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Day’s Verse:
For the Jews it was a time of happiness and joy, gladness and honor.
Esther 8:16
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I love my down low glow. I love the supremely visible feeling of having this light arrangement. I love hearing people exclaim in admiration and surprise as I go by. I love seeing the road lit up and blue beneath my feet. Who wouldn’t want to ride with lights like the ones on my bike?

Alas, my brilliant blue down low glow simply cannot keep up with the harsh winter conditions I routinely subject it to. I kept trying to get it to work because I like it so much. But finally, after returning it to the manufacturer (Rock the Bike) for repairs no fewer than four times, I decided to give up. I sent Rock the Bike the following email:

Hi Rock the Bike,

I bought a down low glow from you guys last October. What a fabulous idea! I commute in the dark all winter, and couldn’t wait to be super-visible from the side. But over the last year I’ve had my down low glow break 4 times; each time you’ve fixed or replaced it, but eventually it breaks again.

The most recent time was in October when it just stopped glowing. I mailed it back to you, and you replaced the inverter. But when I got it back, it had lost that dazzlingly bright glow, and it never worked in temperatures below about 45 degrees (not very useful for a cyclist in Massachusetts!). It would work for about 10 or 15 minutes of a ride, but by the time I got to work an hour later, it would be reduced to an almost invisible dimness. Finally, after I rode it in an 8-degree day followed by a 32-degree ice storm, it just gave up the ghost and only glows across half the light, when it works at all.

I love the idea of the down low glow, and I can’t say how disappointed I am in the continuing trouble I’ve had with the down low glow. I *want* it to work so much, but what recourse do I have after mailing it back to you 4 times? I’m afraid the down low glow needs to get much tougher before I’ll be able to carry it with me on my commutes.

Thanks for coming up with such a cool idea. I hope that at some point you’ll be able to get it tough enough for the harsh winter conditions it can get subjected to. When you do, let me know — I may give it a try again in the future.

Thanks,
Katie Ferguson

Rock the Bike is a small business, and I have talked with the inventor of the down low glow on the phone several times in the past. Nice guy. Even so, I expected to hear nothing back. So I received and read the following email with great pleasure when it arrived in my inbox not 30 minutes after I sent my message:

Hi Katie,

It’s customers like you that motivate me more and more to bring the Down Low Glow to the next level of dependability. I really want the DLG to work its hardest when cyclists are most vulnerable — on a cold, wet night. But right now it’s not up to that task. It’s killer on social rides, but get the cold and wet involved and it’s hit-or-miss. Some have reported great results in snowy conditions. Others, like you, have experienced nightmare customer service scenarios trying to get a working setup.

It’s funny that you should email now. I have literally gone to the other side of the earth trying to solve the problems you have reported. I’m meeting a couple current suppliers and a new factory in Guangzhou, China. China is where the lamps and batteries come from. It’s here that a new I am researching both an LED version and an improved fluorescent version. In both of these designs everything beyond the light tube will be gone — you’ll have a side visibility light tube that clips on similarly to the current version, but is self-contained.

I really appreciate your helpful comments and you will be one of the first people I contact when the new version is up and running. It would be my pleasure at that point to replace your current version at no charge.

Yours,

Paul

I respect and appreciate his response. This is the kind of person who makes the cycling community unique and wonderful, and I fully intend to keep an eye on future down low glow iterations. When they have a tougher version out, I will gladly beat the crap out of it give it a try — I probably would, even if I had to buy a new one — because of his response.