BICYCLES

Super Bright Flashlight for Bike Light

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 2 Oct 2010 18:31:00 -0700

I've been experimenting with a lighting setup that is as bright as a Dinotte, but way cheaper. It is based on a replacement LED bulb that an inventor I work with has just come out with. With this insert, a 60 lumen Surefire flashlight becomes a 240 lumen monster. The batteries also last longer, due to a heat sink that improves efficiency.

This light is brighter than a car light, because I've driven at night in a car, shined the flashlight ahead onto the road, and you can see the spot in the pavement illuminated by the car headlights. It is unbelievably bright. I was camping next to a huge rock outcropping and I lit up the whole rock with this little tiny flashlight. When I drive down the street on my bike in the morning, all the reflective signs bounce light back at me. I took it into an REI store and compared it side by side to a Dinotte, and they were about equal.

Here is the setup on my bike, the Catrike recumbent shown in posts below:

The parts are shown in the picture below, with where to get them listed below the picture. The picture below shows two Surefire flashlight setups. One has a converter, available on ebay for about $8, which allows it to take longer batteries which last longer. The regular batteries last about 1.5 hours, the larger ones about 2-2.5 hours.

The parts of this system are as follows:

Flashlight Setup 1 : Surefire 6P flashlight (about $60) (or SureFire 6Z, C2, M2 and G2 or Cabela's 6 v flashlight ($32); from Surefire, Amazon, ebay or Cabela's.

Malkoff M60 insert: about $50: (replaces the fragile bulb that comes with the flashlight), from Tactical Design Labs (http://www.tdlabs.com/ if link doesn't work, under the "New" menu tab.) They are selling the Malkoff device as an upgrade for police, who use Surefire flashlights extensively. They say "It will easily illuminate objects at 350+ feet and will blind opponents within a 100 foot radius." I believe a Malkoff flashlight will easily to that.

2 CR123 Batteries, AW Brand protected rechargables from Lighthound.com, $7 each

Flashlight Setup 2: same flashlight and Malkoff insert as above, with

Surefire converter, ebay for $8, allows use of the longer 17500 batteries.

2 Batteries, AW Brand-17500-Protected-Rechargeable-Lithium-Battery from Lighthound.com, $11 each.

Fenix 360 Bike Mount, light holder, $15, this is high quality in fit and finish, but rattles. A small rubber band between the top half and bottom half stops the rattle. A no-name brand is also pretty decent, on ebay for $4 shipping, titled: New Bike/Bicycle LED Flash Light Mount Clamp Holder. These are a little loose on the Surefire, so I put a section of inner tube around the flashlight body, for a tighter fit.

Charger: Ultrafire WF-139 Charger for 3.7 volt Lithium Battery Charger, from Lighthound.com, $18.00 (charges several sizes of batteries)

SportCycle

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 2 Oct 2010 18:26:00 -0700

SportCycle

Bicycle Wall Art

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 15:24:00 -0700

Inspiration - Twin Girls on Mustang Bicyles

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 08:53:00 -0700

Bicycle Style....Streets of San Francisco

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 11:32:00 -0700

(Bubble Bicycle and Jill B. )

( 2 Boys from Antioch --- Giants Baseball Fans in SF for the Giants Game)

I am so happy. I thought I'd lost these two photos last summer when my laptop crashed and burned. I'd lost all sorts of data forever ( I know backup your data and did I say BACK UP your data). At any rate I wanted to enter this PHOTO contest, and I wanted to submit something fresh, something I'd never posted here on this blog. I pulled out all sorts of old memory sticks...

So here you have it. 2 photos, once lost but now launched off into cyberspace for posterity!

To Jill B. the lovely lady in the first photo... thanks for showing me your beautiful Bubble Bicycle. I've lost your contact info and so wanted to run the YouTube videos of you as well, but can't find the links to them.

Hey you Guys, Antioch Rocks! Go Giants. You 2 Dudes are too COOL riding on your way dynamite bikes!

Sexy on Bicycle

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 02:17:00 -0700

Classic Bicycle

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 02:16:00 -0700

Fresh Flowers on Bicycle - DIY (of sorts)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 14:38:00 -0700

How wonderful and clever - a way to always have fresh flowers adorn your bicycle!

