Thought you would have them rocking POC

Just signed up to do Bike NY with Oscar.  also created the Kissena team on their registration site, fwiw.  

His goal is for him to ride it all under his own power.

oy!  

Oscar and I have been riding through a section of Morningside Park in the dark.  There's enough light to see decently, and the park is pretty empty at 8:30pm.  It starts with a short, steep drop, followed by a tight right turn, then a short flat section, a left onto another short, steep drop, then it has a gradual drop that goes straight and sweeps left.

After we take the first drop, Oscar says, "I wonder what it would be like to ride that without brakes."  I figure he means what we just did, so I tell him, I don't think he'd make the turn because the path is too narrow.  

But then he takes off on the gradual drop!  I don't think much of it, but then as he approaches the left sweep,  he isn't in good position and isn't braking, and wipes out because he didn't lean far enough and hits the curb.  He rolls.

I'm worried.  It's dark, I can't tell what he hit.

He sits up.  There's dirt on his back and arm and leg.  "That wasn't so bad.  I think I might have only bruised my ankle."  He gets back on his bike and we finish the ride home.  He actually seems happy that the dirt is proof of his crash.

Not sure how to deal with this.  I'm glad he took it in stride, but he definitely didn't ride smart to take the turn.  I made similar mistakes as a kid (I hit a car on my way to school in seventh grade because I was going too fast for where I had positioned myself and the bike I had--steel rims in the rain, riding on the shoulder with little visibility for a left-turning car), but it's not fun to watch.  

Even a better line might not have been so good, as there are still leaves on the path.

At the very least, I'm going to have to impart some cornering skill advice.

sign him up for the RHC. obvs.
(jk jk, actually, can't imagine how difficult it was for you to witness)

I'm sure we all have our stories. In sixth grade I was riding along the sidewalk of one of those busy suburban commercial streets lined with the driveways of strip malls and fast food restaurants. I was standing with my head down doing a pretty good imitation of a full out sprint to the line when all of a sudden someone had the nerve to pull out of the Taco Bell. That was my first broken collar bone and I learned a pretty good lesson on awareness of surroundings.

FWIW, I'm showing him descending videos on youtube and will move on to cornering lessons there, then we'll probably go back to the place he crashed and break down the turn.  

Wump,
I took/take my kids to a local park with a grassy hill and some cones to turn around - the experiment with various speeds, turn angles, etc.

Sounds like he's much less phased than you, though which is great. Parenthood does seem to be a never ending episode of watching our kids make the same mistakes we did, and somehow trying not to go crazy doing it.

Super happy to hear he wasn't hurt!

On a related note...

Has anyone ever worked on getting bike racks installed at a public school?  I'm going to start on this project soon.  

I've found a few sites showing rack options.  But I need to know if NYC DoE has any design constraints, any approval process beyond the principal, if the DoE has to approve of the rack provider or if they have racks they offer to put in, if anyone ever tried getting covered bike parking installed, if anyone looked into a permanent outdoor pump, if anyone knows of grant-giving organizations which help support this sort of thing.

The best place to start is DOT. You can request racks on specific blocks by going here:

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/bicyclists/cityrack-suggest.shtml

I did this on my office block. It took about 6 months and they installed them on the other side of the street but it worked.

NYC DOE/SCA do not have standards for bike racks though new schools often have bike rooms.

Jules said:

Super happy to hear he wasn't hurt!

I guess I should keep in mind that for our age cohort, riding around with a bike helmet was pretty much unthinkable.  Just there, kids today are a little more safety minded.

mugwump said:

Jules said:

Super happy to hear he wasn't hurt!

I guess I should keep in mind that for our age cohort, riding around with a bike helmet was pretty much unthinkable.  Just there, kids today are a little more safety minded.

I don't think I ever saw one until like jr high - and then it was like a U-lock; really I gotta buy one of these too?

I borrowed a Frog Bikes Hybrid for Oscar for review.

Came with both knobby and smooth tires.

The short cranks, narrow q-factor and small saddle, are all welcome to see. The double chain guard is pretty smart.
what's surprising is the long wheelbase (almost the same as an adult road racing bike), the relatively high bottom bracket, and it's still 21 lbs.  

It's been on the road twice thusfar.  it's doing Bike NY, so we'll have some experience by then.

Longer wheelbase should be more stable, no? The high bb is a little odd.

