Chicago Bike Blog

10 Reasons To Get Your Kid A Bike

When you purchase a bicycle as a gift, you get so much more than an item to be shoved under the tree!

A quality, professionally assembled bicycle from your neighborhood bicycle store is a piece of finely tuned mechanical artistry, a vehicle that is powerful, reliable, durable and safe. For most kids, it is simply the best gift you can give. A bicycle, especially the first bicycle, is different from any other gift. It represents a coming of age, a new independence, a right of passage.

1. Owning a bicycle creates new transportation options. It is more than a toy: it is the first vehicle many children ever ride on their own. Let your child discover the responsibility associated with controlling a vehicle, but also the exhilaration and freedom that come with it.
2. A bicycle will help your child gain a sense of autonomy. It offers a way to get from point A to point B without relying on the automobile, transit or other people. Children from a very early age can appreciate the difference, and older children can actually use the bike to chauffeur themselves around.
3. A bicycle is a great teaching tool! You can help your child learn the rules of the road using your bikes on quiet streets around the neighborhood. Or, you can sign up for a bike repair class with an older child to learn practical skills, and further boost the sense of responsibility and autonomy in your kid.
4. It's really a gift for your whole family. Now you can enjoy cycling outings together. Or you can walk or jog, while your child cycles along. But it's winter! SO? Your child will actually WANT to go outside in the cold. Trust me, I've been there.
5. A bicycle purchased from a professional shop is a terrific value. It is a fancy gift that's truly worth it's price. Think of a price of a popular doll with a couple outfits, a fancy box of Legos , or a video game system, and you will see that the price of a quality, professionally assembled, properly working child's bicycle is actually quite reasonable (with a year of free service, to boot!). In fact, this gift will keep on giving. It will not be discarded or forgotten. Your child will use it enjoy it for a long time to come, and the cost of a bicycle and its maintenance, spread over the number of years the owner will enjoy it, adds up to a very affordable annual expense.
6. A Bike will help your child build awareness. Unlike a car, which isolates us from our surroundings and fellow humans, the bicycle puts us in touch with the environment & people around us. It's hard to space out on a bike. You have to pay attention. And when you are not looking out at the world through a smoked glass window, you notice things like prowling cats, sparring squirrels, dragonflies, homeless people under a bridge, the weather, nasty smells exuded by cars, and other interesting things you might otherwise miss. A bicycle is also a vehicle for social change. You can discuss how bikes are used around the world to alleviate poverty and and offer mobility solutions in developing countries (for example World Bicycle Relief or Working Bikes).
7. It is the most fun your kid will have without being plugged in. A bicycle can teach your child the value of unstructured exploration, and how to unwind and relax.
8. It doesn't need batteries. Just your kid's own power, and a little air and oil once in a while. That's all.
9. It won't scatter small parts all over your house.
10. It makes very effective presentation. Imagine this giant package under the tree!... Or rolling it with great fanfare from the garage... wow! (We will store the bike for you until December 24, so you can keep it a surprise.)

The Dignity of Bikes

This ad, found in a weekly circular of major home improvement center, is frankly insulting.

It is insulting to bicycle riders, bicycle advocates, bicycle shops, bicycle manufacturers, and all of us who have worked relentlessly to raise the profile of urban cycling. This ad undermines the very notion of the bicycle being a legitimate human-powered vehicle worthy of being used on the road.

Unfortunately, the people the above ad insults the most are those consumers who get lured into buying one of the items being advertised. It cheats them into thinking they're getting the real thing. It turns the noble Bicycle into yet another cheap and disposable thing, that brings only superficial smiles at Christmas, and can be discarded along with the heap of other unnecessary stuff before the wrappers have even made it to the recycling bin.

Now, it is true that a Bicycle, a real Bicycle, with a capital B, such as the Kona Makena pictured below, may cost as much as ten times the item being peddled in the ad above.

But you get so much more than an item to be shoved under the tree! A quality, professionally assembled Bicycle is a piece of finely tuned mechanical artistry that is powerful, reliable, durable and safe. And, there are many ways in which a real Bike can make your child a better human and better citizen.

