Fall Breaks Back To Winter

Had a chance to get out on the Surly a little today. Rode to Lower Hackett Park, up over rt 22...

To get to Upper Hackett Park. You can pick up the path along the Bushkill Creek from there; it's not 'officially' connected. You need to ride through Crayola's parking lot, but it's there.

I really like this path, nice scenery, easy access.

This might be the last ride of the year...

New Sneakers for the Rudge

I haven't put new tires on this hoopty since I built it about 15 years ago, so it was time. 

But it's not so easy to find 26x1 3/8 tires anymore, and the ones you do find are a modern tread pattern which just won't work.

I found these white walls on ebay and I'm very happy with them.

Almost a Year

Life happens, and things like blogs get left behind. Oh well, not much has been missed that can't be summed up.

The youngest child got big enough for the trailer bike this year, and the oldest is big enough and confident enough to ride on the road with me.

Here's some pics from our most recent ride:

My Surly Pacer is back on towing duty until I can get the Free Spirit sorted out. The Surly is comfy and reliable.

On the Lehigh Canal towpath.

Took a break at a playground.

The big guy does well on his single speed, and he's growing so fast we raised the seat more than an inch since last year, and had to push the saddle all the way back on the rails.

The middle child wasn't with us because she threw a fit about the prospect of riding too far. We have to do shorter rides with her.

Hope to get to some other areas to ride this year, we'll try!

video when you don't have a smartphone...

Quick little video from our visit to the park today, The little guy is doing great on his Strider! Sorry for the crummy quality of the video...

the most awesomest derailleur

This.

I run a mid '80's Suntour cyclone front changer on my Surly Pacer (yes, seriously!) Suntour always had the best front changers. There is just something about them that is rock solid reliable and fast.
Something else about them; they are serviceable. Mine had developed a problem from last winter. It was hanging up on the big ring and didn't want to downshift. WD-40 wasn't able to loosen it up, so I took it apart. One C-clip and pop the return spring and you can clean and lube the pivots. Works as good as new.
The arms and clamp are all forged aluminum, the pivots are chromed steel. Just awesome.
The cable pinch bolt is another bit of genius; you can use either a 4mm allen key OR a 6mm wrench. It too is steel so it won't strip out.

the better way to learn how to ride a bike

How did you learn to ride a bicycle? Lots of people it seems used training wheels, and after a while, Dad would remove the training wheels, and give the little one a good push down the street.
This method hasn't worked too well in our household...

But I've stumbled onto something that seems like a better way: balance bikes. These are bicycles without pedals or a drivetrain. My friend Tomias, who owns Genesis Bicycles , turned me on to Striders . These are really cool, check out the video:

I had my 3yo in Genesis the other day, and he immediately took to the Strider! He was able to lift it off the display himself (they are VERY light) and got on it and instinctively knew what he had to do.
Now, if the middle girl will be willing to ride her older brother's hand-me-down Haro mini BMX, I won't have to buy two bikes this year...

The Orange Singlespeeder Is Coming Along Nicely

I ordered some parts for the orange Trek. Got some Shimano cranks, Alivio I think. They were the most economical ones w/ removable rings, and it's a forged crank too, 104mm 4 bolt. I'll be getting a Surly 36t stainless ring for it and save the stock 22-32-42 if we ever go geared.
The brakes are Shimano V brakes, a generic lower end set. What I like about Shimano stuff is, it just plain works. The lower end stuff (if you choose carefully) works pretty well, does away w/ the fluff and is economical.
I dug out a vintage pair of Cannondale CODA grips in yellow! Free is always better than having to spend money, especially on a bike like this.
just waiting on the Surly ring, a chain and pedals.

