I'm a dad! help my business case for a new bike....

i literally love threads like this.

Firstly, congrats on fatherhood! As a veteran dad of a 5 month old boy, my main piece of advice is to sleep whenever you can. And get out and ride occasionally, it works wonders for mental health.

As for the bike. Geez, that’s some serious specs. The only thing I really have an opinion on is levers/shifters: go for whatever the standard shifter is for the alfine, and use the tektro drop bar levers that mimic the campy ergonomics. I have them on my commuter, and they’re pretty much identical in feel to my 2007 campy ergos.

For kid carrying duties, I’m planning on selling a bunch of my shit and getting a box bike/bakfiets.

a massive cross check? or a massive surly ogre?

My mate toured round some of the world on a cross check with a rohloff fully loaded, set up with a kinda flipped ‘town’ bar, he said it was ok. Although dunno if the total weight he carried would have been as much, it would be cheap but restrict you to v brakes but it has the other things… but largest is 62cm.

An Ogre would be another candidate, stronger I’d think, plus it has trailer mounts. . . goes up to a 24" MTB frame.

both have semi or hori dropouts for a hub gear… you can push the rear wheel back on an ogre to get a longer wheel base for stability.

I’m partial towards the ogre, buts thats just cos I want one, versatility.

oh yes and congratulations!

congrats dude!

not sure your budget, but would love to see what Kumo could come up with to fulfil your needs!

Drop bars seem like a bad idea for a kiddie hauler. Risers or equivalent will put you a bit more upright and give better control over brakes/shifters/honka hootas. And if you have a front kiddie seat the drops will be impossible to use. Plus then you can use hydros and hub gear shifters with ease.

PM Sirkev to see what his front mount baby hauler looks like.

Congrats Supermarket!

I’ve been using a baby seat on my sw8 fixxay without too much trouble. The only painful bit is putting the rack on and taking it off all the time…only a two minute job, mind you. I’m looking for a cheap roadie with the appropriate rack mounts so I can put it on and leave it on, which can then double as my wet weather commuter - harder than you may think! Especially with my spare change budget.

As far as parenting advice I will quote a fellow forum member:

Old school MTB (steel, no suspension) for the win.

Congrats BTW :wink:

Congrats. Its is going to be a while before your newly born “bobble head” has enough strength in their neck to support their basket ball sized head. So you have time to build your case.

Check these out: WEERIDE AUSTRALIA I’ve read some fantastic reports on them.

Have you considered an MTB? Nice front suspension would go a long way to ensuring a comforatble ride for the little one. There are a few super dad’s over on MTBDirt who have posted numerous ride reports of even over nighters (so touring is totally doable) using the weerider.

Remember, its not about the bike, but the bonding time with your child. Of course, safe* isn’t cheap and you want the safest bike your partner will approve!

Note:

  • = Highspec, customised, bling’d up

Voodoo agwe steel 29er touring mountain bike | eBay

Firstly, congrats! Having recently had number two I will follow this thread with interest, I’ll eventually need other child carrying/towing solutions.

My 2 cents worth- both my 2 year old and I are very happy with our current set-up: a hard rubbish rear mounted seat, attached to a hard rubbish steel roadie with upgraded risors, rubber and brake pads! Slightly smaller frame than I normally ride but it works well with the risors for an upright cruisy position.

Rear works well- you can still communicate verbally just fine / point at stuff (referencing the weeride video which would make some think the child will not enjoy any other type of seat…), bike handles fine, you shield kiddie from some of the weather, knees aren’t inhibited, you can get out of the saddle, you can easily throw your leg over the top tube…

I can’t imagine doing the splayed legs thing with a top tube mounted seat. Maybe try riding a bike with TT mounted seat first before going down that route? I imagine you must have rather long legs at 6’6". I love the idea of building something custom that maybe after kiddie seat duty could become a dedicated tourer.

And another opinion, we both much prefer the hard rubbish Beto solid ‘rack mount’ kiddie seat over the reasonably expensive OKBaby Ergon ‘quick release’ seat tube mounted number I tried first. no matter which bike I used or how I set it up my son’s nose ended up dangerously close to both the saddle and my arse. If you are in Melbs you are more than welcome to try out my OKBaby Ergon on your fixed or road bike.

Parenting advice: luketherider is on the money. Also, my son loves playing “bike parts” more than me, indoctrination is key.

Although if I can ever trick a girl into marrying me and we accidentally have kids, I’ll be getting a Surly Big Dummy on the pretext of it being a child carrier, but actually just because they are fucking awesome. Then when she leaves me for being a shit husband, i can go touring.

That looks overbuilt, way heavier than it needs to be. A regular touring bike with a less is more approach will leave this for dead imo

Probably no massive rush to get something at 2 weeks.

With mine at 14 mths he has just got his hat (read helmet) that he loves and one of my roadies is getting the flat bar conversion. I have bought a stem mounted seat so we will soon see how it goes.

I agree entirely, however you failed to address my point about them being ‘fucking awesome’.

What he said, on both counts.

Also…any of you new or newish Melbourne Dads wants a (free to good home) kiddie seat, rear mount, 22kg capacity, suspended, clip-on-off seat tube mounted, pm me. Seat looks a bit like the one in Balki’s post but mount and colours are different

Its an awesome thread.

as a father of 3 kids that all got “taken for a ride”, a old school mountain bike with rear mount served us well until they had the fitness to ride there our bikes some distance. kids love bikes. congrates on the fatherhood. SLEEP WHEN THE BABY SLEEPS.

Thanks for all the advice (bikes and parenting) and regards. I’m settling on 29er ss, now the search begins! The search for sleep goes on


Drool