DIY Kid Bike Fenders

After an 81-day stretch of dry weather, it finally rained this morning. For people who enjoy walking and biking, it has been a long and blissful summer. With the inevitable dampness of fall on the horizon, I took some time last night to fender my second-grader's bike.

The fenders are made from coroplast, a corrugated plastic used for making campaign signs. I picked up the idea from Kent's Blog and a local elected official was happy to give me a stash of signs after his election. 

[Note: Around here campaigns are required to collect their signs from public spaces post-election. It is very illegal for private individuals to take them during election season. However, if you find a forgotten sign in a ditch post-election, it's your civic duty to pick up litter, right?] 

At her request, I had already customized the bike by covering the entire frame with fancy duct tape. We continued the look on the fenders; she digs the skulls. You can buy fenders for 16" and 20" wheels, but most shops will have to special order them. Inexpensive kid bikes like this one also don't have the usual eyelets for mounting manufactured fenders with screws, so zip ties and coroplast are an excellent alternative.

The best part: she thinks it looks cool and wants to ride, even on the rainy days.

UPDATE:

Here are some more detailed photos of the 20" kid fenders.

Pre-assembly: Using a razor knife on a concrete floor, cut two strips from a 2' long campaign sign. Make your cuts in parallel with the channels in the coroplast. The wider piece to cover the tire is 2 3/8" wide and the strut piece is 1 1/2" wide. (If you need a front and rear fender, repeat this step.)

Most campaign signs don't look that cool when chopped up, so wipe them clean and cover them with duct tape. It looks cool and helps keep the coroplast from buckling. 

Center the strut at one end of the fender and punch small holes for the cable ties. Join the two pieces so the sharp fastener of the cable tie is on the outside. 

This way there are no sharp edges near the tire. Pre-fold the struts around the edge of the fender piece, creasing the coroplast. This will help with mounting.

Rear fender: Notch the fender as needed to mount the front end near the kickstand plate. This bike had a screw hole, so I rummaged an old screw that fit. Otherwise, use cable ties.

One cable tie was all I needed to attach the struts near the axle.

You may need to make your fenders wider. This bike required the struts go around the outside of the huge fork blades.

And get creative with the cable ties! It may take more than one!

DIY Studded Bike Tires

For the last three years I've wanted to make a set of studded bike tires, but the bad weather always comes and goes before I have a chance to act.  Not this year.  I loosely followed the advice and instructions from this video and used this video as a reference for how long the project would really take (try counting how many beers he drinks!)

I used 26" mtb tires that were salvaged from a bike project year ago, placing screws in every other knob, 52 screws per side.  Since I only bought 200 #8-1/2" panhead screws, I had to rummage for the other 8.

   

I used a variable speed hand drill with a 5/64" bit to put a pilot hole in each knob from the outside.  I started all of the screws from the inside with a screwdriver, then finished driving them flush with the drill at low speed.  You don't want to over tighten the screws as they can strip out the knob or tangle the tire casing fabric.  Don't forget: once you're done you'll need an old tube to use as a liner between the screw heads and the tube you're inflating.

It took me $7 cash and three solid hours for 208 screws. If this seems like too much work, plan ahead of the bad weather and order some studded tires from your local bike shop.  I'll give you a ride report if we get more snow and ice.  That might be this week or it might be next winter!

Until Warmer Days

Our van has been voluntarily parked for over 3 days. We've had 3-7" of snow and daytime temps between 25°F and 34°F.  To my surprise, we've managed to do ~25mi of errands and commuting by foot or bike during that time.  We haven't avoided any trips; getting to school and work on time and even picking up a 40# bag of dogfood when we ran out.  While this isn't a big deal for many local-living families, even I am impressed to keep this streak alive in the coldest, nastiest part of winter.

Perhaps the best part about this little bout of undriving is that the kids see it as completely normal.  Tula's been riding in the Madsen since she was one, and the rain cover is now on it's second winter.  Gwen has adapted to riding the Xtracycle deck in it's many configurations and she expects to see a bike parked outside of the school everyday when I pick her up.

That bucket cover has been key to winter riding with the kids, because of windchills.  Once the temp falls below freezing, one can subtract another degree for each mph of wind.  I stay warm trying to keep a cargobike at 10mph, but the kids just turn into popsicles without the windbreak. This was the result of a fast descent in an uncovered bucket:

Keep everyone safe and warm until spring, but remember, that doesn't always mean you have to take the car!

