Anyone get any nice holiday bike gifts?

[Bill H.]

Well, my family and friends really came through for me this year and
gave me some very nice and much-needed bicycle accessories for my
Takara road bike I've been fixing up.

First off was a very, very nice Light & Motion "Vega" headlight. I
also got a Cateye wireless cyclocomputer, and a nifty rear LED light.
Now I've got the confidence to ride around the city at night, which is
one of my favorite times to ride.

As if that weren't enough, my fiancee', who has, until recently been
totally without a bike, inherited a gently-used Specialized Hard Rock
rigid mountain bike. As I'm the household bike mechanic, I'll have the
pleasure of cleaning and tuning it up, but it doesn't need much - a
basic lube and brake adjustment will probably be about it.

Anyhow, hope your holiday season was as good as mine.

-Bill H.

(You can check out the Takara here:
http://home.comcast.net/~billhenry2/takara/takara.html)

[Leo Lichtman]

"Bill H." wrote: (clip) hope your holiday season was as good as mine.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Alsio had a great holiday--my only bike related gift was the book,
"Bicycling Science," by David Gordon Wilson. I'm only part way into the
first chapter, so far, but it looks like it's going to be a great read.

[Veloise]

Bill H. wrote:
> Well, my family and friends really came through for me this year and
> gave me some very nice and much-needed bicycle accessories ...

Must be nice! I didn't get nuthin'.

Except for the LAF which very graciously sent me freebie snail address
labels and LIVE STRONG stickers. Wrong name on them, but it's the
thought that counts, right?

--Karen D.

[Dane Buson]

My holidays were quite nice, and not terribly hectic. I did get
one bicycle related thing, and you can see a picture here:

http://members.arstechnica.com/x/zuvembi/PT-PZT1.gif

Not quite the WAG-4 dishing tool I was hoping for, but I'm sure
it will see some use. :)

I also got a smallish (4 1/2") vice for the bike workbench and
a Princeton Aurora LED headlamp. The headlamp should be very
nice for working on some bike stuff, where I always seem to be
standing in my light source.

--
Dane Buson - z u v e m b i @ u n i x b i g o t s . o r g
"You've got to have a gimmick if your band sucks."
-- Gary Giddens

[The Wogster]

Bill H. wrote:
> Well, my family and friends really came through for me this year and
> gave me some very nice and much-needed bicycle accessories for my
> Takara road bike I've been fixing up.
>
> First off was a very, very nice Light & Motion "Vega" headlight. I
> also got a Cateye wireless cyclocomputer, and a nifty rear LED light.
> Now I've got the confidence to ride around the city at night, which is
> one of my favorite times to ride.
>
> As if that weren't enough, my fiancee', who has, until recently been
> totally without a bike, inherited a gently-used Specialized Hard Rock
> rigid mountain bike. As I'm the household bike mechanic, I'll have the
> pleasure of cleaning and tuning it up, but it doesn't need much - a
> basic lube and brake adjustment will probably be about it.
>
> Anyhow, hope your holiday season was as good as mine.

Well, I got some cash, so I went down to the bike supply place and
bought a few things, like one of those under saddle bags, and a
mini-pump, so now if I get a flat somewhere, I'm not walking home. I
also picked up a bike mechanic book, as most of my knowledge is stuff
from 20 years ago, so a modern equipment book is a good thing. I also
picked up a spare tube.

As for the hard rock, know a guy that has one, nice bike....

W

[Veloise]

Dane Buson wrote:
> My holidays were quite nice, and not terribly hectic. I did get
> one bicycle related thing, and you can see a picture here:
>
> http://members.arstechnica.com/x/zuvembi/PT-PZT1.gif
>
> Not quite the WAG-4 dishing tool I was hoping for, but I'm sure
> it will see some use. :)

Those are dangerous to have around. You'll have it on display in the
kitchen, and its subliminal broadcast will permeate your consciousness.
"Pizza...pizza..." Read the paper, see the grocery ads.
"pizza...pizza..." What's for dinner? What's for lunch? What's for
breakfast???

I finally stuck mine in the drawer.

HTH

--Karen D.

[Peter Cole]

Dane Buson wrote:
> My holidays were quite nice, and not terribly hectic. I did get
> one bicycle related thing, and you can see a picture here:
>
> http://members.arstechnica.com/x/zuvembi/PT-PZT1.gif
>
> Not quite the WAG-4 dishing tool I was hoping for, but I'm sure
> it will see some use. :)

I got one of those a few years ago. It was great for me, as I bake my
own pizza frequently, but it made me wonder just how many cyclists
really need a pizza cutter...

I didn't get any cycling-related gifts this year (for perhaps the first
time in a decade), but we all went out mid-week to see the Imax movie
"Wired to Win:Surviving the Tour de France" at the Museum of Science
Omni Theater (Boston). It was terrific! Of course I'm a Nova-loving
geek, so the science was great, but the wide-format shots of the peloton
racing through the mountains were the most amazing cycling footage I've
ever seen. Even the paper critic gave it a 3.5 (out of 4), but if you're
a cyclist it's like a 5.

