With the glorious weather today, it was high time for a family bike ride. In preparation, it was also time to take the studded tires off of the tandem and the cargo bike.
The perfect opportunity to try out this new bike gadget that I got: the Tru Tension Tire Monkey. The video makes it look amazing.
In truth, if the tire bead is tight, it is difficult to use it to unhook the bead. I ended up using a regular tire lever to get things started.
However, I will say that the Tire Monkey made it much easier to remount a tire, so I would recommended it.
I thought I might as well wash the salt off of all three bikes that I used this winter. If it snows again, I take partial responsibility.
Time to ride out to High Park with Lucy on the Buddy Rider.
I hope that many of you also got a chance to enjoy the summer and warm temperatures today!
TBN had a stand at the Toronto Outdoor Adventure Show, and the event also advertised a “Bike Zone”, so I decided to check it out.
One word of advice if you are going on Sunday (which is the last day): arrive early as the hunt for parking is not fun.
As it turns out, the bike zone was almost entirely taken up with various e-bike vendors, many of which I had not heard of. Most of these featured various configurations built around a hub motor. It was interesting to see the e-bike platform branch out into more niche areas.
Louis Garneau was one of the two vendors that I had heard of. Their e-bikes are more mainstream, with all but the lowest end model based on mid drives.
The other company that was familiar was Elby, which was founded by Frank Stronach. The original model was based around the Bionx platform, but since that company went under, the new models are built in Taiwan with more modern rear hub motors.
Their cheapest model was this belt drive single speed. It was selling at a substantially discounted show price of $2000.
Epic cycles had a huge stand with e-bikes of all shapes and sizes.
This mini veto was $799.
Nice to chat with Alice, James and Linda at the TBN stand. Alice has been doing an incredible amount of work for the club lately, having founded a series of no-drop rides that have been very popular. She also revealed that there will be a new TBN jersey design announced at the spring opener. She really seems to like purple so my prediction is that there is going to be some purple on the new jerseys.
Many vendors were selling a wide variety of outdoor gear. There were also many booths for various travel destinations. I couldn’t leave entirely empty handed so I got one of these eyeglass retainer straps from Cablz that looks really solid.
I haven’t been to an auto show since I lived in Michigan decades ago, but one of my friends was working an exhibit, and I was also curious to see some EVs. I had also heard that there was some micro mobility content. Of course it was family day and so it was very crowded.
One of the largest stands was for Jeep, and they were taking advantage of the fact that they had electric versions of several models so that people could drive them indoors.
Viewed from above, you could see the long line up for a test drive.
As per usual, there were many bikes on roof racks for marketing purposes.
Off to the side of the main hall was a selection of EVs, but since you couldn’t get into them, it was very peaceful.
Amego had a large stand with a wide selection of e-bikes.
Right in front was a test track, but the line up seemed to be to test two odd little mini cars from gosarit.com
This is Frank Stronach’s latest brainchild. Here is what it looks like on the inside.
I was told that these 3D printed accessories were just placeholders.
32 kph top speed, 100 km range, and a list price of about $8K. I was repeatedly told that they were legal to drive in bike lanes. I measured it to be 38 inches wide. This is what 38 inches looks like on the Beverly St bike lane.
Their mini truck looked more useful in terms of a small vehicle that might run on factory grounds or in a warehouse. It was about the same width as the other vehicle. The bed was 34.5 by 42″, internal dimensions.
One of the main selling points was that they were both made in Aurora, using as many Canadian components as possible.
Both vehicles had a combination of plastic and metal panels. Definitely built to a price. In particular, I imagine the plastic fenders lasting only a single season.
This stand showed a variety of small vehicles on a golf cart platform. They seemed much more solid, but I imagine they were much more expensive.
The UofT formula team was there. I didn’t know that most of the SAW formula competitors were now for electric or hybrid cars.
I didn’t ask what this thing from Waterloo was about.
One of the more interesting micro mobility devices from Batec mobility was tucked away in the basement. I saw one of these on Bloor, and it was going like stink. One gets the feeling that as the demand for micromobility heats up, it’s going to be even more of a Wild West out there.
There was also a larger test track in the basement, but the line ups were long.
What is this doing here?
Equally gross.
