iheartbacon

Since I had a small mirror installed on my Raleigh Revenio I've been pulling it out of the shed to ride a lot more. It used to sit for 2, sometimes 3 weeks between rides depending on if I was going to NA or my group ride. Now that I can see what's behind me it's a lot more fun to ride. I can't see much at all just turning my head and looking over my shoulder. Such a small, inexpensive item really changed the bike. This week my Timbuk2 messenger bag came, I got a large one, and I've taken the Revenio out for errands twice. I love my Giant, but sometimes it's nice to take something a little sportier out.

What small things have changed your ride?

ezdoesit

I always ride with a helmet mirror won't think of leaving home without it.
I use the take-a-look.

Roody

A while back at Kmart I bought a couple little lights that fit on your valve stem. I bought a green one and a white one (the colors of the local university). They just spun around with my tires and looked cool, and they were very cheap. I don't know why, but those little lights made me happy every time I had them on.

Artkansas 

A rack and grocery panniers. I almost never use my backpack now.

chewybrian 

I took the "ch-ching" bell off my '66 Raleigh and put it on my everyday bike. It has practical uses, but mostly it just makes people smile.

wahoonc

Riding a bicycle ALWAYS makes me smile. I do use mirrors on several of mine. Lights on most of them.

Aaron

Dahon.Steve

Since you already taken the mirror, I will say a rear tire with Mr. Tuffy makes a huge difference. I don't care too much about the front tire since that's easy to fix but the rear wheel is a different story. If the bike came with cheap tires, than something like a Mr. Tuffy on the rear wheel makes a huge difference for me.

Roody

A bike computer increases the enjoyment of riding for me. They serve no practical purpose, but I enjoy knowing how far, fast and long I've been traveling.

Slowhead

Any road that is really smooth and clean of debris.

Roody

yes!! I always try to be the first, or one of the first to ride on a newly paved road. I remember wen I was a kid, back in the 1960s, that they put in I-75 near our house in Detroit. Just before they opened it to traffic, my dad took us kids on a bike ride on the new freeway. One of my favorite memories is swooshing and swerving all over that freeway, with no cars to worry about. Dad made it even more exciting by telling us that we could get in trouble if we got caught.

I-Like-To-Bike

In Philadelphia, you had to be first on the first day to enjoy a newly paved street not strewn with debris and broken glass. By day 2, too late.

Roody

Or even sooner. One night I was commuting home from work, took a slightly different route to take advantage of some new pavement--pedaling faster than usual to enjoy the smooth ride. Unfortunately, the road construction crew evidently left some debris. I wiped out on the debris and literally crawled home. I ended up losing a total of 10 months of work from that little accident!

bragi

I used a bike computer for a few years, but recently removed mine from my bike. I'm a bit competitive, even with myself, and noticed that I got too obsessed with my average moving speed, even though it was totally irrelevant; my total average speed is 10 mph, no matter how fast or slow I go between stops. I have a heavy touring bike, and I kept hurting myself trying to go fast. Now, without the computer, I just go as fast as my tendons will allow, don't worry about speed at all, and get to my destination at pretty much the same time, minus the tendon pain.

Newspaperguy

I use a bike computer. I find it a useful tool to record how much I'm riding. I pay just a little bit of attention to the speeds, but if my average speed starts slowing down, it means there' s something wrong with me or with my bike. Knowing the distances I ride helps me to know when I need to do some servicing. I suppose I cold do this by watching, but I have a pretty good idea how many kilometres a set of rear brake pads or a rear tire will last.

Roody

So you learned something about cycling (and yourself) that you would not have learned if you never used a computer. That's interesting.

Personally, I also average around 10 MPH in city riding. When I'm in good shape and paying attention, that goes up to 11 mph. Big whoop! When I'm just wandering, my average stays about the same 10 or 11, even though I feel like I'm riding slower and taking my time.