Introduce your kids to bicycles early

Many parents are afraid to introduce their children to bicycles. This is quite understandable. There is indeed danger in riding bicycles. Because for one, riding a two-wheeled vehicle is already a circus act in and of itself - be it a bicycle or a motorcycle.

But here's the thing. It will only be dangerous if the rider is irresponsible, uneducated and if kids are left unsupervised during training. Again, it's better to introduce your kids to bikes early. Make sure to provide ample supervision when you do. The exhilaration of  taking that bike for a spin around the village, and the wind brushing through your face and hair will be priceless.

I also have a daughter who really wants to ride bicycles. Recently, I bought her a hybrid bike, a configuration that's weird to some of you - part BMX, part mountain bike. It has no training wheels (balancers to some of you). So yeah, you can feel free to ask me "Why did you do that?". Honestly, I dunno. I should have bought her balancers, but I didn't. Regardless, training how to ride bicycles require patience. My daughter was very eager and was quite happy when she got the bicycle. But the opposite is true when she started sitting on the saddle. She's terrified because she still do not know how to balance. My wife and I keep turns training her to ride the bicycle and here's the tricky part - different people will have different learning curves. Some people may learn to balance in a few minutes or hours. Some people will take days or longer to learn how to balance. So definitely, if you're like me who's teaching someone to ride a bike, be patient.

On second thought, perhaps I'll just buy those balancers ^_^.

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In another note and since it's a Thursday, here's my first throwback post ever. I promised in an older post that I will share with the lot of you pics from my childhood, taking bikes for a spin.

Bicycle Basics: Parts of a Bicycle

As in any equipment or tool that I use, I do some research to become more familiar with them. With familiarity, I will be able to better use the tool and enjoy working or using it.

The same is true with bicycles. And since I decided that having a bicycle is a long term endeavor, I decided to get to know my bicycle a little bit more. I'm just glad that the internet contains a wealth of information about bicycles and it could be quite overwhelming sometimes.

A quick Google search has turned up the page at http://www.jimlangley.net/wrench/bicycleparts.html which includes an illustrated bicycle with most, if not all, bicycle parts named and listed. It certainly is very, very useful.

Bicycle parts (image courtesy of http://www.jimlangley.net)

My Humble Ride

Here is my humble ride, a cheap mountain bike of unknown brand. Although it does have the mark "Assassin" on it, I am not really sure what the real brand is. You know how it is. I'm not sure if this is locally made, or Chinese made. But one clue is that the grips are SunRun. I think those are definitely made in China. The rest, I am not so sure.

Newbie that I am, have no fixed idea what the speed is (although the store I bought it with said it's a 7-speed bike), what the brands of the parts are, and so on. What I do know is, I was able to afford it, the size is right for me, it runs well, and I can upgrade it later with better, more precision parts (when funds become available). Oh, and it was light. When transporting it, I merely held it on one hand while I was riding a jeepney (I was able to mention I'm in the Philippines in a previous post).

This bicycle was originally a rigid build so I decided to upgrade to a cheap RST Racing suspension fork. I also replaced the pedal with a set of cheap alloy pedals (unknown brand) from a local bike shop. The bike originally had plastic el-cheapo, China-made pedals. The frame is also standard size (not oversize), and the wheels are 26-inchers.

This bike set me back PHP 2,900 brand new from a local shop. The suspension fork set me back PHP 550, and the alloy pedals cost PHP 130. Total expense for this riding joy is PHP 3,580.

I'm pretty sure some of you might think I should have gone with an oversized frame and 29er set of wheels. Unfortunately, I am on a very tight budget and this is the only ride that I can afford for the time being. But definitely, I am already contemplating on something better in the future after being able to find new bike shops that recently carried new bikes with very decent specs which are quite affordable (but still beyond the current budget I had).

Here are some more pictures for you guys. Enjoy!