Originally Posted by
dynaryder
Not really. If you just want to keep your pants leg clean,both Shimano and TruVativ make plastic rings that bolt onto your big ring and do a fine job of keeping your pants clear. As for maintenance,look at my fleet,whole lotta derailleur bikes in there. I'm not constantly working on bikes all the time,I actually don't have to do that much in the way of regular maintenance. I've ridden through every winter we've had since '05 and it's yet to destroy a bike. A touch of rust,chain not lasting as long as it should,no real big deal. And I've got enough gears to spin up Loughboro without destroying my knees and still bomb Mass Ave through Embassy Row without spinning out.
As for lights,mount 'em to your helmet. That's what I do when out with friends. I use a Blaze/Superflash combo for bad weather commuting,but otherwise a pair of Fleas on my helmet and another blinky on my bag and I'm good. And living in DC,lots of folks take stereo faceplates and GPS units with them when they lock up their cars in case it gets broken into. That's city life.
If you want chain cases and hub dynamos,hit up Bicycle Space in Chinatown.
The plastic rings you speak of really don't do a great job of keeping pants clean, unless the pants are tight fitting. Standard khakis will undoubtedly get grease on them if only protected by such a plastic ring.
Mounting lights to my helmet doesn't appeal to me. I always lock my helmet to my bike. It would only be a matter of time before someone stole the lights. Dynamo lights are way more convenient.