DanBell

I just received this light in the mail a couple of days ago and mounted it on the bike today. AS far as my very scientific test of looking at it flashing against the wall of my living room, it's massively bright. This was midday with the sun streaming into the room. Compared to my Planet Bike Superflash it was no contest. Very solidly made. Build quality seems great, initially. Just got it out of the box though, so I can't speak to it's durability or actual use on the bike.

sjt78

Looks pretty nice for a bike that's seen all of that weather through the years. Sometimes we obsess over over the minutia. I bet that bike will still be around when you are done with its use. It may not still be pretty, but...

jonc123

I would like to hear more after you have used it, but it will probably be too late. Might order one by then. The only thing that bugs me is the batteries, once they die I assume the light is toast. I really didn't see anything about that aspect on the website. We need two lights so I may try two different lights. I'm sure new models will be on the way also.

Also interested in the quick release part; may want to put a mount on each bike and move the light, looks like they sell the mount seperate.

Thanks for everyone helping me get lined out,

Jon

djb

re racks, Ive toured for about 25 years, and being a light guy, I've learned to keep my full load (camping etc) down to about 40lbs, 45 tops. Ive had perfectly good experience using medium priced well made racks, and your comment about coming from a backpacking background, and hence being aware and careful of what you take weight wise, I second the view that you don't need the strongest racks out there.
Here in Canada anyway, there are many well made, rather sturdy looking and feeling, aluminum racks in the 30-60 dollar range, and I strongly suspect that one of these type racks would work well for your needs.
I find that in general, there are a lot more options for good quality racks now, at reasonable prices.
I recently bought some high quality racks, but in all honesty, I did well with what I had before. I got these partly because of a sale, and also thinking ahead to future possible trips where the terrain would be a lot rougher.

what sort of weight do you reckon your get together is, tent included, ie what do you think you would have on your bike (I will assume that perhaps you would carry the tent, and so maybe more weight than your wife) ?

I've tended to have about 25lbs on the rear rack, maybe 10 or a bit more on front rack, plus some in a handlebar bag.

The advantage here where I live is that there are a fair number of stores that physically have a good range of racks in store, so you can touch and feel and see lots of diff ones. Might be diff for you if you can only read about diff models.

re frame saver, unless you plan to leave a bike outside all the time, my experience of keeping my bikes inside means that rust has never really been an issue and not something to be really concerned about. Regular drivetrain maintenance, quick rim and brake pad wiping after being in the rain--all this is waaaaaaaay more important for your bikes well being and how well it works and lasts.

jonc123

Here is one of the tents I have. This is a single walled one person Henry Shires Tarptent. It weighs less than two pounds. This model is no longer made.

These tents are not for everyone and not for all conditions.

We have a couple other of his tents. I think the two person is under 2.5 pounds and compact. These are taken on top of Buford mountain here in Missouri.

jonc123

You posted that while I was working on the post with the pictures of my tent. I won't be carrying more than 25 to 30 pounds of gear. My wife usually carries the tent and sleeping bags (Western Mountaineering) and I will carry more water and heavier items. I'll say this...it seems as though when backpacking or doing the bike camping trips that if I am just going to stay one night somewhere or go on a trip that will last a week, I carry the same amount of gear more or less. Maybe a couple extra clothing items/food on longer ones. I know very little about racks/bike frames, I could just pull the rack off my Trek and use it. Never had a problem with it. It's a no name/brand rack.

I can give you a list of things I don't take: camera, cellphone, computer, books, GPS, Ipod or any electronics. My wife does carries a fancy phone and I really don't like to even see that. I've got so many pictures I've taken already that I never look at. I find it hard to have an adventure when you can whip out that Samsung and know where every pothole in the road is located. A state roadmap gets me by fine. I know, I am old fashioned. If I knew what was up ahead all the time I would just stay home.

I'll keep looking. The racks are not real high up on my list of important things...as long as it is well built it should work. It would be nice if I could find some *quality* stainless hardware as most of it on my Trek is rusted pretty bad.

djb

sounds like you guys will be fine, you're not like first time bike tourers who've never done any self propelled outdoor stuff and end up taking way too much stuff and it weighing a ton.

25-30lbs is nice, it would agree that a well built rack should work well for what you plan to take. There are lots of people who put that amount on the rear of the bike only and it works well. Part of how rear only works is the bike too, and while I havent ridden LHTs, I understand they are good and sturdy and would most likely work perfectly well with a rear only load (saving you a front rack and other panniers).

The advantage to front and rear panniers is that the bike is more balanced, can be nicer for certain bikes and or certain riding conditions. One of my bikes is very sturdy and rides well with a rear load only (which I have done with about that amount) but a sturdier rack will always be better than a more flexy one for this rear only scenario.
The other advantage with front and rear panniers too can be more spare room for when you stop for groceries or whatever, so just more leeway for sticking extra bulky stuff in at the end of the day at a grocery store, when you will eating it anyway that evening.

