[Fwd: RE: [OrRando] Ye Olde Lighting Question]

[Andrew P. Black]

I wish that I had know about this shop a week ago.  I have just  
obtained an Ixon LED headlight from Peter White; while I have no  
complaints about his service, it would have been nice to buy from a  
shop located in the North-west.  There is not much on Sammamish  
Cycles's web site to indicate that they have this is stuff in stock —  
or that they offer the very nice discount!


> And, of course, there is a certain rando-owned shop in WA that  
> builds great
> wheels and sells all the same lighting stuff as PW, but offers 15%  
> off to
> randonneurs.
>
> Mark U. Thomas
> Sammamish Valley Cycle
> (206) 612-4700 (personal)
> (425) 881-8442 (store)
> (425) 881-3155 (fax)
> 8451 164th Avenue NE
> Redmond, WA 98052
> mark at sammamishcycle.com
> www.sammamishcycle.com

I'm pretty happy with the Ixon so far; I would see it as a great  
backup for a dynohub system, since it is completely self-contained,  
and can be run off of disposable AA batteries in an emergency.   
(Normal use give you six hours of light from a set of 4 NiMH cells.)   
The Pat at TerraCycle set me up with a nice mount that is better than  
the B&M supplied fork-crown bracket.
Pictures at http://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~black/Photos/BikeLights/ .

> Also, is there any reason why my local shop couldn't order all the  
> component bits for me or is it best to go directly through  Peter  
> White?

My take on this is that if you are going to install the system  
yourself, you may as well buy the pieces from those who have  
experience with them: Peter White or Mark Thomas.  However, if you  
are going to ask your LBS to do the install, you may as well give  
them a parts list and have them get the parts too.  I'm assuming, of  
course, that they are competent.

Which I how I learned to build my own wheels.  But that's another story.

	Andrew