Looking back: Louis Garneau Knee Warmers

Another Looking Back article:  Louis Garneau Knee Warmers

Right before winter I bought a pair of LG knee warmers from Performance Bike and I haven’t had the chance to post up a review about it. 

My Louis Garneau knee warmers are part of my favorite biking kit.  Even now in spring I still carry my arm and knee warmers with me though most of the time the arm warmers stay inside my pack.  The knee warmers still see frequent use.

Image courtesy of Performance Bike

 Fit with the LG knee warmers are perfect.  When I first wore them, I noticed that they had a tendency to creep down on my legs and I had to keep pulling them up.  After a couple of times I figured it out that I had to wear them a lot higher; bottom hem at mid-shin and upper at mid-thigh.

Leg movement was unhindered and non-binding, its very comfortable to wear and in a few minutes you’ll actually forget you’re wearing them.  The tags do poke the inside of the thigh and are bothersome so I have to make sure the tags are flat against my skin.  Maybe LG should make a tagless version in the future.

The LG Heatmaxx (sic) fabric is good enough for the typical Southern California winter weather and not once have I felt cold.  And once the day warms up, the LG knee warmers rolls up without much bulk and fits easily in a pack or shorts pockets!

So far I have no issues with the LG knee warmers, the leg elastic has held up fine with no signs of being overstretched and the fabric itself does not look like its wearing thin, especially at the knee.  The Louis Garneau knee warmer looks like its a quality product that will last for a long time.

Hits:

Fit is great, just make sure you try them out first.

Price.  Great value for the money

Quality.  No loose threads, elastic and material has held up so far.

Miss:

Nothing really to complain about, just make sure you try it out.  Sizing maybe decieving.  I thought I would fit with a large but it turned out way too big for me and got a medium instead.

I found my sock!

I found my missing sock!

For months I was left with one sock and it happened to be my favorite pair of biking socks; my DeFeet Air-E-ator D sock. 

The Air-E-Ator was my first bike specific sock and I trully love them.   At first I was turned off with the idea of wearing black socks, even my sister made fun of my ‘fashion sense’.  But after a while I realized why why dark socks are best for trail riding; white or light colored socks get really dirty fast on a dusty trail!

The fit is great and the elastic retained its shape and hold even after over a year’s worth of laundering!  The color has not faded either.  The material dries out quickly thanks to CoolMax fabric  and the top of the sock is vented to allow feet to get air.

While I was looking for the aforementioned missing sock, I even bought another DeFeet Air-E-Ator pair to fill in that missing void.  I do have other pairs of biking socks (2 pairs of Fox) but my DeFeet are hands-down my favorite.

First impression: Fly Racing F-16 jersey

Over the Easter weekend I went to a local motorcycle dealer to check out a long sleeve riding jersey that I can use for mountain biking.  Since most mountain bike wear are derived from motocross gear (i.e. Fox) it just makes sense to go look at motocross accessories at the motorcycle dealer.

At Bert’s Motorcycle Mall I found several brands of jerseys also sold at local bike shops.  My budget of the day was $30 or less and with the help of a Bert’s sales associate, I found the Fly Racing F-16:

Fly Racing’s product description:

F-16 Jersey

Affordable pro performance has never been easier. Fly Racing’s F-16 Series is anything but entry level. Constructed from race proven designs and materials, the F-16 kit boasts such features as 1680D denier knee panels, and sub-dyed graphics, not to mention a huge variety of sizing options. F-16 is high performance without the high price.

 

Jersey Features and Materials:

 

• SUBLIMATED GRAPHICS – All Fly jerseys are printed using dye sublimation, a process that allows the highest quality, fade free graphics possible
• SHORTY CUFFS – Elastic sleeve cuff help avoid arm pump
• RAGLAN SLEEVES – Superior comfort and heavy-duty flat stitch construction makes this one durable jersey
• COMFORT STRETCH COLLAR – Soft, stretch rib collar

First impressions:

The shirt appears to be well made.  No loose threads or poor stitching.  The colors are bright as well as the graphics.  The material looks like its thin enough to be worn during summer and not be hot, though this I will have to find out as hot weather is fast approaching.

Hits:

Loose fitting allows full range of motion.

Looks durable.

Loose fit allows use of pads or impact suit to be worn underneath.

Miss:

Since these are made for motocross and not really bike specific, the shirt’s hem is way too long to be worn outside the pants.  The shirt could be easily be caught on the saddle and the shirt must be worn tucked in riding shorts.  I happen to like wear my shirts out of my shorts untucked as to keep it cool and airy when riding.

As the weeks go by I will be testing the jersey and see if its comfortable during XC-type riding.