I'm back, building a new bike

As life goes, life gets in the way of things like, oh, blogging. And in the case of THIS blog, which is about family cycling, if we aren't out riding, there isn't anything to write about.
Until now.
This is a new/old build I'm doing for my 12yo who has outgrown his Haro mini. It's based on a mid '90's vintage Trek 820. For a very short time, Trek was actually making these in the USA! My wife has one in blue from the same year. Nice cro-mo frames, nothing fancy, just a simple mountain bike like no one makes anymore.
It's going to be singlespeed, using a wheelset I built many years ago. The rear hub is a vintage Shimano BMX freehub (the freewheel mechanism is part of the hub, like modern hubs, but uses a Sturmey-Archer style cog). The rims are narrow double wall, forget what brand.
I ordered some Shimano linear pull brakes and a Shimano crank too. The handlebar will be a vintage Hyperlite I was using most recently on my Surly.
Chain tension will be by a Surly thingy.
Cool thing about this, with a rear wheel swap I can have a geared mountain bike, but I think this will be fun for now.

First REAL ride of the season

Made some time yesterday to go for a real honest to goodness road ride! Most of the time I'm just going for little rides with the kids (and we got caught in the rain a few weeks ago) but I called up my friend JM to do something Monday morning since it was a holiday.
We headed up 611 out of Easton, did about 13 miles up to a little hamlet called Flicksville, so we got about 26 miles in total. The route takes you along a fast moving creek and a railroad track on a curvy road. Wasn't much traffic and the hills were tame.
Sorry I didn't bring my camera so this a non-visual blog update. But you can google the route and imagine what it was like, I guess.
The Surly was performing well, especially considering all I did was put air in the tires and haven't done any mechanical work on it. I made two adjustments while on the ride; I moved the saddle back about 1/4", and tilted the brake levers down a few degrees.
Adjustments I made last season to the cleat on my right foot were sucessful, because I didn't feel any pain in my right knee.
My hands, however, were an issue. I took my gloves off a few miles into the ride because my thumbs were tingling. I was also getting some tingling in my palm below my pinkie. I think some new handlebars will be in my future.

F I N A L L Y

The day finally arrived. Child #2 faced her fears (namely, wobbling) and rode her bicycle for the first time today! REALLY riding, no training wheels!
I told her we were done with messing around with training wheels, done with the trailer bike, and she would learn this year!
We did have to resort to a threat, sort of. She really wanted a new soccer ball too, but she wasn't going to get one until she could ride her bike. She's a determined little thing when she sets her mind to it, so we made a visit to Target right after her riding session and got her a soccer ball (with pink stripes on it, of course).

I think it's going to be a fun summer.

haven't had anything to post

this blog is as much about me writing about cycling and sharing my love for it with my kids, but I've come to the realization that it takes a lot of effort and time to teach kids how to ride, and then finding the time to take them out.
living in the city doesn't allow for unsupervised rides around the block without a parent. perhaps I was spoiled by my childhood (but of course wouldn't of thought that when I was a kid) but I lived on a dead-end street that was full of kids riding around all day. we never thought of any potential dangers (in fact, there really weren't any. it was a time when you COULD allow your kids to go down the block and not worry about them).
but my kids for better or worse don't have that luxury. our street is a busy hill w/ frequent traffic, so our bike rides are by necessity, planned events. when it was 2 kids, we were able to put the bikes in the back of the car, go to a park or bike path and enjoy a ride. add a third kid to the mix and the dynamics are all  skewed. a bike rack for the car (or even a utility trailer!) will soon be an unavoidable purchase.
but we've made SOME progress. the little guy likes his bike seat (even falling asleep once, a sure sign of contentment), the middle one loves the trailer bike, and the oldest, well, riding is not his favorite pasttime. although he is a good bike handler, he invents fears as excuses not to want to ride (we're too close to the canal, what if i fall in, there's too many cars, etc)
hopefully we'll get out once or twice more before it gets too cold.

Railroad Bridge Over Canal

This is one of many interesting views from the Lehigh Canal path. If you like that sort of thing.

