shopping

After I started commuting on my bike, I had to go shopping.  I am trying to balance maintaing the weight and integrity of the bike vs. comfort.

I ride a Trek 6500 mountain bike as my commuter so for example, I considered converting this bike into a commuter bike.  This means that I would need to buy thinner tires, get fenders, maybe a rack for panniers, etc.  But if I do that, I think I'm ruining the integrity of this bike.  This is a hard tail mountain bike with front shocks and is meant to be ridden off road, over curbs, up and down dirt hills, etc.

So I decided that if I go that far, I'd be better off just buying a dedicated commuter bike.

But I still had to go shopping.  I bought the following:

light: I had my old set of blackburn flea lights so I was using those but at 40 lumens in the front, it just wasn't bright enough.  I bought a Magic Shine 900 lumen light.  It's not really 900 lumens but it's really bright.

Bento box: I bought a bento box to store my cell phone and wallet.

Arm warmers: I bought a set of Pearl Izumi arm warmers for the cold morning commute.

Leg warmers: I bought a set of cheap nashbar leg warmers.  I haven't tried them yet though.

Planet bike ankle light: I bought an ankle light for my pants.  It also wraps around my right pant leg so that it won't get caught in the chain.

I think my setup is pretty good now.