Death of HID?

I've been reading about a new LED on the market, the XR-E Power White LED. I was first put onto this emitter by THIS thread over on MTBR.com. Until now, LumiLEDs Luxeon LEDs have been the king of LEDs. They are what is used in most, if not all, high power LED bicycle lights on the market, including those made by NiteRider, Light and Motion, DiNotte, Lupine, CatEye, etc. The majority of these lights use the Luxeon III at just over 3W of power. At that same current draw, the XR-E puts out about twice the light that the Luxeon III does -- and the voltage is less, meaning less power consumption -- the Luxeon III at 3W (~80 lumens) uses the same current as the XR-E at 2.4W (~140 lumens).

My numbers came from the below graphs taken from this thread at CandlePowerForums.com. I used 750mA as my reference.





What this means is that soon, very soon, LEDs will be the leader in light efficiency. The ultimate cost? Who knows. If these LEDs pan out and are as good as is claimed -- which it seems -- then I'd expect someone in the bicycle lighting industry to jump on them as fast as they can. The first product will likely be very, very expensive, but then again, the current crop of lights based on the Luxeon III isn't exactly cheap.

I wouldn't be surprised to see HIDs go away in as little as 2 or 3 years, with LEDs taking their place. Halogens will continue to hang on in the low end, as they are dirt simple to make and, therefore, cheaper to the end consumer.

Trailers

Almost exaclty two weeks ago, child #2 -- the Girl -- joined our family. To celebrate the occasion, I have taken the last two weeks off of my day job. My job, as parent #2 -- the lesser parent when a newborn is in the picture -- is to keep kid #1 -- the boy -- out of the hair of parent #1. Right now, he feels a little neglected, so I wanted to spend some quality time with him. However, this means that my riding time has suffered. During a normal work week, I ride between 23 and 30 miles per day all week long. Since I am not working, I am not picking up that mileage. In addition to those base miles, I normally get a long ride in on Saturdays, something I haven't been getting the last few weeks, either. Now, I'm not trying to be selfish here, rather I know that if I don't get in a little saddle time, I tend to get a little cranky and am not very pleasant to be around. So, what's a guy to do?

This is where the title comes in. Over the years here at GearReview.com, we've reviewed three kid hauling trailers. Jon still uses both the Wike and the Yakima, though the Yakima isn't in production any more -- Jon has more children than I do. I use the Chariot. I love the Chariot, especially for the fact that it doesn't interfere with disc brakes. The Wike has this feature as well, but lacks the suspension of the Chariot.


This bicycle accessory is one of the greatest investments a parent can make. Why? For the reasons I stated in the opening paragraph, I can get my saddle time in and take care of the Boy. If I want to go exploring, I strap the Boy in and go. Today, I needed to take back a couple of rented DVD's. The weather was very, very nice. The sun was out, and I needed a ride. So, I put the Boy in the trailer, and off to town we went, 7 miles away. He got out of the house, I got a ride in, and an errand was run. Was the ride ideal? Not really. I had a tail wind on the way in, but it was a head wind on the way home, and the trailer is a parachute. However, I got a ride in that otherwise wouldn't have happened. And any ride is better than no ride.

If you are looking for a trailer, I heartily recommend one that uses a skewer-type mounting system so that disc brakes are an option. With disc brakes nearly ubiquitous on mountain bikes, you'd hate to limit bike choices because of a hitch type. Both the Wike and the Chariot are nice, but I really like the suspension on the Chariot. It takes a bit of the bumps out, and since I use mine both on and off road, the Boy appreciates that little bit of cushion. The Wike has a hard floor, which helps the children get in and out themselves. Either way, whatever trailer you end up with, it's something that will get used and used and used.

Don't underestimate the importance of both family and saddle time. With a trailer, you can do both.

Tail lights

I was following this thread on Bikeforums.net and I saw the video by mechBgon. I liked the idea, so I thought I'd do the same...



As you can see, my results weren't very good. I hope to try again with a different camera. In fact, this was taken with my Treo 650's camera because my Sony point and shoot couldn't handle the low light. Argh! Anyway, what you are seeing is 1) NiteRider's Classic tail light -- the one that connects to their headlight's battery, 2) the same NiteRider light on solid, 3) the Cateye TL-LD1000 with all the lights on flashing and finally 4) the Dinotte tail light. The color is a bit washed out and the video is slow. Oh well, there it is.

