mike

Check out the cool rain ponchos I bought in China last week (yup, I bicycled while I was there too).

They are a coated heavy nylon of pretty nice quality.

They are actually intended for motor scooters, but they work well for bicycles too. Notice the slits it has for mirrors and the clear plastic so your light will shine through it.

I bought two. One is for double riders - like when I bring my son to school and the other is for single riders.

Neat, 'eh!

LittleBigMan

mike!

You were in China?

G'WAN!

Isn't China the land of bicycling? I heard the cars over there are afraid of being hit by a bike...

mike

Yes, I go to China all the time.

China WAS the land of bicycles. When I first went there about 12 years ago, bicycles were just about the only convenient way travel within city. There were buses and a few taxis. It was absolute bicycle heaven!

In the center of Beijing - a city with 30 million people - it WAS as quiet as a park because there were no automobiles.

Gradually over the past ten years, the main roads were divided with physical barriers to separate the growing automobile traffic from the bicycle traffic.

Today, the automobile traffic and pollution is getting so bad that it is dangerous to bicycle. The bicycle lanes are now being encroached upon by motorcycles and automobiles. Many streets now have no bicycle lanes at all.

I estimate that within five years, bicycling in the big cities of China will only play a minor role in transportation.

This is really sad. I don't think the Chinese realize what they are losing when they lose the bicycle as a major form of transportation.

LightBoy

Dude! Those are cool!

Of course, I get pretty much the same effect from a heavy duty garbage bag. But I'm not as worldly as you. I've never been to China.

Heck, I've never even been to Canada.

bentrox!

Cool idea but I'm not sure I could wear anything that was lavender-colored

mike

Oh, fear not; the market minded Chinese have a nice collection of "not found in nature" colors from which to choose.

mwmw

I read recently that in the U.S. there is one car for every 3 people; in China there is one car for every 16,000 people.

RonH

Does wearing the pancho contribute to your ability to do the front wheel stand shown in the picture?
Or do you have to be riding a scooter to do it?

I hope the instructions aren't in Chinese.

D*Alex

I hope that the front of those things are held down securely! Can you imagine getting a facefull of wet, purple plastic at 20 mph??

mike

Ya, that's funny. I was thinking the same thing. I'm not sure how they stay in place on a moped riding at 30+ miles per hour mixed with traffic.

I did get the chance to use mine this weekend, though. Oh, the joy of rain when you have a new rain toy.

It seemed that the windage from moving forward holds the poncho in place pretty well. Still, I'm not confident it would stay in place if a howling wind came from some odd direction, though.

So far, though, it works pretty well. I like that my light would shine through the plastic front. That was perhaps the coolest feature of all.

Coincidently, my son used a (Japan made) plastic poncho (we rode together). My Chinese nylon poncho draped better and was cut better than the plastic version. If you are in the market for a poncho, consider the draping characteristics of the material. While both seemed to weigh about the same, the coated nylon stayed in place while I rode. The plastic one was flying all over the place like Batman in the wind.

LightBoy

Has anyone else noticed that the scooter in the second picture appears to be flying? Have the Chinese invented a flying scooter? Where can I get one?

mike

Jeeze, how did I miss that?! I could of had a flying scooter and all I brought home was the rain poncho.

Come to find out, though, the flying scooters are fueled by opium, so it would be an expensive flight. Granted, you would probably be hooked after your first flight.