Amanda's New Bike

For as long as I've known her (plus a few more years), Amanda's main bike has been her Rocky Mountain Stratos. She'd bought it in the early 90s to tour on - replacing a purple Canadian Tire Mountain bike she'd been using for the same purpose. It's one of the early aluminum-framed mountain bikes - clear coat, originally had an orange fork. It's ancient (as modern bicycles go). Sure, she's had other bikes in the meantime; a recumbent, a BMX, the tandem, a road bike, the Jekyll, the Scalpel, the Moonlander ... but her main bike for getting around has always been that Rocky Mountain. Over the years many of the parts have been replaced - bar, shifters, stem, wheels, tires, pedals, saddle - slowly shifting it into a more upright, commuter bike than the trail-riding mountain bike it was originally.



One year for her birthday I got her slick tires and a Brookes Saddle - I went to where she locked up her bike at work and replaced the old bits. She noticed the saddle right away but didn't notice the tires until she was rolling down the bridge. This is probably the earliest (digital) picture I have of it (If I went hunting through old albums, I could probably find older ones and scan them... but I'm feeling lazy and this post really isn't about the Rocky - despite all the pics of it I've crammed in here!?). At this point she'd bought the Cannondale Jekyll for a train-riding bike and the Rocky had been relegated to riding-to-work-and-around-town, so I thought she could lose the fat knobby tires.



Amanda riding the Rocky - still with original handlebars - while she was pregnant - looks like the brakes have been upgraded to V-Brakes by this point.



It's been ridden year round.



Through slush and snow. Fenders were eventually added.







It's been a workhorse hauling kids around.



Sometimes BOTH at once!





She even took it on a little tour with the family a few years ago (Originally it was her touring bike - she toured around New Zealand and Australia with it before she met me).



Eventually replaced the original handlebar with a more swept back bar - to facilitate a more relaxed, upright position.







Eventually we added a CrAzY high stem to make her even MORE upright!



This spring she finally decided maybe it was time to get a NEW city commuter bike... She's be loathe to replace the Rocky - partly because of sentimental value, partly because... well.. it just keeps chugging along... even though she complains viciously about all of it's squeaks and rattles and ticks...

She made a list of things she wanted on the bike; upright riding position, swept back handle bars, full fenders, decent rack, disc brakes, enough gears to get up the bridge to work.

She spent a LONG time looking at various different bikes online. Then, finally, she went and tried some out at the local bike shops.

She had been interested in a Brodie Robson, but the local shop that carries Brodie didn't have one in stock, and she wasn't keen on just ordering in a bike she never actually tried...

She tired out a Linus or two...



Marin Nicasio

I think she went over to the Bike Doctor and had a look at a few over there... Giant Momentum...? Maybe a Norco?



After a lot of humming and hawing, I suggested she try out the Yuba Boda Boda they had over at Bike Universe. So we wandered over there this past Saturday to give it a test ride.



She really liked this one - it became a serious contender! She wasn't hot on the red though - they are also available in a bright lime green, with more of a step-through frame.



This one at Bike Universe is a couple years old, and now 25% off the original price... a pretty smoking deal... but as she is hoping this new bike will be her riding-to-work bike for the NEXT twenty years, she figured she should really get the frame and colour she wants! Unfortunately the difference between the on sale, couple-year-old red bike and the brand new, bright green, step-through-frame version was $800CAD!? Some of the other bikes she was looking at was less than that!!

There was a LOT of back and forth and eventually she decided she should maybe try out a few more....



On Monday, she and The Girl and I rode over to Doug's Spoke 'n' Sport to try out a couple others.



The first one she tried was a Kona Coco.



We took it across the river and tried riding up some of the longer steeper hills to see how the gears were.



Long slow ride up that hill...



But still smiling!



Back downtown by way of the new Traffic Bridge.



Shop Dog.



She also tried out the Kona Dew.



More gears...

