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So what exactly did you make yourself? Are you just showing off you impressive buying skills and like to tell 'us' to do like you did? In my country (The Netherlands) getting a bike ready for college/university would amount to wiping the dirt/rain from the saddle and maybe fix that leaking tire. Most of them are commodity transportation and look the part.
I don't think that this display of buying skills is entirely inappropriate here. Some people are into DIY to save money, others for the creative challenge. Some of the DIY projects that are undertaken for the sake of the creative challenge are magnificent accomplishments, but not appropriate for money-savers whose experience in bike mechanics, electronics, etc, would make duplicating them more trouble than they're worth to them. When cheap alternatives to DIY approaches are commercially available, information about them is relevant to deciding how to go. ~ In this case, beginning with a $300 bike bought online is a more appropriate choice for a casual cycler than walking into a bike store and being sold a $700-$1200 bike more appropriate for an enthusiast. For a lot of people, this is commodity transportation, despite the flashy paint job. Regarding "looking the part," the styling on a lot of expensive bikes is more conservative than on more cost-effective bikes, and as in the car market, the utilitarian "look" can often entail a less utilitarian reality.
I bike in the city, where streetlights make illuminating the path ahead unnecessary, but being seen among many competing visual stimuli is more important. For this I chose the white version of the Cateye LD-130, which is just a cheap, 3-LED taillight with a white lens. It has a setting in which the different LEDs blink alternately for 5 blinks followed by a short pause. For side visibility, I got a SpokeLit, also cheap, which installs, appropriately, on the spokes and goes round and round as you move. I got these two plus a taillight for less than $30 from Amazon. ~ Regarding headlights of the usual sort, Modernbike.com has a display of photos that show various headlights' beams along a sidewalk with an orange traffic cone 40 ft. ahead that's very "illuminating" for the purposes of headlight selection, and the Planet Bike 1-Watt comes up strong in terms of cost-effectiveness as a means of lighting the path ahead. ~ I know this is shopping information rather than instructable information, but riding in the city has made it clear to me that being seen is a separate function from seeing ahead, and with all the schemes for DIY lights here, some general attention to the overall picture should be inserted somewhere.
Ever thought about the back wheel being stolen? :) I would take off the front wheel, lean it up against the center of the bike and put the lock around the pole, around the center beam, and around each wheel. This ensures each wheel and the frame will not be stolen. :)
Better yet, if you get a cable and run it through the seat post, you'll be all set to go! :D
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In my country (The Netherlands) getting a bike ready for college/university would amount to wiping the dirt/rain from the saddle and maybe fix that leaking tire. Most of them are commodity transportation and look the part.
~ In this case, beginning with a $300 bike bought online is a more appropriate choice for a casual cycler than walking into a bike store and being sold a $700-$1200 bike more appropriate for an enthusiast. For a lot of people, this is commodity transportation, despite the flashy paint job. Regarding "looking the part," the styling on a lot of expensive bikes is more conservative than on more cost-effective bikes, and as in the car market, the utilitarian "look" can often entail a less utilitarian reality.
~ Regarding headlights of the usual sort, Modernbike.com has a display of photos that show various headlights' beams along a sidewalk with an orange traffic cone 40 ft. ahead that's very "illuminating" for the purposes of headlight selection, and the Planet Bike 1-Watt comes up strong in terms of cost-effectiveness as a means of lighting the path ahead.
~ I know this is shopping information rather than instructable information, but riding in the city has made it clear to me that being seen is a separate function from seeing ahead, and with all the schemes for DIY lights here, some general attention to the overall picture should be inserted somewhere.
I would take off the front wheel, lean it up against the center of the bike and put the lock around the pole, around the center beam, and around each wheel.
This ensures each wheel and the frame will not be stolen. :)
Better yet, if you get a cable and run it through the seat post, you'll be all set to go! :D