Snow Ride

We walked to school this morning in a light flurry, after playing in the snow for a while before the late start. By afternoon the roads were bare, but a heavy snow shower that rolled in just as we were heading out made the ride back to the school a memorable one. According to Gwen, as she checked out our fat-tire tracks from the snapdeck: "This is the best day ever."

Fantastic February

While folks back east were getting pummeled with difficult weather, the Tacoma area experienced an uncharacteristically warm and dry spell that is still going strong.  I've been biking a ton, with and without kids along for the ride.  Between miles and events, February is shaping up to be a busy bike month.  Who knew?  Here's a recap and a few upcoming events - it's not to late to get a piece of this action!

Mobility Master Plan:
The City of Tacoma issued a draft plan that details how they will address nonmotorized transportation issues in the coming years.  I attended one of the public meetings and it felt great to be in a room full of people that share the same level of enthusiasm about these projects as I do. The public comment period ends March 12, after which there will be several opportunities to speak publicly to show your support.  Tacoma can be a bike town!

Caspar Babypants
"Caspar" is actually Chris Ballew, front man of The Presidents of the United States, who now plays in a children's music duet.  We took a Madsen bucket full of kids to their show at our local library and it rocked!  The kids enjoyed it too as they romped around and sang along.  It's not a bike event per se, but you could certainly bike or walk there.  Two more library shows this month, February 20 and 26.  [PS. Our rain cover sat outside in the rain for the entire hour-long show and the bucket stayed completely dry inside - yes!]

TWBC Monday Ride
I took our 4.5 year-old for her first group ride with the Tacoma Wheelmen this week via trail-a-bike.  She wrote her own name on the ride roster, hassled me about not keeping us closer to the front of the pack, and played tough-kid despite the fog and <40° temp.  We turned around for home after 5 miles (as planned), and made our way back with a stop at the playground and a coffee shop.  She's hooked.  Maybe we'll see you there one of the next few Mondays (9:30 am start at Proctor Starbucks.)

Community Bike Fair
TWBC and Bicycle Alliance of Washington are hosting this event 7pm, February 24 at The Hub (203 S Tacoma Ave.).  Here more about the Mobility Plan, clubs, events, resources, etc.

Road to Roubaix
Local bike shop Tacoma Bike, in conjunction with a few other local businesses, is hosting a screening of the film "Road to Roubaix" on February 27.  Me and the Mrs. will be attending.  Afterward you can test your prowess with the cobbles on a few of Tacoma's hilly side streets as you bike home.

Laugh at the Weather Ride
What? You haven't been riding your bike this winter?! Well, the TWBC is hosting a FREE cycling event on February 28 to lure you and that dusty bicycle back onto the road.  It's a 10 mile ride with FREE pre- and post-ride snacks.  Follow the link to sign up in advance so they can plan for the right number of riders.  And it's FREE.

Dry Run

Today was the first ride with our new DIY rain cover.  It wasn't raining, but 40°F and damp would have to do.  The kids were so excited that they practically tripped over one another running out to the garage.  There was quite a bit of giggling en route to pre-school while they played with the camera and read books.  Compared to our normal ride, I couldn't tell that the cover was on, but the kid noise was slightly muffled. (I'm putting that in the pro column.)  It looks big, but it doesn't have a profile much wider than my body, so any added drag was unnoticeable.

The kids arrived warm and dry, I didn't have to spend five minutes pre-ride finding hats, gloves, scarves, etc. for each one, and the van stayed parked in the garage the whole time.  Win Win Win.

Madsen Rain Cover

This is our first attempt at a rain cover for our MADSEN kg271 bucket bike.  We wanted something simple, inexpensive, light, and hopefully durable (i.e. kid-proof.) that would keep the kids warm and dry for short trips around town on the rainiest of days.

The support frame is made from two pieces of 1/2" electrical conduit coupled together, so it's modular for summer storage.  The frame sits in the bucket on top of the seats.  The cover is primarily Sunbrella fabric, a light awning material, with zippered vinyl windows.  The nylon strap, sewn into the bottom of the cover and fastened under the lip of the bucket, keeps the whole thing in place.



