Gear

Starting a mobile food business isn't cheap. Here are some of the costs: • The vehicle: You can buy a basic, unequipped new truck for up to about $75,000. Used delivery trucks, which can be converted to food trucks, can go for about $20,000. • The gear inside: Customizing the interior of a truck can cost as much as $300,000, including design, kitchen gear and generators. • The cool exterior: It costs about $4,000 to have the vehicle wrapped in fancy vinyl graphics.

After the coffee. Before getting out of wet Boston. The Skinny: After almost two weeks on the road, I'm finally heading back home Wednesday night. Just don't tell me it's raining in Los Angeles. Wednesday's headlines include NBC's plans to hype the online component to its Olympics coverage, Disney hitting pause on a pricey movie, andCNN's ratings troubles. Daily Dose: While the National Cable & Telecommunications Assn.'

Breast cancer awareness month always brings the pleasure of seeing various National Football League stars pretty in pink. Sunday's games featured players and coaches in pink hats, gloves and -- my personal favorite -- shiny pink shoes. If you love this gear, you can own it. The NFL has launched an auction in which you can bid on game-worn NFL pink products to benefit the American Cancer Society. Up for grabs are the pink gloves worn by the 49ers' Vernon Davis in October 2010 (current bid is $255)

The revolution is over - and big wheels have won. The "29er" mountain bike, which first appeared on the scene a decade ago with monster-truck tires 3 inches taller than the age-old 26-inchers, now dominates the market. It's easy to see why: The bike makes you faster and safer, gaining more momentum and floating better over sand and rocks. This year, the demand's so hot for huge hoops that some companies don't even sell 26ers anymore. Others have started experimenting with different-size big wheels, like the 650B, a "27.5er" (reviewed below)

It hasn't exactly been a winter wonderland for most of the country this season, but when the snow inevitably arrives, fitness fanatics must be ready. If you want to ride, run, hike and slide in ice and snow, these items will help. The anywhere bike Hanebrink Electric All-Terrain Bike: Specialty 14-speed bike with pedals and 750-watt, mid-frame electric motor designed for soft surfaces like snow and sand. Includes super-wide 20-by-8-inch tires, an 8-inch travel suspension fork and a lithium ion battery that runs for an hour with no pedaling (and longer if you do)

Not so long ago, monitoring your heart rate while exercising required you to wear a chest strap that relayed heart rate information to a watch-like monitor on your wrist. It was uncomfortable and sweaty. Now, thanks to Oregon Scientific's new Gaiam Touch Trainer Heart Rate Monitor , all you need is the wristwatch. The Touch Trainer has a clock, calendar, alarm and stopwatch functions, but its real value is an integrated touch sensor that measures and displays your heart rate when you place one or two fingers on the lens sensor.

The Ballistic JetCart ($170) from Swany America can hold not only your clothes and gear but also you. The wheeled, carry-on bag has a fold-down seat built into its back (weight limit 300 pounds). The wide, sturdy telescoping handle provides support for your back. Measuring 22 by 12 by 8 inches, the zippered bag is loaded with internal pockets for stashing documents, electronics and a change of clothes. It weighs 61/2  pounds and comes in red or black ballistic nylon. Info: Swany America ,  (800)

We all know that dudes like gear. Whether it's the latest titanium driver wowing your pals at the golf course or the newest, high-tech mountain bike, men like to impress other men with the newest, latest gear. But with the recent economic troubles, shelling out hundreds, or even thousands of dollars just to have the latest gear seems a little impractical. Take advantage of the advances and innovations in workout technology without breaking the bank. Here are some new items on the market that will help: Real deal FitDeck exercise playing cards: A deck of coated, illustrated playing cards imprinted with instructions for various exercises, such as squat thrusts, push-ups and bicycle crunches.

Ah, California! Where would pop culture be without it? No surfing. No Hollywood. No TV shows about good-looking lawyers. And certainly none of those cute little canvas and leather tennis shoes so popular with all the trend-seeking young women from Malibu to Manhattan. The same shoes that put L.A. Gear on the Southern California business landscape in a very big way. The very same shoes that paved the way for L.A. Gear to introduce a host of trendy athletic togs to a nation with a seemingly insatiable appetite for anything "California."

