Anker Solar Charger

Ever since Mezda brought me the Anker solar charger I have not had a chance to test it out. It has been cloudy almost every Sunday. Today I saw a nice beam of sunlight coming through the window in our bedroom. This was at around 3 pm after my late Sunday lunch. 

I set up the charger on the mattress which is laid on the floor (we don't use any bed but sleep on the floor instead). It is very very simple. Just unfold it, lay it out in the sun and connect the USB chord to whatever you want to charge. In my case I charged our power bank. What I realised is that it works perfect when the sun is strong. If it gets cloudy it stops charging. Obviously solar chargers will work only when the sun is out. There is a red light that glows showing that the charging mechanism is on. 

I will have to do a more thorough experiment to see how fast it charges a power bank or a phone.  

I intend to take it on my treks where charging the phone and other devices can be an issue because there is no electricity in the Indian Himalaya. Let me see how it works in the field. One can also use it in the car on office days. My car stays parked out in the open and under the strong sun. 

Missing Link

The front view of the missing links

Today I got for myself a couple of new "missing links" from the Giant store on Bentinck Street. It cost me Rs 150 each. Way cheaper than the online price of something like Rs 1800 for a pack of six links. Bums on the Saddle was selling one at Rs 520 plus Rs 250 for courier.

This is not really a gear for review. It is neither a gear nor a review. This is more of keeping record of the things I have and at what price. This will go into my saddle bag for road trips. It is highly unlikely that my chain would break on the road, given the low mileage that I clock and the top class maintenance of the chain. But no harm being prepared. Also, I learnt a lesson from Rana's example the other day when I had a puncture. Even if you don't need something on the road, a friend might need it and if you have it ready no harm helping him out.

Instructions on the reverse

I have explained the use of a missing link in another post. Read about it here You keep it in the saddle bag to use if your chain is broken. You also need a chain breaker tool to use it. I had said in the other post that I do not have a missing link. Now I have.

Giant is the Indian importer of KMC chains. I found this on the KMC international website. I had enquired about this item the other day with them over phone and was assured that they do have it. Today from work I went to pick up Monisha. We had some time before going to pick up Mampu from her tuition near Southern Avenue. I took the opportunity to go to Giant. While I waited in the car (getting parking on Bentinck Street on a working day evening is impossible) Monisha went to the store and got it for me.

I must mention that this link is called by different names by different manufacturers. KMC calls it a Missing Link. SRAM calls it a Power Lock. Shimano calls it a Quick Link. I prefer to call them master links. The Shimano and SRAM links are apparently not reusable. These KMCs are. I think 9 speed links are reusable but 11 speed ones aren't.

If I ever get a broken chain on the road I will use the missing link to come back home. I am certain of that. But I am equally certain that the first thing I will do before the next ride is replace the chain. A chain that breaks once will be prone to break again. But I will keep the once used link for another emergency. 

Lowepro Flipside 400

I have kept the following items in my Lowepro Flipside 400. It is stored on the last cabinet of our wardrobe in the bed room.

Giotto blower
Cleaning pen, yellow and blue cloth (all in a plastic zip lock pack)
Lexar 8 GB x 2
Sandisk 8 GB + 4 GB (one each)
Lens back cap and camera body cover - 2 sets
Yellow 7D battery back cover

Topeak Tyre Pressure Gauge

Last night went to Mezda's house and brought home the goodies they brought for me from America.

Yet to be unpacked

Of course, I had paid for them but thanks to Gublai and Mezda/Boudi for the help in terms of buying them on my behalf and then carrying them here. I had procured three items. A pair of trekking poles from Black Diamond, an Anker solar charger and a Topeak smart digital tyre pressure gauge. 

The first item that I unpacked was the Topeak tyre pressure gauge.  The official name of the unit is Topeak SmartGauge D2. I attacked it first because this is the item that is necessary almost on a day to day basis. The most attractive feature of this gauge, which is why I bought it, is that it can measure the tyre pressure from both Presta and Schrader. It's digital and the measuring unit can be any three - psi, bar and kg/cm2. I chose psi because that's the unit we still use here in India (though every thing else is in metric system).

Features explained

The unit is battery operated. Last time when I had a puncture on the road I came home with 20 psi pressure in the front tyre. That's because I didn't realise how much air I had pumped. I just felt the pressure with my fingers and it seemed fine. Filling a tyre with 20 psi pressure when it requires nothing less than 60/70 is potentially dangerous. If you hit a pot hole or a stone you might get snake bite leaks. If I had this in my saddle bag that wouldn't happen. So getting a tyre pressure gauge for the saddle bag is a must. The problem with gauges is that in India you get only Schrader valve gauges - basically for cars. Presta pressure gauge is unheard of. Even in the West they aren't so common. My two bicycles have two different types of valves. Mampu's is an even third type but in terms of pumping or gauging it is as good as a Schrader. Technically it's called a Dunlop valve.  Life becomes easier if you have a gauge that can check both type. In fact if you think about it, I have a car, a motorcycle, three bicycles. I have to measure tyre pressure of all these. And this can gauge them all. Like one size fits all answer to my pressure gauging.

