Have you gone outside lately? It’s getting cold! That doesn’t mean you have to put the bike away for the year, though. When it comes to clothing and gear that will keep you warm, there are plenty of options out there. Besides the obvious jackets and gloves, here are a few cycling-specific items you might want to try:

• Balaclava: Excuse me? a ball of what? No, no. A balaclava is one of those cool, tight-fitting face masks that covers your nose, mouth (don’t worry, there are breathing vents), ears, neck and head. Basically the only things left open to the wind are your eyes. They are usually neoprene, or a combination of neoprene and fleece. Intense, huh. You can also get face masks that just cover the bottom half of the face.
• Arm warmers: Sometimes a full undershirt is just too much. Cover your core with a couple of layers of clothing and you’ll be too hot. But without layers, your arms are left exposed to the chill. Cycling arm warmers are tight-fitting sleeves that block out the wind and cold. And if it starts to warm up mid-ride, they’re super easy to remove.
• Knee warmers: It’s the same idea as the arm warmers. You want to keep your joints nice and warm, so you can pedal smoothly and avoid pain. And if it gets too hot, just take them off.
• Booties: These booties aint for babies. They’re big neoprene overshoes that keep the wind and cold out of your cycling shoes. Cycling booties have holes for cleats, so you can still use your clipless pedals, and they come in various lengths when it comes to ankle coverage.

If you’re an expert in cold-weather riding, let us know your secrets and leave a comment below.

Check this out: Now you can use a generator hub for more than just a headlight. PedalPower+ makes a hub with a DC output, so you can actually charge your phone, iPod, GPS or whatever small electronic device you might take on a long ride (sorry, the curling iron is just too much). They even make a universal cable that converts AC dynamo hubs into DC. How sweet is that?

Well, Bikewagon is actually the first company in the ol’ US of A to offer these products for sale, so check out the PedalPower+ brand page on our main site and see what they have to offer!

The Bikewagoneers are heading to Nevada.

Interbike ‘09 is next week, and we’re taking a camera (for both video and still shots) to capture all of the latest cool bike technology. So what would you like to see? We’re going to try and find the sweetest new bike parts in the industry, so let us know if there’s something you’ve heard about and are dying to see. We’ll try to get the lowdown on whatever it is you’re interested in, and then we’ll post it on our special Interbike page. Oh, and we’ll see if we can’t give you a sweet deal on it, as well.

We’ve been busy over here at the Bikewagon lately. “Busy doing what?” you may ask. Well, if you haven’t visited the site in a few weeks, you’ll notice almost 6,000 new parts online. That’s right, 6,000! That’s one heck of a lot of bike parts and accessories. Check it out by clicking on the link on the sidebar. We’re fairly confident you’ll find something you need. (Yes, we realize that “want” and “need” are pretty much synonymous in the cycling world.)

Avenir Escape Pod 55c.i. Bicycle Saddle Bag, *Limit 5 per Customer at the 1 cent price.

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Because we all need a hero sometime in our lives…

Here is a deal for the next 100 people that buy Limar helmets from Bikewagon.com. A While Back, we bought over 2000 Limar Helmets for a SCREAMING deal, and have been selling them for about 50% off. Here is a coupon to get an added 20% off that discounted price!

Coupon Code: “Wear a Helmet!”

See the helmets here:

http://www.bikewagon.com/Limar/c235012-1-3/

- The Bikewagon Team

Informative Links about helmet use:

http://www.helmets.org/stats.htm

http://www.sccfd.org/forms/pamf_helmet_brochure.pdf

How do you deal with rain? Hopefully not like this guy.

It’s gonna be a bright, bright sun-shiny day, finally! Maybe the sunshine hasn’t quite reached the Midwest quite yet, but here in the Rocky Mountains where we are, the sun has finally appeared. It’s been one of the wettest Junes in recorded history, with almost-daily rainstorms. Today it’s a beautiful day in the high 70s. So now we can all get those bikes out and start riding like we had planned.

What do you do when it rains? Are you a die-hard or do you choose to stay inside? If you have any rain-riding tips, please share, because who knows how long this sunny respite will last!

Most new bike commuters might want to avoid this guy's advice.

The month of May is National Bike Month, and this week (11-15, specifically) is Bike-to-Work Week. We know that many of you have been biking to work for years, so we want to know what kinds of tips you might have for those who want to start. Share your wisdom in the comments section!

More than 2 million people have already watched this video, but if you haven’t, you’d better check it out. Crazy stuff.