The bike stable

So the bike stable now is:

My dawes steel tourer + follow-me tandem coupling + hamax plus seat

Mikes Islabike ...photo to follow.

Back Again

So my wife has a new blog, and i need somewhere to sort out all her tech problems! Regardless this will give me chance to post some feedback and updates on my boys and their bikes. 

Hmm while i'm here does anyone know how to send photos from iphoto to blogger?

 

So not posting really

I've not been posting (obviously) mainly due to 1) being busy at work and 2) having a 2nd child!

I'm looking forward to the weather warming up and deciding how i;m going to transport them both!

I've had a couple of changes in my life as well. Ive been doing the nursery run with Mike while my wife has been on maternity leave and i'm getting a new job. I want to dump some posts down about the nursery runs , but i also need to mention the new job.

My new job is 17 miles away. Its not commutable by train or bike. So we'll become a 2 car family. Oh the shame! Mikes also not going to be going to nursery for much longer but instead will go to the pre school in our village, so i wont even be child transporting. I wonder if i should change the name of the blog to 'driverparent who sees his children at weekends'. Still i have some things i'd like to share before i adopt my new lifestyle so i want to get those posts out.

Mikes Riding!

Mike and i have developed a new game, which is racing round the patio on our bikes. I have the edge on the straights but he wins most of the time because he can turn on a sixpence. Its great for filling 15 minutes while dinner is being prepped. Only trouble is it tends to be 30 minutes, 45 minutes etc. particularly with pit stops!  

Coffee, Scones and Bakfiets

We have friends over from New Zealand and we're having little day trips out with the kids. Three kids in the house for a week is an interesting lesson in parenting. 

We had a day trip out where we stopped at the Orchard in Grantchester for coffee and scones. After our refreshment, i persuaded the others to go for a walk through the cute village. Imagine our supirse when, after 5 minutes we stumbled upon a bakfiets  (which i had spotted earlier). It was clearly set up as a display model, with an advertising hoarding on the side.

We prodded and poked the bike for about 10 minutes before a very nice man came out and said the magic words, 'Would you like a ride?' . 'Yes please!' says i, and on i hopped! Michael promptly bursts into tears when daddy rides off without him. 'Me bike! Me bike!' he shouts.

It had a nexus 7 gear, so i put it in a low gear to get it going thinking the ride would be heavy and slow. Instead, it twitched out into the road and within 30 seconds i'd worked out how to go straight. Slipping the gears to something  a little higher i found it absolutely flew! I'd thought it would be 

a lump and heavy and hard to steer, instead it was more like a flighty stallion. For anyone who's ever ridden a brompton, the ride is very similar. The steering is light and twitchy, but perfectly safe. At high speeds the bike just goes and feels like your not riding it. Very impressive for something that looks like a tank!

So back to base and we picked up the Mike. Off we went...... Straight away we got that magic ride and talk experience. 'Hows it going Mike? Do you like the bike?' 'Yes, Yes' etc right to 'Ok, time to go home', 'No no' followed by tears and screaming. 

I have to say i was very very impressed by the bike. The cons were light steering and bumpy ride in the front. The pros are i loved it and so did Mike!

The nice man from Dutchbike UK will do short term loans for interested parties.........Like me...hmm damn recession....

More Bikes!

In a bid to ensure my wife starts to cycle again, maybe and also just for the convenience of it, i'm planning to get a new bike to live at the station near my work and my wifes. We want a bike that can take the hamax rack on the back and a bobike mini on the front. Its also going to be used by 6 foot me and 5.5 feet wife.  It also needs to be very suitable to ride in long coats, skirts, trousers, heels etc  So dutch stylee but a bit cheaper :-)

After a test ride i've settled on the new Dawes Graduate which i tried at Station Cycles in Cambridge. Its the only step-thru steel town bike with a 7 speed hub and non back pedal brakes that i've come across.  Also i think it will handle a bobike mini front seat and a hamax plus on the back. Plus its a dawes frame so i'll feel confident that it'll handle me and mike and stuff.

I'm waiting for my voucher from cyclescheme, so once it arrives i can get the bike and i'll let you know how we get on.

The Hamax Plus System Revisited ..... Again!

Theres been a little debate about the hamax panniers running on my blog. I'm pulling together some things for a new fuller post on the pros and cons of the new system, plus some info on the new version of the pannier.

This post is just a placeholder, but just so folks know i'm still very happy with mine. 

I'm back and isnt it great!

