Showing posts with label Commuter jackets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Commuter jackets. Show all posts

Saturday, 8 October 2016

Picking Up The Pace









As the daylight hours become shorter and autumn takes command, Seven Day Cyclist has been receiving bigger and in most cases, brighter bike lights for testing. The other week, we took delivery of two Xeccon big guns from Moore Large (www.todayscyclist.co.uk) and formative impressions were favourable. 

This sub £100 Zeta 1300 continues to grow on me…Compared with bargain basement ebay specials, the beam is more focused giving a purer, useable spread of light. This picks out the detail when cornering at speed. There seems sufficient flood for overview and presence too.

Doing the decent thing and dipping down isn’t difficult either-medium still has enough bite for the backwaters and though a bit overpowered for town, low certainly hasn’t incurred anyone’s wrath.

Now, along with the usual helmet strap, O-ring bar mount, charger etc, there’s a remote trigger. Primarily intended for when it’s atop your lid, I was amused to discover it will operate the light from a distance of eight feet, or so and through solid brick walls!

I’ve since tethered it to the bars via the Velcro strap (otherwise I’m running the risk of loss, possibly to the washing machine) playfully staircasing through the settings by prodding my pocket drew some curious glances. I’m pleased to report it doesn’t interfere with my Tom Tom Bandit, or other, bar mounted tech.

So far, run times seem pretty faithful to those quoted-with the usual variance associated with factory batteries.

Genuine replacements are available for £29.99, though experimentation confirmed suspicions that it would pair up pretty well with other pattern batteries. I’m not suggesting the OEM model is anything less than reliable but spares can be slipped into a saddlebag or poachers/jersey pocket for extended, high output fun.

Run for the first hour or so, the diminutive aluminium alloy shell does get decidedly warm, although not in the digit singing sense synonymous with high end halogen/lead acid systems some twenty years back!

On a more serious note, I’m starting to think all systems should have a trigger that can be wrapped around the hoods for sheer convenience.

Electronic shifters are nothing new (Mavic’s Zapp system, anyone?) but as integrated technology becomes widely embraced-in the general sense, it follows that lighting systems should also evolve into self-regulating “intelligent” entities, commanded by and collating a wealth of information via smart-phone apps.

Given the potential to leave ourselves under surveillance and possibly vulnerable to attack, if data isn’t securely stored, on a personal level, I embrace this technology cautiously. As with physical locks, all good locks/encryption does is buy time, there’s always a backdoor in, so the software component needs to be continuously evolving to fend off these threats.

Car security/engine management systems have become so sophisticated and will thwart thieves using traditional methodology but with the right hacking skills, its’ quite possible to remotely control one. Taken to its logical conclusion, who’s to say a rival pro team couldn’t tap into the race leader’s derailleurs and engineer a sneaky miss-shift or two….

Come October’s close, it will be thirty years to the day since my thirteenth birthday-I eagerly collected a Holdsworthy build Claud Butler from a local independent dealer and an Austrian Au Pair presented me with a copy of Richard Ballantine’s iconic bicycle book. I was also taken with the classic continental off season attire, which involved ¾ longs and wool, rather than Lycra...

No such thing as the wrong weather, just inappropriate kit. The commuter label (this also applies to motorcycling) tends to infer lower standards/quality. However, why would anyone want to arrive at work looking, or feeling anything other than temperate and confident?

Another editor has sent me this Altura Nevis iii waterproof jacket, which is shaping up quite well. Less racy than some, the fit works with all sides of the wardrobe, sleek enough with ¾ length Lycra, yet sufficiently neutral to be worn as a general outdoor jacket with jeans. Pocket provision means sensible segregation for valuables, tech, bike related kit and crucially, deep hip pockets for parking hands.

In keeping with other polyesters of this price point, moisture management isn’t on par with more sophisticated fabrics. I expected to feel faint dampness around the pits and lower back given twenty minutes or so at 18-20mph.

By this stage the fibres hit the appropriate temperature and wicking commences.  Thus far, I’ve never felt uncomfortably clammy at this pace, over distances of 15miles or so and with the air temperature in the mid-teens.


Right, talking of teens, time I was putting the finishing touches to my series of Children’s stories. November’s only just around the corner...