Using the Uberhood Bicycle Umbrella in the Rain - A Review

Like some sort of dust bowl farmer (or any Texan in 2011) I have been praying for the clouds to open up for some time now. Unlike them, I wanted it to rain just so I could do some product testing on the Uberhood bicycle umbrella. We actually had some rain the other evening, so I put on a sweatshirt to fight the chill, handed the phone to my wife/photographer (just like Graham Hancock!) and took my 'hood for a wet spin.

In the driveway leading to my estate

This is obviously not the first time I have ridden in the rain, but it is the first time I have ridden in the rain and kept my face dry. In that respect, the Uberhood does a great job.

Unfortunately it protects much less of the rest of the body from the rain than most of the other methods I have tried on the bicycle. I currently use and carry a bicycle rain cape from Campmor, and it works very well, covering my hands and keeping the rain off of my torso. Just like the Uberhood, the rain cape affords little protection for my legs and feet, so I will eliminate that comparison of the two.

Coverage wise, the cape is obviously better, but comfort wise, the Uberhood certainly wins out when compared to a rain cape. When using the cape, you have to periodically dump the water that accumulates between your arms, or make a conscious attempt to keep the cape taught enough to prevent accumulation. With the 'hood, there is no puddle to worry about. However, the 'hood does allow much more rain to hit your upper body and hands, especially at speed.

Pictured: Speed. 

Certainly, however, the best part of the Uberhood is the coverage it affords your face. My head was dry the entire ride, and didn't get a drop of rain on my glasses, which was really great. when wearing a rain cape, your face is in the wind and rain, which is very tiring.

Dry face, long beard. 

I would expect to use the Uberhood by itself in a light sprinkle, or for a short trip to the store - but if I was riding a longer distance in the rain, I would add a rain cape to the mix, and arrive with a dry face AND upper body. Add some gaiters and rain shoes in and I think you could expect to arrive fairly dry and comfortable, no matter what the weather.

In Action - or Inaction? 

The only problem with that plan is the size of the 'hood when folded. It wouldn't be a problem if the day started with rain, but on a day when there was sudden rain on your ride home, the odds of having the Uberhood on your bike already are pretty slim; a rain cape will slip in a bag easily, but even folded the 'hood is 23" long - and something that size creates a stowage problem on a bicycle. Yes, it has a bracket on the handlebar, but I can imagine that very few people feel particularly comfortable with a metal pole bolted to their handlebars right at their eye level. I like the Uberhood, and it will certainly eliminate excuses on rain days. I hate wet face more than anything, and it is no longer a problem, thanks to the Uberhood!

The Uberhood is available here for $79.99.

Uberhood First Impressions and Initial Review

Most of you have probably heard about the Uberhood from Bikesnob NYC, who made pretty nasty comments about the 'hood, and by extension it's users. Here in Plano we are a more more friendly and accommodating to folks, and we give them a chance before we make broad negative assumptions about a group of people.

I was very excited when I received my 'hood in the mail, because it is the first of several products I'll be giving the old PC gorilla test to over the next couple of months.

We had a little fun in the office when it arrived. 

I couldn't wait to get home and mount it on a bicycle and really give it a try. Despite some city slicker's railing on it, I think that a bicycle umbrella is a good idea - maybe not for rain, but I'm thinking it might keep the 110 degree sun off of my back in the summertime.

I have been in communication with Sandy, the wife of the man behind (or underneath) the Uberhood, and she explained that while her husband was on a business trip to China, he saw many bicycles with umbrellas, and thought that the Uberhood is an "elegant solution" to both sun and rain. The umbrella itself is built in China, but the folding mechanism is manufactured here in the USA, and is patent pending. The company has burst onto the interwebosphere with this product, and they are merely a few weeks old. This is good old American ingenuity stolen from Chinese peasants, and I really want the Luettgens to succeed in their venture. 

