[motorworks]

Originally Posted by Prodigy07

Hi All,

I'm planning to get a new bicycle for my 9 yrs old son.

Please suggest options in the price range 6-8K.

I'm thinking of getting them online rather than visiting a store.

Also, how good are Rockrider bicycles from Decathlon?

You can order one thru decathlon.in, the ideal size for 9 years would be size 24, there is a model called Rockrider junior 100, with gear as well as without gear. The one with gear costs around 8499 and the one without gear costs 6499. If your son is not going to be riding on slopes or elevations, then without gear should suffice.

Another alternative is to buy from Trackandtrail.in, its the official website of TI cycles India and they deal in Hercules, Montra etc.

However, size 24 may be just right for your son and depending on his height he may be able to ride size 26 as well. And this is typically the starting size of adults cycles. I have seen some kids in my apartment use size 26, model ST20 from decathlon, which comes in low frame and high frame.

If you can, you should take him to the store to get a feel of both these sizes.

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Originally Posted by motorworks

You can order one thru decathlon.in, the ideal size for 9 years would be size 24, there is a model called Rockrider junior 100, with gear as well as without gear. The one with gear costs around 8499 and the one without gear costs 6499. If your son is not going to be riding on slopes or elevations, then without gear should suffice.

Another alternative is to buy from Trackandtrail.in, its the official website of TI cycles India and they deal in Hercules, Montra etc..

With any model Decathlon, you'll need to consider costs of bell, side stand mudguards, locks, etc which are extra.

Apart from track'ntrail, Tata's Stryder are available on Tata's Cliq site. (There are weekend discounts on certain cards). The down side with non-decathlon products is condition in which they are shipped.

Please confirm with seller /customer support about scope of assembly required.

With Decathlon, (I got the Riverside) it was a 5 minute affair. Opening the carton took longer than assembly, in fact.

Turn around the handlebar, tighten a screw with the Allen ket which came in the box, fit the two pedals (just be careful to get the threads right - turn with hands first and use the supplied spanner only at the end. That is all.

In comparison, other sites use a "skilled technician required for assembly" kind of phrases.

YMMV. So be careful of online e purchases.

However, size 24 may be just right for your son and depending on his height he may be able to ride size 26 as well. And this is typically the starting size of adults cycles. I have seen some kids in my apartment use size 26, model ST20 from decathlon, which comes in low frame and high frame..

Valid point. Additionally, if he wont go beyond a short distance, (500 meters, without a "kilo", OR is starting with cycling, stick to 24" size. Else go for the S size 26" (that is what is available now - not the XS). My son is 2-3 cm short of the height recommended for size M, but I went ahead and got M anyway, because kids grow. And he wont go beyond 2 -3 km for a few more months. Please note that his feet reach the ground, while seated on the saddle, so my decision in getting a larger size really is not a problem.

I had posted a YouTube video of a small kid riding a big roadster ta)let than him somewhere in rural India. :-) but don't go too far with inexperienced kids.

[goandude]

Hi fellow riders, I need a decent headlight for my RC 120 road bicycle, around 200 lumens or so. What would be a good model/make to look for? The Chinese stuff on Amazon is a hit or miss affair with some pieces working well and some failing very fast, as can be seen from the reviews.

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Originally Posted by goandude

Hi fellow riders, I need a decent headlight for my RC 120 road bicycle, around 200 lumens or so. What would be a good model/make to look for? The Chinese stuff on Amazon is a hit or miss affair with some pieces working well and some failing very fast, as can be seen from the reviews.

Decathlon? Link -
Hey! Checkout this product on Decathlon App https://www.decathlon.in/qr/8405195/-1


Or may be a place called cycle boutique in Bangalore? They have a web site. And am in the process of buying a mudguard from them online. Do I'm not really recommending them.

And I wont buying one soon - just looking them up. So not really a recommendation either.

[Prodigy07]

Originally Posted by motorworks

Another alternative is to buy from Trackandtrail.in, its the official website of TI cycles India and they deal in Hercules, Montra etc.

However, size 24 may be just right for your son and depending on his height he may be able to ride size 26 as well.

.

Thanks for the suggestion Motorworks.

Got Hercules Street Cat Pro HT 24 home delivered from TrackandTrail yesterday.