Hi all, i'm back after a long break from cycling, due to a really bad cycling accident. Well i say cycling, but actually i was carrying my folder from the shed, i dropped the bike lock, slipped on it and went flying. I landed badly and tore all the muscles in my right shoulder! They do say accidents happen at home!

On top of that my wifes been ill (flu) and i've had to ferry my son around by taxi (yuck). Today was my first day back on the bike for about 4 weeks. I found it was daylight! That was nice! It also appears to be spring! As soon as i left the village, I saw red deer (i havent seem them all winter), 3 hares playing in the next field and a fox loping across the next field. Ah its great to be back!

Winter Warmer Piccies

Mike in bike Muff. In Five more minutes his eyes will be closing.....

A rear view:

And the whole thing open on the bike. Notice how the straps go through really easily and how it zips up at the front:

Winter warmers

I'd been wondering what to do about moving Mike around in the winter and I'd been reviewing his winter gear. I'm now fairly settled on what it is:

• His Benetton coat. Its like wearing a duvet! Thanks random Italian relative! He's worn it since he was born and now at nearly 2 yrs old he's going to need a new one. Time to start saving!
• A helmet chube from (£12 from muddypuddles), its a thick fleece neck muff, with a thin balaclava top. Designed for helmet use!
• A pushchair warmer/muff/sleeping bag/blanket thing (£19.99 from Tchibo)

The pushchair muff thing is genius! Its a small sleeping bag with slots in the rear to take straps that suit pushchairs. The same slots will work for a bike seat. I cut a slit thru the bottom half of the back of mine and blanket stitched the edges , so that it splits either side of the seat.

It fits directly onto the bike seat and has a front mounted zip\velcro. This means that i can put Mike on bike as normal, strap him in and then fold the 'pushchair muff thing' over him and zip and\or velcro it. Mike hates being constrained, but he can get his arms out so he's ok with it. Also it stops him kicking me in the back so bonus!

The nice thing about the muff vs a big winter warmer suit. Is that it can be left on the bike and theres no complex dressing\undressing when we stop.

My next plan is to make a rain\sun cover. I have one for my vaude backpack child carrier that i plan to re-use.

Thanks to longwalkonthegreen for the inspiration to customise the bike seat. Will some bike manufacturer please sack their design teams and just employ this guy?

Mike on a bike!

About 4th go out and he's cracked,  scooting, steering and braking! 

And thats on a steep hill!

Cool!

Santas Little Helper

Mike took a trip our on his new Puky to help me post the xmas cards to folks in our village. On a little downhill slope he started to move quicker and quicker until his little legs couldnt keep up, so ...... he lifted his legs!

He kept the bike straight all the way down until he rolled to a stop when he hit the grass at the end of the path!

What a magic xmas present! The boys a natural!

Mike on a Bike!

Mikes Nana has bought Mike his first bike! Its not quite a bike its the Puky Wutsch, horrible name for a great product!

When he got it he wasnt remotely interested. When we suggested going outside on his bike he ran to the door and sat on it with the bike pressed to the front door! In Mikes world bikes are for outside!

Its a smart product. Its sold as a "pre-bike" for 18months+ 80cm+ (~£50) Two key points:

• The seat is very low to the ground so great for shorties like my boy.


• It steers like a bike. ie it goes where you look. This really works because Mike was fine until he looked around and then he'd veer into whatever he was looking at.

Mike was dog tired when we went out (we went out to keep him awake), and he didnt smile at all. We knew he liked it because if we tried to take him off the bike he screamed blue murder! I'm waiting for my brother in law to send us the video!

Note the cunning use of my trouser belt to keep him from flying down the hill!

Best Family Cycling Website in the World

Here it is:

Totcycle

Keep an eye on this one family guys and gals!

Dumb Statistics!

I have to be very careful with this post. As i've usually only want to post positive stories about cycling (lets face it we hear enough negative ones!) but on a recent ecovelo post about cycling and health, someone posted a great rebuttal to the classic cycling is dangerous statistics.

All cycling is dangerous statistics compare accidents or deaths on a distance travelled basis eg per million or billion miles travelled.

Trains are safest, then cars and bikes are usually 10-20 times more dangerous than cars. Of course its nonsense for a variety of complex reasons. Which i have often explained at a dinner table till i've started to bore myself...
1) Individual routes make a huge difference eg Cars are safe on motorways but not A roads
2) Bike mileage is not comparable to car mileage, journey durations or trip nos would be more useful
3) Cyclists live longer than car drivers because they have protection against cardiovascular disease so its a truly dumb stat. Its dangerous not to cycle. If your family has a history of heart disease its suicidal not to cycle.

