Gearing and kids' bikes has been on my mind lately. Our eldest has had a 16" for a while and I've noticed her struggling slightly on uphills. Lower gears are the way to go. It turns out that changing the sprocket on the coaster brake hubs that are on most kids' bikes is easy peasy. No special tools are needed, nor any particular skill (I'm living proof!), Sheldon Brown describes the process much better than me. The hardest part was finding a sprocket. I scavenged one, but they're cheap as chips on eBay or whatever. It works better, so she tells me, and she goes up hills a bit better, to my eye.
I put on a 19T sprocket, replacing an 18T. Not a massive difference, but I wasn't aiming for one. I'm debating doing the opposite for our son; he's undergeared, to my eye.
Rather predictably, bike racers get all bug-eyed about this stuff. The ones who race single-speed bikes (like trackies or BMX racers) do anyway. I reckon it's worth a look for casual cycling as well.
Wednesday, 25 July 2012
Monday, 25 June 2012
Pushbikes
We got the kids pushbikes. Somewhere around age 2 with the middle child, 3 with the eldest.
Oh, by "pushbike", I mean "bike with no pedals". Here in .au "pushbike" often means "pedal cycle" and has faintly condescending overtones. I'm not using it in that sense.
They work pretty well. They're a pretty popular toy (watching a 2yo grab a bike and shoulder it cyclocross-fashion is just priceless too) and really help with balance and steering. As advertised, the transition to pedals is fairly straighforward. Pedalling, you have to deal with that another way. We've gone for bike with training wheels. You prat around a bit with taking pedals off and lowering the saddle and whatnot when you ditch the trainers (which are only good for learning to pedal IMO), but it's doable.
One area where pushbikes win out over pedal cycles with training wheels is in riding over rough terrain, particularly if the pedal cycle has training wheels. Watching a 2yo head for the swampiest patch of ground in sight is also priceless. I think we've got us a cyclocross racer in the making.
The limiting factor, we've found, is saddle height. There's a big difference between different brands. Wierdly, it doesn't seem to be a selling point. Netti make pushbikes in two sizes (the pink one is smaller), but nobody seems to know about it, let alone make an issue of it to consumers.
We've got a Netti (the pink one), featuring wood frame and 12" (I think) pneumatic tyres, no brakes and plastic wheels. We've also got a WeeRide, with a front handbrake (unused, AFAIK), metal frame and 10" solid tyres. I haven't noticed any dramatic solid/pneumatic difference.
Oh, by "pushbike", I mean "bike with no pedals". Here in .au "pushbike" often means "pedal cycle" and has faintly condescending overtones. I'm not using it in that sense.
They work pretty well. They're a pretty popular toy (watching a 2yo grab a bike and shoulder it cyclocross-fashion is just priceless too) and really help with balance and steering. As advertised, the transition to pedals is fairly straighforward. Pedalling, you have to deal with that another way. We've gone for bike with training wheels. You prat around a bit with taking pedals off and lowering the saddle and whatnot when you ditch the trainers (which are only good for learning to pedal IMO), but it's doable.
One area where pushbikes win out over pedal cycles with training wheels is in riding over rough terrain, particularly if the pedal cycle has training wheels. Watching a 2yo head for the swampiest patch of ground in sight is also priceless. I think we've got us a cyclocross racer in the making.
The limiting factor, we've found, is saddle height. There's a big difference between different brands. Wierdly, it doesn't seem to be a selling point. Netti make pushbikes in two sizes (the pink one is smaller), but nobody seems to know about it, let alone make an issue of it to consumers.
We've got a Netti (the pink one), featuring wood frame and 12" (I think) pneumatic tyres, no brakes and plastic wheels. We've also got a WeeRide, with a front handbrake (unused, AFAIK), metal frame and 10" solid tyres. I haven't noticed any dramatic solid/pneumatic difference.
Wednesday, 22 February 2012
An adventure?
