Seeing the light
It seems to have taken forever, but my E6 headlight is finally on the way back. Right now I need it because I'm getting desperate do to a long night ride somewhere. I yearn for the serenity and beauty of the darkness. I've managed some early morning rides with my little back-up light, but it's just not the same. The early rides often tend to be a little rushed, and this can take away some of the ambiance. I now plan on moving it to a new position just above the front forks. This will enable me to fit a handlebar bag for touring without obscuring the light, and from my observations, the light beam on the road tends to be a little wider from that angle.
The next couple of things that I will need to find are a new pannier rack and a decent frame pump. My current pannier rack was a cheap one that I picked up in Dunedin after snapping a rack on my tour of New Zealand. It was largely a case of beggars can't be choosers, having already limped for 600km with all my equipment resting on a broken rack. I'll likely head to Brisbane for this particular search, and check out the Topeak range at Epic cycles. Most of their equipment is of a high quality, and if I have to pay a few dollars more then so be it.
As far as the frame pump is concerned, I'm still not sure about my options there. It may also come from Epic cycles. Essentially I'm looking for something that can cope with the rain without seizing up the way all my other pumps have. As someone who makes no attempt to avoid riding in the rain, this is probably the primary quality. I'm also after something that can deliver some decent pressure to a tyre after fixing a flat. Suggestions to the comments section please.
posted by Chris L @ 1:40 pm
4 Comments:
I quite like the Topeak road morph I have when it comes to being able to get a high pressure without taking all day to do it. However, I haven't put it through the sort of sustained torture that you probably would - so I can't comment too much the durability. Topeak are usually pretty good though.
I'm a big fan of the Zefal HPX pumps. My first one lasted nearly 15 years and was going fine until I stepped on it last year. I'm now onto the second. I don't rate the smaller pumps, they're too much hard work to get a tyre up to even moderate pressures.
Glad the Vittoria randonneur is holding up.
I have the Topeak morph with the gauge as I like visual feedback. Keep it in a bag to keep muck off it. Never used the frame clamp that comes with it, looks too flimsy. What went wrong with your last one? According to some roadbikereview.com/mtbr.com comments Topeak can be good at sending out free parts.
Was in epic last week looking at saddles, sick of vinyl falling apart thinking of trying leather this time. They have some nice handlebar bags for $100-200 but I think Ill just get the small $24 one from anaconda.
About rain riding, I strip to lyrca shorts when its hot or cover up with rain pants in the cold but how do you deal with water getting in shoes? Do you use shoe covers, gaiters, plastic bags, any recommendations?
I using a Topeak master blaster previously. It died in the constant rain in Scotland, and now I'm using a no-name minipump that I picked up in Oban. It does the job, but I'm looking for something with a little more power. I've heard good things about the Zefal range too.
As far as the rain on the shoes is concerned, I haven't yet come up with a solution for that. Normally I just let them get wet. I'm told newspaper is a good way to dry them out quickly after the event, but haven't ventured down that path yet. I may look at some shoe covers in future.
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