Conception and production was a group effort.  Many thanks to my dad for helping with the pipe bending, and many many thanks to my wife for showing off hew prowess with a sewing machine.  Hat tip to Crow for sending us to Seattle Fabrics - they had everything but the conduit!

Unless the weather is too nice, we'll have a full review soon.  What do you think?

Stoked

After watching this Totcycle video showcasing some of the ways other Pacific Northwest families mobilize on bikes, my oldest daughter reminded me that we needed to put some stoker handlebars on the back of our Xtracycle .

Xtracycle sells a stoker bar kit, but I had all of the bits laying around.

Mom photographed our first departure, but I wish I could have recorded the squeal of excitement that Gwen made when hit cruising speed.  She loves it!

Would you, could you, with a bike?

I've read stories about bike moves in Portland and Minneapolis, where armadas of cargonistas move a family of four and their worldly possessions across town in a day.  And Sam in Bozeman proved that even solo bike moves were possible.  So when Evan asked to borrow our Madsen and maybe a trailer so that he could move all of his stuff to a new condo, I jumped at the opportunity to help with, what I think may be, Tacoma's first bike move.

He moved everything himself using a 2005 Burley d'Lite trailer (for smaller stuff like boxes and dresser drawers full of clothes) and a Madsen kg271 "Bucket Bike" (for the chest of drawers and a queen-size bed set.)

The most awkward piece was the mattress.  I went along to help with loading and traffic flagging, but mostly to rubber-neck.  Here we are using the recently-striped S. 12th Street bike lane.



The slow trip was just under three miles.  One passing driver honked and gave us the thumbs up.  A man on the sidewalk nodded approvingly and said, "Now that's how you do it."  I think the entire move was done in sub-freezing temps and it was around 25°F on this particular morning.  Unfortunately my mittened hands are not very adept with a camera while riding, so I only have this one photo of us en route.

When I asked Evan what he thought of the Madsen: "It's awesome."

Joy Ride

This should be fun.  Find a sitter.

Hat tip to SPEW for the heads-up.

Idle Hands are the Devil's Playground

When winter rolls around, I usually find myself out in the garage on cold nights playing bikes. Once the over-due maintenance is done, I start to tinker. Here are some of the project that I've been working on.

Photos
I never seem to have my camera around when I want it, especially when I'm biking, so I'm making a camera mount for my handlebars. That way I can also take decent low-res videos of my epic rides.  Instructions are here and the bits cost about $2 from the hardware store. (Note: The Ace Hardware at S. 12th and Sprague carries all of the bike-sized metric bolts that you could ever need.)

Tires
I've wanted to upgrade the rear tire on our Madsen, but no local shop stocks a 20" Marathon. Well last Saturday the Mrs. and I found ourselves in Seattle, volunteering at the Winter Beer Festival. We had parked at a B&B called Inn of Twin Gables*, where we would be staying the night, then walked over the Ballard bridge to Hale's for the event.

About half-way over the bridge, we spotted the Dutch Bicycle Company of Seattle.  What luck!  We checked out their awesome selection of Dutch bikes and they happened to have just one 20" Big Apple burried up in the rafters.  I strapped it to my bag and we continued to the festival where we poured tastes from Schooner EXACT Brewing.  They took home the second place people's choice prize for their Hoppy the Woodman barrel-aged winter ale.  The beer was great and we had an awesome time.

*I highly recommend the Inn of Twin Gables.  Katie, the innkeeper, was an excellent host (a story of her grandmother provided the title of this post.)  And she made us a very tasty and healthy breakfast.  Possibly the best night I've ever had away from home, and at a very reasonable price.

Rain Cover

The kid's don't mind getting a little cold and wet, but the downpours in November and the sub-freezing temps of December are extremes that I'm not always comfortable biking in with children.

I'd seen pictures of Madsen's prototype rain cover, but have heard it's been shelved for a different design.  Being cheap and not wanting to wait for a produciton model, I'm making my own.  The frame is made of 1/2" EMT electrical conduit.  It's super light and easy to form, plus the frame disassembles into two pieces for summer storage.   The cover itself will be made from outdoor canvas and clear plastic.  A drawcord at the bottom will go under the lip of the bucket and hold the frame down.  This is where I am so far.  You'll have to imagine the rest.

This should work fine for low-speed, winter kid hauling.  I'll post more photos and a how-to when it's done.