E Load

I just received some E load samples in the mail from the good folks at BikeMine. Like most sports drinks, these guys claim to rehydrate, refuel and generally make you feel good about yourself. Frankly I've tried most of whats out there and I buy Cytomax. Why? Three words: Lactic Acid Buffering. Cytomax has been the only thing I've used that makes difference, or at least a big enough difference that I can feel it. Now, it's not perfect. Too much of the stuff and I get... er... gassy. So I run it dilute. It's not perfect, but it works for me. So when BikeMine said that they were distributing E load and would I like a sample, I said "sure, why not" and then pointed my browser to Google and did some searching. What I turned up was this comparison page on E load's site. I've posted a portion of it below.

I've highlighted the part I'm most interested in. Though I only show part of the table -- again, click the link above for the whole thing -- You can see that only E load, Cytomax and Hammer HEED have any sort of acid buffering. Frankly, even though it's cooler out these days and I don't feel the need to supplement water on my rides, I'll be using the E load and Cytomax back to back to see if one works better than the other. I'll keep you posted.

Wilma

And so it begins.

Last year about this time I began compiling a list of LED light manufacturers for my Big Review -- yes I capitalized it -- and at the time I left out Lupine. Why? Well, frankly because of the cost. Well, this time around -- Big Review 2, if you will -- we'll be looking at higher power LED lights. Those that have a shot at replacing HIDs as the de facto standard in illumination. These are expensive lights, but then so are/were HID based lights.

I invited Lupine to the party and they stepped up with their Wilma. In fact they are the first light for this review we've received. Kudos to them.

Now, on with the show:

The Wilma 4 is their lowest end Wilma. The light heads are all the same, but the batteries are different. The Wilma 4 has a tiny Li-Ion battery that is good for 3 hours (claimed) on high and a staggering 33 hours on low. It is made up of four 3W LEDs in a single light head.
Lupine uses their own lenses so the lens for the Wilma is custom for this light.

The electronics are something else. From the factory, the light is set for two steps -- high beam and low beam with the low beam 12% of max -- but this is user adjustable. Not only is the low beam adjustable, but you can remove it altogether, making the switch just an on/off button. Or you can have three levels of light -- High, Medium and Low, running at 100%, 60% or 12% respectively. Or, if you prefer you can have the light level continuously adjustable. Whew. There is a separate manual for the power switch! And that is just one aspect of electronics that is well thought out and provides the most options for the customer.

The light also comes with both handlebar and helmet mounts. All in all a well thought out lightset but all that well-thought-out-ness comes at a price. The Wilma 4 is $550. It's bright, and frankly I can't wait to see what the competition has in store.

Burnout

Man, I love bicycles. I like reading about them, working on them and especially riding them. I do, however, admit that sometimes I get a little burned out on them. It might be that I am so involved in bicycle industry -- you know, trying to keep current on the latest and greatest so that I can keep you informed too -- that I tire of the cycling scene. And what do I do when that happens? I go for a ride.

I was reading Jon's post HERE about his riding a hardtail... er... full rigid mountain bike again. This got me thinking. You see, in my garage I have my cross bike, my road bike, my full squish mountain bike -- a Jekyll like Jon's -- and a full rigid single speed that once belonged to Jon... and I suppose technically does. That's an interesting story of my swapping bikes with him, getting back the one I traded -- is now just a frame -- but keeping the one he swapped with me. I think I really came out ahead on this one. Anyway, back on topic, why am I telling you what bikes I have in my stable? It's all about burnout.

You see, I spend a bit of time commuting by bike, this puts me on either my cross bike or my road bike, with the rare exception of the occasional use of my mountain bike as commuter. Riding the same route day in and day out is a good cause of burnout, so I mix it up. I ride off road some days. I ride on my cross bike on these occasions, since I generally only have time to ride one way off road, so the flexibility of the cross bike allows me to use the road the other direction. Sure I could do that on my mountain bike, but riding a mountain bike on the road for 12 miles is no fun at all.