What it is - a permanently attached flower vase (a steel tube painted white) and affixed to the bicycle basket....

He tells me he is planning the "All the Freaky People Parade" for late August - it's going to be an Art Bicycle Ride, something akin to the Kinetic Art Parade. Grant was one of the organizers on the Kinetic Art Ride, which was spectacular. Funny I still get publishing requests for a photo I took at that ride. Needlessly to say I am excited about the new ride coming up in August! I have weeks to get some arty bicycle concept going. Well, a little off topic - anyone watching "Work of Art"?

Another Red Vintage Bicycle

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 18:28:00 -0700

Tweed Bicycle Rides of May

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 8 Jun 2010 16:18:00 -0700

May Tweed Rides! These are some of my very favorite photos - gleaned from a half dozen or so rides that all happened during the month of May...

Marilyn Monroe on a Bicycle - Looking SO Adorable

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 7 Jun 2010 15:15:00 -0700

Classic Alliante

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 6 Jun 2010 14:17:00 -0700

A simple recover for Fitz to match his leather (Brooks?) bar tape. I'm very curious to see the build when it's complete.

DIY - Attach a Wine Crate to Your Bicycle Rack

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 1 Jun 2010 19:49:00 -0700

Here's a simple DIY. It's a Wine Crate or basically how to attach one to your back bicycle rack. A reader wanted to know more about mine, so here goes...

The really hard part is finding a good quality wine crate. The one I have is solid oak. I looked for a good year before I came across this one. It is just the right size to fit on my back rack.

Now comes the bungee cord part. You want to find ones that are the right size, so they loop and attach with just the right amount of tension to hold the wine crate secure.

Next you want to thread the bungee cord so as to make it be as inconspicuous as possible - for aesthetic reasons! I fiddled around for some time to find the right method to keep it nicely concealed, yet sturdily doing it's job.

Lastly for added flourish and panache I use my own DIY sourced cargo straps. I scoured around (thrift stores) to find D ring belts like the one above and the one bellow. I use them in all types of ways. The pretty flower belt (above) always seems to go on my wine crate to hold things in place, and as you may well have noticed here and here. .

This super rugged D ring belt is used to roll my picnic blanket - which I take with me whenever I go for county picnic outings on my bicycle.

Coastal Bohemian Blues

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 31 May 2010 22:23:00 -0700

Is this not the perfect bicycle for me, at least for today anyway....

()

Quiet times and a wonderful meal at the sea shore.....

()

Seriously I've been quite distressed over the oil spill - with no way to come to terms with expressing just what it is I feel about it all - let alone how to do it on my little bicycle lifestyle/fashiony blog.

I look at photos of my day at the Monterey Bay Aquarium and I feel this warrior earth goddess well up in myself. I love these sea creatures great and small. I must have been a selkie in a prior life.

Now excuse me while I share some of my favorite friends....

(all photos by ridingpretty)

Finito to the Train Day Story + Comfy Romper, So Perfect for Bicycle Rides

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 31 May 2010 14:10:00 -0700

(My super comfy romper worn over *gasp* padded bicycle shorts)

Finally sharing with you the end of my fabulous Train Day Bicycle Story....The above photo is what I wore that day and it ended up being perfect. Next meet Reef...

Reef is four and one half years old! He was my direct lead as I followed in behind him winding along the road. You see, I purposely chose to be as close to the last rider - bringing up the caboose as it were out of the four hundred and fifty plus riders. I emphatically enjoy going ever so leisurely and sort of lolly gag along, all the better to really take in the sights and listen for distinct song bird songs of the rarer birds in our local. So back to Reef - he inspired me! I had my 3 speed to help power me along and he had no speeds, yet he kept well ahead of me- dare I say sportingly out doing me!

Train and Bicycle Day - Part II

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 27 May 2010 23:21:00 -0700

(all photos by ridingpretty)

Four hundred and fifty people boarded the train... add that number in again and that's just about how many bicycles also went on board the train.

Just what is the Trail and Rail Day all about? It's about riding your bicycle to the train - then take a train ride to Roaring Camp/Henry Cowell Redwoods - then ride your bicycle nine glorious miles (down Highway 9) through the Santa Cruz Mountains on a beautiful mountain road that you've just about got all to yourself, meaning sans cars. This miracle ride happens once a year, and it's five years running now. A CHP escort secures the right of passage keeping traffic at bay during the course of the ride, sorta like what they do for the Amgen Tour.