Jules said:

Longer wheelbase should be more stable, no? The high bb is a little odd.

Agreed.

However, the long wheelbase (and 58mm trail) makes me wonder about if it's too sluggish.  They claim otherwise.  

the high bb strikes me as odd, they claim they researched it well, that with a lower bb, the head tube might be too tall, and something about standards for clearance--the last seems odd because they have super-short cranks.

mugwump said:

Jules said:

Longer wheelbase should be more stable, no? The high bb is a little odd.

Agreed.

However, the long wheelbase (and 58mm trail) makes me wonder about if it's too sluggish.  They claim otherwise.  

the high bb strikes me as odd, they claim they researched it well, that with a lower bb, the head tube might be too tall, and something about standards for clearance--the last seems odd because they have super-short cranks.

I can see a higher bb to allow shorter riders to manage better - I wonder what the clearance standards are that they're talking about.

Would like to gauge interest in a "families" house for the Catskills weekend. Thinking toddlers/younger kids but open to whatever might work. Could do farm visit, nature walks, bikes and stryders! Assuming we’re not doing 10 hours a day in the saddle. 

Growing bikes for growing kids

https://blackmountain.bike/

Thoughts/experiences with trail-behind bikes?

https://www.trail-a-bike.com/

Jules said:

Thoughts/experiences with trail-behind bikes?

https://www.trail-a-bike.com/

Many.

The trademarked version is problematic because of its seatpost attachment.  I've seen these a plenty in Central Park.  Inevitably, the kid on the trail-a-bike lists to one side.  I also find the quality mediocre.  The linkage in the mount looks weak.

I think if you scroll through this thread, you'll find a few posts on how I ended up with a Burley Piccolo and a few images of us riding it.  We've done 45 miles or more on it a bunch of times.  I've had the rig for over five years now--and it was probably over a decade old when it was given to me.  The kids love it, which might be why Oscar now wants to ride on his own.  All the same, I do drop-offs/pickups for Oscar with the Piccolo because it's just so easy.  But I'm running out of time; the Piccolo is only rated for riders up to 75lbs.

https://burley.com/product/piccolo/

It's been updated a bit since ours was created.  The rack mount, while not ideal for a road bike, makes for a super stable, easy-turning joint (it basically has a headset with a pivot that allows the rig to move vertically.  Oscar eventually got to the point where he'd be on it and ride over curbs with me.

While it's a city thing, I ended up swapping the riser bars that came with for flat bars, so I could cut them a bit narrower than the bars on the MTB I used for towing; on the first or second ride, Oscar scraped a hand on a garbage truck because I didn't realize his bars were wider than mine.

Also, if you're going to ride in the wet, a fender for the Piccolo and a full fender for your bike, with a mudflap (probably home made, as I have yet to see a good one) hanging down from the fender.  I rode him to school on it nearly every day for two years; the spray from my rear wheel on rainy and snowy days got his pants, even with a full fender.  The days he wore rain pants it wasn't an issue; otherwise, I needed the mudflap.  

Thanks JP. Exactly what I was looking for.

I don't believe in pushing kids to get involved in cycling as sport (transportation is another thing).
However, after riding 37  39 miles or so, only three miles from home, I did push Oscar to finish out the ride on his own power.  He did pretty much collapse on the sofa the moment he got in the door. (Signing up to ride on his own power was his idea, not mine)  

Above is the Verrazano. 

That is so cool. Hope he had fun

that photo is everything awesome!

Here's my review of the Frog 62 that Oscar rode Bike New York on.

http://jralong.com/2018/06/08/reviewed-frog-bikes-frog-62/

Long have I wondered at the dearth of good kid's bike choices.

for those of a Manhattan/Bronx-ier persuasion Westchester Bicycle Sundays are good for family riding. 

http://www.thewpf.org/event/bicycle-sunday-2/2018-06-10/ 

Left to his own devices, our 4 year old discovered downhill...

https://www.smugmug.com/gallery/n-Lq2jmd/i-sMdmX6X/A

Jules said:

Left to his own devices, our 4 year old discovered downhill...

https://www.smugmug.com/gallery/n-Lq2jmd/i-sMdmX6X/A

I am sure with all the vigor and excitement of somebody with a 4-year-old's total disregard for life and limb. 

I thought you would all appreciate this victory salute after he cleaned the local dirt track...