If my normal off road rides are feeling all the same, I hop on my single speed. Without any gears or suspension I have to pick my line carefully and even the tamest trails feel alive again. If I run out of daylight, I fire up my lights and head out in the dark. Again, old trails feel new and old routes take on a new life.

Invariably, when I do switch up my bikes, I always get the same feeling. I think, "I should be riding (insert bike here) more often." Cycling, with all of its facets, is a tremendous sport. The variations are similar enough that cross over is easy to do -- switching from the road to the dirt, from the dirt to cyclocross, etc -- that anyone can do it. But each discipline is different enough that it feels like a whole new world.

Next time the same old ride just isn't cutting it for you, get out another bike, fire up the lights, or refuse to shift. I promise it'll all be new again.

NuVinci

Internally geared hubs occupy a niche in the bicycle drivetrain market, but that niche seems to be growing. They were once the domain of upright fendered slow bicycles for those that might enjoy a leisurely ride in the park, or who have a very short commute to work. That started to change when Rohloff introduced the 14 speed Speedhub. All of a sudden, internal geared hubs became useful for more people, even if the price was way up there.

With the resurgence of the internal geared hub -- and it is a resurgence, they've been around for decades -- it's understandable that new ideas and innovations are taking place. Enter, Fallbrook Technologies. They've developed a new hub that is amazingly simple, in principle, yet completely new. The first change from other internal hubs is that this one is a Continually Variable Transmission (CVT, hereafter). There are no stepped gears. Instead it relies on a series of balls that exchange the power from the input shaft to the output hub. It's easier to see in pictures, and video. Below is a picture curtesy of MTBR.

For the video explanation, click HERE -- blogger doesn't seem to be able to host videos, or I'm just imcompetent, which might be the case.

Drawbacks? Well, this is pretty new technology so it's not fully developed. Right now the hub is reported to weigh 9lbs and supposedly costs $400. Too expensive and too heavy. Also, the gear range isn't as wide as a 1x9 setup running an 11-34 cassette. Add to that the fact that a well maintained chain drive is pretty darn efficient and internal gear hubs traditionally are not makes this a difficult sell. That being said, however, it's pretty neat technology and has gobs of potetial. I can't wait to see how this developes over the next couple of years.

Cyclocross

I posted earlier about my first cyclocross race. It was a fun, short race that got my blood pumping for cross. Well, I did it again. This time I had an idea of what this whole thing is about, but instead of the nice short 25 minutes, this one was the full 45 for Mens C -- my lowly category.

This time around, the race was tight, twisty and off camber. It looked something like this:

The parrallel yellow lines were the only man-made barriers on the course. The wooded section was singletrack, with two log crossings and an embankment run-up.

There was very little chances to rest or recover. Where the course was flat, it was a prime location to pass -- or be passed, as the case may be. I spent those sections trying to hold my place or vainly try and move up a spot.

Overall, it hurt, was difficult, and I can't wait to do it again!

Light Mount

Last week, I posted an image of my current method of mounting my DiNotte Tail light. Well, it turns out that I am not the only one who loves the light, but dislikes the method of attachment. Craig posted a comment on my post "Have Lights, Will Ride" and offered to share his method of attachment. I gladly took him up on his offer, and he forwarded me a picture. Here it is below:

Simple, effective, lightweight and cheap! Paint it black and you'd hardly notice it. Though on his Lemond (Poprad?) the white looks fine. Being seen -- whether the driver wants to or not -- cannot be overstated.

Revelation

3 years ago, I would never have considered Rock Shox for my suspension fork needs. I remember riding a Psylo and walking away thinking that it was the worst fork I had ever ridden. Fast forward to now, I just wrapped up my review of the Revelation. It, on the other hand, is one of the best forks I've ridden. Its bump control is fantastic, it's very adjustable and reasonably priced.

Do you need a new fork? Building up a new bike? Take a long look at the Revelation, it works and works well.

Have Lights Will Ride

I feel like a kid in the candy shop. I love lights, in an unhealthy way. I think it is the combination of the fact that they enable me to ride more and the fact that they are packed with technological goodness -- two of my favorite things.

First up, DiNotte.

Specs:

12.7Watts
Between 450 and 550 lumens
Helmet and bar mounts
Black only, unlike the images show.


Next up, Princeton Tec.

