Jim thinks I never listen to anything he has to say, but that is not true. I 
pick up on all kinds of clues from him the same as I do from Tom Sherman.

Tom Sherman I learned from day one was a liberal scofflaw of the worst sort. 
But even so, I found him to be an interesting  character. We will never 
agree about anything except recumbent bicycles, but so what. Much of the 
time I do not even agree with myself.

Jim McNamara once told me he was only half Irish, the other half being 
Polish. This intrigued me since both of these peoples are Catholic to the 
core even though at opposite ends of Europe. I went on YouTube and got tons 
and tons of Polish folklore to view and to save to my hard drive.

My God, this is terrific folklore! I have come to love the Poles based 
strictly on their folklore. Much of Irish folklore has been corrupted by 
modernisms, but that seems not to be the case with Polish folklore. If any 
of you would like to know what a true folklore is like I suggest you look it 
up on YouTube. In fact, if you want to know anything about a people that is 
worth knowing, examine their folklore. That will tell you all you will ever 
have to know.

Here are two YouTube members who will enlighten and delight you with videos 
of fantastic singing and dancing. Viva Polska!

http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=mahmarun

http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=chcesztomasz

Thanks Jim for telling me that you are half Polish. Witn a last name like 
McNamara no one would never know.

Regards,

Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota
aka
Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota

"JimmyMac"  wrote in message 
news:eefe382f-2faa-4e61-b459-60b8d238aac1@d1g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
On Oct 6, 6:11 am, "Edward Dolan"  wrote:
> Jim thinks I never listen to anything he has to say, but that is not true. 
> I
> pick up on all kinds of clues from him the same as I do from Tom Sherman.
>
> Tom Sherman I learned from day one was a liberal scofflaw of the worst 
> sort.
> But even so, I found him to be an interesting character. We will never
> agree about anything except recumbent bicycles, but so what. Much of the
> time I do not even agree with myself.
>
> Jim McNamara once told me he was only half Irish, the other half being
> Polish. This intrigued me since both of these peoples are Catholic to the
> core even though at opposite ends of Europe. I went on YouTube and got 
> tons
> and tons of Polish folklore to view and to save to my hard drive.
>
> My God, this is terrific folklore! I have come to love the Poles based
> strictly on their folklore. Much of Irish folklore has been corrupted by
> modernisms, but that seems not to be the case with Polish folklore. If any
> of you would like to know what a true folklore is like I suggest you look 
> it
> up on YouTube. In fact, if you want to know anything about a people that 
> is
> worth knowing, examine their folklore. That will tell you all you will 
> ever
> have to know.
>
> Here are two YouTube members who will enlighten and delight you with 
> videos
> of fantastic singing and dancing. Viva Polska!
>
> http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=mahmarun
>
> http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=chcesztomasz
>
> Thanks Jim for telling me that you are half Polish. Witn a last name like
> McNamara no one would never know.

And you still don't.  I told you that I am 1/2 Irish 1/4 English and
1/4 Polish. near as I can sort out with all that when on in Europe
over the centuries.  Comprised of a body of  history, traditions,
customs, legends, fables, beliefs and myth, folklore is much more that
mere costume and dance.

Of course, folklore is much more than song, dance and costume, but what is 
an outsider ever to make of it. I am not going to embark on detailed study 
of Poland any more that I am going to embark on a detailed study of Ireland.

By the way, screw your English heritage. I would keep quite about that if I 
were you. It is nothing to crow about.

> Regards,
>
> Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota
> aka
> Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota

I'm looking to buy my 4 yr old daughter a new bike.  It needs to have
16" wheels and not be too pink & girly as we want to pass it on to my
son as well.

From a look on the net & in my local bike shop the Dawes Blowfish
looks like a decent bet.  I don't know much about Dawes as a brand -
are they well put together?  Given that we want it to last both kids
I'm wondering if it's a good buy or if I'd be better off going for
something like a Ridgeback?

Any advice?

Michael

On 05/10/2008 21:01, michaeld121@hotmail.com wrote:
> I'm looking to buy my 4 yr old daughter a new bike.  It needs to have
> 16" wheels and not be too pink & girly as we want to pass it on to my
> son as well.
> 
> From a look on the net & in my local bike shop the Dawes Blowfish
> looks like a decent bet.  I don't know much about Dawes as a brand -
> are they well put together?  Given that we want it to last both kids
> I'm wondering if it's a good buy or if I'd be better off going for
> something like a Ridgeback?

