Good Brakes - Not Just for Adults

Ever since my children showed an interest in biking, I have been learning all I could about transitioning them to my favorite form of wheeled travel.

One aspect that have been discussed online and in books is the kind of brakes on kids bikes. The overwhelming consensus is that coaster brakes are NOT a good choice for children... at least when learning to ride. The thinking is that when a child wants to stop, especially when panicked, coaster brakes are a slow and un-natural process. The time required to stop forward pedaling, then pedal backward is much slower and confusing than squeezing one's fist. They say to either choose bikes that have hand brakes, or install them yourself.

But as I looked at bikes with this better braking option, I have noticed many are not properly setup for young hands. Many bike assemblers never take in account that kids' reach is much shorter than adults'. It seem obvious when you think about it but I believe we forget about this when adjusting their brakes because hey, they feel natural to us.

So here is a quick how-to for making their brakes more comfortable and functional for your new riders.

Many brakes have either this big screw sticking out...

... or a tiny "grub" screw in the handle.

Before starting you will more than likely need to loosen the brake cable.

Now tighten the screw clockwise. The screw will push the lever toward the grip.

The before.

The after.

The "after" shows the brake lever much closer to the grip. It is now easily reachable by smaller hands, and reachable means your little rider will be just a little more comfortable and confident.

First Bike Race

A friend of the family recently sent me an email about the upcoming Knoxicross. He said he was thinking of entering his two sons and that I should do the same. I had never heard of a Knoxicross so I did some Googleling to learn more. Turns out it was a unique bike race that goes both on pavement and off road. Looked like big fun but was a little too serious for someone with knees as bad as mine. But the youngest-kids-class was a perfect fit for my son and our friends' boys.

Knowing he had never competed before, the odds for winning would be slim. So I told him over and over how proud I was of him for trying something like this and that just finishing was "his prize."

When we arrived there weren't enough kids to competed in two separate races, so both the under 10 and the 10-14 classes were lumped together. There were five boys competing, and the four in his class were younger. BUT I made sure to keep giving my speech about winning not being the goal because he was talking about the possibility of winning the race... by this point the speech was as much for me as him at this point.

The horn sounded and they were off! He took off in second place to the older boy as they rounded the first corner and went into the woods. The next time they came into view he was in fourth with only one behind him. "Just finish, please don't quit" I kept repeating to myself. Had to walk the steepest hill but he never quit.

First place was easily taken by the older boy. Second/third was an exciting photo finish between his bike-friend and the friend's soccer teammate. My son was clearly very disappointed coming in fourth, beating only the first grader.

The boys grouped together excitedly discussing the race... the hard parts, the fast parts, the photo finish. My son with his tail between his legs, was quietly listening to how much fun they had (and trying to decide what he could have done to change his outcome) when one of the other boys noticed he was track-standing while listening. The conversation quickly changed to bike control rather than bike speed. Before I knew it he was giving them lessons in doing wheelies, on both the front and rear tire.

The day was a strange, bittersweet one for him. How could be be so out of his element on a bike one minute and so in his element on a bike the next? How could he be so disappointed then be so excited about sharing his knowledge? I believe he learned a little about a different aspect of riding and lot about life. A bike is after all, a simple machine driven by a very complicated one.