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All good bikes.
All good bikes.
If you’re commuting or doing a lot of winter miles then discs are a good idea, otherwise stick with rim brakes. Of the three I’d pick the CAAD12 if it was a dry weather weekend bike you were after, and the Dolly if you’re commuting. Might also be worth looking at the Pinnacle Arkose range, that would future-proof you for a spot of gravel/tow path/cyclocross action.
Probably not overly sensible
Probably not overly sensible but I did over a mile on Veloflex Masters over hardpack this week. Pretty sure I could hear a craftswoman weeping gently into her chianti
Was it shifting properly
Was it shifting properly before servicing? If so, they haven’t serviced it properly
Chain won’t be the issue but cable pull will be. What rear derailleur is it running (post a picture if you can, the model number isn’t easy to find because it’s on the back of the inner parallelogram link)
If you need to stick with 10-speed then the best option is probably to buy the Tiagra 4700 derailleur – less than £20 and uses the same cable pull as 11 speed.
Ah, nice idea. No issue with
Ah, nice idea. No issue with having the zip at the bottom if you can remove/replace so easily.
Been working on saddle position for the last week or so and one of my pet hates is removing and restrapping my saddle bag. Same frustration applies when putting the bike on the workstand.
Granted this is a very niche annoyance but even so I’m pleased to see a different approach.
Panaracer Gravelking – either
Panaracer Gravelking – either the file tread version or the SK one. True to size at 32mm and my SKs are maybe 1% slower over a long stretch of my former commute than 25mm GP4Seasons. Did Ride London on them. Will handle hardpack very well indeed – even light/thin mud.
One other solution that hasn
One other solution that hasn’t been mentioned is the FollowMe tandem
https://www.followmetandem.co.uk/
There’s a review on this site (TLDR: Mike Stead thought it was awesome)
The benefit of this one is that you can tow them to your offroad excursions on their own bike and then let them tool around on the singletrack.
Cheers for the responses (including the silly ones). I like the look of the WeeHoos but they are a bit pricey. The photo of the pram/bike thing looks good though…Whatever I end up doing I think it will need to last for a few years as it will be pricey. I’m currently carrying him around on my old MTB converted to more of a hybrid. It’s worked well and I’ve used Trailgaiters before but it worries me for the journeys where I can’t avoid traffic, mailny when taking him to nursery. We have to real cycle tracks where I am only MTB trails, green lanes etc that would be too rough to cycle on with a kid attached. The child is low down and behind you and I don’t think drivers notice/car you are towing “something”.
A flag on the back of the bike can help – the Roland also has an optional rack and lighting. It will last you for the duration of him needed to be towed by you (up to about age 9 depending on your weight/his weight and bike handling skills). They also hold their value reasonably well – perhaps not as well as the Burley kit but if you sell at the right time and keep it in good nick you’ll get 50% back over 5 years.
I’d also recommend a flashing rear light attached to his helmet as yours will be obscured – having it helmet-mounted will be about the right height for drivers to continue to completely fail to pay attention 😉
Not wanting to put you off – in general I found drivers behaved better and gave more room when I was using the tagalong. Riding back solo from school was fine too, no handling issues. Wouldn’t hesitate to have another one, not that we’re having another one 😀
I do my best to keep my best
I do my best to keep my best bike best but it’s a pointless battle. At some point you’ll drop it or it will slide against a wall or post as you lock it up, or you’ll break a derailleur hanger or get chain slap marks on the chainstay (this one is particularly like if you’re bumping up kerbs – if it worries you get a chainstay protector for a few quid.
Helicopter tape is a good option for protecting the usual contact points on the frame.
As to hammering around on it the frame and forks will be fine. You might knock the wheels out of true a bit – learn to true them yourself before investing in stronger wheels. Keep the pressures up to avoid pinch flats.
Mark B wrote:
While tagalongs clearly handle a lot better than trailgators, they’re stuck on there. If your aim is to get them from A to B safely, that is not a problem, but if you are out riding for pleasure, a trailgator gives you the flexibility to let them cycle some of it where it is safe.
I’ve forgotten the name of it, but there’s an alternative to a trailgator that looks like it should be more stable and is much quicker to get their bike on and off. Not cheap though.