Sunday was a nice breezy, sunny day and I wasn't able to go to the Tweed Ride, sadly, but I still wanted to ride around. Needing some supplies for other non bike related projects, I loaded up my daughter in the trailer, mounted the Uberhood on my bike, and took off for glory. 

Uberhood mounted to my 1974  Suburban. 

My first critique of the 'hood is the mounting system. It is a simple system, with two pieces of metal held to the bars by the pressure of bolts, and the umbrella bracket sandwiched inside. All that was supplied was the metal, and even though my Schwinn is old, I had no desire to mar the bars by bolting raw metal around them. Luckily my garage is full of old rim strips, so I grabbed one and cut a liner for the clamp. 

Clamping Mechanism. 

Once had mounted the system to the bike, the next step was to tighten the bolts in order to sandwich the umbrella bracket between the two pieces of metal. I thought I had it tightened well enough, but "well enough" is no match for a North Texas breeze; as we got underway, a strong gust caught the umbrella and made the mount pivot over to the right. I reached out to catch the umbrella and the mast bent where I grabbed it. I rebent the tube, got out a pair of ratchets, re-tightened the clamp, and got back underway.

You can see the bend in the tube here. 

Pictured above the bent mast is the clever mechanism to reinforce the umbrella when it is up, and more importantly allows it to fold down when not in use. 

The hinging/reinforcing  mechanism closed. 

We rode the two miles to Home Depot without much more incident - though the clamp did have a tendency to rotate forward when the breeze caught the umbrella from behind, pushing it forward into my line of vision. This wouldn't be as big a deal if the front two panels were clear plastic, but they are not, and it was a little exciting shooting down the hill towards Home Depot ducking under the umbrella so I could see the what was coming. And that brings us to the other problem with the Uberhood. 

Uberhood in its dormant state. 

The Uberhood is very low for anything other than casual riding. I couldn't stand up to pedal, and I found myself crouched over most of the ride; despite the tall look of 'hood mounted on my bike, my head hits just where it starts to slope back. When you add in the tendency of the umbrella to rotate forward, it made the ride a little frustrating - and no amount of bolt tightening made it as solid as I wanted it to be. 

Hood from the front. 

After I bought my supplies, I tightened the mounting bolts even more and went ahead and rode over to the park from Home Depot. I do have to say that the Uberhood is excellent for increasing visibility in traffic; I didn't see one person drive past me without swiveling their head to look at my 'hood. For that reason alone, I am a little disappointed in the "lowness" of the hood. I like to be seen when I'm commuting, and I am sure that the Uberhood increases that possibility a thousandfold. However, being unable to stand and pedal would make it very hard for me to ride the entire commute under my 'hood. Or through the hood.

Overall, I like the idea of the Uberhood, and want it to work for me, but I'm afraid that it's not going to be much of an option when I commute - and that's pretty much the only time I'll be riding in the rain. I obviously haven't had a chance to test the 'hood in the rain yet, or the hot summer sun, but my first impression is that this is really best for casual path riding for short folks - and I'm not a giant at 6' tall. 

Uberhood. 

We are expecting rain this week, so I will be riding in it for sure so that I can give you a report on the viability of the Uberhood in the weather it was designed to work in. Once again, I like the idea of the Uberhood, but the reality is that umbrellas are inherently unstable, and bolting one to a bicycle subjects it to a lot more wind than a regular umbrella. The handlebar clamp, in my opinion, is not up to handling those stresses, and give the whole setup a rather flimsy feeling. The company should certainly include some sort of rubber lining for the clamp, but should really consider putting together a more robust system that clamps to the handlebars much more firmly. The umbrella itself seems fairly solid, and despite being caught in the wind a few times did not turn inside out. Do you need an Uberhood? Don't ask me, I don't know your circumstances. Jeez.

Something Plano-Centric? You bet.

Since I changed my name legally to "The Plano Cyclist", I have been looking for a way to make this blog more about Plano. Unfortunately, Plano doesn't give me free stuff, so I'm not as interested in that as I pretend to be.
Ha! Just kidding. Maybe.

