soda

I took some pics today of my gear that I wear when I commute and thought some of you might be interested.

pic 1: Most everything except my cycling shorts and random t-shirt. You guys know what they look like.

pic 2: My shoes with recessed clips. I've had these a loooong time and although you can't tell, they are Nike ACG shoes. I've been known to wear these all day at campus and make people ask why my shoes click when I walk. I've had to glue the soles back on a few times and replace the shoelaces.

pic 3: My mouthpiece. I use a mouthpiece after I heard a story of someone flying over the front of their bike and busting out a tooth. It's only a buck and it hardly gets in the way of breathing. I had a clear one at first but realized I could make myself look more menacing with a black one.

pic 4: My U-lock attached to my daisy chains and a battery powered taillight. Those are two reflective stickers. I put my coffee thermos in one of the side compartments and my glassess and repair kit in the other side. The main compartment is for clothes, lunch and other misc stuff. There is another compartment that I can put papers and stuff into.

pic 5: The shoulder, sternum and waist straps of the backpack. The shoulder straps have daisy chains to which I attach my keys, my ID, a cliphanger (see pic of knife) and an extendable baton (look closely and then see pic of baton below). I also have my cell phone attached to my sternum strap.

pic 6: My air conditioning. It's homemade and I put it between my back and the backpack for air circulation. Without it, I get completely soaked with sweat. It doesn't interfere with positioning of the backpack and it's made of soft tubing so it doesn't hurt my back either. This is a wonderful thing to have on hot days. The difference between riding with and without this thing is amazing. I much prefer to have the air flow. Cost about $2 to make.

pic 7: Close up of keys, cliphanger and baton on the backpack. All three are easily accessible from those straps.

pic 8: The cliphanger open. It's a knife that can be easily attached and removed when needed. I only have this for emergencies and to get stuff out of my tire that I can't get with my fingernails.

pic 9: My extendable baton with bright tape. I originally got this for emergencies but have since adopted it for other purposes. When riding on a section of road that encourages cars to buzz me, I extend the baton and using my left hand, make it an extension of my handle bar so that it protrudes into the road. This gives me a buffer zone and only once has a car hit the baton. It forces drivers to slow down when they pass or move over. It's great because it's not attached so if a car does hit the baton it won't affect my riding very much. I've had police cars pass me and say nothing. I love this thing. I've also been known to whip it out during angry conversations.

And that's why they call me road warrior at the gym.

Comments? Critiques?

dee-vee

Thats some ghetto gear going on. I like it!

LittleBigMan

My brother gave me a hiking backpack many moons ago. It uses an aluminum-tube frame to lift it away from me and allow my back to breathe.

But your homemade "air conditioning" seems to be made of flexible plastic tubing, which would be an improvement over aluminum, which might hurt a cyclist in a crash.

vrkelley

??? no glow in the dark message to the cages????

Dude! I like your style. More about that air conditioning please...it's snowing out but I need it year 'round.

andygates

You really ride with a gumshield?

darkmother

Cool idea with the backpack spacer. I always ride with a pack and even in the winter, my back gets soaked. Does it stay where you put it, or do you attach it to the bag. I think I might make something like this. Maybe I'll make a scoop to grab some air from over my shoulders. My pack will be like one of those souped up hondas that buzzes me on the way to work. Maybe now I get some respect in tha hood, yo.

dee-vee

Good idea, make some intake tubes over the shoulder then drill holes all around the rest of the tube.

KrisPistofferson

I love it! It's good to see someone who takes pride in their gear at the same time bustin' the DIY style! That's how my gear is, and I swear, some LBS elitists act like someone crapped on their floor when they see it, so it make a good "litmus test". Black is the ONLY color for Mad Max gear, anyway.