I guess I would add that buying a really good rear rack is ok too, and it will be a bit more sturdy, and in the big scheme of things, an extra 60 bucks or whatever isnt the end of the world. I tend to mention medium priced stuff to folks just more because for someone who isnt sure they will do much touring, or in your case, might not be taking lots of weight, its not a necessity. Especially given that there are lots of good, strong aluminum racks out there now that dont cost an arm and a leg.

oh, re rusty hardware, ya, stainless steel bolts are pretty much all you need and takes care of that.

ps, blue loctite is good to use on rack bolts too, helps them to stop loosening, which they tend to always do.

seeker333

It's not designed for daytime riding, thus the existence of the DDR, which requires external battery because of the greater number of LEDs and power demand, which is also the case for the DS500.

If you do not want a light that is clearly visible on a sunny day, go ahead, I'm sure the Quad will work great at night - but so will about 20 other taillights. However none of them will make you conspicuous on a normal busy road during the day, except for DDR and DS500. You'd be more visible in the day with ANSI lime shirts which do not require recharging, and weigh much less than a light+battery+charger - and are far less costly.

jonc123

Blue Loctite is good. I'll start out with just the rear rack and go from there. We'll have the two of us which makes things better, but you never know might want to go solo over the weekend when wife is working. I don't think she would need anything but the rear rack. Maybe a handlebar bag for some small stuff. Maybe I could find the right size compact bags for the front to maybe carry some extra water/groceries. This is my only bike, we live in an apartment and don't have room for 4 bikes. The less stuff on the bike the better for when i am riding around locally. I could take the racks/panniers on/off just for trips but I'm kind of lazy.

The only things I need out of the rack are pretty basic; keep the bags off the wheel and drivetrain, not interfere with my shoes and a semi-flat spot on top to lay another bag across. Heavy stuff on bottom, light stuff on top. Just like packing a backpack. If I don't get the right rack at first, I'll try another.

jonc123

I do want a light that is clearly visible on a sunny day. I don't hardly ever get out at night. I will Re-think. I a Granger (industrial supply) that has every type of safety equipment you could think of. I already have a lightweight mesh vest from them and some super high viz T-shirts that are lime/green or yellow/green (I don't know!)

I where this stuff on fitness walks also.

What do you use to power the DS500? Also, it appears they are not selling them at the moment. Looks like the store is closed for 6-8 weeks.

Can you provide a link to the DDR? I don't know which one that is.

Thanks,

Jon

djb

handlebar bags of some sort are handy, snacks, all your valuables, sunglasses, sunscreen whatever. I always take mine into a store with me, so you always have valuables with you. Plus handy to just stop pedalling and grab a snack or whatever.

re taking off a rack, I've never taken a rack off a bike once its on, so thats not an issue, its on and its always on.
Panniers however are made to take about a second to take off a bike, generally there is a bungee thingee with a hook that hooks onto the bottom part of your rack, and 2 U shaped supports on the top of the pannier that sit down onto the top rail of the rack, easy peasy to take on and off. There are other types of pannier attachment systems, but they all come off in just a second, so easy to take off when you park your bike and lock it up in town, or to set up your tent or whatever.

and as you say, if you try one rack and for whatever reason you dont like it, try another.

re panniers, there are lots of reasonably priced ones from places like Nashbar or REI (in the states), we in Canada have a REI type place called Mountain Equipment Coop, with reasonably priced yet well enough made stuff, again--good for someone trying out bike touring and not wanting to buy the most expensive panniers or whatever.

have fun looking at stuff and getting an idea of whats out there.

seeker333

I can't emphasize enough the utility of a proper hi-viz shirt for daytime visibility. Again, they are a fairly effective by themselves for visibility, and on tour, with careful route selection, it should be enough without a fancy taillight.

I power my DS500 with a battery from this guy - he is excellent and I've bought a few headlights from him over the years. Coincidentally, DesignShine's webstore sells these batteries with their lights (shipped direct from Action LED Lights):

https://www.action-led-lights.com/col...dshell-battery

for another 40 bux you can get the battery above, plus necessary charger and a very decent headlight that flashes about twice a second, also good for daytime visibility:

https://www.action-led-lights.com/col...ode-bike-light

DS500 regularly sells out. They are produced in batches by the designer/owner/builder Stephen Pethel, although he recently contracted a guy to help him build more due to demand. I suspect he is currently on vacation or committed to a big project at his day job, but I really don't know why the webstore is currently closed. Send him an email, he will answer.