Back to that ecovelo response to the dumb stat....

"How any astronauts have died? But they travel a really long way, so that means space travel is statistically safer, right? Uh, no."

Genius!

Cycling with 2 young children Part 3: Trailers

I'll start off and proclaim my bias here. I don't like trailers. I think they are useful for cargo and out of rush hour leisure rides, but i really don't like them when your in town or crossing busy junctions.

My son agrees and still resolutely refuses to go in the trailer. He wants to be on the bike with daddy. In fact he wants to ride the bike and have daddy sit on the back. He's pretty convinced he knows how to do it :-)

That said they have a lot of benefits:
-Weather proof
-Can carry a lot of 'stuff'
-Gives the kids some freedom to do things
-Safe in a crash that doesn't involve cars
-Can carry infants from 3months with suspension and inserts
-Easy to load

The disadvantages are:
-Heavy
-They 'feel' vulnerable in traffic
-Increased width on the road (suddenly i feel like I'm holding everyone up)
-Awkward to park
-Restricted view compared to bike seat.

I often read\hear people assure me that drivers behave very nicely round trailers and in my experience they do, but i feel that I'm holding up the traffic (its harder to pass on our narrow roads). In rush hour i cant imagine drivers would tolerate being held up like this.

I do recommend having a trailer. Its a nice add-on to a child seat combo and increases luggage capacity for days out (I can fit my birdy in mine!). I'm really hope that in the summer on long leisure rides in country roads i can persuade Mike to use it , just to get him out of the sun for a bit.

Cycling with 2 young children Part 2 and a bit: Trikes

Well i missed one! In my obsession to praise and flatter longbikes i missed an old fashioned classic. The tricycle!

A recent story caught my eye on a new product called the Trikidoo . Its an interesting story as its a modern take on the tricycle designed by someone who wanted something green to do this but didnt like what she found in bike shops.

For the price and for the right job i can see this working really well. It certainly appears to be the in thing for Notting Hill mums on the nursery run! I particularly like the stability when stationary aspect of this design.

UK School Cycling: Listen to the kids!

I try to avoid any story which mentions 'fear' or 'road danger', but i felt moved to share this.

There is a story running in the Uk about a 10 year old child Sam who wants to cycle to school, but has been banned by the school as its too dangerous.

I first saw it appear on the CTC forum, where his dad asked for help on the issue. It got picked up by the local news (near Portsmouth UK) and then the National Press.

Its just appeared on Newsround , which is a very respected BBC News programme for children. Often the news on here is more objective than adult news as they cant easily get away with pushing agendas.

The best bit is the comments. Just lots of kids saying quite succintly and maturely, 'this is silly we cycle to school, so do my mates.' It puts a lot of adults to shame.

Good luck Sam and anyone like him!

Cycling with 2 young children Part 3 Longbikes

Longbikes are bikes with extended wheelbases that allow the carrying of more luggage or more people. I've posted before on longbikes , and listed a few. I'll update the post to show the manufacturers what i'm aware of. These bikes have been around a long long time in Holland et al, but more recently they are having an exciting world wide resurgence in bike boom USA and its there i'm going to leap straight into.

Xtracycles are the most exciting thing on the block at the minute and its the owners who are saying it. Xtracycle owners seem to be the happiest cyclists i've come across. Read the blogs etc. Its worth noting that this company is in its infancy and many of the owners customise their bikes to suit their purposes. A very common customisation is two child seats. I'll post some links to some of the best ones, but the exciting news is that xtracycle are developing their own system:


My favourite child rig in the whole world is from a very clever chap who has a lovely blog called longwalktothegreen. The nice man is considering selling these seats . There are a lot of other folks on the web who have done similar adaptations, but this man has the nicest.

Another family worth reading about is carfree with kids. Their rig isnt as impressive as longwalk to the green's, but they more than make up for it with cheerful attitude. an OTT paint job and a cool numberplate.

These xtracycle bikes although still in their infancy have the following going for em....

• They can handle luggage + kids
  
• They are bike width and so are sill great in traffic.


• They ride like a bike and have good stability


• Its a system thats clearly going to develop as time goes on


• It can adapt to the kids growing older


• Without kids its a great shopper

The disadvantages are as follows

• Its long (duh!), which will make parking mildly awkward and stops it getting on a train, car etc


• They are heavy and are likely to need a good set of brakes and re-inforced rear wheel.