1. It will teach your child independence. It is the first vehicle many children ever ride on their own. Don't treat it like a toy. Let your child learn about the freedom and responsibility associated with controlling a vehicle.
2. It will teach her autonomy. It offers a way to get from point A to point B without relying on the automobile. Children from a very early age can appreciate the difference, and older children can actually use the bike to chauffeur themselves around.
3. You can help your child learn the rules of the road using your Bikes on quiet streets around the neighborhood
4. You can sign up for a bike repair class with an older child to learn practical skills, and further boost the sense of responsibility and autonomy in your kid.
5. You can use the Bike to illustrate some principles of physics (many online resources are available).
6. A Bicycle is a vehicle for social change. You can discuss how Bikes are used around the world to alleviate poverty and and offer mobility solutions in developing countries (for some ideas, click here).
7. A Bike will help your child build awareness. Unlike a car, which isolates us from our surroundings and fellow humans, the Bicycle puts us in touch with the environment & people around us. It's hard to space out on a Bike. You have to pay attention. And when you are not looking out at the world through a smoked glass window, you notice things like prowling cats, sparring squirrels, dragonflies, homeless people under a bridge, the weather, nasty smells exuded by cars, and other interesting things you might otherwise miss.
8. It will teach your child about health and fitness. He will learn how using his own body, and the food he has consumed to fuel it, can produce the energy to propel him efficiently from one place to another. We would all enjoy better health if we committed some of our daily travel to a Bicycle.
9. The Bicycle can teach your child economy. The cost of a Bicycle and its maintenance, spread over the number of years the owner will enjoy it, adds up to a very affordable annual expense. If we use a Bicycle in place of a car or bus, the savings increase dramatically.
10. The Bicycle can teach your child the value of unstructured exploration, and how to unwind and relax. 

And, as Christmas gifts, Bikes are unbeatable. A bike doesn't need batteries. A couple of strong legs, and a little air and oil once in a while. That's all. It won't scatter small parts all over your house. And it is the most fun your kid will have without being plugged in.

For most kids, it is simply THE BEST gift you can give. A Bicycle, especially The First Bicycle, is different from any other gift. It represents a coming of age, a new independence, a right of passage. Owning a Bicycle creates new transportation options, and your child will instantly recognize the new independence. Because of this, a Bike is a gift that will keep on giving. It will not be discarded or forgotten. Your child will use it enjoy it for a long time to come.

But, you say, it's winter. SO? Your child will actually WANT to go outside in the cold. Trust me, I've been there. So a Bike is really a gift for your whole family. Now you can enjoy cycling outings together. Or you can walk or jog, while your child cycles along.

It is a fancy gift that's worth it's price. Think of a price of a popular doll with a couple outfits, a fancy box of Legos , or a video game system, and you will see that the price of a quality child's Bicycle is actually quite reasonable. Plus, it makes a very effective presentation. Imagine this giant package under the tree!... Or rolling it with great fanfare from the garage... wow!

And that's the best reason for putting a Bike under the Christmas tree: the expression on your child's face. As they say: priceless.

Navigating the suburban wasteland with my son

My son, who is 12, recently asked if he could ride his bike alone to Games Workshop, where he could indulge his passion for playing Warhammer, without the inconvenience of having me wait for him and tap my foot.

The Games Workshop is located in a suburban shopping center, perhaps three miles from our house. There are several major arteries that have to be crossed, as well as an interstate, but there are also plenty of signaled crosswalks, a bridge over the highway, and a number of small neighborhoods streets that I imagined could conveniently be used. So, I thought that with a couple of trial runs with me, he could handle it on his own.

I decided to follow a route along residential streets that we sometimes take to our martial arts class. With a light at Peterson and a push-button light at Devon, this route would take us about half-way there. Then, I was planning to show him the special shortcut I like through suburban Lincolnwood.

