Which is a pretty near the knuckle way of introducing a new pair of
bicycles into the Bramah garage; current Raleighs are both now too small
for growing children. We all went down to the new Manchester branch of
Edinburgh Co-Op this afternoon and came away having ordered a pair of
Specialized Hotrocks, a 20" boys bike:
http://www.specialized.com/bc/SBCBkModel.jsp?spid=22126
and a 24" girls bike:
http://www.specialized.com/bc/SBCBkModel.jsp?spid=22149
which heaven help me has a triple, I can see endless hours of fun
explaining trimming to my 8-yo, ho ho...
We actually went down there to see their own-brand Cairn and Skye bikes
which are both much cheaper but are completely unsuitable; in the 20"
case because they have none to sell until June and in the 24" case
because someone saw fit to spec it with 170mm cranks... which meant my
darling daughter having a face full of knee twiceper pedal revolution.
It also had a huge great reach for her, plenty of growing room
admittedly but after ten minutes she wanted off it and that was just sat
in the shop! I mean, really - how can a bike have 20" wheels and a seat
that at it's lowest is only just above a snake's belly yet use cranks
that are longer than the ones I use on my fixed? The sales lad was
reasonably aware though and agreed that their bike was trying to cover
too big a target market.
I wanted to look at Isla Bikes, however Mrs B was agin travelling to
Wolverhampton (fair enough) and with the 20% off coupon for the new Manc
shop the two Speshes have not been much more expensive. BUT we have
managed to end up with a pair of front suspended kids bikes, I'm not
really happy about it... here's hoping it works out.
EBC had a load of good stuff in; a really nice single speed MTB, a
Cervelo R3 frame, a Specialised S-Works Roubaix with all the right bits
on, some very good looking "town" bikes, a lot of great looking adult
own-brand bikes, nice clothes and a huge store. The boys and girls
staffing the place were cheerful, helpful and friendly. I think I'll use
them again.
The kids are in bed happy. Obviously they would have liked to have
brought new bikes home today but hey, you don't want those ones that all
the other boys and girls try out - you want a brand-new-made-for-you one
etc. and they seem placated.
Roll on next week and we can get 4yo boy into using his gears!
I don't know what to do with the old bikes, maybe a punt on ebay
otherwise I'll have to see if the bike exchange project is still going,
ISTR they used to be glad of decent stock.
bfn,
Tony B