bell snapped in two on my way to work this AM. i used it and then i heard a big crack and it hanging off the side of my stem.

time for a new bell. any recommendations?

Little initiative, coasted most of the way

Pricey (especially the black version), but I just ordered one for my new bike:
Spurcycle Bell

The stock bell on my other bike went bust after just 2 months of use - I replaced it with an Incredibell. Quite a bit cheaper than the Spurcycle, yet has a nice loud sound and good build quality.

Nightmare morning. I had an orthopedist appointment which we drove to, carrying the bike on the trunk rack. My plan was to take the bike from there to work while the wife went to her appointment, somehow scheduled at the same time. But having never been on that stretch of road and rather cold, we decided that she'd take me to work after her's was over. That was a mistake because her flake rheumatologist kept her waiting for almost two hours. At work finally, riding the bike to the rack I noticed that the rear wheel is soft, probably 50-60 psi and I may need to pump it up before the ride home.

The one bright spot is that my collarbone is officially pronounced "healed". It's kind of a milestone for me since I broke it in May, rode a couple of months with it separated and not healing, changed ortho's and got it pinned in July but it still wasn't healing and finally resorted to a bone growth stimulator.

Oh yes, good stuff, glad your collar bone is healed.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4136/...597293c8_z.jpg

You just made me laugh at the thought of this...

Thanks.

I'm a fan of brass bells. I have a Velo Orange one, and a Cane Creek on the way (Amazon Prime- free shipping!) The only thing I really dislike about VO is their shipping prices.

I walked to my first physical therapy appointment this morning and then took the subway to work. I should have ridden. It's cold and windy but humidity is low.

PT gave me hope that I'll heal well in the shoulders. I got some exercises to perform twice daily.

[MENTION=60072]HardyWeinberg[/MENTION], a few of us are in on the secret of the Puget Sound. Maybe we'll move there one day.

Coldest commute of the fall so far this morning, with low in upper 20s. I was dressed fine and the cold was not a problem, although I will put the toe warmers on my shoes next time it's that cold. Aside from the cold temps, the weather forecast is looking great for the remainder of the work week, so I should be able to squeeze in three commutes this week.

Haha im reading how many of you didn't ride last wk when we had rain...I didn't read the forecast and saw the rain and said crap and I rode home. Was dressed in all fleece so I stayed dry maybe for 10 min and then was soaked. Glove grip was good for being so wet. I was the only bicycle on the Manhattan bridge on my entire ride in both directions. I marveled at that quite a bit as its always packed with people riding.

I have to get summer riding gloves for when it rains firing the warm months

Not slipping on my handlebars is amazing and less scary! Definitely need a pair.

29 when i left this house this morning. clothing was dialed in perfectly got warmed up and glasses did not fog up. Except for a small moment but felt pretty good. I know it got down 26F which is pretty cold. my eyes have kinda burned all day.

:thumb:

Thanks [MENTION=409376]GovernorSilver[/MENTION] and [MENTION=384662]bmthom.gis[/MENTION] I will look into it. $40-50 for spurcycle sounds interesting but hubs has already vetoed based on price reasonability lol. Oh well. I will check it out in person on my ride home either today or tomorrow

Yeah I normally wouldn't splurge for a Spurcycle, especially since they're hard to find at most LBS's but since I'm treating myself to a nice new bike, I wanted to put a well-regarded handmade-in-USA bell on it.

mgw4jc, you are right! North Carolina is not supposed to be colder than Mass, and I feel for you, but Mass made up for it this am and it was a nice 22f degrees when I left the house.

I saw a runner this morning and he was lit up well. He had a front light that was extremely bright and also a rear light. If i ever see him again I am going to inquire as to where he found that light.

Other than that it was a nice uneventful commute.

Decent ride home last night. Although it was about 50F when I left, it feels colder as it is getting darker as I go.

This morning it was 28F, about the same as yesterday, so I just wore the same thing. The cold makes me want to push the pace a bit more to generate some body warmth. There is one mile in particular that I can sometimes ride at 20mph if I force it. It was tough to get it going this morning, but managed that mile in 3 minutes even. Then I rode slowly for to recover.