Winter Kid Commuting

This morning I asked the two pre-schoolers if they thought it was too cold to take the Madsen bucket bike to school. It was 33°F, very dry, and beautifully sunny. After explaining that this temperature was nearly cold enough to make water turn to ice, one kid said Yes! and the other said No!

Well, Mom was out with the van and it was now time to go, so everyone bundle up! Beanies under helmets, mittens and scarves, and glasses for the short-straw who had to sit facing the wind. They shared the fleece blanket that we always leave in the bucket now that it's chilly. An umbrella was deployed to break some of the wind. We're off!

Tula dropped her mitten in the middle of the intersection. The nice driver behind us honked to point this out, so we stopped. We played I Spy. Then another stop to put the umbrella away because it was hampering the visibility for the game. Then it was Jingle Bells (a one-horse open sleigh - ha!) and Santa Claus is Coming to Town. At the stop light, I see that all of the bank tellers are pointing and smiling. Not a single word from anyone about being cold or inconvenienced. Just fun, and lots of it.

On the way home later, we road in the freshly painted bike lane on North 21st Street. The best was when the mom and two kids in the Prius slowed down to check out the bucket action.

There's sunny skies and similar temps in the forecast for the whole week. Tomorrow we're taking some jingle bells with us for musical accompaniment to the caroling.

How much better can this get? What temperature is too cold for a 1.2 mile ride to school?

Learning about Bicycles

It's been a while since I've spent a 36°F night out in the garage working on bikes until I can't feel my fingers. Today my dad brought over two 20" kid bikes that he aquired while helping someone move, so I had an excuse to do some wrenching in the cold. We've done this a few times before where he finds the needy bikes, I fix 'em up, and then we place them in a good home. The problem is that some bikes are worth working on and others are not.



Yes, the fork of the blue one was backwards. Both also had bent brake calipers and other borken bits here and there. I took the broken stuff off, then adjusted seats and bars, aired the tires (all were good, I was shocked), and flipped them over to inspect the tranny.

The orange one was fine, though the hub needed adjustment. I'm sure someone thought the front hand brake was a good idea, but I doubt that it ever helped to stop the bike any faster. I ditched it since the coaster brake worked ok. My first BMX bike only had a coaster brake and I remember it stopping on a dime (though it likely did not.) On to the blue bike.

The blue bike was problematic. When coasting, there was a horrendous high pitched grinding noise that seemed to come from inside of the hub. I thought maybe it just needed the outter cone adjusted, but that was not the case. So, I just took it apart completely. Why not?

I've never taken a coaster brake hub apart before, so it took a while to figure out. Late in the game, I remembered reading somewhere that you should use a bench vise to hold the wheel on one side. Bingo. I cleaned everything up and tried to understand it's workings. I reassembled it twice, wrongly thinking I had found and solved the problem. I finally deduced that the spring which controls the un-braking mechnism needed to be reshaped a bit and heavily greased. I'm glad I bought those cone wrenches ages ago when they were on sale.

With the bike returned to it's upright and fully locked position, I returned to the house for a cup of tea and some cookies.

Recreational Riding...

I organized a Sunday morning group ride for the Harmon Bike Club. Unfortunately, I woke up to find two inches of snow that were no where near the weather forecast for today (I was expecting a 92% chance of rain.) Well I'll be damned if I'm going to let down the one other person that might be willing to plow the slush with me this morning. I took the Xtracycle, wore my yellow rain coat (very rare occasion), lots of wool, and ski gloves. A small thermos of coffee was my back-up plan.

After two cups of coffee at The Hub, I rolled out at 10:20 by myself. Here's where I went:

View Larger Map

And here's what it looked like:


I stuck to the arterials where the cars had already plowed most of the slush off of the roads. I was already soaked when I reached Point Defiance Park, so I opted not to ride the portion of 5-Mile Drive that is closed to vehicles each weekend morning (more slush and run-off.) The 14 mile route felt more like a 20-miler, which was what I was shooting for today.

The sun peaked out on my way home. I got lots of smiles from drivers and saw one other set of bike tracks in the park. Those are very uplifting signs on a ride like this. Signs that kept me grinning the whole way.

Bike Dates...

