Seriously, in the first twelve months of owning the Tikit, I've used my other bikes about six times. Fair enough, virtually all of my riding is the commute, to which the Tikit is well suited, but I've also taken the Tikit with me on business trips to Perth and Melbourne and happily ridden it with my old racing buddies (the "Old Hairy Legs" of the University of WA Cycle Club) and surprised a few people on the St Kilda Beach road on a Saturday morning in Melbourne.
For these trips, the Tikit, together with shoes, helmet, tools and a change of cycling clothes goes into the Samsonite Flite suitcase and squeaks under the 20 kg airline weight. It is literally a 10 minute job to unpack the Tikit. It takes a little longer to pack it (since you do want to try to make the packed bike likely to withstand airline baggage handling!).
As we go into winter (and I've not wanted to limit my choice of bikes by moving my trusty halogen lights from my fixie) I cobbled together a surprisingly effective headlight.
Now I know there's a bunch of information on the web from people (mostly mountain bikers) who've put together some very neat light systems, but I wasn't prepared to invest quite that much time and thought. However, I also wanted to avoid investing hundreds of dollars in a commercial set up. So here's what I found, mostly courtesy of Jaycar (). A single-LED intended to be a plug-in replacement for MR16 halogen down-lights: it runs directly off 12V and is well sealed inside a sturdy heatsink (with quite a cool-looking shape). $35. It takes a choice of lenses. I chose the widest spread, since my main objective on my commute is to be seen. So add a switch and build it into a 25mm PVC conduit end-cap; power it with a 12V sealed lead acid battery ($15), which I strap under the handlebar stem in a bag that I had lying around. Total maybe $65. Punches out as much light as $150 to $200 setups and all with simple, easily replaced components.
2 comments:
Hi Paul, what's the estimated cost of this homemade lighting system, and in your opinion, was it worth the investment compared to some of the commercially available systems?
4.2 Ah 12V sealed lead acid cell $14.
MR16 mounted LED $35.
cable, plugs, casing etc say $15
So your total is les then $65. You don't get much of a commercial light for that much.
The 12V MR16 mounted LED makes it a very easy project (low risk of stuffing it up).
I think the output is comparable to commercial systems that would set you back well over $150, so I think it certainly worth it.
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