Bicycling

In most states a BELL is mandatory in a bicycle, a cheap $5 to $10 one is sufficient. A bell comes into play when you are overcoming someone slower then you, it is a nice way to tell them you are passing on their left.

A Mirror gives you an idea of what is behind you, thus I have one on my bike.

You should also look into a light. Many states requires A HEADLIGHT if you bike after nightfall. YES a HEADLIGHT NOT A TAILLIGHT, for studies have shown a HEADLIGHT on a bicycle prevents way more accidents then a tail light. People think in terms of what happens most often, given cars pass bikes all the time they think the most common form of Bike-Auto accident is a auto hitting a bike from the rear and thus a Tail light would prevent that. The problem is given the bike and auto are going the same direction, the speed difference between the two is a lot less then people think. Given this reduce speed difference, most auto drivers have more then enough time to see a cyclist ahead of them to avoid hitting the cyclists, even if it is after night fall AND the cycle has NO Tail light.'

On the other hand, the second and third most common form of Fatal auto-bike accident are often preventable if the cyclist had a HEADLIGHT (The most common form of Fatal accident, a park car opening his car door in front of a cyclists is best prevented by riding at least a car door length from any parked car).

The Second most common Auto-Bike Accident is when a cyclist is biking along a road and a car pull out of a side street as that automobile is turning left. The car enters the intersection and while turning left runs over the cyclist and later claim he did not see the bike for they was no headlight. The third most common fatal accident is a variation of the Second, but here the Automobile is coming in the opposite direction of the Cyclist but makes a left turn onto a side street, again right over the cyclist. The lack of a headlight often contributes to these two types of accidents, thus the requirement of a HEADLIGHT if a bike is used at night (But no requirement for a taillight).

If you do NOT go out at night on the bike, no light is needed.

One more comment, find out who is you local bike shop. Sooner or later the bike will need repairs and you will have to get the repairs done in that shop. Most have a limited supply of mirrors, bells and lights (You may be better off using on line stores for these items) but when it comes to actual repairs, such shops are the place to go. Go to the shop and look what they have. If asked tell them you have a cruiser, they may NOT sell any, but they do know how to get parts for them and to repair them. They often have mirrors, lights and Bells, but generally the most popular (and remember one of the reason such items are popular is that they WORK).

As to headlights, right now I would go with a lithium rechargeable battery light. The one I am using at present can be charged using any USB port. The actual light I am using has a "Mini-USB" port, but came with a cable whose other end was a standard USB, so I can plug the light into my computer to be charged OR use the USB re-charger that came with my phone and use a regular house plug (The Light did NOT come with such a re-charger but most people have them today).

Such lights can project light for 6-9 hours before they need to be re-charged. I do some serious night bike ride and found that I needed more then a couple hours of light and these Lithium LED lights provide the light over a long period of time:

I was biking BEFORE LED headlights came out, and in the days of incandescent headlights, the batteries had a hard time providing light for more then one and half hours. To have light for a longer time period I ended up installing a Generator on my bike so I could have light for Three to Four Hours. With the LEDs you do NOT need to have a Generator to have lights for more then one hour. Thus I recommend LED lights with Lithium Batteries. Rechargeable lights with Lithium batteries are the most cost effective lighting system today.

As to Lights that uses Removable Batteries. Most Removable Batteries are tradition Lead Acid Batteries. The electrical power in them drop off drastically as the temperatures drop below 60 degrees. This is NOT true of Lithium batteries, they retain most of their electrical power even in sub freezing weather. Thus a lot of old warnings about a drop in electrical power in batteries do NOT apply to Lithium Batteries. Thus if you decides to opt for a light that uses removable batteries, stay with Lithium batteries. Such lights have one huge advantage, you can buy batteries almost every where if you need new batteries (unlike rechargeable lights that require a charge every so often). Such removable rechargeable batteries tend to cost AND less light power when compared to non removable rechargeable batteries, but the fact you can buy batteries for them almost any place can be a huge advantage if you are on a long trip.

Now, one thing I did install my bike that you did not mention was Fenders. Fenders keep most (but not all) dirt and water off your back AND out of gears. There cost about $50, but make sure they are at least 1/2 inch wider then the tire on your bike (1/4 inch on each side of the tire). It looks like all of Huffy's Cruisers come with Fenders, thus you need to make sure any replacement tires are the same size as the tires that came with the bike OR smaller.

http://www.huffybikes.com/products/womens/cruiser/