On the way out, I saw this stand from Vinfast, a Vietnamese-founded, Singaporean-based company. It will be interesting to see how it does, along with the eventual importation of Chinese EVs as well.
My bike was parked on Front St, but everyone was taking pictures of some car that I was beside.
Yesterday and today, we’ve been having a bit of a cold snap, with the overnight temperatures reaching about -20°C. It was cold enough that I bought out my really cold riding gear for the first time this winter.
It was about -16°C when I rode into work, and I found that I got overheated a bit. On the way back home, there was a bitter headwind so I was glad that I was dressed the way I was.
This time, I guess the seal around my nose for my North45 balaclava was not quite perfect, so there was a bit of fogging and icing on my glasses by the end of a 45 minute trip. Still much better than a standard balaclava./
For the record, my clothing was:
Winter pants by Makers and Riders, although this pair by Eddie Bauer is decent. (anything fleece lined and relatively wind proof will do.)
They had a lot of good advice. They promised a bunch of links after their talk, and when those are distributed, I will add them to this blog post.
Some of the talk was about not purchasing a lot of expensive gear for winter riding. In that spirit, I did some experimenting with a home-brew solution to fogging glasses. Here I cut part of the bottom off of an N95 mask so that breath would escape out the bottom.
Here it is combined with a balaclava. (a reminder that my favourite is this wool one from TST)
Here is a picture riding with this combination, and there is no fogging of the glasses.
BTW, CycleTO has finally announced this year’s version of the “Coldest Day of the Year Ride”. It will be Sunday February 12 at 11:30, when the forecast is for a balmy 0°C. The ride starts at Sumch-Shuter Parkette, and it looks like it will go west on Shuter, north on Sherbourne, and then east across the viaduct and along Danforth to East Lynn Park.
Hoping that the temporary ramps on Danforth will be OK, as there has been a repeated problem with one of them having the edge of the metal ramp being bent up by snow plows.
At any rate, hats off to all those who were out biking yesterday or this morning. Know that you were probably biking on the real coldest day of the year.
Here’s an example from about a month ago, showing the fogging that can occur when it is cold, and your breath is directed upwards by a covering over your mouth. When is is really cold, the fog can also start freezing to your glasses.
North45 is a company that sells balaclavas that claim to eliminate fogging of either ski goggles or glasses when you otherwise need full facial protection from the cold. I got one of their balaclavas for Xmas, but until yesterday it really wasn’t cold enough to put it to the test.
The model that I got is meant for glasses rather than ski goggles. Here is what it looks like from the side. It is a medium weight merino wool balaclava with an extra band of cloth.
When you bring this band down to the correct position, then it covers the lower half of your face, and the top edge of the band has a bit of wire or metal that gives a good fit around your nose.
This is what it looks like in operation. Bottom line: no fogging of glasses.
It is gets too warm, it is easy to pull the band down to your chin. Also, the fact that it is merino means that if it gets a big soggy from your breath, it will still keep you warm, and in fact the flap stays further from your face than a regular balaclava.
The reason it works is that the band is open at the bottom so that your breath is all directed downwards away from your glasses. I can imagine rigging up something by taking an N45 mask, cutting big vents in the bottom, and combining it with a balaclava to get much the same affect, but it wouldn’t quite provide the same level of protection when it is really cold.
At any rate, it is a high quality item. It is made in China, but buying it supports a small company in the Canadian Rockies. From the postal markings on the package I see that mine passed through both Lake Louise and Canmore AB.
Here’s to hoping that I’ll actually not using it much this winter. At -9°C yesterday and this morning, it was too warm.
7 Roads is a small company in Ukraine that makes a full line of bike packing bags. I heard about them from this review of their pogies. I was intrigued since the pogies were advertised as dual purpose, i.e they would fit MTB type bars as well as drop bars. I was not sure if they were still able to produce bags given the situation in Ukraine so I sent them an email. Elena responded quickly, along with the following note:
“Thank you for supporting Ukrainians! We just spent around 2000 usd on Ecoflow (compact power station), cause we need to keep working, no matter of electricity black outs after russians bombardments. “
Ordering through their website was very smooth, and they can make their bags and pogies in your choice of colour scheme. I ordered a pair of XPac fabric pogies in the colours of the Ukrainian flag. They were shipped in about 10 days after the order. Understandably the shipping was a bit slow, and they arrived yesterday after about three weeks.
