I'm not a geek. I just like gadgets.

[Andre Jute]

I'm not a geek. I just like gadgets. WARNING: This is from my favorite carriage-free bike-component pusher. And no, the cheap buggers don't give me a kickback.
http://www.chainreactionhub.com/latest-news/1733-7-of-the-best-cycling-gadgets-to-satisfy-your-inner-geek     

[jags]

ah yes i'm a geek love all this stuff all very expensive tho.

[Danneaux]

I like/love gadgets too, but am pretty selective about what I actually buy, so I end up with good kit I keep and use a long time before replacing. Something has to be significantly better before I move on. LED bike lighting and newer dynamo hubs fall into that category, for sure. 10- and 11+ speed derailleur drivetrains? Notsomuch. I'm still happily running 5-speed freewheels on several of my bikes, friction-shifted, of course.

Tangential to this thread...

I've noticed a disturbing recent trend in newer battery bike lighting: The embedded rechargeable battery. This all appears fine and good at first glance, but can be a real downer for the rider who does nighttime brevets and such. Once the battery goes flat, you can't simply swap in a new pair of AA cells and go on as before. No, you're suddenly in the dark or tied to a mains charger for the next 2.5 hours till the thing is full again unless you take a second charged light to use after the first one dies.Then, once the battery ages and cannot hold a charge so long anymore, you also can't replace the battery. A light perfectly good otherwise goes out to the landfill. Manufacturers love this, as it means lower design costs (no battery door, soldered battery tabs, sleeker styling), and a way to market a fraudulently "green" product. Far better to use rechargeable LSD (low self-discharge) Eneloops and have the freedom of mid-ride battery swaps and a longer product service life.

A user-replaceable battery was a major determinant in my choice of smartphone. Same thing for lighting.

With the newest gadgets, sometimes all is not as it first appears, and a gimlet eye pays dividends in avoiding a wasted purchase.

All the best,

Dan. (...who loves "looking" just the same!)

[Andre Jute]

Yeah, particularly in lamps I'm automatically in my skeptic mode. I've just been burned too many times.

[John Saxby]

in lamps I'm automatically in my skeptic mode

No worries, Andre -- I'm sceptical about lamps too:  I find it helps keep enlightenment at arm's length  :-)

A little while back, I was talking with a friend who needed a new set of handlebars for his old bike.  I knew that my LBS had a set of Velo Orange rando bars which I'd just swapped for the right-sized ones, so I suggested he have a look at the VO site to see if they'd suit for him.  He did so, and was a wee bit enchanted: "Never knew such places existed, John," he said. "Bling for bikes!"

[Matt2matt2002]

Is this turning into a lamp post?

[John Saxby]

 

[energyman]

How about dan-gly things on the end of handlebars that have imbedded led lights that change coloUr the faster you go.

[jags]

Is this turning into a lamp post?

  class.

[Danneaux]

How about dan-gly things on the end of handlebars that have imbedded led lights that change coloUr the faster you go.

  I have nothing to do with those!  

However, a similar product has moved from Kickstarter project (discussed on this Forum previously, https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kennygibbs/helios-bars-transform-any-bike-into-a-smart-bike ) to sale: http://www.ridehelios.com/

All the best,

Dan. (...who remembers a marketing study of some years ago that revealed men would invariably select a poorer-sounding stereo if it was equipped with many flashing lights. Women in the study were unaffected, choosing the model with the best sound)

[John Saxby]

Wasn't it Edward VII who said, "We are all geeks now"?

[triaesthete]

 No. Alexande the geat.

[John Saxby]

men would invariably select a poorer-sounding stereo if it was equipped with many flashing lights. Women in the study were unaffected, choosing the model with the best sound

Dan, our amp/receiver here at home is a Sherwood, which my wife has owned since the early '70's, some years before we met each other.  It works just fine forty years on, and as you might expect has no flashing lights at all.  Not sure what my opinion would've been if I had been confronted by such a device in an audio shop -- I always thought that Sher-wood was a manufacturer of hockey sticks, located in the Eastern Townships of Québec.

[Andre Jute]

Dan, our amp/receiver here at home is a Sherwood, which my wife has owned since the early '70's, some years before we met each other.  It works just fine forty years on, and as you might expect has no flashing lights at all.

Mrs Saxby sounds like A Good Woman.

I used to design and build my own high-tension tube amps.
http://www.audio-talk.co.uk/fiultra/JUTE%20ON%20AMPS.htm
It was easy to observe many cases of people who spent tens of thousand on amps and speakers and even cables, who had fewer than a dozen disks, all demonstration items rather than music for enjoyment, and who could say nothing cogent about music. All of them were men.

[John Saxby]

Mrs Saxby sounds like A Good Woman.

Thanks for your kind words, Andre -- I'll relay those to Marcia who, bless her, puts up with my 2-wheeler obsessions.  :-)