After dropping the kids with the in-laws, we planned to start the evening at the Tacoma Art Museum. It was on the way home so, rather than backtrack with bikes, we parked at the Tacoma Dome P&R and took the Link Light Rail downtown. They were closing in five minutes, so we decided on cocktails and dinner at Indochine instead. We hadn't been there before; it's far more hip and swanky than the one in Federal Way that I was raised on. After dinner, we walked along the Thea Foss Waterway and then back to the P&R over the new D Street overpass, which neither of us had ever used. It's a very pedestrian-friendly area with some nice views of the marina and the 21st Street Bridge. Sarah wished she'd brought her camera.

After running the dogs and catching up on some chores, we were ready to head out for Part II of the evening by bicycle. The 6th Avenue District is full of restaurants and bars, so we have plenty of options for nightlife. Sarah picked E-9 as our first stop, since they were still serving food from the kitchen at that hour.

From bike date 1

We spent a considerable amount of time trying to lock our bikes to the gate around their courtyard. Once inside, the bouncer immediately asked for ID.

Bouncer: Did you know that your license is expired?
Sarah: WHAT?! Oh no, I can't beleive I missed that!
Bouncer: I'm sorry, but [I'm a jerk and] I can't let you in.
Sarah: Are you kidding? I'm almost 30!
Bouncer: I'm sorry [but I'm a jerk.]

So, we left E-9, unlocked the bikes, and rolled across 6th Ave to The Red Hot (which is really where I wanted to go anyway.) The owner asked me about my Xtracycle on one of my first visits and I've been hooked ever since. Tap selection is second to The Parkway, but still top notch. Plus, the bike rack is right outside the front door!

From bike date 1

Sarah is not a huge fan of their food menu, but I think it rules. It's all hot dogs and nachos served up steam tray style from behind the bar. No pretty kitchen and no fancy tableware. Some nice patron has even donated a hot dog mosaic stepping stone and a paper-mache effigy hotdog from the dia los muertos celebration on the Ave. I asked my server if he though a Rainier beer can hat would be worth anything and he recommended that I come back and talk with the owner next Saturday. How I would love to have my wares on display at such a fine, upstanding establishment.

From bike date 1

Hales Kolsch and Elysian IPA washed down the Nacho Cheese nachos and a vanilla Moon Pie. We also entered to win a bike in the "Recycle a Bike" raffle that is now being held monthly. This one is a hand-me-down from the owner's brother.

From bike date 1

I decided that it was too warm (32°F) and I was too full of bar food to call it a night, so I took Sarah on a tour of my frequent night-ride loops. Once around the UPS campus...

From bike date 1

Then down to my favorite lookout point. It was so much fun to ride around cracking jokes and ringing our bells at the cars and pedestrians. A great night to be a Tacoman.

From bike date 1

Commute Madness

I biked to my old office this morning. It was very foggy, 30°F. Chris rolled in at 0630 and we hit the road. It was like old times, dodging potholes, talking about what was new. While at a stop light, a minivan driver commended us for being diligent to our biking and thanked us for being very visible with our blinkies and reflective bits.

We cruised to downtown to the 11th Street Bridge, which is still only open to bikes and pedestrians. About the time I realized that the ground looked rather sparkly, my rear wheel decided to try and catch up with the front wheel by passing me on the left. I put a foot down and hollered "Woooaaaahhh!" as I went into a 3-point slide. I slowed to nearly a stop before gravity finally took over. I looked up just in time to see Chris do the same thing, only with more speed and less grace. He was a little scratched up and a few pedestrians had a bit of a chuckle at our expense, but we were ok. We decided to walk a piece, only to be passed by an older fellow with a white beard on a city bike. He muttered something, probably about us being amateurs. Hardly.

The frost was thick on everything organic or metal between Portland Ave and Port of Tacoma Road. So thick, that I thought the concrete sidewalk of the Lincoln Ave bridge had been re-poured, it was so smooth and bright. Chris commented about his bike commute during the flooding we had in the area. Much of the sand and debris from the high water along Pacific Highway is still there, including a few large river rocks. Good times.



After saying hello to some friends heading in to the office, I headed back home before the frost on my sweater thawed too much. Rolling through the back-roads of Fife, a duck flushed from the marsh grass as I rode by. A hawk screeched as it glided over the road ahead. A frog chirped. Water rushed from a culvert into the stream. It was comfortably inspiring outing on a momentous day in America.