Site news
Date added: 28/11/2012 CONTOUR +2 VHR1700 | HD Video camera
Date added: 30/08/2012 Topeak DXG shock pump review
Date added: 17/08/2012 Moon Bike Light Range
Moon Bike Lights are bright, rechargeable and easy to mount on your bike or helmet. All Moon bicycle lights include a USB cable which enables charging from your PC or Laptop. The USB cable is compatible with all Moon rechargeable lights. There is a Moon light to suit every purpose, be it to be seen on the road or to be able to see or with something in between. Moon GEM 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 are the compact lightweight lights in the range. Each light can be easily mounted onto your bike or helmet. The Moon GEM 1.0 is a small single LED light with a fully integrated USB stick meaning the light itself is plugged into you computers USB plug for charging. Although the light is only a single LED it is still extremely bright and offers plenty of visibility. The Moon GEM 2.0 features 3 super bright LEDs which gives you plenty of visibility to yourself and others on the road. It is also lightweight enough that it can be mounted onto you helmet. The Moon 3.0 is a compact rear bike light featuring 4 super bright red LEDs and is ideal for mounting onto you bikes seat post or rear of your helmet. For such a small light the Moon 3.0 gives off a really intense light and offers several flashing modes. The Moon GEM light series are available as individual lights in both Black and White. They are also available as a front and rear light set.
The next step up in lights is the Moon Mask Bike Light which features 5 super bright LEDs giving you the most light you can expect from a compact light making it ideal for inner city riding. This is a 70 Lumen light. The Moon Mask has a really nice sleek looking design and nice gloss metallic finish. The top end of the Moon rear bike lights is the Moon shield a 60 Lumen red LED light. This light can be mounted to you bikes frame or seat post. The light really packs a punch and can be easily seen from over a kilometre away. Featuring several flashing modes this is a must have for the daily commuter.
Moon also offer several high powered bike headlights, each are USB rechargeable. First there is the Moon X Power 300 Lumen bike light. This light is an excellent affordable bike headlight that gives you good front visibility but isn't too bright that it's going to blind oncoming riders. Great for inner city or bike path riding. The next step up is the Moon X Power 500. The Moon 500 Lumen is a highly recommended bike light which was rated best the best value for money bike headlight in bicycle Victoria's Ride On magazine and consumer choice. Excellent for road training rides or inner city commuting. At the pointy end there is the Moon 1500. This is a super powerful USB rechargeable light. Ideal for off road night trail riding this puppy turns night into day giving you a high level of front and side visibility.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Date added: 06/08/2012 Strider Balance Bike Review
The Strider Balance Bike is an excellent way of teaching children balance and coordination. The low seating position allows the child to place both feet firmly on the ground. As their confidence builds they can then progress to lifting up their feet allowing them to roll along on two wheels. Traditional teaching methods such as training wheels and tricycles tend to give the child a relianceon extra wheels for balance, the Strider eliminates this need so the child an learn much faster!
The frame is constructed of steel and the tyres are made from a solid Puncture-proof polymer making the bike extremely robust and lightweight. Easy to disassemble it is perfect for storing in your caravan or camper. Both the seat and handlebars are fully height adjustable to ensure a proper fit for a growing child. No tools are required for assembly or adjustment.
Available now in a fantastic range of bright colours. Order online and receive free delivery anywhere in Australia!
http://sprockt.com.au/brands/strider.html
Recommended for: Children between 18 months up to 5 years.
Total weight: 2.9Kg
Price: $169
Date added: 18/07/2012 Bike locks for high crime areas
There are two types of thieves opportunistic and determined. Coil locks do not offer a great level of security they are more of a deterrent against opportunistic thieves who would only really take a bike that was easy to steal. A determined thief will easily cut through a coil lock with a small pair of bolt cutters, it may take them longer depending on the thickness of the coil but none the less they can still be cut. For the area you are describing you would definitely want a U-Lock or shackle lock. U-Locks are much harder to cut than coil locks as they are made from hardened steel so they can not be cut using bolt cutters. The only way a thief can cut through them is with a hack saw or angle grinder both of which create a lot of noise and a long amount of time. Plus they will need to make 2 cuts in the lock in order to remove it as even with one cut you can't remove the lock.
We recommend any of the following bike locks:-
KRYPTONITE - New York Fahgettaboudit U-Lock - http://sprockt.com.au/kryptonite-new-york-fahgettaboudit-u-lock.html
This lock features a 18mm hardened steel shackle which resists bolt cutters and leverage attacks and is the absolute highest security bike lock available.
KRYPTONITE - Evolution Series 4 LS U-Lock Shackle - http://sprockt.com.au/kryptonite-new-york-fahgettaboudit-u-lock-clone.html
This lock features a 14mm hardened steel shackle resists bolt cutters and leverage attacks and has an extra lock shackle and is a high security bike lock.
KRYPTONITE - Evolution Mini U-Lock with Cable - http://sprockt.com.au/kryptonite-evolution-mini-u-lock-with-cable.html
This lock features a 13mm hardened steel shackle resists bolt cutters and leverage attacks. It also comes with a 1.2 metre braided steel cable and is also a high security bike lock.
All of these locks are extremely difficult to cut through. It is always an idea to also not only lock your bike to something but remove your front wheel and to lock this together with the bikes frame as thieves are known to take front wheels from locked bikes.
Date added: 02/05/2012 Moon X-Power 500 Review - Road.cc
"The Moon X-Power 500 looks neat and compact and feels pleasingly chunky yet light"
Mounting the light was easy, the mount is easy to adjust and fitted very solidly to the bars, and stayed firmly in position without having to be cranked up stupidly tight. It has some horizontal adjustment too, so you can point the beam towards the verge and make sure you're not going to dazzle any oncoming traffic. The release switch is easy to locate and operate, even in gloves.