The WWE's campaign to turn its brutes into box office deals another tepid hand with "The Reunion. " Following his monolithic turn in the generically solemn "Legendary," muscleman John Cena gets to try his hand at cynical wisecracks as the oldest of four heirs — along with Amy Smart, Ethan Embry and Boyd Holbrook — to a despised father's fortune. The catch in the will is that the brothers, who hate one another, have to go into business together as bail bondsmen, a venture that immediately sends the trio to Mexico to find a billionaire kidnapped by a vengeful businessman (Michael Rispoli)

Lorex's newest video monitor thinks small -- baby small. The Live View Video Baby Monitor lets caregivers keep an eye and ear on little ones, and with its light weight and easy interface, is a good bet for trips. The parent unit has a bright 2.4-inch LCD screen and a stand that doubles as a belt clip. In the dark, the camera switches to black and white night vision. Up to three additional video camera units can be added to the system, so caregivers can monitor up to four rooms.

Not so long ago, monitoring your heart rate while exercising required you to wear a chest strap that relayed heart rate information to a watch-like monitor on your wrist. It was uncomfortable and sweaty. Now, thanks to Oregon Scientific's new Gaiam Touch Trainer Heart Rate Monitor , all you need is the wristwatch. The Touch Trainer has a clock, calendar, alarm and stopwatch functions, but its real value is an integrated touch sensor that measures and displays your heart rate when you place one or two fingers on the lens sensor.

OAKLAND - Aaron Negherbon remembers the plaintive email he received from a Marine sergeant in Afghanistan. "Aaron, I don't know if you can do this," it read. "Our supply truck was blown up and all the gear from my nine medics was destroyed. " The sergeant was requesting surgical kits, gauze, equipment for cutting into tracheas and "all the etc. " Negherbon, 38, founder and president of TroopsDirect, a nonprofit organization, had the supplies gathered, shipped and in the hands of front-line troops within 10 days.

Home workout products made of resistance cords, including stretchy rubber tubing and retractable nylon cables, usually don't get much respect from hard-core fitness freaks. The innovative products below could change that. Often inexpensive and portable, they get the job done and would complement anyone's normal 20-mile run and super-set dead-lift session. Knockout workout Perfect Punch: Padded mixed martial arts fighting gloves attached to a rubber stretch cord that drapes behind your back and adds resistance to all punches.

When Richard Hammond first attempted to drive an Abrams tank, he couldn't tell the back from the front or even find the door. The impish 42-year-old Brit has tested almost every high-performance vehicle on the planet as co-host of the outrageously popular motor-head show, "Top Gear. " He commutes to work flying a helicopter and has a garage full of motorcycles, but that résumé was only "kind of useful," he said, for "Richard Hammond's Crash Course," a new BBC America program that casts him as a wayward novice, felling trees, wielding wrecking balls and attempting to operate other highly specialized pieces of heavy equipment that take workers months, if not years, to master.

SEOUL - North Korea appears to be preparing for a third nuclear test, digging a new underground tunnel at a site where previous tests were conducted in 2006 and 2009, South Korea's official news agency reported. Photos taken by a U.S. satellite reveal the excavation work at the Punggye-ri site in the country's northeast, the Yonhap agency reported Sunday. The work comes as North Korea also prepares to launch a satellite, called Kwangmyongsong-3, sometime this week to commemorate the centennial of founding father Kim Il Sung's birth.

Question: I have just had to replace the clutch on my 1982 Datsun Stanza 5-speed for the third time. The car, which has been satisfactory in most other ways, has 64,000 miles on it. One mechanic told me that the previous installation was too tight. Another said it should have been adjusted regularly, and the third said this is a problem to be expected with front-wheel-drive cars. What can be done?--D.G.

The Soviet Union has placed large orders for electronic radiation-measuring gear with a Swedish medical equipment firm to help treat victims of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, company officials said Thursday. Officials of LKB-Produkter, based in Stockholm, said a major reason for sharply increased sales to the Soviet Union was that hospitals there needed sophisticated gear for treating radiation-stricken patients.

With summertime weather hitting lots of the country in late winter this year, overnight backpacking trips can now conveniently move to April and May. Just in time, an impressive new crop of hiking and camping gear has sprung up along with the cherry blossoms, promising easier times on the trail in any season. Roomiest two-man tent Kelty Vista 2 tent: The first two-man free-standing tent that actually fits two full-grown men, due to a unique design with near-straight-up walls.

At dawn, Jeff Lynn sat cradling a cup of coffee at Philippe's, a downtown restaurant drenched in dusky light and Los Angeles memories. He considered the changes afoot less than a mile away at Dodger Stadium, hallowed ground for generations of Angelenos. Like many people across the city Wednesday, he was happy - very happy - with the news that the Dodgers were being sold to a group headed by Magic Johnson, and was more than ready to say goodby to seller Frank McCourt. "There's no greater son of Los Angeles than Magic Johnson.