Like others, I look back with longing and nostalgia on the days when kids could easily go off on their own with little or no parental supervision, but these romantic visions don't seem to find any reflection in modern day reality that I see before me from the saddle of my bicycle. And, what I thought was going to be a fairly simple undertaking turned out to be much more complex and fraught with difficulties, partly having to do with my own nervousness, partly with my son's inexperience, and hugely with the inconsistent, unpredictable, haphazard traffic patterns, city planning, street signals and bicycle/pedestrian facilities in place on the border between Chicago and its neighboring suburbs of Lincolnwood, Skokie and Niles.

Although I have ridden the first part of the route with my son many times previously, my nervousness kicked into high gear when I realized that I was now prepping him to ride without me, to make his own decisions and rely on his own judgment. It was one thing to have him ride on the pavement behind me, and quite another to imagine him trying it on his own. Suddenly, things that I do through force of habit acquired over 20 years of street-riding experience were not so obvious. After all, he doesn't have that experience to guide him.

The frustration with the urban-planning aspect of the ride began as soon as we got to Devon. A bicyclist riding on the street is too light to activate the green light. The push-button activator for the green light was placed with pedestrians in mind. If I was riding alone, I would simply wait for the gap in traffic, and ride through regardless of the traffic signal (gulp!). But with my son, I insisted we cross with the light. Thus, we had to duck-walk our bikes onto the sidewalk to push the button to get the light to change.

Things got even worse when we turned onto Devon. With two lanes of curb-to-curb each traffic way, I had already planned to ride a few blocks on the sidewalk, thinking we would again use the push-button crosswalk signal at Cicero. Well, I am here to tell you that that is the most poorly designed set of signals in the city, and while the right-turning vehicles get their own special green arrow for the entire duration of the green light, pedestrians have to wait out a full light cycle to deserve their own signal. My nervousness increased as I was having visions of my son getting impatient, and running the light while traveling on his own, with all those right-turning cars just waiting to run him over.

We proceeded along the sidewalk on Devon over the Edens Expressway, and arrived at the very pleasant street called Sauganash just on the other side. A broad, quiet, tree-lined residential street runs on a soft diagonal through the posh Lincolwood suburb. The kind of street bicyclists dream about. If the route consisted of only streets like this, I would have absolutely no qualms about my son riding alone. Alas, after several blocks of this paradise, the street ends abruptly at Central, with no bicycle or pedestrian crossing to make things easier. There is a light half a block down at Pratt, but there is no sidewalk, and not enough shoulder for a young bicyclist to safely reach it. So, we make a run through a gap in traffic for the sidewalk on the other side of Central. But I can't have my son do this when he's riding without me!

Now, we're pretty much home-free. The sidewalk continues down toward Touhy, and curves around the shopping center to deposit my son safely at the Games Workshop. Because we are riding on the sidewalk, I still admonish him to look over his left shoulders for any cars who may be turning right out of the parking lots.

By the time my son is done playing games, and I have scoured the shelves of the local second-hand book store, I have completely revised my riding strategy. Although I have always believed that cyclists should ride with traffic and behave like traffic, I find that my convictions do not hold when the safely of my child is at stake. Sidewalks in this part of town are rarely used by pedestrians, and they might as well be used by budding cyclists. On the way back, we forget all shortcuts and finesse. We ride in straight lines on sidewalks to major intersections with dependable pedestrian signals, we make only right-angle turns, and we arrive home safely, in one piece, and with little stress.

Stop means Stop, right?

"Mom, that's a stop sign. Does that mean we have to stop?"
I was biking with my 7-year old daughter back home from a Girls Scout bike outing. This was the first time she was riding on the street with me on her own bike (we usually ride a family tandem or trailer bike).