After using 1W LEDs for a while, they will soon have 3W and multiples of 3W lightheads available. The Switchback series of lights will come in 1, 2 and 3 LED variations. The 1 and 2 LED lights will have both helmet and handlebar mounts. All lights will feature the same Li-Ion battery. The lights come with an AC charger and a car 12V DC charger. The AC charger will charge the battery in 2 hours!

Off the Shelf

I frequent a couple of different cycling forums. I read and participate at Bikeforums.net (as acidinmylegs) and on Roadbikereview.com and MTBR.com (as James@GearReview). I which subforums I read really depend on what I am doing at the time. If forks are my current interest, I'll be on MTBR's Shocks forum. Lately, though, commuting and touring have caught my attention -- I do a lot of the former and, some day, would like to try the latter -- and both Roadbikereview and Bikeforums have active commuting and touring sections. This time of year, though, everywhere people are turning their attention to lights. I do the same, it's hard not to as you look out the window and see less and less daylight. Currently, here at roughly 45 degrees lattitude, we're losing about 4 minutes a day. 2 in the morning and 2 in the evening. Not good. LEDs keep coming up in these discussions and with good reason. I am solely using LEDs as my lighting these days because I like the whiter light, the smaller sizes and lower weight. I really like the fact that the LEDs themselves are practically indistructable. My favorites so far are DiNotte's lights -- they are the smallest. CatEye's are brighter, but larger. I like small.

One thing that is always mentioned, though, in regards to DiNotte's lights are the batteries. You see, they make two versions of most of their lights, the less expensive Pro series, that uses standard AA batteries, and the Endurance series, which use more expensive, longer lasting Li-Ion batteries. With NiteRiders new MiNewt out, I have seen many... well, not complaints, but concerns about DiNotte's use of AA batteries for the Pro series lights. Having used both, let me see if I can clear some things up, and explain why, in my mind, AA batteries represent a strength, not a weakness.

As I mentioned above, LED last almost forever -- 50,000 hours or so, anyway. Batteries do not. Li-Ion and NiMH batteries are good for about 500 charge cycles. Older NiCad batteries are good for about 1000 charge cycles. This usually means that you'll need new batteries every 2-3 years for an NiMH or Li-Ion system. Think about that. This is a recurring cost. Proprietary batteries can run anywhere from $50 to $200 depending on brand and type. AA's are about $10 for a four-pack of higher capacity batteries.

As time marches on, battery capacities continue to rise. Right now I am running 2400mAh AA's in my DiNotte systems. Two years ago, I thought 1900 mAh batteries were incredible. My point? As battery technology improves, rest asured that it will be available in the AA standard size, too many devices use that size to ignore it. Which brings me to my next point.

AA is a standard across a wide range of devices... everything from laser pointers to clocks use it so the development costs and production costs are defrayed by a larger customer base. This keeps the incentive for innovation high and the incremental costs -- costs per user -- very low. This is part of the reason for the cost difference between proprietary batteries and standard off the shelf sizes.

Not only are the batteries themselves easily replaced, but the other componets are, too. The charger that DiNotte uses is a standard rapid charger. Need to charge from your car for that 24 hour race? Car chargers for AA batteries are cheap and redily available at Radio Shack. The connectors are available at Radio Shack and the battery holders are available at Radio Shack. This makes making and having spare batteries dirt cheap and making and extension wire -- you know, in case you want to run that bar light on your helmet -- a question of 5 minutes with a solder iron and $1 worth of parts.

With all of the available parts, there is no reason to limit yourself to AA batteries, need more run time? Don't mind a little extra weight? Run C cells. Four C batteries have the same voltage, but over twice the capacity making them a great idea for longer forays into the woods.

Now, those are the benefits -- namely, interoperability, low cost, ease of replacement and ease of expansion. There are a couple of drawbacks. First, ease of use. It is much easier to just plug in the correct power supply into the correct hole and have the battery charge. Much faster than taking out each battery. Second, run time. Proprietary batteries generally have a longer run time (than the AA batteries, not the C batteries) because they aren't locked into one shape, i.e. a small cylinder. But that's it. For long term reliability, my money is on AA batteries. In fact, if I were to buy a light system today, I'd be taking a long hard look at DiNotte's Pro series because as I see it, running off the shelf batteries is a benefit, not a detriment.