• Outside of the US they dont have much prescence, although there are a couple of UK stockists


• They end up expensive, but they do have the capacity to last a lifetime so not such a big issue

and a december update, courtesy of Julian from Totcycle, have a nose at the xtracycle gallery (click on the kids keyword in the 'cloud').

Cycling with 2 young children Part2: 2 Seats

Today i wanted to talk about cycling with 2 child seats A front and a back one. When i say child seat i mean a detachable seat that will fit most bikes. I'm guessing that in numbers this is the most popular way worldwide of carrying 2 kids mostly because its so common on the continent (and not infrequent in Cambridge UK). Its also cheap, easy(ish) and adaptable. I'm also guessing (all right I'm assuming) quite a few readers who are interested in using a 2nd child seat already have experience with one. Its also worth me saying that I've never used a front seat, we plumped for a rear one in the end.

General Principles

Seats are relatively well understood and common, so I'm not going to dwell on the specifics of each seat. I'll more aim to give my idea of an optimal set up. Its also not my idea, because you can buy them ready made! Like the Seine Motherbike or the gazelle bloom
A few key points on this bike:

1. Its a step thru frame, this will really help mounting and dismounting.


2. Its heavy and has a long wheel base, this helps the stability no end.


3. The rear child seat allows space for panniers\side baskets


4. The front child seat allows space for a front mounted basket


5. Its got a powerful centre stand


6. Its got the optional buggyme attachment


7. Its a practical low maintenance bike

These contribute to the following key requirements for a 2 (or 1) kiddy bike:

1. Stable when riding


2. Stable when mounting\dismounting


3. Stable when parked


4. Space for luggage and stuff


5. Low maintenance (when will you get time to do bike maintenance!)

A machine like this will do the nursery run and a quick shopping trip, while keeping the kids nice and quiet. I reckon though the transport is the easy bit. More challenging is the thought of going shopping with 2 small kids!

Rear Seats

The market is awash with new child seats now. I still think the best rear ones are the hamax plus and co pilot limo (Both big rack mounted jobs). The co pilot offers the most protection and can stand upright off the bike but cant take panniers. The hamax plus is dead comfy, solid and can take panniers. I think the hamax sleepy is the best prong mounted one. The chap who wrote the 'CTC guide to family cycling' raised his kids on a Copilot limo. Its a worthwhile read particularly as it contains an account of a fall! (nobody hurt by the way!)

Front Seats

The front mounted market is a bit more mysterious, bobike and wee ride seem to be the most popular ones. The wee ride is the new kid on the block and I've seen a lot of people on forums swear by em', but I've never seen one in the flesh. Round Cambridge the bobike is pretty common. If you can buy a front mounted one from a local bike shop then do, even if it costs a few more quid as the sizing and fitting can be more awkward. The nice man at Totcycle has done a lovely article on them.

Another thing, the bobike front seat used to only classically fit quill stems, but be aware they do make an mtb adaptor.

Baby Seats

Bike seats are often quoted as suitable for 12 months plus. For most seats I think the rule of thumb is can they sit up and support their head which for us was ~9 months. Of course in Holland new mums lock themselves away for the first 9 months of their babies life until baby is able to ride a bike....Nah! Its not uncommon to see baby in a front mounted moses basket (Aaaaah!) , or a car seat stuck in a basket or alternatively you can get the Steco maxi cosi bike mount. Gotta love those Dutch! I have a lovely picture somewhere of a baby in a front basket. Its the type that makes you go 'Aaaaaah isn't that cute' I'll try to dig it out.

Parking

Stopping, mounting\dismounting can be awkward. The key here is to have multiple safety systems. Start with a very strong stand and only use it as a last resort (I've broken one already). Its best to find a solid object, walls , fence, railing etc. Preferably find one away from traffic. Get the bike lent up so its nearly self supporting. Secure it with a lock. apply front brake to stop it rolling (i keep a hair tie on my handlebars to hold the front brake down).
Once the bike is secure, get yourself and your bags sorted. Then start on the kids. Get anything off them that is going to be packed away, eg helmets, windproof layers, finally remove child 1, then child 2. Job done! When you go do it all in reverse.
A perk of this bit is that passers by will stop and admire your cute children in the lovely bike seat!

Summing Up

So pros and cons of bike seats:

• They may fit to your current bike but not always
  
• Cheap, unless a new bike is required


• Widely available


• The bike stays 'bike shaped', which helps in traffic and storage


• Stability can be an issue for some types of bikes, but not the right types


• Cold\wet weather can be limiting for very young children