dreadnought

I've been using the rear lights from Portland Design Works since they came out 3 years ago or so.  Past employees of Planet Bikes, they know how to make great product that last and work really well.  A few weeks ago, I received their premier front light - the Cosmic Dreadnought 110.

Here it is on the front of the cruiser, sets up nice with different thickness of handlebars.  All you have to do is:

Here is the bracket, it has a thumbscrew to fine tune the snugness on the bar, to change the mount to one of three diameters of the bars you:

Find the screw on the top of the mount, and unscrew it all the way out,

remove the top plate of the mount,

and choose what notch the bottom section (the part with the thumbscrew) of the mount goes into.  The one in the front (to the left in the picture) of the mount is for 22.2mm, the middle for 26.0mm and the farthest one (to the right) back is for 31.8mm.   Then reverse the steps until it is all back together.  Simple.

Now for brightness.  I have a commute that is pretty mellow.  From work, I start off on a busy street, dive into a little development, back onto a busy street, and then into the Metropark System, out of the park onto a busy street and finish on some little neighborhood streets.  Ambient lighting goes from tons of light, to none, back to streetlights.  On the busy streets, I use the strobe feature, so the damn cars are more likely to see me.  On high, the light looks like this on the back of a white door. 

In real life,I set my light so that the brightest ball hits about 15 feet or so in front of me.  This gives me a sheath of brightness that I don't "outrun" on the path.  With the light on "High", the light also allows me to see the distance all the way back to my front tire.  Light really bright in the middle of the beam.

On low beam:

The light isn't as intense, but for riding on side streets, or on a bike path that doesn't need a super intense beam, it works perfectly.  The light isn't as bright as it was on "High" in the middle, but more diffused throughout the ball of brightness.  I use this light for the majority of my commute, but I also don't like a super bright light while riding in the park or on streets.  I find that it works the best for me.

Burn times are pretty close to what is listed on Portland Design's website, I've had to change out my batteries once (getting close to the second time), and I switch up between the modes pretty often.  I guess that I got about 20 hours or so during multi-modes.  Next is to try rechargeable batteries to see how well the brightness and burn times shell out.

So, in a nutshell, this light is really nice, and I've been really happy with it.  Short of a rechargeable system or a dynamo hub, this light is the nicest I have used.

wheels, built up

Wheels are all built up, Steve did an awesome job.  Front wheel:

And now the rear wheel:

headset

Headtube length: 13 inches

 NOT going to work with standard headset press, thought about just hammering the freakin' thing in, but a Cane Creek 100 is not the thing to go at with a piece of wood and a hammer.  Hardware store to get some All-Thread and some bolts.

The top in

And both top and bottom in:

All set to go, fork on and ready for wheels!  Which are done and talked about tomorrow.

cargo wheels

So, as I alluded to before, my new cargo bike, the Soma Tradesman is here, and it needs some wheels.  The  front and rear are two different sizes, 20" front/26" rear, and both are disc specific - that front wheel is NOT a stock wheel, so some have to be built.  Originally, I was going to have some Deore get laced up to Sun CR-18, 32 hole, and then I found a shop in Minnesota, Calhoun Cycles, that had some 36 hole wheels in stock, for about the same price I could get a set built up for.  Now, remember that I like sweet wheels.  So, where those going to be good enough?

Steve, one of the mechanics at the shop I work at, said he would build me up a pair of wheels, so parts were ordered:

The little one is a Sun Ringle Envy - 36 hole, single eyeleted, welded joint BMX rim, and the large is a Sun
Ringle Equalizer EQ31 also 36 hole, eyeleted, welded 26" rim.  Both super strong and probably burlier than need be.   These will be laced 3 cross to:

Alfine Dynamo front hub, for the ability to always have me some lights up front, and for the back:

XT rear 6 bolt hub.  The front will need a stupid little adapter for the disc rotor, the rear of coarse won't.  Brakes haven't been decided yet, either Avid BB5s or BB7s.  Tires will be some Schwalbe Marathons.

Steve should have these lace up for me some time this weekend, so I'll get some of those pictures up as well as pictures of the awesome jury rigging that has to be done to get the headset pressed into the frame.

stalker

Always thought the person on the back of a tandem was weird, wanting to look at someone's ass all ride long.  Now I know why.