initial product review: the JIMI wallet

This past weekend, I bought a JIMI wallet for $15 from Recycled Cycles in Seattle near the University of Washington.

The JIMI is see-though plastic wallet, or more accurately, as described by the manufacturer's web site: "Jimi™ wallet is a really handy and stylish way to carry your essentials and free yourself from the clutter and bulk of the traditional wallet/pocket book. It's compact, water resistant, and translucent - as much at home in a hipster's pocket, a busy Mom's diaper bag or around the neck of an exec. breezing through airport security!"



You can easily see the cash through the wallet and also the photo ID too. [I guess I should have blurred out the ID photo too, as I looked kinda porky back then].


When open, you can see where the money slides into a clip and the cards slide behind a card keeper - you can store up to 4 IDs or credit/debit cards in there.



The loop on the end is for either fitting to a neck lanyard or I suppose you could attach a key ring to it too.

The reason I wanted one of these was I was tired of either fishing for dollars or IDs in my rear jersey or jacket pocket [I may have lost a debit card this way] and also the alternative I had been using was a Ziploc baggie [to keep things gathered together and also keep them dry] which while it does serve a purpose, makes you look a little impoverished at the local Safeway when you stop in to buy a pick-me-up post-ride. So I'd say my reasons for buying this have been two-thirds practicality and one-third style.

The only issue I have is in today's society, there are too many cards! Grocery cards, credit cards, wholesale club warehouse cards, bike club cards, frequent flier cards, etc. I have a "home" wallet I keep most things in and generally travel only with the essentials because of this reason.

So, we'll see how this trial goes. I principally want to see: 1) how dry it keeps the contents, 2) how long the hinges will last, and 3) how much can be stuffed into it. More or less, conduct a real-world commute test for a few weeks or a month and then do a Myth Busters style assault on this wallet to see what it takes for it to fail.

Stay tuned...

[Note: I am not affiliated with JIMI and not receiving any compensation for this blog post. I paid for my wallet out-of-pocket.]

[Also note: I coincidentally live in the city where Jimi the world-famous rock-n-roll guitarist is buried. Though there is likely no affiliation between the wallet makers and the musician's legacy.]

stocking-stuffers

I went down to Center Cycle, another one of our local bike shops , to buy some grips for a kids' bike and happened upon these noise-makers...

A parrot horn and an Incredibel. I picked them up for stocking-stuffers for the kids. They know they're not getting new bikes for Christmas, but I can still get them cool, fun stuff to inspire them to ride out on cool, dry days with daddy.

wish list item: DiNotte lights

If I found a wad of money in a trunk, I would spend some of it on better lights for bicycle commuting now that Daylight Savings Time is upon us.

DiNotte makes lights that seem (based on my viewing of a few product demos on YouTube) much brigter than you'd expect to get from such a s small package, and they take AA rechargable off-the-shelf batteries, not a specialized, expensive, cumbersome battery pack.

Of course, with his convenience and performance, the cost of the product is well north of the $100 range, which plants it in between most battery-powered head and tail lights and the higher end, higher powered, rechargeable units.





Photos are all from the DiNotte web site (http://www.dinottelighting.com/).

Here are videos posted to YouTube demonstrating the lights and their effectiveness.




Of course, if I had a set of these, the cost of the lights would be more than the cost of the bicycle!

first bike commute for 2008

My first bike commute for this year was uneventful.

I left home for work between 6:00 and 6:10 this morning and I was at work before 6:30... probably by 6:20 or 6:25. Being downhill on the way to work, it goes fast, but I keep it pretty sane. No wild speed or risky moves. My normal schedule doesn't have me start until at least 7:00 in the morning. (I have to be in Seattle tomorrow very early for an awards presentation so I will be driving to work and into Seattle).

In the early morning today, I was photographed with my bicycle at our transit center with my boss in a vanpool van for a local business newspaper article about employees' commute options in our county.

I got off work around 4:30 and headed home (uphill ride and some walking... OK, about a third of the trip was walking). I got home just after 5:00 to the cheers of the kids and my wife, Christie, who were waiting for me in our driveway.

Today I did also try out my homespun version of a "bike bucket" I made last weekend. It's shown in the photo below mounted to the bike rack.


Here's a look at what the hooks and mounting look like. Pretty simple and easy to find parts if you know your way around a hardware store and can use simple tools. I think I did this in 30 minutes or less.


The item in the lower portion of the bucket side is a bungee cord used to keep the bucket on the bike when empty/nearly empty. If I were to modify this trial version, I would likely add another bungee or elastic straps to connect the sides of the bucket to the rack and prevent forward-back sliding. Perhaps if the hanging hooks were dipped/painted in plasticote type rubberized material this too could prevent the sliding that can occur on a hill due to the lack of friction between metal-to-metal.