Now there is a bit of an agenda behind all this. Come on folks, just do this ride once and you will want to see Rails and Trail get the funding and implementation it so deserves. Sincerely, I hope this idea continues to spread wide and far! For more info - Santa Cruz (local) or for National (in scope).

****

Anyway. Sheer joy! This day was so much fun, and yes I do have a few more photos from the day to share, so stay tuned...

Train and Bicycle Day - Part I

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 26 May 2010 13:03:00 -0700

(all photos - ridingpretty)

Much more to share with you! This is just Part I of an incredibly fun day- the Santa Cruz to Felton 'Rail and Trail Day'.

Shark

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 25 May 2010 04:38:00 -0700

Dave's Specialized Toupe recover in silver grey calf skin. Conditioned and waxed for a smoother finish.

SteamPunk Bicycle

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 23 May 2010 16:41:00 -0700

Gasp! - A SteamPunk bicycle rolled through the village of The Makers Faire. Entranced, I followed along behind...

Lo and behold a really amazing SteamPunk girl sat upon her velvet throne....

****

I spied some SteamPunk goggles I coveted ♥ ( the second ones from the top)...

(all photos by ridingpretty)

The 'Win a Bicycle' Contest List !

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 21 May 2010 11:43:00 -0700

Pretty amazing list of bicycle giveaways and contests going on right now - so act fast. Some bike contests end soon!

Win a handcrafted bike - details at Atayne + Dornbox

Win a Dahon - details at Bike Hugger

Win a Bowery Lane bike - details at MagnificentBastards (it’s a mens lifestyle magazine)

Win a Breezer or Trek bike by pledging at People for Bikes.org

Win a bike by tweeting you & your bike photo details at Martha Stewart Whole Living

Win a Breezer - details at Sierra Club
"All you need is a clean and crisp bike or bike-related photo and a thoughtful haiku (that's three lines of five, seven, and five syllables each). For example: Bicycle rider / Coasting without burning oil/ No tailpipe, no fumes."

This list was compiled out of emails that landed in my in-box. I listed them alphabetically. Well almost, I really like the Haiku contest from Sierra Club! If you look way down at the bottom of my side bar you will see a link I've had on my blog for more than two years - It's called "How Green is my Ride" - check it out :)

Trust me, you can win. I won a bicycle last year!

p.s. There are a lot more regional bike giveaways...I just concentrated on the national ones.
You're welcome to leave any word of any other good bicycle giveaways / contests in the comments field!

Rita Hayworth on a Bicycle

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 20 May 2010 08:28:00 -0700

Rita Hayworth on a bicycle ...

AND bathing suit time is here. Yeah for summer!
Anyone out there ride their bicycle in your bikini, swim suit?!??

After the Race

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 19 May 2010 10:23:00 -0700

After the Race...

Santa Cruz was host to Amgen Stage 3 :)

Unicycle! Plus Amgen Stage 3...Coming to Town!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 17 May 2010 20:35:00 -0700

too cool - downtown santa cruz

Tomorrow Amgen Stage 3 is coming to town which is pretty exciting and pretty crazy at the same time! Yes, I will be out there in the masses of crowds, with my camera looking for something interesting to share with you....

"Teens Leaving for Prom Night" - Take the Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 17 May 2010 12:29:00 -0700

Enjoy! a little video from the carfreechallenge !

(via carfreechallenge - take the challenge it runs June 1 to June 7)

Sweet little video, I wish I'd gone to my prom in such style!!

Stephanie Baker - Bicycle Portraits South Africa

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 17 May 2010 11:57:00 -0700

(Stephanie Baker - photo via kickstarter)

Beautiful photos aplenty over at Bicycle Portraits - simply every day people riding their bicycles in South Africa. A book is forthcoming, but you can learn more about this project by visiting.

Anyway back to Stephanie Baker, who is utterly amazing! She is in her 80's, has ridden a bicycle for many years and has quite the stylish flair about her! She very much reminds me of another lovely lady who so inspired me and whom I mused about not so very long ago....