Prior to embarking on a bicycle trip with eight Brownie Girl Scouts, we did a little bit of preparation on safety, and following the rules of the road.
In the church basement, where we usually meet, I held up a red paper stop sign.
"What does this say?"
"STOP!"
"What do you do when you see this sign?"
"STOP!!!"
"If you are on a bicycle, do you still have to stop?"
"Yes!" most girls yelled, but one wasn't sure: "No?"
As a Girl Scout leader, I assured her that yes, the law required her to stop at a stop sign, even while riding a bike.
But here I was now, approaching a quiet street corner with my daughter, and I realized with sharp clarity, that, as a cyclist, I never stop at stop signs.
Sure, I stop when there are other vehicles approaching the intersection at the same time. Especially large, motorized vehicles, with drivers who don't appear to be paying attention. You better believe I stop, planting one foot firmly on the ground, and allowing them to wrest the right of way from me. I'm not proud.
But it's the presence of the automobiles, not the stop sign, that makes me halt.
Frankly, as a cyclist, I treat the stop sign more like a flashing yellow light: proceed with caution. It would be completely ridiculous for me to come to a full stop riding on side streets, where stop signs are planted at every block. What I do instead, and I do it without thinking, is to shift down a step or two, coast briefly, and jut my head slightly forward to get a better view of the intersection, and, if all is clear, or if the approaching driver waves me on, pedal on through.
I did stop at the intersection with my daughter, even though no car was coming. And, as we started pedaling again, I explained to her that the rules of the road were made with automobiles in mind, and are not always practical for cyclists. And that as a cyclist, sometimes you have to use judgment and common sense.
"Does that mean you sometimes break the rules?"
"I guess that's what it means."

Off-road attitude

When we went on vacation earlier this month, Chris loaded our son's new mountain bike on the roof of the van.
"What's she gonna ride?" I asked, thinking of our daughter, who, as we just discovered, has outgrown her 16" girlie bike.
"I dunno. We don't have a bike for her."
"Can she try Peter's old bike?"
So, fifteen minutes before we went on the road, with the car already loaded to a bursting point, we had Nadia try  her brother's mountain bike.
"That'll do" we said, after giving her a crash course in hand brake and grip-shifter operation.
Later, at the lakeside cabin Chris unsuccessfully lobbied our son and his friend to join him on an off-road expedition to the lighthouse. But Nadia was more than eager to accompany dad on her "new" bike.

Here is all the special gear this 7-year-old needed for her first four-mile off-road romp:

• 6-speed kid's mountain bike (hers was a 20" wheel Jamis bike, a few years old)
• helmet
• one-piece bathing suit from Target (two-piece would be practical for trail-side calls of nature)
• nylon board shorts (unlined, unpadded) from Old Navy
• "mock-crocs"

The one thing we really should have outfitted her with was her own water pack. She drank more than half of dad's water. That's how we knew the two-piece swimsuit would have been a better choice.

Not-so-minimalist

As someone who has never gone on a self-supported bike tour, I harbor perhaps a somewhat distorted image of such an endeavor. I imagine a lone figure against the dusky horizon, with panniers holding only the barest of necessities: tent, sleeping bag, change of clothes, some cooking utensils. Spare, self-sufficient, autonomous, economical.
Add a spouse and two school-age kids, and the picture changes radically.

Two, count'em, two BikeFriday Family Tandems being readied in our garage.

I have done car camping with my family. We have all the stuff. Regardless of the duration of the particular camping trip, you just throw all the stuff into the car, and go. It doesn't matter that we're only going for two nights. The car always looks like we're going on a cross-country road trip. But we don't care, because the car doesn't care.
We have read about and admired families that travel together by bike. Ironically, even though (or is it because?) we own a bike shop, we have never tried this ourselves.
So now that our youngest child is seven, we had this idea that we would go on a camping vacation by bike. A short little trip, just to get our feet wet: bike the I&M Canal to Starved Rock, camp a couple of nights and come back. You wouldn't think we need much for a trip like this; just the essentials.
Unfortunately, most of our car-camping equipment is unsuitable for towing in a bike trailer, and our planned 4-day trip has resulted in a mountain of equipment that had to be bought, begged, found and borrowed.
I have a feeling that with all the stuff we need, our bike tours will be no different that our trips by car: even if we're only going overnight, we'll look like we're ready to go around the world.
Maybe one day, we will.

Why not to bike

Ever think it's a hassle to get on your bike? It's raining. You've got too much to carry. You can't wear what you really want to wear. You're too tired. You'd rather just roll out of bed and into your car. I'm sure those of you out there with small children know that the temptation to use the car increases exponentially when you have to tow them around.