DDR= Dinotte Daytime Red, mentioned in post #4 .

BTW I have a Squall 2, got it in 2008. It was one of Shire's early tent designs, now he has a dozen models or so, but still sells the Squall 2. The A-frame tent design still works for a lot of people.

DanBell

You get about twenty different sized mounting brackets with the light, and four or five of the part that the light attaches to, so you should be fine ordering one light, as far as mounting hardware is concerned. The mounts appear to be all different sizes though, so you might need to choose different places to mount it on each bike.

jonc123

seeker333...I will send him an email about the light. I also have a Squall 2. We did have a Double Rainbow at one time and may try one out again in the future.

DanBell...Thanks for the info.

djb...I'm in no hurry so I'll keep looking at racks. Thanks.

Thanks everyone. It will be real nice when I actually get the bike next month.

djb

I'd add one more comment, think about mirrors. Yes, its important to be seen, but I find it super important to have an idea of whats going on behind me. Situations like you see a truck coming towards you, you're on a small two lane highway, not much shoulder, or none, you can hear another truck coming from behind , but arent sure how far back it is--with a mirror you have a heads up of it you need to slow down and go off the road if all three of you are meeting in the same spot.
Also seeing a big RV coming behind you in a curve, or a car pulling a trailer with a boat...whatever.....having those few seconds of heads up makes a diff.

lots of mirrors out there, Im a fan of helmet mounted ones , specifically Take-a-Look, but for years used handlebar mounted ones.

I look at it that any mirror is a necessity and allows you to relax a bit more cuz you know whats happening at a glance and dont have to turn your head, if Joe truck driver is moving over, you can relax and dont have to concentrate on holding a 1 inch line from the gravel shoulder.

mirror sales pitch over.

jonc123

Mirror is on the list, I did have one before (handlebar mount) but it eventually broke when the bike fell if i remember correctly. I will try a helmet mount. I will look at the one you suggest.

Another unrelated subject, we have a Yakima rack for our truck, the type that the bikes hang from. It seemed to cause lots of wear and tear on them especially the aluminum Trek frames. Lots of scratches. May have to keep one bike in the truck bed (we have a camper shell) and one on the rack to keep them seperated. It will really hurt me to put that first scratch on one of these bikes!!

Also have to figure out how to store them in the apartment, the bikes have no kickstands and we really don't need them but would like to get one of the racks they use at the bike shops to work on the bikes but maybe will hold two bikes. I saw one for sale at the bike shop and it was $$$. I have a couple ideas I might try out in making something from wood. We don't really have a spot to lay the bikes over in the apartment or lean them.

Thanks!!

djb

re car racks, I think the only thing you can do is always have some foam tubes around (they sell them here to go over hot water pipes or heating pipes) to stick on the bikes where needed. Guess it depends on the car rack, ours is ok for keeping bikes away from other bikes but if we put 3 bikes or more, things are pretty squeezed, and of course, it depends on the shapes/sizes/handlebar types of the diff bikes in how they go against each other. I think ultimately common sense comes into play in terms of seeing what is going to rub against what and avoiding this or putting in something to protect X part, old blanket or whatever.

re storage, even though I have a garage, I still have a couple of J hooks stuck in the ceiling to hang 2 bikes by the front wheels. This works well, we have friends who have installed some sort of bike holder thingees on their basement wall that the front wheel goes into and theres a hook thingee too, so bike is essentially verticall against wall, front wheel held in place and bike just settles with rear wheel slightly off the floor , basically looking like its riding vertically up the wall.

of course, all this stuff means putting holes in walls and needing to get into a stud for proper holding on, so might not be a possibility for you. Probably coming up with a wooden homemade thing that you could place the bikes on might be more the ticket for you. Maybe get ideas from stuff like you mentioned in bike stores, it doesnt have to fancy, just get the bikes off the floor and stop them from falling over. That said, the wall hook ceiling hook thing is best for minimizing space floor space that gets taken up.

treebound 

(ack, lost my post attempt, trying again before the computer glitches again...)

For apartment storage you can either use a simple wheel chock, or can look into one of the leaning type of storage stands.
I have an oak version that is functionally similar to this one: Delta Michelangelo 2 Bike Stand

Or a simple wheel chock: Gear Up Grandstand Single Floor Bike Rack


For a repair stand I would suggest getting one that folds up and stores in a corner of a closet when not in use, one of mine is similar to this one:

Topeak Prepstand Elite Repair Stand

djb

14 Best Space Saving Bike Rack Solutions for Apartments | HiConsumption

look into Ikea, and a basic search comes up with all kinds of diy ideas. One on top of another is kind of good for space saving, put yours up top in case your wife wants to get hers down on her own, might be easier. anyway, seems there are some good options out there, bought or made.