Hidden waterfall

We managed to get out as a family today on a bike ride! Not an easy task. With the hills and traffic, it's not safe for the 10 year old, who is the only one to ride by himself; the 7 year old is on a trailer bike with me, and the baby is in a child seat with mom.
So me and the 7 year old rode down to the trailhead, and Mom brought the rest in the car.
Anyway, this is a waterfall/drainage from the Lehigh Canal into the Lehigh River. There is an ill-maintained paved trail running along it and you can see all kinds of ruins left over from Easton's canal and manufacturing days. Some of the canal has been restored, and there is a canal boat ride and locktenders house.

I believe it is DONE

You can see my new Salsa stem, 90 degree 11cm deal, I played with the spacers, raised it a little higher than I thought I would, but initial impressions is it's GREAT! The bike 'feels' fast (of course, it'll feel faster then when I'm towing) and it feels right.
I took this picture today in front of my friend's city brownstone downtown, and the lens on my blackberry was clean so it came out alright.

this is our rig!

The little girl and I went for a good long ride tonight, on 'the rig'. It's really funny, these things- trailer bikes- have been around for YEARS, but most everyone has never seen one before (maybe since Wal*Mart doesn't have them?) so wherever we go, we literally stop traffic. We count how many "that's cool!" we get (tonight was more than 6).

I've had this trailerbike since my first child was about five, and now my second in 7 so it's her turn. In a few years, child #3 will have his turn, so I've really gotten my use out of it.

I'm trying to convince child #1 to follow us on his bike, but so far in his life he's only ridden on paths in the park, and it's no longer possible to pack everything up in the car to take them to the park. So he's going to have to overcome his fear of riding on the road and come with us.

Since he didn't go riding with us, he had to go for a walk with his Mom and baby brother (I think we had more fun).

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

the Surly Pacer is getting there!

I have ordered the longer Salsa stem I wanted, a 90 degree 11cm steel unit. Should put my arms out where they need to be.
I took it out for a ride last night, and it is great! No hand or palm pain, the bike handles very well, and brakes are great with those levers! Now, I know I said earlier that there was some twitchy steering issues, but I think a lot of that is/was due to the trailer bike. I'm really liking this setup and am excited again about riding.

Free Spirit Ten Speed restoration project

Free Spirit Ten Speed restoration project
Originally uploaded by mpvue

I got this bike from someone in the community we had worked with getting some things done. He had it in college and hadn't ridden it in some time; I figure it's from the early '70s, America's First Bike Boom.
Free Spirit was the line of bikes marketed by Sears; they didn't make them; rather, like most everything else at Sears, was a rebadged item from someone else. In this case, this generation of bicycle was made in Austria by Puch. Not a high end frame, but a well built, industrial style (read: not clean welds) frame with alloy Shimano brakes, Suntour gears, and a forged Sugino crank. Good stuff.
This is going to be my vehicle to tow the trailer bike. Got some new tires on it now, and a new chain. Just need cables and we are good to go!

so who is the secret follower???

Noticed that my blogger dashboard says 2 followers, but only one is showing. Blogger quirk? or is there a lurker here?

Stem is Too Short

I mentioned ealier that I think the 9cm Salsa road stem I've been using with the mustache bar would be too short with a straight bar.
I was right.
It's not so apparent just cruising around, but it is a real concern going down hill and braking; I got the distinct feeling of falling over the front of the bicycle! The bars are too tucked in under me and my arm angle is too acute, like 80 degrees I'd imagine.
Steering too is a bit quirky. A longer stem will slow that down a bit.
SO I'm planning on trying a 11cm Salsa 90 degree. I like the look of a 90 degree stem and this'll stretch me out a bit longer.

new handlebar setup sideview

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry, so that's why each picture is a separate post. Anyway, you'll see I'm running a Salsa road stem upside down to get it parallel with the top tube. The levers are the way I usually set them up, at about 45 degrees. I still have a few spacers over the stem, since it allows me to play with the height (measure twice, cut once!)