But eventually she decided she like the more upright position of the Kona Coco... so she bought that one - and had them mount a rack and a fancy new bell and a different saddle.



Amanda and her new city commuting bike; the Kona Coco!

That Time of Year

It's gotten to be that time of year... the time when we dig all the bikes out of the garage and see which bikes still fit which kids and if we need to get any new bikes for either of them...



Yeah... too small... someone needs a new mountain bike.



She tried out Amanda's Scalpel and.... it doesn't fit too bad. Considering how the both of them are growing like weeds, I'm sure she'll be totally needing some sort of Adult small mountain bike by mid summer.



She did also throw her leg over Finnegan's mountain bike and that's an option...



I totally thought this would fit him for a few more years, but this is with the seat cranked as high as it will go, and at the bottom of the pedal stroke he has pretty bent knees!? Darn these kids!!?

 

So I actually had him try the Surly 1x1 I set up a couple years back... and it kid of fits him. I could probably put a shorter stem on there to dial it in a bit better for him. I don't think he ever really uses gears anyway....



AS mentioned in the previous post, we figured it was time to get Finnegan a new city-riding bike... while we were digging things out of the garage, I pulled this one out of the rafters for him to try out. It's an old Bike-E that my mom had picked up to try out and hasn't been ridden for years...



It was a completely different sort of ride than anything he'd tried before, but it's definitely an option...



I also had The Girl try out Amanda's old Soma cross bike - which I'd set up for Finnegan to use for gravel riding last year. Seems like she might be moving up to this - because the old Jake 24 was tiny last year and not even ridable this year...



Might get a slightly shorter stem for this one as well... but otherwise not looking too bad...



This is what Finnegan's looking like on the Soma...

Of course if The Girl take over the Soma for dirt road adventure rides, What will Finnegan ride...?



I had him throw a leg over my old Surly Cross Check (which is in need of some repair!) but that's looking like a definite option for him as well... Might have to find a new rear wheel and throw a derailleur and shifter on there for him... Or... Not... He's one of those kids that likes to just put a chain into one gear and then just ride in that one gear ALWAYS... so... maybe a single speed might work out for him....?

March Rides

Despite having one of the coldest Februarys on record - and March coming in like a lion, it rapidly warmed up through the month and almost all of the snow had melted by the end of the month.



The Girl was thrilled to get out on her summer bike early in the month and ride to a nearby class that only required riding along the multiuser trails which were almost entirely clear of snow within the first week of the month.



I got out the PPURPLE KARATE MONKEY!



Summer bikes rolling across the new Traffic Bridge.



Summer bikes with winter jackets and boots...



a happy girl.



Riding home from a later dance class mid-month. Marvelling that the sun was just setting - rather than having set before we set out to class - riding to and from it in pitch darkness.



Last ride of the BFD for the winter.

 

(to a cello lesson)

 I really like these bags... though, they're not really "bags". I might have to see about getting a set for the Yuba - as the Yuba bags are just about done...



The Girl had a flat on her summer bike one day as we were heading out, so she took her bothers bike... and fell in love with it. It hadn't really been planned to get either of them a new city bike this year... but she had since declared it is "hers" and she had no desire to ride the Townie any more and that Finnegan needs to get a new one! It seemed a reasonable request - the townie is getting a tad small and is a bit of a tank.



Although... until a new city bike is acquired for Finnegan, she does have to still ride the Townie on days when they're both going somewhere.



I did get out the Yuba and gas up the tires and have started using it as my get-around bike for riding in the city... mostly...



Heading out to an appointment last week.



Maybe it is getting a little small for him...?



Short cut through a park.



Saturday library run.



This is where I sat to eat the chocolate almond croissant on my way home from the Night Oven Bakery - so I didn't have to listen to complaints about why I didn't get treats for anyone else...

Also, I am on Twitter now...

https://twitter.com/timinsaskatoon

That's all the news for now. I am going to try and post monthly updates about whatever we've been up to...