Last weekend, my daughter and a bunch of her friends stopped by the house.  They were planning a bike ride, but one of the young women didn’t have a bicycle, and they were searching my shop for something for her.  I had just joined in the hunt when the bikeless girl mentions that she doesn’t  know how to ride a bicycle.   So, without hesitation, the group decides they are going to teach her to ride!

After a couple of false starts, we picked out a bike for her – a 1972 Atala step-thru.  The pack of girls made their way to the sidewalk and a couple of the girls steadied her and they took off down the block and then off to the cemetery where they could ride without traffic.  Before too long she’s riding without assistance, albeit somewhat unsteadily. 

I’m beginning to think my daughter’s friend is not an anomaly.  Since I started the Iowa City Bike Library 8 years ago, I’ve run into a several teens and some adults that have never ridden a bicycle.  I’m sure this is not a recent phenomenon, it is just one I’ve recently become aware of.   A couple of years ago, Bicycling magazine featured a thirty-something woman writing about her experience learning to ride.

One of the reasons I started the Bike Library was to give kids access to decent and inexpensive bicycles.  (One speed kids’ bikes are just $5 and that includes a helmet.)  For the past couple of years, we have been working with the guys at Hope House - a local halfway house - to come into the shop on Sundays and repair kids’ bikes.  This has really been a great collaboration.  It gets a lot of bikes out to kids and provides the Hope House guys with some rewarding and fun community service.

 Bicycles were such an integral part of my youth that I take it for granted that all kids must know how to ride.   There is much debate about the best method for teaching a child, or an adult for that matter, how to ride a bicycle.  The method I used and swear by is what I refer to as the razor scooter method.  As soon as my girls were big enough I got them riding a razor scooter.  The razor scooter is a safe, low-to-the-ground way to learn how to stay up on two wheels.  Learning how to turn into a fall is much easier and safer on a scooter.  Once they have that mastered, transition to a bicycle a lot less difficult.

Of course bicycles are more complicated.  They require pedaling and braking in addition to steering, but being able to stay upright makes acquiring those skills much easier.

Making sure the bicycle is safe and and in good repair is also important.  Particularly as they get older and start riding faster and on hilly streets.

My daughters are three years apart so there were hand-me-downs.  Both started out on the same Schwinn Pixie with 16” wheels.  Their next bike was a single speed Raleigh Mountie with 20” wheels and a coaster brake; a very cute bicycle.  But when it came time for my youngest to transition to the Mountie, I quickly decided to put her on a newer 20” bicycle with alloy wheels and better brakes.

Their first multi speed bike was a wonderful Kuwahara mixte with 24” wheels.  I picked this up from a guy locally and it was essentially new old stock.  It came as a 10 speed, but I decided to make it a six speed indexed with a single ring up front (1X6).  I also got rid of the drop bars and steel wheel.  Next I added a 160mm Specialties TA crank with a Nervar 40t ring and chainguard.  I added a nice Avocet womens’ touring saddle, Wald fenders and a dynamo lighting system and a few other bits and we were off.

My daughters both loved this bike so much I had a hard time moving them on to something bigger when they outgrew it.  It has been hanging on a hook for the past few years.  I pulled it out today with the intention of passing it on to someone else.   It has served us well, but it is time to move it on to make another child happy.  After all, a bicycle should be a part of every childhood.

_ I love a beautiful bike as much as the next person, but when it comes to riding in snow and slush, I prefer to ride something that’s a bit more low brow.  Not that snow, per se, is particularly hard on bikes.  After all, it’s just frozen distilled water.  It’s the collective elements put down to keep cars, trucks and buses from sliding around that wreaks havoc on bicycles… more specifically, sand and salt.

If you ride in an area where the streets are sanded and salted, I don’t have to explain just how corrosive this is to a bicycle, especially the transmission.  Now an internal geared bike is a great way to go, but building up a 14 gear Rohloff may not be in everyone’s budget.  Even old school three speeds, which can be had for a fraction of the price of a Rohloff, are geared so tall that they usually require steroid injections for comfortable use.  In fairness, you can replace the rear cog with a 22 or 23 tooth gear.  This modification makes an old Sturmey 3 speed work for normal humans.  But I hate to see nice old 3 speeds ruined by the nasty old wintery elements.

The other way to go is less costly and can give an overripe bike or frame a second chance at usefulness.  I’ve had a few snow bikes over the years.  The last couple of years, I’ve ridden an old Raleigh Super Course.  It has definitely gone to seed, but I love those Capella lugs, so I thought it deserved a break this winter.  Instead, I decided to go with an old Nishiki mountain bike I found at the Iowa City Bike Library.  I did a transplant on most of the parts from the Super Course, but I did make a change to the transmission. 

This time around I went with a 2 speed friction transmission.  My thought was that on snow and ice you’re really just trying to maintain a steady speed, but there are still hills to climb and deep snow to chug through. And I like the fact that with high/low shifting, I basically have an indexed system.  Lever goes down for low and up for high.  This makes shifting in bulky mittens a breeze.   I also have a studded front tire.

We’ve had very little snow in Iowa City this winter, but I did take it out this past week after we got a couple of inches. I’m thinking it works pretty well, however, I won’t be able to make a final judgment until we’ve had our first blizzard.  I’ll keep you posted.

I’ve had these photos for several years and forgot about them only to stumble upon them yesterday while looking through some vintage pannier pics.  A French fellow and avid randonneur took the photos at the Montreal Bike Show (Salon Du Velo) back in 2007. Unbelievably, this is a 1950s Peugeot city bike with some very interesting and attractive sheet metal skin.  This was probably more of a “concept cycle” but it is attention-grabbing and beautiful in its own way.  Anyway, I thought I’d share them in hopes someone might find some inspiration to create a carbon fiber replica!

I picked this frame up awhile back and decided to put it together last weekend with Mafac, Stronglight and Campy bits.  It started life as a Peugeot PX-10, but somewhere along the line someone put on a bunch of cool touring braze-ons and gave it a professional respray.  (I added the contrasting head/seat tube color and the Ironweed headbadge transfer.)  Unfortunately, this frame is all wrong for touring, especially the geometry.  It’s kind of like using a scalpel for a steak knife.  Thankfully, there’s plenty of length in the chainstays.   I'm not really to sure what to do with it, but it makes a nice model for a set of Elinor panniers!