Pace Sportswear Wool Winter Cap

Those of us in the northeast USA have been more or less blessed (cursed?) with a mild winter for the 2011-2012 season. While there has been some cold weather and snow, it’s not been nearly as persistent as in the past, making winter riding and commuting that much easier for people. For the past two seasons, when it has gotten cold I’ve pulled on the pictured lined merino wool cycling cap by Pace Sportswear. It is 100% wool, giving it all of the reasons that people are coming back to wool performance garments—it doesn’t hold odors and it remains warm even when wet. It is marked as machine washable, but I’d say it’s a better idea to wash it in a bucket of warm water and light detergent, letting it air dry as I do my other wool garments. The one size fits most cap has a light bit of stretch to it, and is constructed to be reversible, though I’ve never used it other than black side out. Unlike some similar caps I’ve used, the ear flaps on these extend plenty far down to completely cover your ear lobes without constant readjustment. Available for $57 from Pace Sportswear.

Check out www.pacesportswear.com

NiteRider Mako 2 Watt

NiteRider has been ramping up their commuter offerings in recent times. The Mako 2 Watt is targeted at the everyday cyclist who needs more than just “to be seen.” It’s a no nonsense headlamp that it puts out some serious light. It runs on AA batteries, and you can expect a 25 hour run time on high and 50 hours on low. Like its namesake, the Mako has gills, only these are red side lights make you considerably more visible at intersections.

NiteRider claims the Mako 2 Watt pumps out 130 lumens thanks to a Cree LED, which I can neither verify or deny without a lightmeter. I can say that it’s plenty bright enough to avoid potholes on a pitch black roadway. The beam pattern is fairly condensed, allowing it to stretch far enough ahead for confident high-speed descending at night. Part of me wishes the beam could be a tiny bit more diffused in order to gain a slightly wider immediate field of vision, but I’m not complaining.

The Mako is helmet mountable, but I only used the bar mount. The quick release mounting system is one of the simplest and most effective I’ve used, but it does jiggle ever so slightly. My other minor complaint is that the mount is a tiny bit wide. Because of this, I’m not able to use the Mako on my bike with interrupter levers. This won’t be a deal-breaker for most people, but if you’ve got narrow or cluttered bars, you’ll want to make sure it’ll fit before you buy it.

The Mako 2 Watt weighs 165 g, retails for about $50 and includes 2 AA batteries.

Check out www.niterider.com

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