Close up of all the stickers that came with the order.
The zipper makes it easier to install than the other pogies that I’ve had.
Comparing them to the Dogwood Designs, I would say that they sweep back about the same amount, but the Dogwood Designs have a lot more volume forward of the opening for the straight bars. This photo is a bit deceiving: the Dogwood designs pogies have a lot more volume.
Here they are installed on my drop bar gravel bike. Note the reflective trim that appears grey in this photo.
It took a bit of fiddling to get them in the right position so that the brifter levers didn’t drag on the lining. Here you can see that they don’t have a baffle closing the space around the wrist. This has the advantage that it makes it easy to get your hands in and out of the pogies. The lining and insulation are pretty close around the hand so I’m not particularly concerned. Of course it was +8°C today, so it wasn’t really a good test of how warm these will be. I’ll update this post when I’ve had a chance to ride these in colder weather.
Given the glorious weather, I took a quick spin out to the Etobicoke Creek Trail. There was ice and snow on the creek, but the trail was clear, having been heavily salted in the past week.
As an update, they have taken the fence down at the south end of the crossing under the QEW. I don’t know if this means that the trail is now official open, but riding across is pretty easy for any bike that isn’t a skinny tired road bike….
although on this particular day there were patches of slippery mud.
Just had to take a picture of the pogies at this particular spot.
Bottom line: I highly recommend these pogies. They are very well made, and I would argue that they look more solid than even the Dogwood Designs pogies that are considerably more expensive. Also the ability to choose your colour scheme is pretty unique at this price point.
I’m very happy to add 7Roads to this list, with the added bonus that I’m supporting a small business in Ukraine that is operating under difficult conditions.
Around Christmas time, it’s a bit of a tradition on the Internet BOB list to post bike related things that you have tried and liked during the past year. I see that it’s been many years since I’ve posted such a list, the last one being in 2016. I still really like of the gear that I recommended that year, with one update being that my choice for wool balaclava is now from TST.
Since that time, there are a number of items that I would highly recommend, most of them acquired in the last year or two.
This an employee owned company that sews all of their stuff in house in North Carolina. Their icon shirt has lots of lovely details that make it a lifetime garment, and the regular cut is trimmer that all of the other flannel or wool type shirts that I’ve tried. This, along with a wool undershirt, is my regular commuting gear. In winter I also throw on a jacket over top. I’ll also put in a good word for their wool knickers. I’ve worn those down to 0°C. They are a stretch wool blend. I don’t know if the wool makes much difference, but they are much more stink resistant than regular bike gear. All their stuff is expensive, particularly with the exchange and shipping to Canada, but if you want the best, and you want to support manufacture in North America…..
On a similar note, I really like my Search and State jacket. It is sewn in NY, and so is quite expensive. A very stripped down. design, but it seems to breathe well. The only additional thing I wish it had was a chest pocket, but that would add weight and make it less package. I see now that they’ve added a jacket with more pockets, but the price is even more stratospheric.
I have another pair of pogies in bound from a small shop in the Ukraine. I’ll let you know how they turn out. If you are looking for a cheaper pair, the padded ones from Rock Bros are OK.
On a side note about pogies, if your hands are buried in them, then you probably have to relocate your bell from its usual location. An alternative is to use an electric bell with a remote button. The Twooc is not a bad option. It is certainly plenty loud.
My Routewerks handlebar bag is terrific. Yes, it is rather heavy, but it is very well made, and the flip top is awesome for access while riding. You’ll see plenty of pictures of it elsewhere on the blog, such as this recent example.
Finally I’ll mention that my initial impressions of the new commuter bike headlight from Trek are pretty positive. It has decent optics that give the beam pattern a horizontal cutoff as is required in Europe.
On low beam, it is still brighter than my lower end B&M dynamo headlight.
At any rate, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas, and tailwinds for the new year.
I’m a big fan of kickstands on my city bikes. My winter bike has not had one for a while, so I finally broke down and bought one. This particular bike didn’t look like it would be compatible with a mounting position just ahead of the rear wheel so I elected to get one that mounts off of the chainstay. In addition, the one that I chose also has an additional clamp that attaches to the seat stay for greater rigidity.
