I’ll have pictures soon, but for now, you’ll just have to take my word for it that the commuter is almost ready for the road. Built around a 1993 Kona Fire Mountain frame, technically it’s road ready now, but I just didn’t feel safe without proper lighting. Furthermore, I didn’t feel like riding “blind” w/o my Edge. Finally, without something to hold the bag that holds my work clothes, I thought I should hold off before riding into work.

For the lighting, I’ve equipped the Kona with four (count ‘em *four*) Cateye TL-LD600 tail lights and a Cateye EL-700RC Triple Shot Rechargeable LED head light. There are two tail lights pointing towards the rear, and one pointing toward either side mounted on the front fork. The headlight, mounted on the handlebar will serve both for visibility and lighting. Some might say I’ve gone overboard with the lighting, but if it makes for a more visible me to the inattentive drivers out there during rush hour, then I’m all for it.

For the toting, I’ve picked up a standard bike rack and went with the Nashbar Commuter Garment pannier to help keep the clothes wrinkle-free. We’ll see how it really works.

I’m still waiting on the headlight and the pannier bag, but both should be here this week. Everything else has been mounted. Getting the rack and tail lights mounted was interesting. Amanda’s older brother was in town this weekend with his wife, and so her twin brother was visiting as well on Saturday. The drop bars on the rack wouldn’t fit in the drops due to the quick-release mechanism. It was in the way. However, I recently came into a grinder. Put the two together, and enough of the rack drop metal was removed to make for a snug and perfect fit. The next piece was the rear facing lights. I was originally going to craft a tube to attach to the rack, but the elder brother looked at it for a while and figured out how to easily affix them to the rear fender. It was genius in its simplicity.

So, with the help of Amanda’s brothers (on my birthday, coincidentally enough), the hard part is done. All that’s left now is mounting the headlight and the computer and I’m good to go!