My mantra this week is "this will be a typical week in January." It's great weather for trying out the cold-weather gear and remembering what works. Yesterday my feet were the only cold parts, so I put the toe warmers on this morning and all was good. I wore my lighter gloves on the ride home since temps were in the mid-40s, but regretted that later as the temperatures really dropped fast. My fingers were so numb when I got home that I couldn't key in the combination to our garage door opener. Temps were in the upper 20s again this morning, and I dressed just a little bit warmer than yesterday but ended up sweating more than I like.

Woke up to snow here in Montreal and my winter bike isn't quite ready. Regrettably, I think I will have to sit this one out.

Finally, a full frost on the ground, icy patch 28° morning commute! No schadenfreude for me though because joggers and walkers were all animated and cheerful, and no one was out scraping windshields. Great morning.

A better one?!

27F, sunny, no wind - pretty nice. I think this is the hardest time of year for clothes - 20's in the morning/40-50 in the evening. Feels like I never have the right stuff on

Yesterday's 21°F made today's 27° seem balmy. Still playing mix and match with gloves, balaclava and layers to stay optimally warmed. Toes were a little cold and my head was sweating. Great ride.

PS - thinking balaclava, fingers want to type baklava. Do not want baklava on my neck.

finally feels like November. I miss the abnormal warm temps haha
 

[MENTION=86492]tarwheel[/MENTION] "My mantra this week is "this will be a typical week in January." It's great weather for trying out the cold-weather gear and remembering what works. Yesterday my feet were the only cold parts, so I put the toe warmers on this morning and all was good. I wore my lighter gloves on the ride home since temps were in the mid-40s, but regretted that later as the temperatures really dropped fast. My fingers were so numb when I got home that I couldn't key in the combination to our garage door opener. Temps were in the upper 20s again this morning, and I dressed just a little bit warmer than yesterday but ended up sweating more than I like."

I too was concerned with being too warm on the way home yesterday but I wore basically the same (minues overshoes, 1 pair of gloves, and balaclava) and it was pretty cold. GPS said that it was low 30's not the 40's they were calling for. Glad I had the gear.. 28 miles total yesterday bringing my my November total to 223 miles and basically shattering last year's 51 miles for the month. ;) I got home yesterday and family was like it is cold get in here quickly. I said it is not too bad. :innocent:

This morning I was pretty comfortable until my dumb glasses fogged up again. I popped the prescription inserts out and they eventually cleared. I feel/ think it was colder today than yesterday but it might just have been higher humidity because I basically wore the same thing as yesterday. I think that I am going to use some HSA money and buy some clear Oakley lenses to go into them. They are great lenses. Such great periphereal vision compared to glasses with inserts. :D

I hope to ride to work 3 days this week and I was told that I could go for a ride Friday and Saturday if I wanted. :love: Saturday is a Burn the Turkey Event at a local park with some mountain biking and chili.. should be fun and such a different kind of riding.

[MENTION=397406]snow_echo_NY[/MENTION] I rode with a friend around halloween and she has the spurcycle bell. It sounds awesome and looks great. She rang the bell often.. It has a pretty sound to it. Expensive but sure looks like it is worth it.

Finally got back in the saddle after, something like a week and a half. Couldn't be bothered to fix the flat on my Peugeot yet, so I decided I would eat out (or there are rumors of a pizza party...) and pack my clothes up in my Carradice, so I grabbed my Raleigh Comp GS and away I went! I haven't been on that bike since the century I did almost a month ago. It's definitely one of my favorite bikes in the stable. If it had more friendly gearing, I might consider getting rid of my fred sled and just riding that (yeah right...who am I kidding?! If I got rid of that, I would have an excuse/money to get a Milwaukee).

Anyways, I finally fixed the cleat position on my road shoes, knee felt great (had been having some pain lately when wearing them - determined there was too much angle). Slipped my new neoprene shoe covers over. I had toasty tootsies the whole way in! Starting temps were around 30, finishing around 37. Felt pretty good by the time I got out of my subdivision.

it broke b/c the plastic is cheap and b/c of cold weather. i've not had good success with bells in freezing (or below freezing) temps.
every bell has some plastic component so it's hard to gauge whether a bell has a good plastic supplier or not. or whether the maker has thought out the bell in varying weather conditions. considering the cost, i'm guessing not. i really don't want to spend on a spurcycle...