best simple hint/tip

[shouldbeinbed]

Always carry a pair of latex gloves in your tool kit. They weigh nothing & take no space but they keep the rain and a bit of the cold off when you're fixing a puncture at 6 am in December so your fingers work better and they help you keep your grips/tape grime free after you've fixed the p* or replaced your mucky chain.

 

[Cyclopathic]

I saw

Dont ride with shopping bags on the handlebars, buy a rack or rucksack.
Fallin off and skidding along the road hurts....

a drunk guy on a mountain bike trying to ride with a really heavy bag in one hand on the handlebars. He'd do a couple of wobbly yards and then just sort of spiral in to a stop. He eventually got it together enough to ride off absolutely all over the place. At night. No lights. Main road. I assume he was ok as there was nothing in the papers. Quite funny though.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

apart from a diamond frame with 2 wheels and a set of handlebars (method of drive and gearing optional)

but more seriously pedal reflectors say it best of all, I've seen quite a few urban joggers and a couple of horses with flashing red lights.

The problem with pedal reflectors is that they are passive. They actually require the vehicle to have lights on to be of any use putting your safety in someone elses hands. Case in hand yesterday around here, dense fog on a sunday morning (only 9am) and less than 50% of vehicles actually had any lights on at all, when the law required fog lamps (visibility below 100m) and it was a good half hour of driving before I drove out of it. As a cyclist in those conditions on any road, I would not want to have to rely on others for my safety.

A rear light is an active indicator of bike/horse/walker (though personally I have not come across the later two with lights on and live alongside several stables) and it is your safety in your hands.

 

[DCLane]

If your hands are cold &/or wet in your gloves, the latex gloves you've kept for punctures [see #76] will keep out the cold/wet more than just the gloves.

 

[Alan Frame]

Apply helicopter tape to rubbing points on your frame to avoid tears later on.

 

[shouldbeinbed]

The problem with pedal reflectors is that they are passive. They actually require the vehicle to have lights on to be of any use putting your safety in someone elses hands. Case in hand yesterday around here, dense fog on a sunday morning (only 9am) and less than 50% of vehicles actually had any lights on at all, when the law required fog lamps (visibility below 100m) and it was a good half hour of driving before I drove out of it. As a cyclist in those conditions on any road, I would not want to have to rely on others for my safety.

A rear light is an active indicator of bike/horse/walker (though personally I have not come across the later two with lights on and live alongside several stables) and it is your safety in your hands.

And breathe,it was a tongue in cheek post making a simple point that red flashing lights aren't the sole preserve of the cyclist, whereas uppy downy orange reflectors are.

I totally agree with you on active personal safety, I'm routinely lit up like a christmas tree and use daytime running lights. All my bikes have both flashy and fixed lights as well as reflectors front, back & pedals. Half my toolkit weight is spare batteries.