Although I cycled while at school, it was not until in the recovery phase from a moderate episode of ME that I returned to pushing the pedals. My bother-in-law gave me a Raleigh Sports to start with. When I found I could still cycle, I replaced this with a much lighter Trek 850 mountain bike which I eventually rebuilt with front shocks for my son and moved onto a Specialized Rockhopper, one of the last fitted with Suntour equipment.
I have used these cycles to tour extensively in the Western Isles and the Orkneys and have travelled most of the CalMac ferry routes, usually staying at the SYHA or Gatliffe Trust hostels.
To get my whole family mobile, I bought an Orbit
tandem. This was set up for my youngest and could be converted to fit
most of the family and adapted as they grew. I have found St.
John St. Cycles very useful for supplying special bits.
Although it can be quite a struggle to load the tandem onto the roof
of the car, we took it and the solos on holidays to Europe. We have
ridden in Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands.
Warm sun, good food, quiet roads, what more could you want? Not the 4
punctures I got that day in Brittany
Children's cycles
As my kids grew they started to ride their own solos. Often we would ride 30 mile per day. As long as they had bikes with gears and we took our time they managed fine.
I found, however, there were very few good cycles available for children. Most were aimed at the low end of the market. These were heavy, often poorly braked, uncomfortable and used adult-sized cranks. If a kid outgrows a bike in 2 years, you can understand someone not paying a fortune for a cycle which will not be used much. The situation does seem to be improving. Edinburgh Bycycle Co-op for instance, have a much wider range now.
As I could hand a cycle on from 1 child to another and it could be
used 3 times over (that's family planning) I decided to modify a bike
for the kids. I started with a Trek 800, at the time a highly
specified bike that was particularly good value. Notably, we used the same wheels as it came with ubtil we sold it and the bottom bracket
and head set were only changed during refurbishment for rider #3.
The detailed spec you will find in Bikes The most crucial modification was the change to 162.5 mm cranks made by TA and a significant drop in the high gear ratios.
When the bike was rebuilt last time we fitted a Stronglight X12 headset, sealed bottom bracket and took off the back brake cable stops, replacing them with a piece of tubing round the seat post. Top carrier bosses were also added.
Paint design was my daughter's own and paint-work was done through Wheelcraft where I have all my wheels built.
