A long time ago, I ordered a bad-ass 48-spoke rear wheel from Hiawatha. It sat around my basement for a long time, because it was just too pretty to take out in the slop.

Well, I finally got around to putting it on and took her out for a ride.

I’m used to riding around on an out-of-true wheel with broken spokes, driven by a rusty set of worn-out set of cogs.

Now, I have all that shit replaced, and I put on a shiny new freshly waxed chain.

Makes all the difference in the world.

Check it out:

_{My old wheel}

See the busted spoke wrapped around the non-busted one?

_{My new wheel}

I was out for a quick 10 miler tonight, mainly to see how she shifted. (I upgraded from a 7-speed freewheel to an 8-speed cassette.) She shifted beautifully.

Tonight was also the trial run of my new headlight.

_{PlanetBike Insight 15w}

I like it….sort of.

The Good

• It has 3 different settings. 9, 12, or 15W
• It has a cool little button to change the setting, so you can diddle around with the button when you get bored.

The Bad

• The battery is about 3 times bigger and heavier than my old 10w model
• The cord isn’t long enough so that I can actually put the battery in the water bottle cage and have the light on the handlebar!
• The chargers don’t seem to be interchangeable between the new and old models (the lamps are, though)
• The cool little button takes up room on my handlebar, so I can’t stop clicking it

Overall, I like it. I give it 3 Jihadis out of 5.