[sjcherian]

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR

Decathlon? Link -
Hey! Checkout this product on Decathlon App https://www.decathlon.in/qr/8405195/-1


Or may be a place called cycle boutique in Bangalore? They have a web site. And am in the process of buying a mudguard from them online. Do I'm not really recommending them.

And I wont buying one soon - just looking them up. So not really a recommendation either.

I have this one from Decathlon and is decent in my view. In the flashing white mode it lasts around 3 hours. In full intensity it is less than an hour. Low intensity is around 1.5-2 hours. Have not used it in the flashing red mode.

[goandude]

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR

Decathlon? Link -
Hey! Checkout this product on Decathlon App https://www.decathlon.in/qr/8405195/-1


Or may be a place called cycle boutique in Bangalore? They have a web site. And am in the process of buying a mudguard from them online. Do I'm not really recommending them.

And I wont buying one soon - just looking them up. So not really a recommendation either.

Went to Decathlon, Whitefield, but very disappointed as they had absolutely nothing for headlights.
Then went to Cycling Botique and met the owner Biju, who is an endurance cyclist himself. And since it was a quiet afternoon we spent time chatting. He had a huge variety of bicycle accessories. Eventually I got a combination of Mako 250 and Cherry Bomb 100. Also picked up a stand to service the bike.

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Originally Posted by goandude

Went to Decathlon, Whitefield, but very disappointed as they had absolutely nothing for headlights.
Then went to Cycling Botique and met the owner Biju, who is an endurance cyclist himself.

Hmmm. Decathlon does have hiccups in that their in-store stock position does not reflect accurately online. And an out of stock product sometimes shows up as available and yet again, some products are marketed "clearance sale" online are neither available online, nor are showing up as available for in-store purchase. They certainly are stretched out, it seems. And their customer "happiness" team is doing a real good job.

Anyway you seem to have got a far better spec'ed product that you were looking for.

While on the topic of lights, anybody remember / has used the dynamo type headlights? The dynamo was attached to one of the seat stays. _out pressed a lever and it pressed on the tyre rubber, and tyres had aberrations to provide friction for the dynamo. Of course, there was a rear facing red light. Using a cycle without a dynamo in night usually made the local police men richer by some small change. Use of the dynamo however resulted in accelerated tyre wear at the point of contact with the dynamo. Sanyo dynamos used to be in High demand due to their soft contact with tyres and brighter light, besides the "imported" snob value. And use of dynamo usually meant twice pedal power with little to no benefits of a pathetic light.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR

While on the topic of lights, anybody remember / has used the dynamo type headlights? The dynamo was attached to one of the seat stays. _out pressed a lever and it pressed on the tyre rubber, and tyres had aberrations to provide friction for the dynamo. Of course, there was a rear facing red light. Using a cycle without a dynamo in night usually made the local police men richer by some small change. Use of the dynamo however resulted in accelerated tyre wear at the point of contact with the dynamo. Sanyo dynamos used to be in High demand due to their soft contact with tyres and brighter light, besides the "imported" snob value. And use of dynamo usually meant twice pedal power with little to no benefits of a pathetic light.

Randonneurs and other ultra cyclists now have very fancy hub dynamos that through a USB connector port can either run rechargeable lights, charge power banks or phones, or directly run special dynamo lights that are usually fixed lower down to the center of the fork.

Some of these hubs are quite expensive (usually based on how little resistance they offer and how few watts they rob the rider of) but Decathlon in Europe and the UK sells complete dynamo hub wheels in different sizes for ridiculous prices.

The trick is finding someone to fly back here with a fully built wheel.

Cheers, Doc

[ringoism]

Winter projects stacking up...



Suncross Dirtmax yesterday and B'Twin solid fork Rockrider 300 today. Both rather heavy steel bikes w/standard 21-gears, former with discs and thumb-shifts double-wall rims, latter without these but still likeable as an old-school minimalist MTB, and in its favor the plastic-coated cranks are aluminum vs. the steel of the Suncross...

If I can keep my shop tolerably warm in the coming months, will plan on having all these done up and available as rentals up here next season, as I've been getting a lot of inquiries of late.




In other news... was surprised to find that among the old stock of parts a friend had given me a few weeks back was this bottle that would match the 108Max nicely. It was jammed full of dusty brake shoes when I went through before, and I hadn't noticed the logo... Nice surprise!!!