I don't know about Dawes or Ridgeback for kids' bikes, but I do know 
that you can't go far wrong with an Islabikes:
http://www.islabikes.com/

My son had a CNOC16 for his 4th birthday.  Despite it being black, my 
daughter decided that it was even better than her pink Puky (we tried to 
persuade her of that before buying the Puky, but her first bike /had/ to 
be pink).  She'll be getting a large Beinn 20 in February for her 7th 
birthday (at which point I'll have a Baby Born Puky Z2 for sale).

-- 
Danny Colyer  <http://www.redpedals.co.uk>
Reply address is valid, but that on my website is checked more often
"The plural of anecdote is not data" - Frank Kotsonis

wrote in message 
news:ff7273fe-651e-4442-bfd1-18d1dc907ef7@26g2000hsk.googlegroups.com...
>
>
> I'm looking to buy my 4 yr old daughter a new bike.  It needs to have
> 16" wheels and not be too pink & girly as we want to pass it on to my
> son as well.
>
> From a look on the net & in my local bike shop the Dawes Blowfish
> looks like a decent bet.  I don't know much about Dawes as a brand -
> are they well put together?  Given that we want it to last both kids
> I'm wondering if it's a good buy or if I'd be better off going for
> something like a Ridgeback?
>
> Any advice?

Son, 10, has had a Dawes Ruction 20".
Its just been through its second school summer holidays, gets a lot of use.
Seems tough as old boots, done nothing to it bar brakes and a couple of 
tyres.

On Sun, 05 Oct 2008, Danny Colyer  wrote:
>  On 05/10/2008 21:01, michaeld121@hotmail.com wrote:
> > I'm looking to buy my 4 yr old daughter a new bike.  It needs to have
> > 16" wheels and not be too pink & girly as we want to pass it on to my
> > son as well.
> > 
> > From a look on the net & in my local bike shop the Dawes Blowfish
> > looks like a decent bet.  I don't know much about Dawes as a brand -
> > are they well put together?  Given that we want it to last both kids
> > I'm wondering if it's a good buy or if I'd be better off going for
> > something like a Ridgeback?
> 
>  I don't know about Dawes or Ridgeback for kids' bikes, but I do know 
>  that you can't go far wrong with an Islabikes:
>  http://www.islabikes.com/

If the budget stretches to it, I thoroughly recommend Islabikes too, 
even though it goes against the try-before-you-buy mantra.  My 
daughter is very happy with her Cnoc, and they were very helpful when 
I was buying (answered several lots of questions while I was 
dithering, then happily changed the order when I reversed my decision 
12 hours after placing it).

regards,   Ian SMith
-- 
  |\ /|      no .sig
  |o o|
  |/ \|

I also vote for an Islabikes bike. My daughter has a CNOC 14. It's a
very good bike.

They really are different -- they do their very best to make the best
kids bikes they can, where best means best for riding. They don't have
bazillions of gears and lousy, non-working suspension as many kids
bikes do.

-Myra

Myra in Cambridge wrote:
> I also vote for an Islabikes bike. My daughter has a CNOC 14. It's a
> very good bike.

When I was ordering a Luath 700 for my son, I mentioned in passing that
it was for his birthday. They asked when his birthday was, and said
they'd make sure he got it in time - and they did. I had left plenty of
time anyway, but it is nice to deal with people like that.

The only criticisms I have of his bike is that the mudguards aren't
quite as good as SKS - but there is nothing actually wrong with them -
and whilst the Sora brifters have reduced reach for braking, the swing
of the left hand lever is still a little to big for small hands to
change gear easily. He loves the bike, and has done several 100Km+
audaxes on it, the first just a couple of weeks after he got it on his
11th birthday. No complaints about any discomfort - he suffered back
ache on his MTB doing 50k rides.

I originally thought that buying this bike would be a reasonable
investment, as they are very easy to sell on afterwards at good prices
compared to other machines. It doesn't look like I'll be able to do that
- my wife likes it so much that she has said she wants it when my son
outgrows it!

