If I don't drown in Lake Michigan I figure I can make up lots of time on the bike. The first jog of the season was a complete *****

ere's my $0.02 - i put on a bottle cage from time to time usually on longer rides- no fender yet but i do have front and rear reflectors- no saddle bags- lights good though not so when deviance abounds- pumps ok in a bag, bags ok if on a back. out.

I love my computers,but it looks gross on my bike.

its all about the front rack
http://cetmaracks.com/box%20cropped.jpg

Heres my strategy...just put as much stuff on there as you need to make your bike practical for whatever sort of riding you do...then just keep telling yourself and other folks that you are only using that bike while you are saving up for a full on 100% NJS brakeless track bike.

Once a month, we get a UPS shipment from wine.com. Since my wife and I both work for educational institutions, we can't get it shipped to our workplaces and it can go to our home since wine requires ID and a signature and no one is home during the day.

But there's a UPS terminal on right my way home from work so I'm tasked each month to go there and pick up two bottles of wine in box that's clearly marked as to its contents. Since I hate driivng my car to work when I don't have to, I can often be seen riding across the Yolo causeway with a wine.com box strapped to the back of my bike.

So the picture above is not to far from my own reality.

I saw one guy with a bottle opener bolted on where the water bottle mounts are.

totally awesome.

there was a bike for sale on ebay or CL a while ago that had a campy peanut butter wrench with two holes drilled in it, mounted on the water bottle bosses.

I like bikes to be minimalist, but I always find myself bolting shtuff to them for practical reasons even though it pains me to do it.

My fixed gear bike is the one bike I keep pure, because it already is pretty stripped down compared to a geared bike, so it seems natural to keep that one bare. If I had more than one fixed gear bike, one of them would probably be decked out in rack and fenders, and might even have a computer on it.

A while back, on Craigslist some guy was selling a pair of track dropouts that also worked as bottle openers (I think it was where the derrailuer hanger went.

My bike has a computer, bottle cage, cateye blinkies front and rear, fenders, a frame wedge bag, a front brake, and a bell. On moustache bars.

I see several sides of this debate. Yes, it's neat to have a stripped-down lightweight track bike with no nonessential stuff, but that gets a bit old when you ride mostly off of the track and have to dig in your bag for a drink of water or something. I perfer to have a bike that I keep fairly light and clean, but that has enough equipment to keep me happy on long rides and in the rain. I'm less of a track racer and more of a commuter though. On the third hand, people that put stuff on their bikes just for the image it provides or whatever aren't getting it or are trying too hard to impress someone. Just ride what works for you and don't try to impress everyone; you usually do better anyways when you do your own thing. Example: whenever I see a cute girl bringing her groceries home on a bike with a big basket up front, I always think that's really hot, since I'm a fan of utility cycling.

whats cool is stopping to help someone with a flat.

bike parts are things.

even though lotsa people (including me) think aesthetics are really important for their FG's, there is nothing inherent in a simple drivetrain that means the rest of your ride has to be stripped-down.

and fg /= track bike