Month: November 2011

Last weekend I had trouble walking after straining my thigh, an Ibruprofen later and I’m feeling a lot lot better, well at least until it wears off. It dawns on me just how powerful a drug it is. Then I recall riders taking the stuff before a ride and wonder how much damage they are doing to themselves.

Sorted the bike out Saturday night putting the Crud Roadracer 2,s on the back as gales and rain are forecast.  Sunday morning had me up early, looking out the window and putting the front one on too. This proved to be a mistake as apart from the road being flooded at the bottom of Rest Hill things dried out pretty quickly.

The mistake is Crud roadracers are a very tight fit on a Trek Madone and I’m subjected to an annoying rustle as every little piece of grit forces it’s way through the tight clearance on anything but the smoothest of surfaces.

Arrived at the Eureka around 9 with only about 6 in there at that time. It wasn’t to last with the Northend and CTC turning up in force.

I left the Eureka at 9:45 heading out to the Ice Cream Farm along the closed Capenhurst Lane.  Once out in the lanes the traffic was non existant, the sun was up and the wind was dying down. Things were pretty damn good.

Turned up at the ICF bang on 11 to meet up with Paul and the grandkids.
Headed out of the ICF towards Bruera and Saighton, where after passing a group on mountain bikes The Sunlight finally passed me.

 

They offered me a wheel so I tagged along on the back and got the camera out and took a few pictures. Just about hung on on the rise into Chester.

 

 

 

Tagged along with the CTC on the trip back to the Eureka and got held up by the cows crossing the lane going to get milked. One stood there looking at us for a couple of minutes, must be the dayglo jackets.

Another chance to test the MagicShine copy at the end of the ride, low light photography being an art I haven’t mastered. The 30 mph signs don’t come out well in this picture.

Not been a good week having picked up a groin strain. Haven’t been near the bike since Wednesday week, compounded by picking up another strain getting out of the Mini.
Paul had a Google Developer Conference in Berlin where he met up with the ClimbtheAlps.com developer, Dennis Wegewijs. It now has the 2012 Etape route in it. The views are unbelievable in Streetview.

In my current position I’ll have to give both of them a miss. 

I’ve had a set of MagicShine Bike Lights from DealExteme for about a year now and It’s now time to drag them out and make use of them.

The original 808 light was a copy of a Lupine Tesla 4 but at about a fifth of the price. I paid $75 for mine which is about £50.  For that you get a light that pumps out about 600-700 lumens on high mode from a single SSC P7 Led.

****** In ALL cases remove the screw that holds the handlebar clamp to the light body and apply some “Loctite”, nutlock or other threadlock compound.
Even a secure looking mount will work loose. As always you get what you pay for and in this case it won’t include threadlock.******

Comes with a 4400 mA/Hr battery that is supposedly  good for 3 hours.
Quality is good for the price but there are a few area where money has been saved. On the first generation the battery pack was not waterproof and it is fairly likely they were using unprotected cells. It led to a battery back recall in the US.
Shorting out unprotected Li-ion cells is not reccomended as there are explosive levels of energy involved.

Battery care, don’t let your battery go completly flat, ABOVE ALL don’t remove the charger from the wall while still connected to the battery. It will discharge to a level below  which  it will refuse to take a charge. It’s important other family members know this so as not to unplug the charger to plug in their phone.
This goes for ANY Li-Ion system.

The LED runs at 2800 mA which will quickly bring out any weaknesses in the heatsinking or the battery.  In use on a moving bike the light remains cool to the touch only heating up when stationary.

 

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/p7-water-resistant-ssc-p7-3-mode-1200-lumen-white-led-bike-light-with-battery-pack-set-82734

The above is a copy of the Magicshine 808 copy. The leads are not compatible with the Magicshine being 7.2 mm instead of 8.4 mm on the Magicshine. Waterproofing on the battery is poor and needs looking at before it gets wet. Beam is very similar to a MagicShine if not brighter. 3 modes including an insane  strobe mode, no annoying SOS mode.  Head unit looks well made and the mount looks like it is properly screwed on unlike the Magicshine which fell apart.
See update above, they all fall apart.

Swapping the leads would make it compatible with the Magicshine accessories.

Terrible picture above but you can ride an unlit path at a normal speed and the light is whiter than a car halogen light which are yellow in comparison.

Parts are dirt cheap, a couple of $ for leads, headbands. Upgraded battery packs are available that are waterproof and have a battery charge indicator.

Plenty of chatter about these lights on various forums as you’ll never see them in a magazine light shootout.

For  good reviews and beamshots of the lower price high power lights see Torcheys site below.
http://www.torchythebatteryboy.com/p/bike-light-database.html