Roger Reviews Lights (Oct2005)

I do a lot of late night and early morning rides to my training courses this time of year. So I dislike bulky, exotic light systems, water bottle batteries ect. I do have a water bottle system which is great for off road or a prolonged road ride. I just need a light system to get me to my lighted area workout area or work.

Roger Lomshek and Brendan Sheehan fixed me up with two super lights.

Roger gave me a TL-LD1000 Cateye Light for the rear. This light is easy to take off and put on. It makes patterns that can be seen for a long way and grab the driver's attention. Additionally, the light emits flashing on the sides. Great light.

Brendan gave me a Serfas sI200 headlamp. It has 600 candlepower. The faceted lens affords a wide spread of 60 degrees and it flashes. Once again it is bright but I love the flashing headlamp because as I go to my workout location I am on city streets and crossing traffic sometimes does not pickup a steady light but they sure do see this flashing one. Easy on and easy off, a one button system.

Both of lights are great for travel, when I lock up my bike I can remove the lights and my computer with three easy releases. Of course it also comes in handy to attach to my wagon as I set up those early morning cyclo cross courses.

Vittoria Diamante Pro Tires (Feb 2005)

Nice ride. Nice wear. I'm on my second set of these for training. I've been in the bike industry for many years and consequently I've ridden nearly every brand of rubber and many models: clincher, open tubular and tubular. Sometimes they've been given to me as swag, sometimes purchased at cost, sometimes at full pop. But I always liked the ride of Vittoria high end product. When I owned a bike shop, I often sported the Open Corsa CX. In fact my first State Criterium medal was earned on a set of the Cipollini signatures. However, the nice rubber compound for cornering was often burned through too quickly to train on (just like a nice set of racing tubulars). Now that I work for Vittoria I have the opportunity to ride any of the product I choose. Last year they introduced a tire that really intrigued me. A true 220 thread count casing, very round profiled 23mm tire, with a more durable tread compound than the Corsa. AND it was more affordable. I won't go into great detail about thread count, but it's one of the best indicator of tire performance. 220tpi (counted correctly) is very good.

I've put several thousand miles on two sets and they feel remarkably like my CX's (which I have on my race wheels). In fact I raced a few training crits on the Diamante's, and sorta forgot that they were my 'training' tires. In fact the Diamantes are almost identical in weight to the CX. But the big bonus is they wear better. Bottom line is: Most of the ride, better wear, less money. Available at better bike shops.