-Eric

[joe1980]

My two year old Trek Remedy. These days I'm using it more like a road bike rather than its intended purpose. You cannot complain about the quality of the components!

[Spaced Out]

Originally Posted by Prodigy07

Hi All,

I'm planning to get a new bicycle for my 9 yrs old son.

Please suggest options in the price range 6-8K.

I'm thinking of getting them online rather than visiting a store.

Also, how good are Rockrider bicycles from Decathlon?

Decathlon bikes are good. What makes them even better is the after service, particularly if you bought a geared bike.

Also recommend taking a look at Olx. Lot of people buy bikes and discover that its not for them. My son has gone through two Decathlon bikes and I got both of them for a steal compared to a new one.

[goandude]

Went for a 150 km ride on Sunday in preparation for a 200 Km Brevet in December. I did it in 8:14 total riding time with 7:00 on the saddle. But I think stretched myself too much, in that my backside was very painful in last 50 kms and I got thigh cramps in the last 5 kms. So I have a few questions for the more experienced riders here...

I have been using a memory foam seat cover for my rides along with non padded shorts and it was serving me very well till now. Reading about this on the net gave me the option of (a) padded shorts with no seat cover and (b) no padded shorts and no padded seat cover wherein your backside gets used to the seat.

Secondly, what should be the ratio of stops to riding? My daily average riding speed is about 22 to 25 kmph depending on terrain.

PS. I regularly ride 30 to 50 kms on alternate weekdays and 70 to 80 kms on weekends, without any issues.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by goandude

Went for a 150 km ride on Sunday in preparation for a 200 Km Brevet in December. I did it in 8:14 total riding time with 7:00 on the saddle. But I think stretched myself too much, in that my backside was very painful in last 50 kms and I got thigh cramps in the last 5 kms. So I have a few questions for the more experienced riders here...

If 70-80 km is the max you've ever ridden, then suddenly doing a 150 is going to hurt. There is no escaping that.

However, some of the things you should do.

Burn the memory foam seat cover (or gift it to someone who really annoys you).

Buy decent cycling tights. With a pad. Make sure that the pad is built for the number of hours you plan to be in the saddle. There are grades. Don't buy the cheap multicoloured "gel pad" AliExpress type tights.

Make sure you pace yourself well ... don't go too hard in the beginning and then burn out. Your average will fall very badly, much worse than if you stay steady pace from the beginning.

Drink water regularly. Drink before you feel thirsty. Especially now so with things getting cooler. Take a couple of sips every 10-15 min on the bike. You should be able to go through a bottle every hour. In a 4-5 hour century ride you should per at least once.

Eat on the bike. Dates. Chiki. Dry fruits. Peanuts. Small peanut butter or jam sandwich bite sized cubes. Boiled potatoes in their skin with a dash of salt. Boiled eggs. Sweet potato. Try different stuff. See what suits your mouth and stomach.

Don't try anything new on the BRM day.

100 and 150 km practice rides are enough to do a 200. You could do a practice 200 once before if you want to get over the mental barrier. Not necessary though. 13.5 hours is ample time.

Wear glares. Keep getting out of the saddle sometimes briefly to rest your backside and stretch your legs.

A 5-10 min break every 2 hours or 40-50 km to refill your bottles, stretch, eat, pee, is ok. Control your off saddle time. It kills your total elapsed time, which is the holy grail of randonneuring (not moving average).

Cheers, Doc

[sanjbmw2001]

Originally Posted by goandude

I have been using a memory foam seat cover for my rides along with non padded shorts and it was serving me very well till now. Reading about this on the net gave me the option of (a) padded shorts with no seat cover and (b) no padded shorts and no padded seat cover wherein your backside gets used to the seat.

Secondly, what should be the ratio of stops to riding?

Hello There,

I wouldn't recommend any type of covering on the seat as it is not stable and will move while pedalling, this can be discomforting and cause chaffing.

1) Option A is the way to go, get a good couple of pairs on cycling shorts
2) Option B also works provided you have a leather/touring saddle and your fanny gets used to it. Here people swear by Brooks saddle or similar ones from Selle and other brand
3) Ratio of stops is upto your fitness rather than cold maths to calculate. My suggestion is to pace yourself, if you know you are going for long distance, then pacing yourself is the best way and importantly hydrating yourself, 'Take it Easy' policy works well for endurance rides.

Hope this helps.