NBD can, as this thread alone would clearly demonstrate if that were needful, also stand for "New Bag Day." And so today proved to be.
I started off by going to REI, where I had not been since before obtaining the Probable Peugeot. Indeed, the last time I was in the Berkeley REI, I was pushing a walker and barely made it up the three stairs to the sales floor. While the nice salesman was very nice, and understood perfectly what I was seeking in footwear, (a bit softer than 5-ten Freeriders, which I have and love, but thery're a bit too stiff for every-day wear on and off the bike,) they didn't have anything he thought would work in the bike department, and Shoes was totally slammed... like 7 customers and 2 dudes. It's not like I'm barefoot... shoes can wait.
I did end up picking up a light set, NiteRider Micro 900 front / Vmax+ 150 rear.
Then I decided to ride to downtown Oakland, with King Kog as my destination. They're cool cats, and if I land the apartment I'm trying to get, they'll be my LBS, so why not get started on the relationship now?
To that end, this was obtained:
A PNX Clasic Series stem bag.
I've never tried a stem bag before. The explosion in bike baggery happened after I was out of the sport, and even as I was coming back in and digging on all of it, I wasn't really in a position to try any of them out. But that's all changing now, at least for now, so I'm getting into that scene. And the Bay Area is a great place to check out cool ways to attach things to your bicycle.
Plus, the Probable Peugeot PKN-10 only has bottle braze-ons on the downtube, and even if there were any on the seat tube, my u-lock would block 'em.
Plus plus, I think it looks rad with the bestickered flat blue frame.
The other change I made was to swap the old, worn, crappy, simultaneously-dried-out-and-squishy brake pads for some Yokozunas I got from Rivendell yesterday. Needless to say, a big, big win.
(And whoever invented the eyeball washers on modern brake pad posts deserves a friggin' statue somewhere. Centerpull squeal? No BFC. No bending. No cursing... No excuses. Put the cardboard the pads came on between the rear of the pad and the rim. Pull calipers tight to rim and cardboard. Align pad with tire & rim. Tighten pad mounting nut. Toe-in set. Done.)
--Shannon