Bike to Work Week — Supplies Edition

photo credit: ran­dom dude

Think of bicy­cles as ride­able art that can just about save the world. ~ Grant Petersen

Yes­ter­day we cov­ered some of the pos­i­tive affects of bik­ing, con­cen­trat­ing on the eco­nomic por­tion. Today we’ll look at what “stuff” you’ll need to bike to work.

The fol­low­ing list are the items I would con­sider nec­es­sary and essen­tial for bik­ing to work.

• Bike. If you’re going to bike, you’re going to need one. This will likely be your most expen­sive item. There are sev­eral sources for bikes. If you’re new to bik­ing, I would sug­gest a visit to a local bike shop. They’ll be able to help you deter­mine what type of bike will best suit you. And they can help fit your new bike to you. How­ever, there are other sources worth con­sid­er­ing. Check garage sales, your local craigslist , friends, etc. You may find a good used bike through one of these sources, and at a con­sid­er­able dis­count from the bike shop. How­ever, be aware that buy­ing used is at your dis­cre­tion, and you’ll not be get­ting the ser­vice you’d get from a bike shop. The other option is one of the large dis­count stores (Wal Mart, Tar­get, etc). I rec­om­mend not buy­ing a bike at these stores, as they are sell­ing cheap bikes, and not a bike fit­ted for you. Also worth not­ing in the bike thought process, is what kind of bike you want — road bike, moun­tain bike, com­fort bike, or some sort of hybrid. Road bikes tend to be the most expen­sive, but lack com­fort, or the abil­ity to be taken off paved roads. The other bikes are more ver­sa­tile, but will tend to be slower bikes. How­ever, they are much more able to go wher­ever you want them to go.
• Bike hel­met. As a kid, I never wore a hel­met. What was I think­ing? If you’re going to be out bik­ing on roads (and for that mat­ter — bik­ing at all), a hel­met should be con­sid­ered a neces­sity. Your head is impor­tant, pro­tect it! With this, you’ll want to buy new — no telling where a used hel­met has been or how much abuse it has had. The large dis­count stores will have these, and they will work fine. If you want a nicer one, or to see more options, check your local bike store.
• Bike lock. Unless you really work some­place where you can trust every­body (even the peo­ple pass­ing by), I highly rec­om­mend a bike lock. Many dif­fer­ent styles exist, so choose one that you like.
• Stor­age. Some sort of pack you can attach to your bike to hold small items — keys, bike sup­plies, etc. Get this wher­ever you find some­thing that you like.
• Spare tube. Carry a spare tube in case you have a flat. These fold up very small, and will eas­ily fit into your stor­age case.
• Tire levers. Tire levers are used to remove the tire of your bike from the rim. A great assis­tance if you have to replace a tube due to a flat.
• Tire pump. Get a small tire pump that can be mounted on your bike. Now you’re all set if you have a flat and need to air up a tire.
• Mul­ti­tool. Get a small bike mul­ti­tool. Most bike shops will have these. These are great if some­thing comes loose, or for minor repairs.

That’s what I rec­om­mend as your need items for bik­ing. Option­ally, I’d recommend:

• Patch kit. Used for repair­ing a flat tire as an option instead of replac­ing the tube. Note: not rec­om­mended on road bikes due to the high air pres­sure on these tubes. How­ever, on other bikes this should work fine.
• Back­pack. Some­thing to carry any of the items you need for work. Maybe a change of clothes, lunch, etc.
• Mir­ror. If you want a lit­tle assur­ance that you can more eas­ily see what is behind you, a mir­ror is a great addition
• What­ever else you think you might need. Get what works for you.

So there you have it. My list of what you need to start out bik­ing. If some of these things sound daunt­ing, just remem­ber that you are just prepar­ing your­self in the event that you’ll need some of these things (i.e. flat tire). Remem­ber that these things don’t hap­pen very often. I’ve had a flat once in well over one year of bik­ing, and that can be con­tributed to a prob­lem with the wheel. Once I fixed that, I have had no prob­lems at all.

Costs to pur­chase these items can be any­where from a few dol­lars (espe­cially if you already have a bike and hel­met) to sev­eral hun­dred dol­lars (depend­ing upon the type of bike you buy — prices can vary sub­stan­tially). But just think of all the ben­e­fits bik­ing can pro­vide , and you’ll see that it really is worth it!

Have fun out there!

Lance writes sto­ries from his heart, aim­ing to inspire and moti­vate, as you align more fully with YOUR true peak. When he’s not here, you can find him hang­ing out with his fam­ily, rid­ing a bike, or just gen­er­ally act­ing goofy.   Sign up for the Thoughts from the Tree­house newslet­ter and get addi­tional inspi­ra­tion in your email inbox!

Lance Ekum

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