Tess

Parking lots are the honest answer, agreed. Nobody plows the far corner where you actually park, and that is where the low car finds its limit.

Also worth registering the frame number somewhere and photographing it. Costs nothing and it is the only thing that ever gets a bike back.

Also drop the pressure. 90psi on a 28mm tyre is high for a commuter carrying a rider plus a bag, you're probably fine 15-20psi lower, it'll be more comfortable, roll about the same on real streets, and pinch flats and rim strike become much less likely. Modern thinking on tyre pressure is a lot lower than what most of us grew up with.

Deposit at drop off, a written collection date, and a storage fee after fourteen days printed on the ticket. You will almost never charge it, but the existence of it moves machines out of the door.

Put the inverter on its own switch somewhere you'll see it. Mine has a little red light by the bed specifically so I can't forget.

In winter you also have almost no solar recovery, so any overnight drain compounds day after day. The fix is finding the drain, but the other half is having a plan to actually recharge: a DC-DC charger off the alternator will put 30-40A back in an hour of driving, which in December is worth more than another panel.

Whichever you pick, and I do mean whichever: carbon monoxide alarm, mounted at head height near where you sleep, with a replaceable battery and a test button you actually press monthly. This is the one thing in a van build where being cheap is genuinely dangerous, and it costs about 25.

Agreed, though I'd try the free adjustments first. Half the time a fitter's first move is the same stem flip and you've paid for it.

Bivy plus tarp in real rain, my honest experience: your quilt gets damp at the foot by night three and you never fully dry it out. In the Cascades in September I'd take the tent every time. Somewhere dry and warm it's a completely different calculation.

Make sure the hooks match your rack tube diameter before ordering. Most are fine but the cheap ones sometimes don't fit larger tubing and it's a miserable discovery in the car park.

The big name is worth most early in a career and least in the middle. At six years in you're past the point where it opens doors on its own. I'd weight it low.