Where I live, taking your kids to school/kindergarten/daycare on a bike is somewhat unusual, so it invites a few comments. Nothing nasty, just ranging from positive to curious to uncomprehending (like people not realising that it's just like riding a bike. Really!). Anyway, one of the comments I heard, second-hand, was that it was like an adventure for the kids.
This was a really interesting comment, I thought. On one level, it doesn't make a lot of sense; it's no more adventurous than getting there in a car or on foot or whatever. You start at point A and get to point B in the exact same way. It's not adventurous in the same way that going somewhere new is - maybe you know where point B is, but you haven't necessarily been there. That kind of adventurous is something I'd like to try with kids one day. Probably not with a one-year-old, though.
On another level, this comment makes a lot of sense; you interact with your environment a lot more. The kids are forever creating wobbles as they point out this fascinating thing or that. It's even rained on us once or twice. Hey, we live in the subtropics; getting rained on in summer is no drama at all. There's a bit more scope for interesting stuff (particularly as toddlers view these things) on the back of a bike that in a car.
It was an interesting comment because, as I've pointed out before, cycling to wherever seems to get their day off to a better start than driving. I guess I never gave too much though to why. I filed it under "things both the kids and I like" and made a point of doing it when possible. Now that I think about it, it being an adventure is a fairly convincing explanation. A recurring theme in childrens' literature is how things that are mundane to adults absolutely fascinate children (one of the things that's great about having kids, for mine). Why should a short ride through suburban streets be any different?
This was a really interesting comment, I thought. On one level, it doesn't make a lot of sense; it's no more adventurous than getting there in a car or on foot or whatever. You start at point A and get to point B in the exact same way. It's not adventurous in the same way that going somewhere new is - maybe you know where point B is, but you haven't necessarily been there. That kind of adventurous is something I'd like to try with kids one day. Probably not with a one-year-old, though.
On another level, this comment makes a lot of sense; you interact with your environment a lot more. The kids are forever creating wobbles as they point out this fascinating thing or that. It's even rained on us once or twice. Hey, we live in the subtropics; getting rained on in summer is no drama at all. There's a bit more scope for interesting stuff (particularly as toddlers view these things) on the back of a bike that in a car.
It was an interesting comment because, as I've pointed out before, cycling to wherever seems to get their day off to a better start than driving. I guess I never gave too much though to why. I filed it under "things both the kids and I like" and made a point of doing it when possible. Now that I think about it, it being an adventure is a fairly convincing explanation. A recurring theme in childrens' literature is how things that are mundane to adults absolutely fascinate children (one of the things that's great about having kids, for mine). Why should a short ride through suburban streets be any different?
Saturday, 31 December 2011
16 inch kids' bike.
Our eldest daughter just turned 5. She's had a 12-inch BMX-style Giant for a couple of years now. It's been good, apart from being unbelievably heavy. It's getting a bit small, though, so it's time to upgrade. We got her a second-hand one, which I made a couple of upgrades to.
Her requirements:
- a stand
- pink
- streamers on handlebars
Our requirements
- front and rear brakes, one lever-operated and compatible with little hands.
- decent tyres (ie not the ridiculous faux knobblies that seem to come standard round these parts)
- decent rims (not steel)
Light would have been nice, but 99.99% of kids' bikes are BMX-style (complete with stickers warning against riding them offroad or using them for stunts), so not much chance of that.
We picked up a second-hand one off eBay. Luckily enough, it had a front-mounted V-brake (although a cheap and nasty one), so we had a really good base. It even had aluminium rims, so using a hand-operated brake wouldn't be a complete waste of time.
I put a better V-brake on the front (some Tektro thing I had lying around for some reason), tidied up some cosmetic stuff and regreased the bearings. I've not had much truck with cheap cheap V-brakes (these were made of pressed steel(!)), but cheap cheap brakes in general are a no-go area for me anyway. I wanted something easy to adjust that wasn't too grabby. It worked well with the existing lever, which seems to have been aimed at little hands. The good thing about a fork with cantilever mounts is that you have a range of more or less powerful brakes to choose from, from cantilever up to extra-long V-brake.
