The other day Gene Hackman was hit by a car while on his bicycle. Thankfully he was okay but his bike, well, let’s just say that it was a mangled mess of twisted metal and rubber. Photos of the bike appeared on TMZ. What I was surprised to see was that Mr. Hackman did not feel it was necessary to employ any bicycle accessories. There were no front lights, no bike lock, and most importantly since he was hit from behind, he had no bicycle taillights attached to his ride.

It’s amazing to me that people who ride bikes in the city do not feel that they need to have the same kinds of bike accessories that those who ride in the country do. I suppose their argument is that there are so many more lights in the city than there are in the country but this is a completely idiotic argument. Yes, there may be more lights in the city, but there are also more people, more cars, more everything! The cabs on the streets are worried about the pedestrians and the cars on all sides of them, they sometimes don’t always see the cyclists near them. Lights, especially LED bicycle lights since they’re so bright, would be immensely helpful in these scenarios.

Another thing that city bikers need is a really hefty bike lock. There’s enough evidence that there are more untrustworthy and criminal minded folks in the city than in the country. This may be because there are simply more people, but the facts are facts. More criminal activity means that bikes are more likely to be stolen. This is especially true if you don’t have a bike lock.

Something that may not be absolutely essential for a city cyclist is a bicycle computer. Cycling computers are used by people who are generally biking for exercise and not just to get to work as many of those in the city do. If you’re only going from one neighborhood to another in a large city, you probably don’t need to know your heart rate, the temperature, or how many calories you’ve burned on your way to work.

I think it’s probably a generalization to say that all country bikers need a cycling computer but honestly, it couldn’t hurt. It also couldn’t hurt for a city cyclist to wear a heart rate watch at least. Biking is a great sport, a great way to work out, and a fantastic hobby. But, if Mr. Hackman’s accident has taught us anything it’s that accidents can happen to anyone. While you can’t always stop an accident, you can definitely do your best to avoid them with the proper bicycle accessories.

Bike Ahead is your source for bike supplies and accessories, including LED bicycle lights, heart rate monitors, cycling computers, GPS units and more.