wig hails from the wonderful city of chicago, a windy city where isaac measures, cuts and sews everything himself. anyway, isaac sent us a city skin and ding pad to try out,when they showed up in the mail we divided them up and i got the city skin. i don't use chain to lock up because, well, i live in muskegon - where people only steal Trek bikes that are left unlocked [see archived summer blogs] so riding a iro and using a u-lock works just fine. i went to home depot and bought some chain and used a old pad lock to test this. first things first, it was well made, the stitching is nice and it looks really good. i'm also a fan of the reflective stripes that are on it. the city skin makes the chain more comfortable around your waist and it didn't scratch the paint on my awesome poo brown schwinn varsity when i locked up the other night with katie and dereks bikes. when we move to chicago this summer i will
probably switch to the chain and lock to keep my bike in my possession, so this will get a lot more use then.

- cole

i got the ding pad. and kinda like cole said in his review of the city skin, muskegon is pretty chill on the stolen bike factor. i don't have to lock up when going into the video store because i just know that no one's going to mess with it while i'm in there. the liquor store is a bit sketchier, but i just leave it in front of the window and everyone leaves it alone. for testing purposes i did throw my bike up against some gnarly poles and sign posts and it worked like the little charm that it is. the bonus for the ding pad was that isaac sewed in a one less car patch of ours to give it a little personalized touch, definitely worth a hug or high-five, depending on how isaac rolls with high-fives and hugs. i thought it was an ingenious little idea. the craftsmanship is pretty awesome, he knows his way around the sewing machine. the ding pad has a velcro closure and it's reversible, in case i wasn't down with the one less car patch, and the reverse side has a reflective stripe. even though i don't really have a super-use for the ding pad right now, living in muskegon, i know i'd get a lot of use out of it living in the city. i'm a fan, basically because isaac makes them himself; that's d.i.y. and that's good. http://www.chicagowig.com/

-derek