On Mon, 06 Oct 2008 13:59:02 +0100, Matthew Haigh
 wrote:

>Myra in Cambridge wrote:
>> I also vote for an Islabikes bike. My daughter has a CNOC 14. It's a
>> very good bike.
>
>When I was ordering a Luath 700 for my son, I mentioned in passing that
>it was for his birthday. They asked when his birthday was, and said
>they'd make sure he got it in time - and they did. I had left plenty of
>time anyway, but it is nice to deal with people like that.
>
>The only criticisms I have of his bike is that the mudguards aren't
>quite as good as SKS - but there is nothing actually wrong with them -
>and whilst the Sora brifters have reduced reach for braking, the swing
>of the left hand lever is still a little to big for small hands to
>change gear easily. He loves the bike, and has done several 100Km+
>audaxes on it, the first just a couple of weeks after he got it on his
>11th birthday. No complaints about any discomfort - he suffered back
>ache on his MTB doing 50k rides.
>
>I originally thought that buying this bike would be a reasonable
>investment, as they are very easy to sell on afterwards at good prices
>compared to other machines. It doesn't look like I'll be able to do that
>- my wife likes it so much that she has said she wants it when my son
>outgrows it!

I have serious concerns about the gear hangers on Islabikes,
especially those with double or triple chainrings.  (The Beinn 26 now
comes with a single chainring, so the only bikes in the range with a
multiple chainring is the Luath 700 and the new Creig 26).

Children, almost invariably don't use their gears correctly, or it
takes them a lang time to learn to use them.  They will often change
multiple gears at once.  This has led to three serious failures on
three different models of Islabikes, and 8 less serious failures.  The
eight less serious failures have been bent gear hangers, which, at
worst, have limited the range of gears available for use until the
hanger can be replaced.  The four serious failures have been the gear
mech going into the rear spokes, causing the hanger to break, and in
three cases causing irrepairable damage to the rear mech.  On the
occasion when the rear mech was not damaged I was able to replace the
hanger on the roadside - I always carry spare hangers when taking
children on rides.  On the three other occasions the fix has been to
break the chain, remove the rear mech and put the bike into a single
gear - usually fairly low.

There's a photo here of a child on a Luath 700 in gear 1 front and
gear 4 rear.
www.britishschoolofcycling.com/lags/family/freewheel.htm

There's a photo of one of the damaged rear mechs here:
http://www.johnballcycling.org.uk/photos/misc/rearmech

I would like to add that I have in my bike pool:
1 x trailerbike
1 x Cnoc 16
6 x Beinn 20
6 x Beinn 24
6 x Beinn 26
2 x Luath 700 bikes, and together they have travelled over 30,000
miles.  In those 30,000 miles the only serious failures have been the
three mentioned above, and a broken seat post clamp (possibly
overtightened by me).  No buckled wheels, no broken spokes, no brake
failures (including no noodle clip failures), or anything else worse
than a flat tyre or chain coming off.

18 of the 22 bikes have not suffered any serious failure.  The cost of
a replacement rear mech is £16.20, the cost of a relacement hanger is
£2, and the cost of a replacement seat post clamp is £4.

The total cost of non-routine repairs has been under £75 over three
years, excluding my time.  That comes to an average of £3.50 per bike.

I hope that puts a bit of perspective into my concerns over the gear
hangers.

Thanks for that analysis, Tom. In your opinion, what could Islabikes
do to make this failure less likely, other than what they already do,
which is have just one chainring on almost all their models?

-Myra

Tom Crispin wrote:

> 18 of the 22 bikes have not suffered any serious failure.  The cost of
> a replacement rear mech is £16.20, the cost of a relacement hanger is
> £2, and the cost of a replacement seat post clamp is £4.

Actually, that reminds me that I must get a couple of hangers - do you
source yours from Islabikes? I must admit that I was expecting the more
usual bike shop price of a tenner.

The problem with the hanger on my son's bike is due to him having
"clipless moments", which always saw him topple over onto the expensive
side! They seem to have stopped now (touch wood!).

michaeld121@hotmail.com wrote:
> 
> I'm looking to buy my 4 yr old daughter a new bike.  It needs to have
> 16" wheels and not be too pink & girly as we want to pass it on to my
> son as well.
> 
> From a look on the net & in my local bike shop the Dawes Blowfish
> looks like a decent bet.  I don't know much about Dawes as a brand -
> are they well put together?  Given that we want it to last both kids
> I'm wondering if it's a good buy or if I'd be better off going for
> something like a Ridgeback?
> 
> Any advice?
> 
> Michael

You won't get much better than Islabikes.

Sam Salt

On Tue, 7 Oct 2008 01:50:26 -0700 (PDT), Myra in Cambridge
 wrote:

>Thanks for that analysis, Tom. In your opinion, what could Islabikes
>do to make this failure less likely, other than what they already do,
>which is have just one chainring on almost all their models?

