Apparently “Fixed speed” means single speed as suspected, but it comes with a fixed/free flip-flop hub. Sounds good, but also as anticipated the quality (or at least the quality control) appears to suck, bite, and blow all at the same time.

He also reviews the Surly Big Dummy (carries things, hard to wrangle indoors).

Well, they call it a Fixed-Speed Bike so it’s probably just a freewheelin’ one speed, but I still hope this foreshadows the imminent implosion of the fixie fad. Partly because after evangelizing fixed gears since 1998 I’m almost embarassed to be seen riding one now, but mostly because it’ll mean lots of nice cheap track hubs flooding the market. I like the irony of naming it the “cachet”. I also like how it has all the hipster kids who ruined fixed gears up in arms about how it’s ruined fixed gears.

I jest, but I think it’s actually good that they’re offering a simple, cheap bike that has little to go wrong with it, instead of the $200 full suspension “mountain-style” bikes that department stores usually foist on the unsuspecting. update: apparently it’s still junk.

40 lbs shipped, though… I really hope it comes with 15 pounds of packaging.

One sure sign is that the idiotic whimsical concept bikes are hatching after spending the winter as larvae deep underground below the frost line (thanks BSNYC). Now you know where potholes come from.

My ice tires are off and my mud tires are on.

All the ice is gone from the harbour, and the Toronto Island ferry is getting crowded

Even the bike rack around the corner that no-one uses is starting to fill up:

The surest sign that summer is just around the corner is that the Dutch bikes are starting to emerge in force, to show all us lycra wearing wanna-be roadie poseurs how we’ve been doing it wrong all winter (when you’re a serious and stylish utility cyclist on a serious and practical bike like this, you don’t want to take a chance at getting salt on your kickstand or (gasp) being seen wearing something as gauche and seasonally appropriate as fleece and Gore-Tex).

I know that looks as blurry and fake as a Bigfoot photo but trust me, I saw it.  It also may have been abandoned there all winter, but that’s unlikely, because it’s still shiny like it’s barely been ridden and it has all its parts.

Cyclocross brake levers – they’re great for using drop bars offroad, since I want to keep my bars set up for road riding, not high and close for ‘cross. They’re great for riding on the bar tops in city traffic too.

Jandd Mountain Wedge III: A really big seat bag. It holds what I need for all-day autumn rides (lunch, rain shell, gloves, extra warm layer, digicam, tools & tube) and it expands to hold even more. It fits any saddle, which is good since I gave up on Brookses after having the second one stolen off the bike a couple of years ago.

Planet Bike Blaze 2W: I gather from recent discussions on the BOB list  that there are other, possibly better LED lights around, but this is the one I tried, and I like it. It’s plenty bright (my previous LEDs were just adequate) and it was easy to find and fairly cheap at Mountain Equipment Co-op.

Planet Bike Peace Pump: I like to keep a pump in each bag I use on my bike, so I have the best pump that each bag allows and so I don’t forget it. This was cheap, and the longer one just fits in my MEC messenger bag. Made of real metal. Pumps up my 700×38 Marathon Crosses fairly easily. Not sure how durable it would be for frequent
use, but it’s good enough for an emergency pump that lives at the bottom of my messenger bag.

ABUS Bordo lock. It’s actually heavier than my U lock and I don’t think anything with pivots can be as secure, but it’s easier to fit in a bag and less useless than a cable lock and I won’t be using it downtown at night.

MEC Glacier Merino hoodie. Full zip merino wool jacket with a hood. I don’t often use the hood while riding but it’s nice when I stop. It seems to have disappeared from their website though, which is typical whenever they make something I like (yay for impulse buying).

Panaracer Pasela, non-tourguard, 700×32. Also, running my 32s at 70ish PSI instead of 90.

Alpaca socks for cold rides. Alpaca makes merino feel like sandpaper, but the sweater was crazy expensive so I got socks. Once I put them on I didn’t want to take them off.

I got them late last year, but I’ve had a lot more experience with my Surly Cross-check and my Schwalbe Marathon Cross 700×38 tires. I like them both a lot (the Schwalbes are a great dirt-biased all-rounder tire), so I’ll list them again.

I couldn’t think of anything I disliked enough to mention.

Two things I’m expecting to try and hoping to like in 2010:

Schwalbe Marathon Winter studded tire.  It didn’t make this year’s list because, while it’s been mounted and ready to
go on a spare wheel since November,  it’s as yet unridden, since winter starts about 30km north of here.

The new bike racks on GO Transit buses Unlike city buses which only go to the start of the exurbs,  GO Transit can take me and my bike through the Suburban Ring of Death and out to country roads (the seats are more comfortable, too). Bikes have been allowed on their non rush hour commuter trains for years, but the non rush hour trains don’t go to as many or as nice places.

I wonder what’s the best formula for waxing  your chain if you’re going to store your bike inside a snowbank?

It’s a global epidemic: see the Bicycles in the Snow pool on Flickr.