Why is the rent on my vent so exorbitant?

We received this question this morning at cycledork central:

Dear Cycledork,
Why do some helmets cost $30 and others cost $200? What's the difference? Aren't they all made of basically the same stuff as a beer cooler?
lady macsquish

Dear lady:
For the same reason that air-conditioning devices range so significantly in price: mass and efficiency. The helmet on the left has 17 comparatively tiny vents and provides all the comfort, in terms of weight and air circulation, of wearing an anvil. The Bell Women’s Bella Sport, now on sale at performancebike.com, costs $22.99. The helmet on the right, a Giro Atmos, has 26 comparatively humongous vents, all of which are larger than the vents on the Bella Sport. It weighs 275 grams, or about 10.5 ounces. Imagine wearing air-conditioned feathers. Plus it offers the same safety as the Bella Sport. The Atmos, now on sale at performancebike.com, goes for $134.99.

Though this is beyond the scope of you question, all of that said, the Bella Sport is the better tool for someone who isn't going to be riding very hard for very long, say no more than 15 mph for an hour or less. For racers or others who are cranking out miles for hours at a time or who feel the need to take every advantage, the cost for comfort or fewer grams becomes worth considering.

And I'm glad you mentioned beer coolers. Beer is close to my heart and never far from my thoughts. It is my hope that bikes and beer is a topic we return to many times in our dogged pursuit of cycling truth.
Yours in velophility,
Cycledork

Ask Cycledork

I have a sweatshirt that says, "There is no thing he does not know." I also have a sister who says I'm mostly full of shit and wife who, more diplomatically, says she's skeptical of some of my explanations. Anyway, the new link above to the right is where I prove the sweatshirt right. Or fake it. Regardless of the views of some loved ones, my lot in life is to dispense knowledge and banish ignorance. So if you've got a cycling question, I've got an answer. Unless inquirers specifically ask for offline responses, all questions will be answered here at Cycledork for everyone to see. Bring 'em on.

I knew this day would come

when I have to worry about the competition. And from my friend at unsquished. Unsquished will likely offer a more intense commuter perspective while readers can expect a wider range of topics here at cycledork. Of course, since I'm not a mind reader, I might just be blowing this out my ass. That means you'll have to read both to know for sure.

It's for the kids

A show of hands via comments please. Who among you walked to your grade school? Rode a bike? Took the bus? Got a ride?

Until I was in sixth grade, I either walked or rode my bike. In sixth grade I either took the bus (sometimes walking a mile uphill in the snow to and from the stop, really), begged my mom for a ride if I missed the bus or realized I was too malaised to attend school. Seventh and eighth grades, back on foot or bike. High school, for this purpose, is lost time (Cheech and Chong were huge during my formative years; I also spent a lot of time getting my face slapped at the back of the bus).

I'm curious about how you loyal few arrived at your educations because Oct. 3 is International Walk to School in the USA" day. Organizers cite three reasons to walk or bike to school: to enhance the health of kids (we're too fat); to improve air quality and the environment (we're too lazy); and to create safer routes for walking and bicycling (we're paving too much and in the wrong places).

Responsibility for this mortifying state of affairs should sit squarely on the shoulders of my generation (I'm 45) and would if we weren't so desperately trying to shirk it. It's our kids who are getting rides (my own once included, though at college she either walks or takes public transportation); we are the ones driving the cars and making the pavement an easy political choice. There's a lot more to this pathology but other sources beside this blog cover are better equipped to discuss the causes more comprehensively.

Of the 38 other countries listed as participating, I wonder in how many of them walking or biking to school is really considered a day worthy of being separated from all others. Along those lines I loathe Mothers and Fathers days. I resent being told I have to show my love to my parents on these single days when I want them to know I love them every day. Same thing here. If walking or riding to school is reduced to a single day, that's all that should be expected: a day, and a day only, when kids walk or ride.

Rant aside, one day is better than no days. Better to cycle or walk on this single day every year than not at all. I'll be happier when it turns into Walk to School week, or even better, month or year. To those of you with kids, get them out of your car Oct. 3. And the day after. And the day after that.

Taco Tool to the rescue

Or at least that's what it used to be called. Anyway, I was glad I had one recently when my handlebars started to slip. What it is is a folding, palm-sized bicycle multitool with a buttload of allen keys, Phillips and standard screwdriver blades, tire levers and chain tool and so much more. So when I noticed my bars dropping, I stopped, unzipped my seat bag, extracted the multitool, tightened the offending allen screws, replaced the taco in the seat bag and roared off. Pedro's, the bike-tool impresario that issued the Taco Tool until at least 2004, now produces an equivalent tool that is shown at right. Get one. It can keep a pain in the ass from being a ride stopper.

Cycletacular posts now photographically enhanced!

Several of the posts from the cycletacular now have pictures. See the view from the Horsetooth overlook, the entrance to Carter Valley Campground, and Rob and Luke, the friends who shared road and mountain bikes (and shoes) up Rist Canyon.

Hygiene

I didn't realize until today that Hygiene sits at a critical junction of the Cycling Riviera. I just thought I'd picked about the perfect destination for a 100K victory ride. Located about 33 miles south of Fort Collins, it's the town that announces that if you keep pedalling you'll soon arrive in Boulder, Colorado's two-wheel Monte Carlo. Even though there are plenty of Litespeeds and high-end Treks up here in Fort Collins, the closer Boulder looms the more Looks and Times and Pinarellos show up. I expect going to a bike shop in Boulder is like scoping the parking lot at the Casino.

I caught a couple of Pinarellos a few miles outside of Hygiene who had been dogging it on the hills. So what if they were on their small rings. That group passed me at a stop light and hammered out the last couple of miles to arrive at a bait store and cycle shop about 30 seconds ahead of me. As I enjoyed my frozen strawberry bar, I noticed hot-shit bikes at every other business, including the grocery store across the street, the coffee shop on another corner and a bike shop across the street from where I stopped. They were beautiful bikes, all heading south and west toward Boulder. My suspicion though is that many of the people on these bikes are posers. The frustrating thing is not being able to recognize the real deal when I see it -- and I'd bet I have.

The ride back to Fort Collins was fast, somewhere around 20 mph. My mission complete, I was glad to get back to my end of the Cote d'Azur. It's also good to know that if I need energy gel and night crawlers in Hygiene, even if can't sort out my fellow shoppers, I know where to go.