The beam pattern has a bright centre spot, and throws light a good way up the road.It gives enough sideways spill to easily see what's on verges or lurking at the sides of the road. It switches on straight into overdrive mode, so if you're heading out into urban terrain, you need to remember to switch it down. The power cycle is not especially clever as off is included in the sequence, so you have to be quick on the draw if you want to go from flashing back up to overdrive. The power switch is flush with the casing and needs a firm press - even though it's illuminated in pimp-my-ride blue, but sometimes you need to keep looking ahead, not down, and in winter gloves I found it difficult to locate and operate.
The light has 5 power modes, overdrive, high, standard, low and flashing which you toggle through from overdrive down to flashing.
The 500 lumen overdrive setting was bright enough for twisty descents on rural lanes, though our run time test came in at 1h 30 mins, so slightly under the advertised 1h 40. However, the high setting gave plenty of light at 380 lumens for trundling along unlit back lanes at 14-16mph for 2h 30 mins (a bit more than the Light and Motion Urban 300). The flashing mode runs at the high setting and is pretty attention seeking during daylight or around town.
Run times are ideally suited to commuting, and good enough when you feel like taking the long way home - spare batteries are available for as little as £15, so if you wanted to head out on some longer rides you could easily slip a spare into your jersey pocket.
The flashing indicator to let you know when the battery is running down is very useful, if slightly pessimistic. On overdrive it started flashing after 45 minutes, giving you 45 minutes to get home. This could make you a bit blas about the amount of time you have, but on the plus side, the light switches to low power and then a low flash when the battery is spent, it doesn't just go out.
Build quality is great, the aluminium cap survived unscathed after being dropped, and the USB port cover closes very neatly and is easy to open. First time out was a 30 min ride into a biblical downpour, but the XP flashed away without skipping a beat. The USB feature is a plus for anyone who works in an office, on our PC it charged up within 5 hours - a plug in mains charger is also available for those lucky enough not to spend their working day welded to a computer.
4/5 Stars
Date added: 13/04/2012 Moon X-Power 500 Review - BikeRadar.com
"Considering the price, an impressive unit in terms of light output and the quality of the beam pattern"
This is a mighty impressive unit in terms of light output and the quality of the beam pattern – which is good considering the price. There is a nice bright spot in the middle of the beam, surrounded by a very useful spread of light. That spread isn’t too much, though, preventing possible dazzle to other road users.
Visibility from the side is also quite good, thanks to the shallow lens design. The quality and construction are also good, and the mounting is simple, but it works well.
This article was originally published in Cycling Plus
4/5 Stars
Date added: 15/03/2012 Topeak RedLite Mega Rear Light
"One of the best rear lights out there"
Offering excellent visibility without being distractingly bright, Topeak's new RedLite Mega rear light is a well built bit of kit. It survived all of our abusive testing and offers great all-round visibility with a simple to fit but secure mounting system.
There are some flashing modes which are a little on the gimmicky side, but beyond that the fact remains that this is still one of the best rear lights out there for being seen from behind and surviving life in the cold and wet winter months.
This article was originally published in Cycling Plus
5/5 Stars
Date added: 17/02/2012 Moon Mask 5 LED Front Light
"Extremely bright safety/town light a longer charge cable would be good though"
Form definitely meets function with the Moon Mask 5.0 LED, which claims to delivers a whopping 70 lumens in the highest of five modes-just enough for tackling well surfaced lanes at 20 odd mph and a real boon for roadside repair, pannier rummaging and map reading. It certainly gave a punch performance in our beam test and the stats seem to bear that out too.
A red pulsing light indicates low battery giving the option of charging home in twenty minutes, or toggling to economy settings as conditions dictate. Fully charged in two hours, it shouldn't attract unwanted attention from the office snitch and forgetful folks can sleep soundly in the knowledge intelligent charging prevents the 3.7 volt lithium polymer battery from being boiled within an inch of it's five year life expectancy...
However, it's a little thirsty in the higher settings beyond point-to-point commutes/training runs. Essentially the Moon Mask takes the alternative approach to run time over output than something like the similarly priced Cateye Jido which runs for much longer but also puts out less light. Either approach works, it simply depends on which works best for the type of riding you do. The Moon Mask's potential drawback is that if you are running it at it's brightest setting most of the time you need to remember to keep it charged up, and while the short charge cable is cosy beside the laptop or tablet, plugging into the desktop tower could leave it vulnerable to careless size nines.
Measuring a diminutive 6x3 by 5x1 the Mask earns its moniker from the option of aftermarket top caps for the last word in personalisation. I understand the appeal but will pass at £12 a pop. More impressive are the five Nichia LEDs developed for optimum front and peripheral illumination, which project a razor sharp beam of light that seems particularly potent when performing tricky right turns. Driver acknowledgement is to a grin inducing 550 metres, dropping to around 350 through congested town centre rush hour traffic.
Thanks to the clever rubberised strap mount that seems a genuinely universal fit to 30.8 bulge diameters although it struggled a bit on some oversize bars, it can also be persuaded atop a helmet. Choosing this option seemed to increase its efficiency-encouraging myopic drivers to dip their lights sooner while discouraging some of that all too familiar casual indifference shown by larger vehicles when crossing staggered junctions.
Switching between modes, is easy wearing full-weight winter gloves and on the fly. Run times seem broadly faithful to the blurb, unaffected by plummeting temperatures and delivering a consistent 2 hours 47mins, 5 hours 50 and 8 hours 24 (mins) in high, strobe and flashing respectively.
4/5 Stars