I live in downtown Plano, just a few blocks off of the square; I live and play downtown, and enjoy all of the different restaurants down there. Jorg's, The Fillmore, Urban Crust, and Vickery Park are all already open and doing good business, and there is another place, the Posh Nosh currently being built out in the former home of the Queen of Hearts emporium. Doentown Plano is a fun place in the evenings, and that's great, but I have always thought that there was a need for a breakfast cafe. People seem inclined to stand around an old town area and wait FOREVER for  a cafe breakfast on Sunday; it happens all over, but there hasn't been a place like that in downtown until now. I have been noticing the signage going up for for Daisy's Barn And Grill over the past few weeks, and the one that made me really take notice was "Breakfast Served All Day". That I like to see.

Plus they are hiring. I do a service in this town. 

I'll make no secret that breakfast is my favorite meal of the day, and specifically a breakfast sandwich. One of the reasons I have wanted a breakfast place in downtown is because I want to eat a hot egg sandwich while I wait for the train (I am a simple man with simple pleasures). I was running late today anyway and planned to take the train, so I pulled over and got to know the new breakfast joint.

Inside Daisy's

I walked in an was greeted by two smiling ladies. As I waited for my sandwich, I had a little coffee and chatted. Apparently, Daisy's was up by Kelly's, a little north of the square, and have been building the new location out for nearly six months. As such, they have a regular clientele, and are moving to make room for more regulars. The counter to the right isn't just a breakfast counter, apparently in about two weeks it will be a full bar. What's great is that they will also serve the full menu as long as the bar is open, and in fact will stay open until 3 am, serving food for an hour after they stop serving liquor. I also heard something about chicken fried steak being added to the menu, and I am all about that. 

Glorious Pie Case

The restaurant soft opened on Friday, and they are serving a limited menu for now, but expect to be up and running completely over the next few weeks. Their limited menu is very nice, and very heavy on the breakfast foods. They also have some burgers, sandwiches and chili, along with what look to be a metric ton of fresh baked pies and pastries. They were in the case and spread all over the counter, and were I not trying to get unsoft around the middle, this might have been a longer review.

Cookies, pies and muffins, oh my. 

I drank my tasty coffee and waited for my sandwich, looked out at the square, and was nigh pleased with what I surveyed. I like that the downtown area is becoming a much more vibrant place than it has been for a long time,and I think that the addition of a breakfast place will be a step in the right direction.

Looking out the front windows. 

I can easily see myself being one of the old men sitting in the Daisy Cafe's front window thirty years from now. Even though it is a new space, it already feels right, like they have been there for years. I completely expect to start seeing people waiting on the benches outside for a table at Daisy's on Sunday morning very soon, and for this place to be the breakfast institution around here. 

There it is! 

The sandwich was excellent, fluffy eggs with chopped up sausage link bound to the eggs by creamy melted cheese. I was right, and there is little better on a breezy morning than a hot breakfast sandwich while waiting for the train. Welcome to Downtown Plano, Daisy's, and I will see you again very soon. 

It feels good to be outside. 

I didn't ride today just to review Daisy's Cafe - I'm actually hoping (?) for rain. I have a bicycle rain cape that I'll be reviewing here soon in order to contrast it with the Uberhood that I should be receiving in the mail. I'm working to round up a few more items to review, but it's a slow process. If you are a manufacturer that would like me to spend a little time with your product, please contact me - I'd be happy to do it if it's bicycle centric.

I Am so Excited I Could Spit

Right now, one of these is on its way to me so that I can review it. This will be the first product I have been sent to review this year. Christmas is coming, and I know that you are looking for the perfect gift - and this might just be it.

Uberhood. 

I will be receiving an Uberhood in the mail very soon, and I am  looking forward to giving it a good solid test. I regret that I didn't find out about it before the summertime, because it does look perfect to protect riders like myself from the vicious North Texas sun.