I've given in to that temptation. In the early months of motherhood, I had a very good excuse to use the car: you simply cannot carry a small infant on a bike. In circumstances like this, one's ideals often come head to head with practical and safety concerns. Many committed cyclists (though certainly not all) give up when they become parents, and use the car to transport their children. It's easy to fall into that category, and get accustomed to using the car.

Some of our customers go to great lengths to cycle with their kids.

My husband, unshaken in his commitment to human-powered transport, often wonders in frustration why most people chose to drive most of the time. But it really makes perfect sense. A car is comfortable, it protects you from the elements and you don't need any special gear or clothes to use it. Since it carries things for you, you can get more done in just one trip. Not only do you not have to expend any of your ow precious energy to power a car, you can even fortify yourself with food or coffee while driving. And, speaking of food, you don't even need to leave the comfort of your car to go to the drive-thru ATM to get cash for your drive-thru burger. Furthermore, the car creates an illusion of safety, seemingly isolating you from other drivers, their bad moods and their problems.

When making a decision about convenient transportation, few people stop to worry about the fairly obvious costs associated with driving. At the moment of getting into a car, they seem relatively remote. And virtually no one worries about the more deeply hidden, long range costs of owning and driving an automobile. The health costs you incur every minute you sit on your butt, inhaling exhaust, gnashing your teeth in helpless frustration against another gapers' block. The costs to drivers in general as they become irritable, impatient and desensitized to the needs of others around them. The costs to our neighborhoods, as they become less friendly, convenient and safe for pedestrians and children. The serious and statistically documented public safety costs. The costs to our environment... You get the point. You've heard it all before.

We, as a society, have a driving habit. Our cities and communities are designed, and continue to be designed, to support that habit. City planners accommodate our driving lifestyle. When we say something is convenient, we often mean it's convenient for the automobile. Our driving habit is very difficult to break, because our society condones it, values it and expects it. When you decide to ride your bike on the street, you have to weigh your beliefs against that practical reality. Because our streets are so completely given over to cars, and because drivers' tolerance for other vehicles on the road is very limited, safety is a real issue for all cyclists. It is even more vital to cyclists with small children. As a parent, you may be willing to take certain risks yourself, but you would never risk the safety of your child.

For all those reasons parents, including yours truly, succumb to the driving habit, and it can take much determination to change that. Parents have to be realistic and prudent about their transportation choices. For example, while I'm quite willing to ride seven miles down Elston Ave. to get myself to work, I'm unwilling to haul my children downtown on the back of the bike.

But just as biking doesn't have to be an all-or-nothing activity, neither does driving. Just because you have kids, doesn't mean you can never bike anywhere. Choose your battles.

• Groceries. In Chicago, you're rarely more than a mile away from a supermarket or local grocery. Tow a kid trailer on smaller streets, and stuff a couple of bags of food next to your precious cargo.
• Socializing. When you set play dates, allow a little extra time and take quiet streets to the park or friend's house where you are meeting. Anything under five miles is totally doable. Really.
• Activities. Chances are that if your kids take any classes, they are being held in your neighborhood. Bike there. We've biked around our neighborhoods dressed in Tae Kwon Do suits and ballet tutus, carrying a guitar on our back.
• School. If your kid goes to a local school, ride your bike there. When our son was in school, we started a trend of parents towing their kids there on trail-a-bikes.
• Library.
• Ice cream.
• Going out to eat.
• Recreation. Enjoy those off-street paths. That's what they are there for. If the Lakefront path is too crowded for your taste, try the new section of bike path along the North Branch of the Chicago River. There are playgrounds to stop at along the way, and if you go north of Peterson, you can take a little break at Borders. Or try the Sculpture Channel Trail in Skokie. Or the Lakefront, south of Downtown.

Biking can be really fun for kids. It turns ordinary errands into interesting adventures, and may eventually teach  children that there are more than one way of getting places.

How to get more kids to ride bikes?

First of all, let me assure you that I don't know the answer to this question.

It came up in a panel discussion of bicycle dealers at Frostbike, a trade show and conference held in Minneapolis by one of our favorite suppliers, Quality Bicycle Products.

