A2Z pads from Woolly Hat Shop. Nicer than Shimano pads IMO and only £9!

Fair enough. I’ll stand aside for the flood of responses

😉

I haven’t tried any of the tyres you mention apart from Nobby Niks but unless you ride somewhere particularly rocky, I have nothing bad to say about my usual Nobby Nik front, Racing Ralph rear combo. Fast rolling and plenty grippy even if there is a bit of mud on the trail still.

The key measure is whether or not the child/baby is big/strong enough to wear a helmet (if you want them to wear one). Helmets are “relatively” heavy so just because a child can control its head normally does not necessarily mean it can control its head with a helmet.

I am more conservative than some with regards to when I think it is appropriate to take a child in a trailer or a bike seat but i put my own children in a trailer from about 9 months and they don’t wear helmets as the design of the trailer seat pushes a helmet forward over their eyes and is very uncomfortable for them.

I don’t carry my children in backpack carriers etc because I consider it too risk, although your mileage may vary.

So what frame did you end up getting? Commencal 4X?

Balance bikes are great (similar to bike with no pedals). Make sure the bike isn’t too big and also that the saddle isn’t too low – both will cause balance issues.

Getting them to learn to use a scooter is a good suggestion too.

With my boy it just clicked one day. Lots of encouragement etc etc

To be fair, it is a good article and he comes across well, unlike on the cr@p TV show.

Quote from the article: “Sir Alan, who is 5ft 6in tall”…

Suddenly it all makes sense…

Very nice. Using the bottom one as my wallpaper now. Thanks.

In none of those diagrams does it look easy to reach the brake lever from the drops. This does seem to be a fundamental flaw in drop bar / shifter design.

There is no advantage in running Gore Rideon cables with a full length outer. And to do it “properly” you would need to drill out your cable stops.

Gore Rideon cables are set up like standard cables (non-full length outers) apart from the fact you have an additional middle “sheath” as Onzadog said. The sheath operates like a full-length outer would in that is provides an an interupted barrier from the shifter all the way to the mech. The inner cable runs inside the sheath. The outer then just provides the rigidity/protection necessary between shifter and the first cable stop, between the second cable and third cable stops by your seat post and then between the fourth cable stop and your rear mech.

It definitely does NOT cause any friction between sleeve and the outer as bland suggested because the sleeve/sheath doesn’t move. Just the cable moves within the sheath

You will probably get lots of different suggestions but my advice is 2.4″ Racing Ralphs. Large volume (so comfy), fast-rolling and surprising grippy even in mud. I haven’t taken them off my 29er all winter.

I am just trying out a 2.25″ Maxxis Ardent on the rear because the 2.4″ RR was a bit tight. Not had a chance to formulate an opinion on it yet though.

Islabike CNOC 16 on its way for my 4 yr old.

If your daughter hasn’t ridden a bike before I would definitely get a balance bike first. I got my lad one of THESE That way you avoid the hassle of then learning to ride with stabilisers and having to wean them off them

higgo. Stop those blasphemous thoughts.

(Another Blur 4X owner)

I got a set of these too (you get two calipers in the “set”). You couldnt by two sets of pads for the money!

I would from On-One through CycleScheme and it went without a hitch (apart from the fact the bike was sent out with a couple of “wrong” parts on).

I drilled out the bolts on mine when this happened to me. I put the nice new cleats on and then next ride out I ripped the sole right off the shoe – my shoes hadn’t survived 15 years being unused very well

thomthumb – I am loving 2.4″ racing ralphs on mine too although I found them a bit too wide on the rear wheel because the tyre kept buzzing my front mech. Not a problem when you are SS of course!

My SC Blur 4X has a pretty low BB. Don’t know the measurement but I had to adjust to it when I first got it, and that was coming of a hardtail.

Ah. When the drive train on my “old” Scandal wears out I will probably SS it but will have to go the half-link / tensioner route.

They are great bikes aren’t they.

Did you use a half-link chain to tension the singlespeed?

just do not like the sound of a 29er

29er don’t sound much different to 26ers…

…sorry, I’ll get my coat…

While this is hardly a matter of life and death, I largely agree with Gooner. Retailers taking payment before confirming stock is available is easy to avoid and just wrong. Mr Retailer, by all means take my order before you are 100% sure you have stock, but do not take payment. It isn’t hard to verify payment before picking an order, and then taking payment once with order has been picked and is ready to ship. It SHOULD be standard practice for all retailers.

All of that said, On-One’s informal approach to customer service is pretty well known. In fact, they advertise it themselves, so this sort of minor customer service issue shouldn’t cause too much anger.

Bonty Revolt Super X. Not a new design but very fast and surprisingly grippy on rock, root, mud.

At 6′ 5″ you have got to be a good candidate for a 29er, and might decide you don’t need a FS at all. Or for 29er FS how about the options from Ventana, Turner or Niner?

You’re not doing a similar clear-out of lightly used frames, are you Sam? 😉

aP – good advice but unfortunately the LBS’s tend not to sell such good vfm bikes. Of course, there is nothing stopping him getting the advice and buying elsewhere…

The mate in question is about 6’5″ but a fairly sprightly 34 years old. A longer headtube therefore might not be a problem.

grumm – thanks for the recommendation. I have mentioned the Planet X bike already so it is on the list. Ta

Other than looking odd, the issue with bar ends on risers is that risers tend to have a lot of sweep and so the bar ends point outwards. Also, risers are typically wider than flats so you have a greater risk of hooking a branch/tree if that bothers you.

FWIW, I have bar ends on my flat-bar commuter but not on my other bikes. I have thought about putting them on my rigid 29er but I would put my flat bar back on first and stick a couple of spacers under the stem to compensate, purely on aesthetic grounds. Shallow but its the truth…

Nice to be able to do some kind of objective test. Thanks for the feedback.

What pressures are you running them at, out of interest? I find I can get away with pretty low pressure – 30 to 35 psi – but I ride pretty “light” and I don’t usually ride is rocky areas. Because they roll so well I find the lower pressures work well and provide more grip.

Barrera escorted to Sketchleys

Have you not got any oil for bleeding them? This would be best. I suspect finish line is synthetic. Silicon grease is the alternative

Whatever

Nice argument 😉

YOU just proved J-claws point

Except that wasn’t J-Claws point – he said that people buy niche bikes to hide the fact they are crap, whereas richpips has used a “niche” bike in an environment entirely suitable for the bike. There is no hiding of crapness in this case.

I have a Burley Bee

Plus points are:
– takes both my boys (3 and 2)
– Pretty robust but not too heavy
– you can get a QR mount so I can use it on my disk-braked bikes

Minus points
– It doesn’t fold flat (at least not easily) so storage is a bit of a pain
– It doesn’t have any suspension so I tend to stick to fairly smooth paths – they do get shaken around quite a lot in it
– The mesh cover stops twigs getting flicked in to the children’s faces but lots of dirt and dust still gets in (there is a clear rain cover you can use)
– Pretty expensive (£250 I think from memory)

I see it in reverse to the OP.

I often ride pretty crap trails with few drops, jumps, rocks, steep sections etc so riding a rigid 29er makes the trails more interesting.

On days when I do ride trails with more of the above I tend to ride my FS 26er.

The “niche” bike doesn’t disguise the fact that I am crap, it is just more appropriate (and more fun) for the trails.

My FS has a Nobby Nick up front and a Gravity on the rear at the moment. I am starting to thank my lucky stars I have made it round any corners 😉

Nothing wrong with Nobby Nics!

sweaman2 – I don’t have a map but I can email you directions. Drop me an email (see my profile)