Looking back: Slime Tubes

Come summer it will be a year since I have been using Slime Lite tubes in my Fisher Hi-Fi Plus and so far I have had ZERO flats.  I love this product so much that I have installed Slime tubes on my Redline Monocog 29er as well, though they weren’t the Lite versions and they were a tad smaller.  As the 29er revolution continues on, I’m sure Slime will develop 29er Lite tubes.

Yesterday while resting at mid-ride, I saw a couple of thorns embedded in the knobbies of my tires.  I picked and pulled one out and HISSSSSSSS out comes air and the green slime.  I picked up the front wheel and spun it around several times.  At each revolution I can clearly hear the Slime at work; at each pass I could hear the HISS get quieter until there was no more.  I pulled out another thorn and did the same thing.  The last one took a few more seconds of spinning until the hissing stopped.

Slime tubes are definitely worth the extra couple of dollars compared to standard tubes.  At this point I am more than satisfied with the Slime’s performance I don’t think I’ll be going tubeless for a while.

More Flair: Duck!

While waiting for the leather anvil (aka the Brooks B17 saddle) to arrive in the mail, I added more flair to my Redline Monocog 29er:

Using the chrome duck hood ornament from the movie Death Proof as inspiration, now I have a  Death Proof Duck!

I do need a name for the duck though so I’ll be taking suggestions.  Comment away!

My new Brooks B-17 saddle

I would be someone who probably would never buy a Brooks saddle as that kind of bike bling would be sooo far down my bike bling list but today I won a Brooks B17 saddle from singletrackminded.com:

Judging by the research I’ve done on leather saddles particularly Brooks, is that it will take a while for it to break in.  Once broken in, however, Brooks cyclists swear by its comfort and its durability that lasts for decades.

I’ll be looking forward in breaking in this saddle which will be mounted on my Redline Monocog 29er.  Stay tuned for pics!

For more information about Brooks Saddles and their history please visit www.brooksengland.com

There ain’t no mud on me…

There ain’t no mud on me…  there ain’t no mud on me…  there may be mud on some of you mugs but there ain’t no mud on me!

My SKS XTra Dry seatpost fender saved me from getting a mud stripe, aka ‘monkey butt’.  The last Sunday’s ride at Fullerton Loop was muddy, the heavy pack-your-knobbies kind of thick mud.  In some downhill sections I dismounted because I felt that my front tire would slip.  I also avoided roots as unless I was rolling directly across it, the tire would slip sideways.

Riding on the street where our speeds picked up the mud was being flung upwards to my face but most of it was stopped by the downtube mounted Planet Bike Grunge Board. 

Before:

After:

Thats not really as much mud as my maiden ride at Turnbull Canyon as I tried to keep it on drier and firmer ground so I dont create and add ruts on the trail.

Hooray for fenders!

Wet Riding Ready

Southern California has got to have the best riding weather in the whole country.  Weather temps this past 2 weeks have been in the low 80′s to upper 80′s while the rest of the country is suffering through a deep freeze.  This week temperatures return to somewhat winter conditions and lately it has been raining.

To get ready for wet conditions I got a set of detachable fenders to put on my bikes.  I went to the local REI and wanted to get a matching set of SKS fenders but they were out so I ended up with a front Planet Bike Grunge Board

And SKS X-Tra Dry Seatpost fender

I wanted a set of fenders that is detachable so I can move it from the Redline Monocog 29er to the Fisher Hi-Fi Plus easily.

The SKS X-tra Dry fender was a snap to install.  It clamps to the seatpost and is adjustable for different seatpost sizes with a strap.  The angle of the fender is also adjustable with an allen bolt.

The front fender was also equally easy to install.  The Grunge Board mounts on the downtube by rubber straps and has holes for bolting it onto the water cage boss.

I wish the Planet Bike Grunge Board was a couple more inches longer for better coverage.  I’m sure as speed picks up muck will be kicked up much higher.  I suppose using a fork mounted fender would take care of the coverage issue.

I took it for a quick spin and rolled through some wet spots and the fenders did its job.  The rear fender kept the splashing to a minimum.  The fronts as expected, covered only up midway and water splashed all the way to the top of the downtube.

Tomorrow I hope it stops raining long enough so I can take it on my usual Sunday ride and see how it hold up against road and trail vibrations and getting hit with not just water but some rocks and mud as well.

Topeak Pocket Rocket Pump

From the Master Blaster series, the Topeak Pocket Rocket mini pump:  I love it so much I bought 2!

 

This pump is small enough that it takes up little space in my Camelbak pack and is very light.  The head is interchangable between Schraeder and Presta valves and has saved my bacon from long walks back to the car several times already.

Since I changed over to Slime tubes my pump has seen little action (aside from having my friend use it for his flat) but I still bought a second pump anyway to put in another pack I use when I ride my singlespeed.

It does take a lot of strokes to fully inflate an MTB tire but afterall, this is a mini pump.  You want large air volume, strap a floor pump in your back.