The Roland Add+bike connects to a custom rack and is easy to connect–just a tapered pin that slots into a brass hole with a spring loaded catch. The rack is very meaty but as OP already has one it won’t be too much of a weight penalty when he’s out riding on his own. Best thing about hauling a tagalong is how it makes a tourer feel like an ultralight race machine when you ditch it
A proper tagalong from Roland
A proper tagalong from Roland (add+bike) worked for me and my son. Much better handling than a trail-gator as long as he can hold himself up, I rode with mine up to the age of 9 before it got too unstable (he’s 142cm and powerful enough to give me a shove in the back on it)
It’s a good way to get him used to being out in traffic but don’t expect drivers to be any less cockwombly just because they see a child – we got run off the road at Christmas deliberately because “we were taking up too much space and you should have let me past”.
A child. On Boxing Day FFS.
So, setting that aside, I think it’s the way to go. Realistically he’s not going to be ready to ride solo on the road until he’s 9 so you should get 5 years use out of it.
I don’t think a trailer offers anything over a tagalong unless you’re doing really long rides.
Electric bakfiets is probably the ultimate for longer journeys – one of the local mums has one and it’s highly lustful but sadly we’re beyond that now.
Yep.
Yep.
TRP HY-RD or Juin Tech do cable-operated hydraulic calipers. Not as good as full hydros but an improvement.
Giant do a conversion kit that’s very reasonably priced – something like £125 including calipers and the stem.
https://www.giant-bicycles.com/us/showcase/conduct
If you don’t mind replacing your stem, and your frame has the right sort of cable guides to take the thicker hydro lines I think the Giant system is a neater install and potentially will work better due to shorter mechanical cable runs.
I’ve got the Juin Tech on my tourer, a noticeable improvement over the Tektros I had on there before.
Your only other option is to replace your shifters with hydros but that’s probably a £400 job all in unless you fit it yourself.
Citroen Berlingo Multispace / Peugeot Partner Teepee (about to be replaced by the Rifter, but essentially the same car) can take bikes upright with both wheels on (though 29″ wheeled bikes are a squeeze). I can get 3 bikes in mine with space for 3 people with wheels on. Or 4 bikes & 3 people with front wheels off. Surprisingly civilised to drive too – I’ve had several hire cars for work (including a BMW 1-series and VW Golf) that couldn’t manage the twisty, narrow lake district fell roads anywhere near as well as the Berlingo. Maybe that’s down to familiarity though. The new version coming out has a longer wheelbase 7-seat version. The older model also had a 7-seat version, but that moved the middle row an inch or so forward to give enough room for adults in the 3rd row. Crap in the snow mind you, but nothing that a set of winter tyres didn’t fix.Ford Torneo Custom is slightly larger (between a full-on transit and the Transit connect car-based van), but also more van-like. I reckon you could get 5 or 6 bikes in there. I had one for a couple of weeks for work and it was great for getting changed for a ride after a day at work 🙂
Ta. Neighbour has a Torneo Custom camper conversion. Lovely but as soon as it gets camperified you lose the lugging capability. Nice to drive and comfy for a van.
Your tales of the complexity of the Passat are putting me off though.The Mrs saw a new XC90 the other day and liked it, but they are too much, too big, and too complicated.
I think whatever you buy today is going to be complicated. I have absolutely no desire in owning something that controlled by software/electronics where a tiny fault can end up costing £1000+ to fix. That’s been going on for years by the way – Audi TT dash pods were probably the first widespread wallet-killing electronic glitch all the way back in ’99.
Starting to have a look at 2nd hand leasing with a service plan/warranty but it means we still end up paying more for cars than we want.
I may look at the Multipla option – always liked the quirkiness of them (see also 2nd gen Nissan Cube)
I have this vision of the future where you just hire the car you need for the task at hand. For load luggers they’d be like a container lorry where your load space is standardised so you can store your beach gear in a pod at home, car is delivered in AV mode, you load up, and off you go. Car as a Service if you will.
It would have the benefit of pricing road use accurately and remove most private parking on public roads. Yes it’s convenient to hop in the Passat and pop to the beach after school but the costs are masked and so you do it more frequently than you would if you were paying per mile.
hawkinspeter wrote:
You don’t need a power outlet near your bike to charge up Di2 – you can use a battery/power pack to do that (it’s much easier as you can just leave it charging overnight).
And you’ll easily get way over 1000 miles on a single charge, at least in my experience.
hawkinspeter wrote:
You don’t need a power outlet near your bike to charge up Di2 – you can use a battery/power pack to do that (it’s much easier as you can just leave it charging overnight).
And you’ll easily get way over 1000 miles on a single charge, at least in my experience.