[SlowRider]

Hell, yeah!

I usually buy low-end cycling shorts, but my sweetie bought me a really
nice pair of shorts with a high-tech shammy. I wore them for a 2-hour
spin the other day and all I can say is -- Day-um!

Looking into my crystal hub I believe I see some long rides in my
future... :-)


-JR

[Matt O'Toole]

On Fri, 30 Dec 2005 14:54:15 -0800, Bill H. wrote:

> Well, my family and friends really came through for me this year and gave
> me some very nice and much-needed bicycle accessories for my Takara road
> bike I've been fixing up.
>
> First off was a very, very nice Light & Motion "Vega" headlight. I also
> got a Cateye wireless cyclocomputer, and a nifty rear LED light. Now I've
> got the confidence to ride around the city at night, which is one of my
> favorite times to ride.

Bill, would you give us an ongoing report on this light, as you use it
more? It seems like one of the neatest bike products to come out in a
long time.

Matt O.

[Matt O'Toole]

On Fri, 30 Dec 2005 14:54:15 -0800, Bill H. wrote:

> Anyhow, hope your holiday season was as good as mine.

One of my sisters sent me a nice, Coolmax top from LL Bean. Stuff like
this is great for riding around town, when regular clothes don't quite do
the job, but you don't want to look like a bike geek.

Since our family is spread all over the map, we send gifts from catalogs a
lot. This saves on shipping costs, especially overseas -- just order from
the foreign catalog sites, and not worry about overseas shipping and
customs.

Matt O.

[Roger Zoul]

"Peter Cole" > wrote in message
...
> Dane Buson wrote:
>> My holidays were quite nice, and not terribly hectic. I did get
>> one bicycle related thing, and you can see a picture here:
>>
>> http://members.arstechnica.com/x/zuvembi/PT-PZT1.gif
>>
>> Not quite the WAG-4 dishing tool I was hoping for, but I'm sure
>> it will see some use. :)
>
> I got one of those a few years ago. It was great for me, as I bake my own
> pizza frequently, but it made me wonder just how many cyclists really need
> a pizza cutter...
>
> I didn't get any cycling-related gifts this year (for perhaps the first
> time in a decade), but we all went out mid-week to see the Imax movie
> "Wired to Win:Surviving the Tour de France" at the Museum of Science Omni
> Theater (Boston). It was terrific! Of course I'm a Nova-loving geek, so
> the science was great, but the wide-format shots of the peloton racing
> through the mountains were the most amazing cycling footage I've ever
> seen. Even the paper critic gave it a 3.5 (out of 4), but if you're a
> cyclist it's like a 5.

Thanks for the report. I've got to go find this. Is it on DVD? Was Lance
and DT in it?

[[email protected]]

Bill H. wrote:
> Well, my family and friends really came through for me this year and
> gave me some very nice and much-needed bicycle accessories for my
> Takara road bike I've been fixing up.
>
> First off was a very, very nice Light & Motion "Vega" headlight. I
> also got a Cateye wireless cyclocomputer, and a nifty rear LED light.
> Now I've got the confidence to ride around the city at night, which is
> one of my favorite times to ride.
>
> As if that weren't enough, my fiancee', who has, until recently been
> totally without a bike, inherited a gently-used Specialized Hard Rock
> rigid mountain bike. As I'm the household bike mechanic, I'll have the
> pleasure of cleaning and tuning it up, but it doesn't need much - a
> basic lube and brake adjustment will probably be about it.
>
> Anyhow, hope your holiday season was as good as mine.

I got myself two hokeyspokes http://www.hokeyspokes.com, and a combo of
clipless shoes and pedals from nashbar
http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?category=&subcategory=&brand=&sku=10460&storetype=estore&estoreid=511&pagename=
(though I don't remember if I got the road shoe pedal combo or the
mountain shoe pedal combo and won't know for another two weeks). I
also got a 60GB ipod and a digital camera (I'm not sure about the ipod
but the camera is definitely a bike toy. I'm very happy with my SLR
except when I try to carry it on the bike.)

My boyfriend and I will be going to Vietnam for most of January. So, I
guess his gift to me is the excuse to cycle to Vietnam. (He'll be
flying from the US.)

And, at the bike club's Christmas Eve party I was given a new water
bottle and got called up to be named one of the three "best new riders"
and given a certificate and a big Tour de France calender (combining my
three favorite hobbies, men, photography, and bicycles). I'm going to
use it to write down my mileage. They have my Chinese name written up
in pretty calligraphy on a poster in the bike shop along with everyone
else who got awards! This includes people who were being recognized by
the club for achievements on a national level. <glow>

The water bottle came from the mechanic and is intended to replace my
other water bottle which is supposed to snap closed but never was easy
(and has become more difficult with use) with a screw top water bottle.
I'm still using the old one cause I bought it in Shanghai and it's
cool. Even if I thought the people at that shop weren't very friendly
this bottle (which has that shop's advertising on it) has more
character than yet another piece of gear that says Giant Bicycles.

-M