We picked up some semi-slick tyres for reasonable money too (made by Cheng Shin, as I recall). The theory there is that they should last better than the knobbly kind and roll and grip a bit better. They were also slightly smaller, which means slightly lower stepover (good) and slightly lower gearing (also good).
Gearing is an interesting one. I took up track cycling about a year ago and this may have coloured my perspective a bit, because track cyclists talk an awful lot about gearing. Talking about what gear you're on is the rough equivalent of talking about the weather or something. I'm leaning to the view that it's important for kids too. In particular, I think lower gearing is a good thing for little kids (they'll struggle less on hills at the cost of going slightly slower on the flat). It's easy peasy to change the sprocket on a coaster brake hub too (although http://sheldonbrown.com/coaster-brakes.html has a couple of helpful hints I wasn't aware of), so I think I'll scare up a bigger rear sprocket and see how it goes.
It's been a good step up; our daughter's done pretty well picking up some new skills (like dealing with a higher saddle and using a hand-operated brake). In some ways I'd rather do away with the coaster brake (it makes starting off harder than it has to be) but it's what she's familiar with from her old bike, so it's a good transition. She's ridden it to school, both solo (and supervised) and attached to mum's bike (in which capacity it works better than her old 12"). Her little brother insisted on riding it back home. Who said pink's only for girls?
Her requirements:
- a stand
- pink
- streamers on handlebars
Our requirements
- front and rear brakes, one lever-operated and compatible with little hands.
- decent tyres (ie not the ridiculous faux knobblies that seem to come standard round these parts)
- decent rims (not steel)
Light would have been nice, but 99.99% of kids' bikes are BMX-style (complete with stickers warning against riding them offroad or using them for stunts), so not much chance of that.
We picked up a second-hand one off eBay. Luckily enough, it had a front-mounted V-brake (although a cheap and nasty one), so we had a really good base. It even had aluminium rims, so using a hand-operated brake wouldn't be a complete waste of time.
I put a better V-brake on the front (some Tektro thing I had lying around for some reason), tidied up some cosmetic stuff and regreased the bearings. I've not had much truck with cheap cheap V-brakes (these were made of pressed steel(!)), but cheap cheap brakes in general are a no-go area for me anyway. I wanted something easy to adjust that wasn't too grabby. It worked well with the existing lever, which seems to have been aimed at little hands. The good thing about a fork with cantilever mounts is that you have a range of more or less powerful brakes to choose from, from cantilever up to extra-long V-brake.
We picked up some semi-slick tyres for reasonable money too (made by Cheng Shin, as I recall). The theory there is that they should last better than the knobbly kind and roll and grip a bit better. They were also slightly smaller, which means slightly lower stepover (good) and slightly lower gearing (also good).
Gearing is an interesting one. I took up track cycling about a year ago and this may have coloured my perspective a bit, because track cyclists talk an awful lot about gearing. Talking about what gear you're on is the rough equivalent of talking about the weather or something. I'm leaning to the view that it's important for kids too. In particular, I think lower gearing is a good thing for little kids (they'll struggle less on hills at the cost of going slightly slower on the flat). It's easy peasy to change the sprocket on a coaster brake hub too (although http://sheldonbrown.com/coaster-brakes.html has a couple of helpful hints I wasn't aware of), so I think I'll scare up a bigger rear sprocket and see how it goes.
It's been a good step up; our daughter's done pretty well picking up some new skills (like dealing with a higher saddle and using a hand-operated brake). In some ways I'd rather do away with the coaster brake (it makes starting off harder than it has to be) but it's what she's familiar with from her old bike, so it's a good transition. She's ridden it to school, both solo (and supervised) and attached to mum's bike (in which capacity it works better than her old 12"). Her little brother insisted on riding it back home. Who said pink's only for girls?
