The Return to Cycling

I do believe that the main reasons I did not consider cycling or owning a bike for the longest time, either consciously or subconsciously, are these two things:

1. I had grown accustomed to cycling as a purely leisure activity (in Singapore, as I had been cycle-commuting in Melbourne).

2. There is no space to properly store a bike at home.

I find it amusing now, that up till last year, I had been blind to the existence of the foldable bicycle. I guess this is also something that happens when you drive all the time. You are (and rightly so) occupied with the demands of driving, that aside from the necessary attention you are giving to the road / traffic / pedestrians, you are cut off from the world.

By chance, whilst sitting in my office, being frustrated at how dormant my lifestyle had become, I chanced upon an article in a magazine about cycle-commuting. It featured an interview with mrbrown and also some bikes like the Brompton, Dahon Curve and Strida.

After much scouting and deliberation, I got myself the Brompton. The first ride was a pain-in-the-butt, but oh-so-magical at the same time. The feeling of human-powered motion, liberation, independence, the wind against my face... It had been a long time since I experienced a feeling so child-like. I knew that cycling is here to stay.

I have plenty to say about cycling at this point, but I will save that for another post. For now, the foldable bike has negated the two points that I mentioned at the beginning of this post.

1. Cycling is now a very practical choice for me, and I believe it can be for most people. Here is my set-up for errands. The Touring bag easily holds a 1.8kg tin of milk for my boy, take-away lunch for me and my wife and other miscellaneous items.

2. Foldable bikes are the perfect choice for apartment-dwellers. As you can see below, two Bromptons take up less space than a double-stroller. We are making use of the dead-space under our bookshelf.

If you are thinking about cycling and are having the same concerns, why not consider a foldable bike?

The Farewell Ride

Last Saturday, just before midnight, I went out for a ride with my neighbour who also happens to be a friend from secondary school. We now live two blocks apart in the same estate.

Aside from the above, we also share another thing in common: we are both fathers of two young children. What this means is that, rides are always somewhat pre-arranged, but always tentative. There is always the likelihood of it being cancelled, though so far I think I've managed to proceed 99% of the time. The main condition: kids must be asleep - this means that rides are always arranged to start past 11 pm.

In any case, my friend rides a Brompton as well. This one was brought back from the UK as he was working there for a few months. There was some hassle at the airport, but worth it I would say. Oh, did I mention that it is a six-speed titanium model that he got for roughly 2K SGD? Unheard of!! Someone else ordered the bike and changed his mind, that's how he got the deal - lucky him!

This was our first ride together by the way - I have many cycling buddies who are also married / young fathers so it is all about availability. We had no specific plans but eventually decided that it would be fitting to have a relaxed ride to say goodbye to McD at ECP. I really wanted to go there one last time, without the crowd on closing day.

Getting to ECP from Tampines is really easy - 99.99% Park Connector Network. You go from Tampines towards Simei PCN, and then Bedok PCN. If you're cycling in the day it might get a bit crowded around Tampines and Simei MRT but that's about it. Entry from Bedok PCN brings you into East Coast Park somewhere near the Sailing Centre. 2 - 8- 7 and you're there!

Once we got to East Coast Park it was straight to McD. On our way to and fro I saw many foldies but couldn't really pick out anyone, nor did I hear anyone call out for me. Apparently our friend Tomorrow was there as well with some buddies.

I'm not really a big fan of McD, but this particular outlet holds a lot of memories especially of secondary school days, barbecues, cycling with my wife in our late teens, rollerblading end-to-end... For our last meal there I went with the McSpicy and my friend went with the trusty Fillet o Fish.

In any case, this is a cycling blog and I'm not going to get too sentimental or wax lyrical about fast-food, but I mainly want to highlight this particular route. 

If you have three hours-or-so, this route is excellent for a really relaxed ride (pace + can hold conversation) with a nice break (your choice of activity) in between (we were at McD for almost an hour by the way). And since we were riding at night, there were many stretches of uninterrupted cycling. The loop from Tampines Central to McD and back is around 30 km - mostly flat and a nice distance in my opinion. Suitable and doable for most people. 

A Tale of Two CarryMe(s)

Those who turned up for the Earth Hour Promo Ride with LCSG would have noticed that I wasn't on my Dahon MuP8 or Brompton... but rather the Pacific Cycles CarryMe!

It seems that many other folks have also taken an interest to these bikes, as you can see in the pic below.

It is somewhat of a coincidence along with the rising popularity of this particularly dinky bicycle, but I had in fact been eyeing it for a while, having also read Taiwoon's account, and trying out his bike during the LCSG Lelong at West Coast Park.

The main considerations are typical of any cyclist who is trying to justify another purchase: I know I don't really need this bike, but I like it, I can see some reasons for having it... and the list goes on.