A bigger clearence between the wheel and deraileur, and a slightly
stronger hanger.  But maybe there's something I don't know.

On Tue, 07 Oct 2008 10:22:51 +0100, Matthew Haigh
 wrote:

>Tom Crispin wrote:
>
>> 18 of the 22 bikes have not suffered any serious failure.  The cost of
>> a replacement rear mech is £16.20, the cost of a relacement hanger is
>> £2, and the cost of a replacement seat post clamp is £4.
>
>Actually, that reminds me that I must get a couple of hangers - do you
>source yours from Islabikes? I must admit that I was expecting the more
>usual bike shop price of a tenner.
>
>The problem with the hanger on my son's bike is due to him having
>"clipless moments", which always saw him topple over onto the expensive
>side! They seem to have stopped now (touch wood!).

I source them from Islabikes.  As a school I do get a discount and we
can recalim the VAT, so the retail cost will certainly be more, but
unlikely as much as a tenner.

Tom Crispin wrote:

> I source them from Islabikes.  As a school I do get a discount and we
> can recalim the VAT, so the retail cost will certainly be more, but
> unlikely as much as a tenner.

Ta. I've been meaning to give them a call, I just wondered if you'd
found an alternative source.

Tom Crispin wrote:
> On Tue, 7 Oct 2008 01:50:26 -0700 (PDT), Myra in Cambridge
>  wrote:
> 
>> Thanks for that analysis, Tom. In your opinion, what could Islabikes
>> do to make this failure less likely, other than what they already do,
>> which is have just one chainring on almost all their models?
> 
> A bigger clearence between the wheel and deraileur, and a slightly
> stronger hanger.  But maybe there's something I don't know.

if you start to go this way then it becomes expensive as the wheel is 
non-standard.  Best migth be to put a full wheel spoke cover on (make 
one yourself out of some thin acrylic sheet), zip-tie to a few spokes

Sam Salt wrote:
>
> You won't get much better than Islabikes.
>
> Sam Salt

Many thanks to everyone - it's a pretty clear response re: Islabikes.
Despite doing a fair bit of research - I'd managed to miss out on
them.  From looking on here & other places everyone seems to talk
about them in pretty glowing terms.

The CNOC 16 looks spot on and it's only £5 more than the Dawes (the
price difference is a lot more apparent with the larger bikes).

Thanks,

Michael

On Tue, 07 Oct 2008 10:22:51 +0100, Matthew Haigh
 wrote:

>The problem with the hanger on my son's bike is due to him having
>"clipless moments", which always saw him topple over onto the expensive
>side! They seem to have stopped now (touch wood!).

I have wondered if the problem I have with gear hangers is my storage
facility.

I have 21 bikes in a secure shed.  The Rothan, trailerbike and 6 Beinn
20s hang from the ceiling, but the 6 Beinn 24s, 6 Beinn 26s and 2
Luath 700s lean against one another with the front of one facing the
rear of the next.  It is a very compact set up.  I can move the pedals
so they won't interfere with the bike on either side, but the bikes do
rest on the deraileur, and this may cause the butter soft hanger metal
to deform.

I am always very careful to explain to children that when they lay
their bikes down to do so chain side up so as not to damage the
hanger, and generally they are very good about this.  Perhaps I should
be showing the same level of care when I store the bikes.

On Oct 6, 8:07 am, Ian Smith  wrote:
> On Sun, 05 Oct 2008, Danny Colyer  wrote:
> >  On 05/10/2008 21:01, michaeld...@hotmail.com wrote:
> > > I'm looking to buy my 4 yr old daughter a new bike.  It needs to have
> > > 16" wheels and not be too pink & girly as we want to pass it on to my
> > > son as well.
>
> > > From a look on the net & in my local bike shop the Dawes Blowfish
> > > looks like a decent bet.  I don't know much about Dawes as a brand -
> > > are they well put together?  Given that we want it to last both kids
> > > I'm wondering if it's a good buy or if I'd be better off going for
> > > something like a Ridgeback?
>
> >  I don't know about Dawes or Ridgeback for kids' bikes, but I do know
> >  that you can't go far wrong with an Islabikes:
> >  http://www.islabikes.com/
>
> If the budget stretches to it, I thoroughly recommend Islabikes too,

and if it doesn't, I have been impressed with Decathlon's range of
kids bikes if you have one near enough

best wishes
james