It looks like this model will fit a wide variety of bikes. However, in this particular case, since my bike has something coming down from the chain stay to mount the cable adjuster for the rear internal hub, there was a bit of interference with the kickstand mount.
A little early morning work with the Dremel.
Much better.
One of the things that I didn’t fully appreciate is that with a single sided kickstand, it is easy to roll the bike even with the kickstand down. Additionally, the rear mount eliminates any interference with the pedals.
This is in contrast to my plescher double legged stand on the pink bike, which is great, but once the stand is down, the bike cannot roll.
Mounted a flag for today’s ride with Santa. I haven’t used this flag since 2015.
For those joint us for the Cycling Good Cheer ride, I’ll see you either at North York Centre, or at the meet up at Bloor and Yonge.
After my ride today, I dropped by Hoopdriver Bicycles to pick up a pair of gravel bike tires that were on sale.
Martin always has nice things to look at in his shop. Here, he is assembling a Moulton model that I had never seen before. This model isn’t even on their website. It looks like an evolved F frame, but with the front suspension of one of their spaceframe models.
Speaking of tires, if you are interested in Continental Winter Tires (they are not studded but work very well), then Martin has them on special in both the 700C and 26″ sizes. Details on his website. He sells them in pairs. He also just sent me a note saying that if you mention my blog, then he will provide an additional discount on these tires.
I guess he’s betting that it’s not going to snow much this season.
Most bike headlights in Europe have a beam pattern that is similar to that on newer cars: there is a horizontal cutoff that keeps other oncoming cyclists from being blinded. Historically almost all bike headlights sold in North America have a simple cone shaped beam like a flashlight.
Recently, Trek started advertising two new headlights with a feature they call “kind beam“. I was reminded that I already had several older lights with this feature, so I decided to pick up one of the Trek lights, and to compare it with the others.
The first one was a smart headlight that I heard about from Kent’s bike blog.
It meets the German standard in terms of having a properly shaped light pattern, it has a photocell to adjust the light brightness, and it was relatively cheap. Unfortunately it is no longer available, and I wish I had ordered several back in January 2020.
Next up: the Planet Bike Blaze 600 SLX.
It is supposed to have had a “clean beam”
However, my impression was that the beam didn’t really have a clear horizontal cutoff, although the beam pattern was clearly wider than it was high. Unfortunately the light was stolen off of my bike before I got around to taking any pictures of the beam pattern.
I was left with comparing two lights: the Portland Design Works Pathfinder USB, and the Trek Commuter Comp R. Both come with a simple mount that is secured with a rubber strap, and both charge with a micro USB cable.
Here is the PDW light. It retails for $38 USD, but I do not know if there are any dealers in Canada. 85 grams.
Here is the considerably more expensive Trek light. 113g.
Both lights have an LED at the top of the light opening, and a reflector below it to shape the beam.
Trek (left) PDW (right)
Here are the two light patterns. The PDW is the more rounded pattern. Both have a reasonable sharp horizontal cutoff, but not quite as good as the German generator lights that I have on two of my bikes.
PDWTrekTrek (left) PDW (right)
I took advantage of some foggy weather to take some other picture of the beams, from the front and the side. Here is the PDW:
Here is the Trek:
Both do a good job of putting a fair amount of light down on the road without being blinding to someone standing in front of the light.
Of the two lights, I’ve used the PDW more as I’ve had it for longer. I do have two complaints about the light. I might have a bum sample since the run time is much less than advertised. Here the light is down to 3 out of 5 bars after about 40 minutes of running on the pulse mode.
Not anything like what they claim.
The other thing is that the rubber button worked loose after not much use, although I was able to squeeze it back into position. It does make me wonder how waterproof the light is.
The Trek light appears to be much more solidly built. Of course it is not cheap. ($92 CDN). I’ll report back on the Trek light when I’ve had more time with it.
If you want this type of light in a battery powered model, both are reasonable choices that didn’t exist a couple of years ago. They are both considerably cheaper than German battery lights that are $150 USD and up.
German dynamo powered headlights are cheaper, but you have to factor in the cost of a front wheel with a generator hub.
Biking in a Big City 