Nice Deals on Apparel Usable for Cycling

[wsbob]

Update for 11/22: hot gloves for cold weather, cheap and bright!!

For practical cyclists that refuse to be bound by fashion convention, but that do prioritize visibility, warmth and economy, these gloves are hard to beat. I've had a pair for a year. I mostly wear them when the temp is down below about 40 degrees. The thickness doesn't allow excellent finger dexterity, but it's not bad, particularly allowing for the fact that with use, the insulation at pressure points, such as your fingers where you grab stuff...compacts a bit. So, my impression has been that the dexterity allowed, improves from what it seems to be while trying them on at the store.

One of the things I really like about the color of the gloves, is its aid in hand signaling for turns. I haven't done it yet, but sewing a circle or square of that yellow reflective stuff on the back of the gloves could make them even better for this use.

O.K., look for Glaciers Edge fleece gloves with 10 gram Thinsulate insulation...and the good part, if you value visibility...they come in Day-Glo Orange. The deal in terms of price, is that they're 40 percent off regular price of $12.00 . Available, somewhat logically at ....Fred's, as in Fred Meyer

Hey...I know everybody loves a good deal! Here's some:

Guy's stuff:

I was over at Old Navy last night. They had decent microfleece vests, half price at $10.00...zipper pockets...a lot of XL sizes...assorted colors...black, blue. I tried on a Large...it fit great, construction and material is nice too. (our third world friends are doing good work and giving generously of their lives to bring this stuff to us cheap). Thought/thinking about getting one, but I probably have too much stuff already. Everyone else that needs one...go for it!

Fleece jackets with wind proof panels on the shoulders, half price at $20.00 .


Gal's stuff:

Performance Women's Alpine Fleece Jacket, Regular: $49.99
Sale: $19.99. It's an online deal. Performance Women's Alpine Fleece Jacket
(http://www.performancebike.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10052_10551_1087224_-1_1556503_20000_1570005) Check out the picture. Unfortunately for us boys (and girls that like girls), this won't have you looking like Bridgett Bardot, but it'll keep you warm...and after all...in terms of priorities, it's definitely more important for the one you love to be warm!).

Also, a sweet deal on a helmet today (this is a Deal of the Day...somtimes available for consecutive days, sometimes not): Bell Women's Bella Sport Helmet, $17.00, reg. $34.99

[wsbob]

Meant to mention the following yesterday, but forgot:

For Black Friday and beyond at Target...men's section has Champion micro-fleece long sleeve half zip tops fifty percent off at $7.50. Quality and construction looks good. Good colors, but no hi-viz.

[wsbob]

In the market for an economically priced, quality helmet? Strolled into the local performance bike shop today. On display, the store had a blue and white Giro brand helmet half retail for $20.00. Didn't note the model name. Online, at Performance, a Giro helmet for that price/discount is listed and pictured as:

2009 Giro Indicator Sport helmet (http://www.performancebike.com/bikes/Product_10052_10551_1063971_-1_400283_400278_400146)

Could be the same model helmet, but online does not show the blue and white helmet I saw, though it lists a 'blue' helmet as available.

At any rate, it looked to be a very decent helmet for general purpose riding.

Something that seemed a bit weird about the helmet I provided the link for, is that the helmet is a 2009 model. In other words, somewhere around 2 yrs old. Go online to Performance bike shop's closeout helmets, and you'll see helmet models with dates of as long ago as 2006. Reading that, called to mind rumors I've heard over time, claiming that helmet foam hardens with age and thus loses some of its ability to lessen impact force.

So, I spent a little time over at the website, helmets.org, to get some perspective questions about whether and to what degree helmet foam deteriorates with age. took me awhile wandering around the site's many pages, but I eventually run across the following pertinent excerpt:

"... At least one shop told a customer that the EPS in his three year old helmet was now "dried out." Other sales people refer to "outgassing" and say that the foam loses gas and impact performance is affected. Still others claim that helmets lose a percentage of their effectiveness each year, with the percentage growing with age. All of that is nothing but marketing hype to sell a replacement helmet before you need it. There is some loss of aromatics in the first hours and days after molding, and helmet designers take account of that for standards testing. But after that the foam stabilizes and does not change for many years, unless the EPS is placed in an oven for some period of time and baked. The interior of your car, for example, will not do that, based on helmets we have seen and at least one lab crash test of a helmet always kept in a car in Virginia over many summers. Helmet shells can be affected by car heat, but not the foam. The Snell Memorial Foundation has tested motorcycle helmets held in storage for more than 20 years and found that they still meet the original standard. EPS is a long-lived material little affected by normal environmental factors. Unless you mistreat it we would not expect it to "dry out" enough to alter its performance for many years. ..." helmets.org, 'When should I replace my helmet?' (http://www.helmets.org/replace.htm)