Aesthetically, it is also a really weird bike, very comical but also very cute. So extremely uncool that it becomes cool at the same time. However, if there's one thing that won me over is that it's really quirky, and screams non-seriousness at any given time. If you ride this bike, no one will bother to race you and will probably be a little to kinder to your silly self riding on wheels smaller than your face.

Luckily for me, there came a very good (or good enough reason) to purchase this bike: Get a pair to commemorate our fourth wedding anniversary (smart right?!). The two bikes would also be a celebration of our two lovely boys :) What a way to sell the idea to your partner huh? (It works!)

In any case, she loves the bike! Here we are at Marina Bay Sands.

We also wanted to do a multi-modal test of the bikes, so what we did was loaded them up in the passenger area of our car. Two folded CarryMe bikes will fit in the space of one folded-up seat of a Honda Fit / Jazz. We still had the front seat free, two rear seats free and the whole boot!

We parked at Lavender and joined the group ride through the city to Orchard Road. We couldn't join the group for lunch as we had to pick up our boys, and to save some time, on the way back we took the train from Somerset to Lavender.

Though I love my Brompton as a complete all-around bike, after this episode, I really feel that the CarryMe might just be the perfect multi-modal bike, something for that first and last mile-or-two. Folding is non-complicated, takes up less space than a typical umbrella-fold stroller, light enough to lift using one hand, easy to roll.

I guess the best part is, at the end of it all, my wife really loves the bike.

And she has started browsing for cycling accessories.

Here is a pic of my wife with our younger boy when we picked him up after the ride. Our two bikes which you can't see, is actually on her right side. Really wonderful space-savers. Will try and grab a picture at the next opportunity.

In short, we are really enjoying these bikes. At the end of the day, it is a purchase, not really a need, but times that we get to spend together like this are priceless, especially after having our two boys.

Here's a video of the ride where you'll  get to see the CarryMe and many other wonderful bikes in action.


Earth Hour Promo Ride with LoveCyclingSG from Khairul Rahim on Vimeo.

Summary and Return!

It's been a while since the last post... but this is a summary of what's happened since then...

My second boy arrived on 23 Nov

Went to UK

Attended LCSG Lelong! - here is my cousin and daughter

Tampines Brommies at West Coast!

Support the fund-raising! Makes nice gifts too!

First time cycling to Punggol Waterway

Beautiful Place!

My First Helmet

Ventured West

Westside kaki and Tour Guide!

Cycled to MBS

LCSG City Ride + 2011 Summary

Pasir Ris - Yishun Loop

Bike Maintenance

City Ride

I'd missed the City Ride with LCSG a week ago as it was Hari Raya Haji, and this was a ride I really wanted to try, so I checked out the route map on Taiwoon's blog and had a relaxing morning ride with my brother. I rode on the Brompton M2L and brought the Dahon MuP8 for my brother. All pics are taken with the iPhone using the Camera+ app.

YBike and Strider - Impressions

My boy received a Ybike for his second birthday, and my nephew has a Strider, so I had this opportunity to make some comparisons.

The Ybike

 

The first thing about the Ybike is that it is a fixed design - there will be no adjustments made on this bike, whether it's the handles or the seat.

The child also sits quite low and there is some distance from the seat to the handles. A smaller child will need to reach forward quite a bit.

The bike is also rather wide, which you will see in subsequent photos. During initial rides, my son's heel will often clip the plastic frame, but he has automatically adjusted his movement to counter for that.

You can see the width of the bike in this photo, and how my son adopts a wider stance. You can also see my wife who is 36 weeks pregnant and rocking the LCSG shirt.

Back to business: In only three proper rides (meaning, in the park or playground, where there is some space), he has progressed tremendously and shows development of confidence and balance.

In terms of sizing, i feel that this bike is suitable for children who are at least 0.8 m tall. Here you see my nephew who is around that height. My boy is approaching 0.9m.

 The Strider

From the photo above, you can probably tell that the Strider is designed more like a regular bike. The key differences between the Strider and the Ybike would be the frame geometry, wheels and adjustable seatpost.

In this respect, I feel that it will be easier for a child to start out on the Ybike due to the broader wheels. However, the design of the Strider also lends itself to familiarising the child with the feel of a 'regular' bike.

I found my boy transferring his 'skills' to the Strider with no problem, as you can see here, happily going down a slope.

 
In conclusion, I feel that either bike will help your child to develop his / her sense of balance. It is up to you to provide the situation for that to happen: practice makes perfect. Overall, I feel that the Strider will be a better investment due to its adjustability, and its form which is much closer to a regular bike.

My 4 yr old nephew - downslope

A friendly race