Bobike mini - headrest and windscreen
So we decided to get some accessories for the BoBike Mini. We got a handlebar, which is really a headrest and a windscreen. I think they are popular; it's hard to tell, cause the young 'un thought the old getup was just great:
Here's a photo of the new gear. It makes the bike look even more, um, distinctive:
The black bit is a kind of curtain which hangs over the child's legs.
The headrest has been road-tested (sleep-tested?) and did pretty well. She fell asleep without it, so I assume that comfort wasn't an issue, but if nothing else I like her having somewhere to rest her head. I like the way the windscreen fends off low-hanging plants and (I assume) insects. Overall, we're very pleased with it.
We got the accessories from www.moruyabicycles.com.au, who seem to be running them out at about half price for some reason - a good time to pick up a bargain.
Here's a photo of the new gear. It makes the bike look even more, um, distinctive:
The black bit is a kind of curtain which hangs over the child's legs.
The headrest has been road-tested (sleep-tested?) and did pretty well. She fell asleep without it, so I assume that comfort wasn't an issue, but if nothing else I like her having somewhere to rest her head. I like the way the windscreen fends off low-hanging plants and (I assume) insects. Overall, we're very pleased with it.
We got the accessories from www.moruyabicycles.com.au, who seem to be running them out at about half price for some reason - a good time to pick up a bargain.
Monday, 12 December 2011
Rudy Project Zyon Review
Every so often, I have some random thing bounce off my head, much closer to my eyeballs that I'd really like. Generally it's suicidal insects or angry (I'm assuming) birds. I've worn the odd insect in my eye, which a fairly unpleasant sensation, never mind the bad things it does to your concentration. I'm totally sold on protective eyewear for cycling. This probably sounds all wowserish or something. Well, maybe, but even the merely annoying insect-in-the-eyeball stuff was no fun at all. Avoiding that is reason enough for me, never mind the really nasty stuff. I've seen enough of opthalmologists to last me quite a while. I used to have a pair of sunglasses for daytime and a pair of sunglasses for nighttime. Nowadays I have a pair of photochromic sunglasses, which are way better.
Photochromic lenses seem to be quite popular with people who need prescription lenses. I can understand why; two sets of eyewear is a drag. I think they have a lot going for them even if you don't need prescription lenses; a set of safety glasses that automatically darken when it's bright is actually really really handy.
I have a pair of Rudy Project Zyons, which are hands-down the best, most comfortable sunglasses I have owned. Mine have a clear frame and photochromic lenses that fade to (more or less) clear. Aesthetically, they're like most technical eyewear, which is to say that the best you can hope for is looking like some Germanic killer robot (think: original Terminator movie). The clear lenses do not enhance the aesthetic experience; you move down the from pitiless cyborg to someone fresh from some eye-threatening process in some lab or Satanic mill. So they're probably not the sunglasses you want if you're all about looking cool.
For me, the fact that they actually fit more than makes up for their limitations as a fashion item. I have no end of trouble finding sunglasses that fit. The ones that do tend to be fashion sunglasses, with things like glass lenses, so-so eye protection and less-than-stellar durability. The Zyons have an adjustable nosepiece (which seems to be critical to getting sunglasses to fit me) and arms that can be bent into place. I can make them sit just right on my face and stay there. Considering that most sunglasses I try on annoy me in about 30 seconds flat, this is pretty impressive. They can be moved as close, or as far away from your face as you want, within reason.
The lenses are good too. They don't seem especially prone to scratches. I ride around with them on at night and it works fine. Maybe it's the placebo effect, but I find they aren't bad at cutting down the glare from fluorescent lights either. They get dark enough during the day. I wouldn't mind if they got a bit darker on really really bright days, but I'll gladly trade that off for the fade-to-clear thing.
