a combination of a Dinotte 200L and the Schmidt E6 for the front lights and a Dinotte tail light. —John

Read about it here →

We’re pleased to welcome our newest sponsor, Planet Bike. We’re ecstatic about having them onboard; their company philosophy is perfectly aligned with our mission here at EcoVelo:

Yup, you read it right. Planet Bike donates a full 25% of company profits to grassroots bicycle advocacy groups. Since 1996 they’ve donated over $650,000, and they aim to donate a total of $1,000,000 by 2010. Most of their money goes to the Thunderhead Alliance, a coalition of 128 bicycle advocacy groups that are working together to promote safe bicycling.

Planet Bike is a company worth supporting. They offer excellent products at excellent prices, while supporting the bicycling community in a BIG way.

Planet Bike →
Planet Bike Advocacy in Action →
Planet Bike Supercommuters →

Attached is a picture of one of my four bikes, the one I use most for daily transportation, including commuting 2.5 miles one way to work. It’s a ’93 Bridgestone MB-3 frame that I had powdercoated black 3-4 years ago, and I built the bike up using a variety of new and NOS components. It’s very Rivendellesque, as you can tell. The lights have since been replaced with battery-powered LEDs, the front bag has been replaced by a black Wald basket, the grips are now black rubber, I have a SS Klean Kanteen, a Sunshine cylindrical saddlebag for my tools and pump, and a new, large, silver Incredibell. It’s a nice ride, but the frame is a bit too small for me, and while the steel lugged frame is lush for a MTB frame, the handling is a bit squirrely for a town bike. Nevertheless, it’s a fun ride, just hop on and go. I usually just wear street clothes on this bike and a black Bell Metro helmet. (The triple is a necessity in hilly Tallahassee.)

Funny how my perception of what is a proper bicycle has changed almost 180 degrees in the last five years. I still enjoy getting out on weekends on my Mercian Audax bike with my woolies, gloves, and shoes, but it’s increasingly simply about riding w/o all the accoutrements. Bikes as simple transportation. Who would have thought of that?… ;-)

—Steve

In the New York Times:

Read the full story →