A viewer emailed recently with a question I had long pondered but never actioned: Is listening to music on a bike a good thing? If so, how? I have never worn headphones while riding, always assuming that it was terribly unsafe to plug your ears while riding city streets, so I had no answer. So …
There are, generally, two types of bike lights. In North America, where most bikes are built for speed rather than practicality, lights are often an aftermarket product, powered by rechargeable batteries and affixed to handlebars and seatposts. But there is another way, common elsewhere, to stay lit up while riding by integrating lights that are …
Read more “Pedal-power or dynamo battery? The best type of bike light”
The most common question I receive on this channel, by far, is some version of this: “Yo, what’s that bike you’re riding?” I’ve done videos on my winter bikes, but I’ve never dedicated a video to my beloved summer bike, for a simple reason: There’s not much to talk about. It’s an old, plain, simple …
Read more “This bike is old, plain and slow. So why do I love it so much?”
There’s an old argument that suggests bike lanes are bad for local businesses because only a car makes it convenient enough for people to make multiple stops at local businesses to spend their hard-earned money. So today I decided to put that dubious theory to the test. Here’s the scenario: I choose a route about …
Read more “What’s better for running errands in a city: A car or a bike?”
The eternal bike question, finally answered! Having used both front and back baskets on my bike over the years, I’ve mused about the pros and cons of each style a lot. So I decided to finally put a little rigor to those musings and did a series of tests to detemine if it’s better in …
Read more “What’s best: A front or back basket on your bike?”
Getting to work on a bike is only half the job. The tough part is figuring out how to get all of your stuff there too. Your lunchbag, your coffee, your hand sanitizer (c’mon, it’s still Covid times), how do you carry it? I decided to test four of the most popular methods to determine …
Read more “I tried to find the best way to carry stuff on your bike commute. Here’s what I found”
While riding my bike one recent chilly morning, disaster struck in the form of a dropped coffee. Which got me wondering if there was a better way of enjoying my morning jolt while riding my bike. So after a robust conversation with some of you, I decided to test a dozen different methods of drinking …
Read more “I tried 12 different ways of carrying coffee on a bike to find the best method”
I’ve been commuting for years, and I’ve never felt the need to use bike mirrors. But I think cycling is about practicality, and if mirrors help make a bike commute more safe and practical, then I thought it was time to give them a try. Here are the mirrors I tested (the Amazon links below …
Read more “I tested 4 types of bike mirrors to determine if I need one at all”