They're tough; I trod on them (gulp) without any ill-effects apart from having to pop a lens back in.
One drawback is that wearing them in the rain drives me *nuts*. I suspect this would be the case with most any eye protection. Oh, and they fog up if I exhale on them, but I've hit on a solution to that problem: don't do it! The other thing, which is in the nature of most photochromic sunglasses, is that they work off UV light and so fade to clear if you're behind glass. This means they're no good as sunglasses for driving, but that's a minor thing when their role in life is as eye protection.
AFAIK they don't meet any of the common safety-glasses standards, nor do they do anything exciting with blue light. Me, I'm more worried about the flora and fauna that barrels towards my eyeballs every so often. A physical barrier that blocks UV light is fine with me.
They aren't cheap; RRP is (from memory) about $400AUD. I got mine for about $160 delivered from www.erudy.com.au, who often have specials on this kind of thing. That's not cheap, to my way of thinking, but it's well and truly worth it. These are hands-down the best sunglasses I've ever owned.
Photochromic lenses seem to be quite popular with people who need prescription lenses. I can understand why; two sets of eyewear is a drag. I think they have a lot going for them even if you don't need prescription lenses; a set of safety glasses that automatically darken when it's bright is actually really really handy.
I have a pair of Rudy Project Zyons, which are hands-down the best, most comfortable sunglasses I have owned. Mine have a clear frame and photochromic lenses that fade to (more or less) clear. Aesthetically, they're like most technical eyewear, which is to say that the best you can hope for is looking like some Germanic killer robot (think: original Terminator movie). The clear lenses do not enhance the aesthetic experience; you move down the from pitiless cyborg to someone fresh from some eye-threatening process in some lab or Satanic mill. So they're probably not the sunglasses you want if you're all about looking cool.
For me, the fact that they actually fit more than makes up for their limitations as a fashion item. I have no end of trouble finding sunglasses that fit. The ones that do tend to be fashion sunglasses, with things like glass lenses, so-so eye protection and less-than-stellar durability. The Zyons have an adjustable nosepiece (which seems to be critical to getting sunglasses to fit me) and arms that can be bent into place. I can make them sit just right on my face and stay there. Considering that most sunglasses I try on annoy me in about 30 seconds flat, this is pretty impressive. They can be moved as close, or as far away from your face as you want, within reason.
The lenses are good too. They don't seem especially prone to scratches. I ride around with them on at night and it works fine. Maybe it's the placebo effect, but I find they aren't bad at cutting down the glare from fluorescent lights either. They get dark enough during the day. I wouldn't mind if they got a bit darker on really really bright days, but I'll gladly trade that off for the fade-to-clear thing.
They're tough; I trod on them (gulp) without any ill-effects apart from having to pop a lens back in.
One drawback is that wearing them in the rain drives me *nuts*. I suspect this would be the case with most any eye protection. Oh, and they fog up if I exhale on them, but I've hit on a solution to that problem: don't do it! The other thing, which is in the nature of most photochromic sunglasses, is that they work off UV light and so fade to clear if you're behind glass. This means they're no good as sunglasses for driving, but that's a minor thing when their role in life is as eye protection.
AFAIK they don't meet any of the common safety-glasses standards, nor do they do anything exciting with blue light. Me, I'm more worried about the flora and fauna that barrels towards my eyeballs every so often. A physical barrier that blocks UV light is fine with me.
They aren't cheap; RRP is (from memory) about $400AUD. I got mine for about $160 delivered from www.erudy.com.au, who often have specials on this kind of thing. That's not cheap, to my way of thinking, but it's well and truly worth it. These are hands-down the best sunglasses I've ever owned.
Sunday, 6 November 2011
BoBike Mini - review
This is a front-mounted child seat. There is a clamp which goes around the stem (or the steerer tube if it's a threadless headset) and the seat locks onto it. Your child ends up behind the handlebars.
