I work at a small outdoor learning centre in Pembrokeshire and for the last few years we've had a fleet of bikes that we use with most of our school groups.
We originally had Giant Boulders and more recently have used Specialized Hardrocks.
I'm hoping to get some funding for a new fleet soon and I thought I might pick the STW collective mind for bikes I might not have thought of myself.
Problems I have encountered which there may or may not be solutions to...
a) rear mechs getting bent/bashed or rear dropouts snapping.
b)V brakes needing constant attention, especially in the winter.
c)too many gears! Kids don't need 3 chainrings, a smallish single ring would be more suitable.
Obviously there is no shortcut when it comes to maintenance and safety but any ideas that would reduce the tweaking needed every week would be much appreciated.
Budget is also an issue, if buying at trade prices we can't really go above £150 a bike...tricky!
So...single ring? disc brakes, but not fiddly, cheap cable ones? 7 or 8 speed at the back? small frames that can fit a wide selection of 9 to 12 year old sized children.
Anyone got any good ideas beyond the usual level entry bike by Spec/Giant/Kona/Trek etc?
Thanks.
I doubt you'll be able to get discs at that price, or any way of protecting rear mechs, other than those steel guards you used to get.
Maybe make them 1x9'ers? Surely someone like on-one would do you a bulk discount for the advertising alone?
Cable discs might be slightly less of a PITA than V's during the winter and I hear that some can be quite good. Provides an upgrade path at least.
Do they do kids singlespeeds? ;0)
I guess discs are too much to hope for, or atleast ones that work better than V brakes anyway. We do get though a hell of a lot of v pads though and I would wonder if there are savings to be made in the long run if the disc pads would last longer?
Rear mechs are just a pain, I wish we could afford Alfine or even Nexus geared bikes!
Discs might save on that basis.
Well you could try looking at Isla bike website but I doupt there is much that can be achieved on that budget. But they do make 8 spped bikes in an appropiate size.
I sympathise but I can imagine a sort of clunker with an 3 speed hub fitting the bill, but I doupt it can be found in this country
Cable disk brakes will need just as much attention as V-Brakes, but are harder to adjust.
8 Speed over 7, as cassette rear wheels are stronger than non cassette. (You'll start getting lots of snapped axles with 7 speed)
http://www.islabikes.co.uk/bike_pages/beinn26lrg.html
But change the tyres for something knobbly.
Other than that, I don't think what you are looking for exists.
(Damn too slow)
I did wonder about on-one, may have to contact them.
Our 2 'teachers' Hardrocks have Tektro cable discs, and to be honest are more of a pita than the V brakes. They are hard to adjust so they work without squeeling or rubbing...
Yeah, sintered pads can last ages.
Maybe you could buy all the parts separately and then hold a kids 'how to be a bike mechanic' course to put them all together! 🙂
Good point about cassette rear wheels, thanks for that. Islabikes may get an email too, we've got the smaller ones for out kids but didn't think about looking at their 26" offerings...pricey though!
I had also wondered about getting parts trade and frames like on-one and building them up over the winter. There would have to be lots of haggling and searching for the right prices though, and our finance people would probably prefer a one off payment.
Lots of food for thought though!
could you go to, say, on-one, and see if you can work out some custom builds?
little inbreds.
bomb proof cheap fork (MX comp?)
square taper BB for longevity
basic mech and disk setup.
or if you use slot dropout ones, get a multispeed hub setup, as suggested above?
if you can order 20 the may be up for something?
Fork could probably be just a rigid?
You could ask also around the local area - if you are buying say 20 and there are 10 interested parents buying junior a bike for Xmas then it could get even better?
[url= http://www.islabikes.co.uk/contact.html ]ahem, if you don't ask you won't find out[/url]
rigid, single chain ring lightweight well made bikes.
Still got V's but you can't have it all