Therefore, when I saw that here was a gauge at $32 that can measure both the types I just grabbed it.

The unit feels fairly robust and well made, despite being made of plastic and in Taiwan. It runs on a small button cell battery (the supplied battery is a Sony). You turn the machine on, choose the valve type by turning the switch as per requirement. The valve shape is illustrated so that even confirmed idiots don't mess it up. Then you just hold it on the valve and press it in. Of course before that turn the cap of the valve loose, like you would if you were to pump the tube. This is for the Presta valve. There is a small beep and you can see the reading. There is a small amount of pressure loss when you engage the unit. But that, I suppose, is negligible.

I am yet to use it on my Schrader valve tube. But interestingly enough, the mouth of the nozzle does not change the shape whether you turn it to Presta or Schrader, like it does in a pump. I shall see tonight how it works on the car. I think I am going to carry this in my saddle bag from now on and also when I go long distance driving. I have asked Mampu to make a small cloth bag for it. Don't want to put too many scratches on it just yet.

The unit has another useful feature. Suppose you want 60 psi pressure and you find the tyre has 70, you can put it on the tune mode and slowly release the pressure bit by bit by pressing the yellow star like button and the display shows the change continuously - just like in petrol pumps. This will be convenient and useful for those who do not have a pump with a pressure gauge. My home pump has it but the road pump does not. But then overfilling a tube with that Park Tool pump is perhaps out of question.

Language, Timothy, language

Smart Entertainment

On Monday, 4th June, we got two new so called "smart" gadgets into the house. A smart LG TV for the drawing room and a smart turbo trainer for my room. The TV is 43 inches in size. Pretty big, compared to the almost pocket sized Samsung that we had. We bought it on zero cost EMI from Bajaj Finance. I think the final negotiated price was 40K+. We bought it from Great Eastern on Lansdowne Road.

The other smart thing is an indoor cycle turbo trainer from Elite. 

Finish Line Dry Lube

Finally bought this chain lubricant for the cycle. From the Firefox outlet in Bentinck Street. They charged me Rs 670 for this small tube. Each drop of this lube that falls on the floor will give me as much pain as each blood droplets that sometimes used to fall from an open injury in my childhood days when we would play on the streets. Jokes aside, as a percentage of the total cost of the bicycle it is an insignificant amount though. 

I had cleaned my bike fairly thoroughly a few weeks ago and at that time applied Motul motorcycle chain lube. Read about it here . Just a gentle spray which I wiped clean after application. I find that of late the chain looks dirty and sticky. It does not bend around the cogs smoothly. I think I should not have put the motorcycle lube on bicycle chain. Motorcycle chain lubes are supposed to be thicker as the friction generated by a motorcycle chain is very high. Bicycle chains remain a lot cooler and therefore require thinner grade oil. I knew this theory but I didn't think it would make much of a difference. But having closely seen the chain recently during wheel take off and on, I saw how the chain has become less flexible. 

I then bought a chain cleaning kit from IceToolz. Read about it here. It came with a bottle of chain cleaner concentrate. I did not use it because I didn't have the lube. Cleaning the chain thoroughly without lubing it up might be even worse than not cleaning at all. That's one of the reasons why I went to this store to get the lube. There is no online retailer that sells it. Getting Muck Off online is easier. That's also a big global brand but somehow I like the name Finish Line. It's the inventor of dry lube. Let me see how this works and I will update this review with more content after I actually clean my chain and lube it up.

Apparently this lube leaves a white mark on the chain which makes it easier to see which link has not been lubed. I am curious to see how that works.

Adidas Compression Socks

Bought a pair of running socks from Adidas. The official name is quite a mouthful. Unisex Running Essential Compression Socks. I chose size 404M for my UK 8 feet. These cost me Rs 499 with free delivery in a beautifully made cardboard box. The socks are black with yellow markings. They run up to the knees. 

The compression is not very hard and the feeling is very comfortable. There is cushioning under the arch, toes and heel. Even where there is no cushioning the material is fairly thick.  These are technical socks. So the left sock (marked L) is for left foot and the right sock (marked R) is for the right foot. The material is described by Adidas in this language. Made of 59% Polyester, 37% Polyamide, 3% Elastane and 1% Others

I wore them last evening in the office itself and didn't take them off because they were so comfortable. I have never worn any socks that are as comfortable as these. Even back home I didn't take them off and changed into my shorts and T and went for a round of skipping. 50x3 plus 27 of left right drill. Didn't feel the plantar fasciitis pain. I intend to do this every evening till the Stok Kangri trek. In fact I think one can easily take these for high altitude treks as well. Apart from being comfortable and giving compression to the feet, these might be quick to dry. I have to find that out though. 

Now I have to see how durable they are and how many miles they last. I would be happy if they lasted 200 km. At this price it's a steal. No doubt.