Ours was bought second-hand; supposedly it's about 5 years old. No dramas there; it's been looked after, but for all I know there have been changes and/or improvements since (current models have a "+" in the name. I have no clue whether ours is a "+" or not).
It works pretty well. There's more room for my knees that with the WeeRide that we've also tried. I still have to pedal in a slightly (more) wierd way than usual, but nothing too terrible. We use it on our Yuba Mundo, so (1) it's about the least twitchy bike I've ever ridden and therefore doesn't mind 8-10 kg perched over the front wheel and (2) there's plenty of weight (ie the other two kids) in the back to balance things. I wouldn't try it on a race bike, mind you, but I expect that something with fairly relaxed steering would be fine.
Assembly is pretty easy - clamp the bracket onto your stem and away we go. Supposedly it works the same if you have an Aheadset system with 25mm of spacers. It worked fine on a 1/1/8" quill stem, FWIW. There's some other attachment device that has to do with mountain bikes, so it should work with most sane bikes. My smokin' hot installation tip: a tap spanner (I think that's the term - a long tubular socket) helps no end: the bolt sticks out too far for a regular socket spanner and there's not enough room to turn an open-ended spanner very far.
Once the bracket's on, it's about a 5 second job to take the seat on and off. You pull out a split pin and slide it off. Putting it on again is just about as easy.
The back doesn't stick up far enough to get in the way of a helmet, which is a good thing, what with helmets being The Law here in .au. Our little one (ca 9 months old) falls asleep on it, helmet and all, which is a ringing endorsement of its comfiness. It'd be good if she had something to rest her head on. I gather there's an accessory for that which is on the wish list.
Getting on and off is a bit of an experience. There's not quite enough room between saddle and BoBike, so I need to be able to touch the ground while seated. I also have to lift my leg over the top-tube; trying to swing it over bars or back wheel isn't going to work. Fitting three kids on a bit is pretty easy, but it's not quite trivial.
Ours was bought second-hand; supposedly it's about 5 years old. No dramas there; it's been looked after, but for all I know there have been changes and/or improvements since (current models have a "+" in the name. I have no clue whether ours is a "+" or not).
It works pretty well. There's more room for my knees that with the WeeRide that we've also tried. I still have to pedal in a slightly (more) wierd way than usual, but nothing too terrible. We use it on our Yuba Mundo, so (1) it's about the least twitchy bike I've ever ridden and therefore doesn't mind 8-10 kg perched over the front wheel and (2) there's plenty of weight (ie the other two kids) in the back to balance things. I wouldn't try it on a race bike, mind you, but I expect that something with fairly relaxed steering would be fine.
Assembly is pretty easy - clamp the bracket onto your stem and away we go. Supposedly it works the same if you have an Aheadset system with 25mm of spacers. It worked fine on a 1/1/8" quill stem, FWIW. There's some other attachment device that has to do with mountain bikes, so it should work with most sane bikes. My smokin' hot installation tip: a tap spanner (I think that's the term - a long tubular socket) helps no end: the bolt sticks out too far for a regular socket spanner and there's not enough room to turn an open-ended spanner very far.
Once the bracket's on, it's about a 5 second job to take the seat on and off. You pull out a split pin and slide it off. Putting it on again is just about as easy.
The back doesn't stick up far enough to get in the way of a helmet, which is a good thing, what with helmets being The Law here in .au. Our little one (ca 9 months old) falls asleep on it, helmet and all, which is a ringing endorsement of its comfiness. It'd be good if she had something to rest her head on. I gather there's an accessory for that which is on the wish list.
Getting on and off is a bit of an experience. There's not quite enough room between saddle and BoBike, so I need to be able to touch the ground while seated. I also have to lift my leg over the top-tube; trying to swing it over bars or back wheel isn't going to work. Fitting three kids on a bit is pretty easy, but it's not quite trivial.
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