Springcykel the Premiere Ride

My youngest daughter Mimmi turned 3 years old this Saturday and we got her the "Springcykel" I wrote about last month.

In short a Springcykel is a kids bike without pedals that you propel with the help of kicking it forward with your feet and when you reach sufficient speed you lift up your feet and just glide along.

On Sunday afternoon we took the bike out for a spin. The bike is really light and Mimmi had no problems with mounting and unmounting the bike by herself.  This is a key feature of the Springcykel in my opinion. I remember how Siri, my oldest daughter, struggled with her 16 inch kids bike that weighed about 3 times more than the Springcykel, making it practically impossible to ride without some kind of support.  

The frame, fork and handlebars are made of some steel alloy. The website simply states that it is made of metal. The wheels are plastic with 12 inch air-pressure tires. The whole package feels pretty stable. There are other models made out of wood but I think the metal one is a better choice if you plan to ride it outside.

The plan is that Mimmi will learn the basics of cycling on this bike and next summer we will get her a real bike with pedals. Of course pedaling will be new to her, but I think that the main issue when learning to ride a bike is how you balance on it and she will definitely pick that up on the Sprincykel.

So, how did the test ride turn out? At first she just walked around with the bike beneath her. But soon she realized that she could sit on the saddle and push herself forward with her feet.  After raising the saddle a bit, it became easier for her to ride it properly. She didn't pick up enough speed to glide any longer distances but managed some 1-2 seconds of  "no-feet" gliding and had no problem with staying on the bike when the speed dropped off, keeping the balance with her feet.

I will try to compile a short video later on so you can see the bike in motion. For now here are some more shots from the ride.

Dead Bikes of New York

While browsing out the newest addition to my blog roll, Bicycle Diaries, I found a link to New York Photographer J. Shumachers blog What about the Plastic Animals  and his gallery called The Abandoned Bicycles of New York.

According to his biography, Joe lives in Harlem. He walks around a lot and takes pictures of what he sees. He will be your friend if you feed him ice cream.

Abandoned bicycles usually triggers a soft spot in me when I stumble upon them. There is something very sentimental about them.  Seeing a obviously wrecked, sabotaged and ravaged bicycle usually trigger my inner rage.

check out the photo gallery

For some more amplified sentimentality check out  my previous post on the subject.

Cykloteket Street Show 2006

Went down to the annual Cykloteket Street show with my oldest daughter Siri and a friend of her. Brought my camera with me as I did last year.  If if you're into the Flying Circus of Dirt Kids check out my web-album below.

The setup this year was a little bit different than last year. This time two medium sized Big Air ramps where used compared to last year when they had one big one.

Despite the smaller ramps they pulled of both 360s and Back Flips.

Didn't have time to stay for the finals this year but managed to catch some moments with the camera from the two first heats.  The picture to the right is my favorite. It's one of the guys who has to bail a trick and I managed to get both him and his bike flying through the air.  

 

Cykloteket Street Show 2006

Sep 16, 2006 - 45 Photos

Cyclocross, Ye Ancient Guide (1921)

Blackbirdsf has compiled a digitized version of an article on Cyclocross, published in the 20 Jan 1921 issue of Le Miroir Des Sports. The article was written by Eugène Christophe a six times  winner of the French national championship.

Go there an grab some advice from the Ancient masters.

Article in English
Article in French

The Perennial Helmet Argument

It's spreading like wild fire...

http://bikebiz.com/newsitem.php?id=24362
http://bluecollarmtb.com/2006/09/12/wearing-helmet...
http://www.cicle.org/cicle_content/pivot/entry.php...

copy/paste buffer overflow...

"Stupidity has a certain charm. Ignorance does not" - Frank Zappa

The Autumn Sales are here

Got an invitation to my LBS's to attend the sneak peak of their autumn sale that starts tomorrow. When I arrived there was at least 100 people outside waiting in line.

15-30% on the 2006 models where offered and people was ripping bikes of the walls. Including the Kona Explosif I had eyed out for myself before my commuter got stolen and I had to put my money elsewhere and postpone my mountain bike premiere.

Made no bargains but I took the opportunity to check out fenders and a rack for the new bike that hopefully will arrive before the end of this month.

SKS seems to be the best fender solution since I will only have to change the actual fender and can reuse the stays when I switch from wide winter to narrow summer fenders. The ones I had for the Dr. Dew was a pain in the butt to change. Hopefully these will be better.

When it comes to the rack. Tubus Cargo seems to be a light, sturdy and good looking alternative. On the minus side is the price, about 80 euros.

I got one fear confirmed about the Sutra. I was bit worried about the width of the Mavic 317 A Disc rims being too wide to fit 23c tires and the mech pointed out that 28c tires was the narrowest tires I could use.

I have grown accustomed to carve the asphalt with 23c tires filled with 8 bars of pure pressure on my Dr. and my road bike so I'm a bit worried about how these wider tires will feel.

Too bad fenders and racks aren't released on a annual basis. These items were, of course, not on the sale.

Anger Management #2 (the flip side of the coin)

 Gwadzilla has been subject to  a more sinister experience when it comes to anger management and Road Rage than I wrote about in my previous entry. Feels good to live here in this sheltered place on earth called Sweden, where I have never felt the threat of facing the barrel of a gun when showing the  finger in  my antagonists on the road. 

Link to gwadzilla: I want to live... I do not want to die

Anger Management

 Michelle, from MY CHAIN DRIVEN RIDE TRHOUGH LIFE IN ALASKA, points out that by commuting by bicycle you get rid of all your aggressions on your way to and from work so that you can behave nicely where you need it the most, at home and at work.

This is my experience too.

Link to my CHAIN DRIVEN ride through life in Alaska: Cycling Road Rage