The topic of the panel was Building Long Term Value in Your Business. After a lengthy conversation about profits, ROI, gross margins and inventory turns, one shop owner pointed out that our long-term success as bicycle dealers depends on people who are children today riding bikes in the future. He bemoaned the fact that he saw fewer and fewer kids riding bikes in his community.

Some dealers saw a possible solution in the Safe Routes To School Program. The man who raised the question replied that his shop was in a rural community, with far-flung homes, some as far as 25 miles from the local school. Not to be a nay-sayer, but I would add that any program is highly dependent on follow-through of its participants. It's one thing to generate widespread interest and participation in a one-day event, and quite another to get a regular commitment. Unless people in the community sincerely believe that bicycles are a genuine transportation option for their children, they are not likely to buy into the program for the long-term.

So, how do we get more young people to ride bikes?

• The hardest step is infrastructure. More people would feel more comfortable about riding bikes, and letting their children ride bikes, if more safe places to ride, especially interlinked OFF-STREET PATHS were available.
• Organized rides and programs. Don't get me wrong: I fully support creating opportunities for people to ride, and generating community interest around the idea of cycling. The more kids see others around them using bikes to get around, the more it becomes a socially acceptable activity. I just don't think such programs can be a stand-alone solution.
• Family culture of biking and walking. When children experience alternative transportation first hand, from an early age, I believe they will always see it as a viable option. Cycling parents, who shuttle their kids around by bike in various attachments provide their kids with ongoing education not only about the rules of the road, but also about finesse, adaptability, autonomy and alternatives.
• Trusting young people to make their own decisions. Think of your own family. Were they cyclists? Maybe. But many, like mine and my husband's, were not. How do we become cyclists? As young adults, we look around and begin to assess our options. We are capable of making decisions that are different from those prevalent in the families and communities in which we grew up. That's how change happens.

So, while I don't have a definitive answer, I do have hope.

Rapid Transit Wins Mothers' Vote

Thank you to the mothers who read Lori's Kids Ride Free column on Gapers' Block for choosing Rapid Transit as your favorite bike store. The column may be obscure, but the author is darned right when she says the title is coveted.

(our kid rides free!)*

Problem is, most bike shops don't exactly bill themselves on being family friendly. We are, and it's time we made a big deal about it. There are a few very serious limitations, largely having to do with our crowded urban location, that make us less than ideal shopping destination for moms with small kids.

• Lack of parking, particlularly for minivans.
• Mom-unfriendly doorway.
• No child play area.
• Lack of display space for specialty items, such as jogging strollers.

However, we bend over backwards for moms and families, and try to offset the foregoing shortcomings in lots of different ways.

• You can always bring your bike, or stroller, or trailer inside. No matter how cumbersome.
• You can bring your children inside. Don't worry, we won't offer them espresso or a free puppy.
• We will hold the door for you.
• We will let your children entertain themselves with squeaky horns, blinky lights and floor pumps (due to insurance restrictions, however, we cannot let them ride adult trikes around the store...)
• We carry the most adaptable of bike trailers by Chariot, which convert easily to various stroller configurations. This allows us to display the most bang for the buck in out cramped space. We make it real easy to special order anything else you might want that we don't have in stock.
• We will help you make sure your child's helmet fits properly (we know how to talk to kids who resent having something put on their heads).
• Believe it or not, we carry kids trikes and bikes that will see your child from about the age of two through teen.
• We carry a variety of products that make it easy for you to ride bikes as a family, including child seats,  the above-mentioned trailers, trailer bikes, and the greatest item for family cycling since sliced bread, the Family Tandem by BikeFriday.
• We know what works, because we cycle as a family. While some of our products may be a bit costly, our advice is completely free.

We hope you visit us at Rapid Transit, and see what we can do to help you  and your family enjoy cycling more this coming season. And here are some coupons to help make getting ready for the season a little easier. Just click, print and redeem at Rapid Transit Cycleshop.

*She always, always, always wears a helmet. We just really wanted that photo of wind in her hair.

Best Emergency Bike Attire: IT'S FREE!

This one speaks for itself: