jyl

This is a thread about our kids who commute by bicycle, to school or wherever they need to go.

Do your kids ride? How do you equip them, bike and gear? How did you get them started? How do they like it, how do you like it?

My son rides his bike to high school. It is about 3.5 miles each way. He rides about a mile on a greenway (a street designated for cycling, that has lots of bikes and not too many cars), crosses a bridge then rides about 0.5 mile in a bike lane on a major street, then rides with traffic through downtown Portland on a regular road to school. I took him riding on the route last year when he started high school, and I used to ride most of that route to work. It is a good route, quite safe.

He rides an '80s steel road bike, a pretty nice one (SLX, full Mavic, rack, lights, fenders) that doesn't look like anything special. We installed Gatorback tires and so far he hasn't had a flat. His rain jacket and pants, lock, pump, and flat kit ride along in his backpack. I got him a pannier and he seldom uses it, but he has a folding wire pannier for days when he needs to carry more stuff.

My son really likes riding, enjoys the exercise and the fitness helps with his main activity, which is dance. He is a fast rider, and does the ride in to school in under 20 minutes. He's ridden two centuries so he isn't new to bikes. I've taken him on rides around the city, taught him about right hooks and similar threats, and followed him to watch his riding. After watching me ride to work for eight years, he thinks commuting by bike is the preferred mode.

Unlike many of us, he's not a year round foul weather dedicated bike commuter. When it starts raining incessantly and is dark early, around late October, he rides some days and other days takes the bus or we drive him or he carpools with other kids. By then, school and other activities are heating up. He has dance rehearsals, theatre rehearsals, more homework. And in high school there isn't any opportunity to change or shower when he gets there. Apparently it is bad for your social life to be damp and smelly. He insists on riding in jeans and Chuck Taylors. I'm told that showing up at school in cycling shorts and a jersey would be instant death (to one's image).

I think riding his bike to school is good for him. He feels independent, learns about traffic and safety, gets fresh air and a workout. I do worry a little, but there isn't much objective reason for concern.

HardyWeinberg

My son's commute gets 2 miles/day shorter this coming school year, he is starting up at the high school that is a mile closer to our house than his middle school was. He is starting high school on my long haul trucker since he outgrew the hybrid he rode through middle school. My biggest deal for him riding in traffic is lighting, and for 3 yrs of middle school I kept pestering him to turn his darn lights on (and remember to turn them off when he gets there so the batteries don't die). Anyway, my LHT has a generator hub powering the headlight and taillight so my concerns there are over. I swapped the seat from his hybrid to the LHT since he wanted to keep it (I wouldn't have sent him off w/ my brooks on the LHT in any event) and I swapped the dropbars for flat also at his request. He is keeping my beloved 26x2.0 big apples.

Squeeze

My kids are in elementary school. So far this school year, which has only been about three weeks, they have ridden bikes with other neighborhood kids, and with my wife and another mom riding with them every day. It's a short ride, probably a little less than a mile, and it's 75% gravel MUP and 25% sidewalk with crossing guards and the occasional police cruiser parked in front of the school, which is in a quiet residential neighborhood.

Our kids have cheap cable "word locks" with four-digit words to unlock them. I figure someone could probably cut through those locks with nail clippers, but I doubt bike thieves target kids' bikes or schools, and I think it's a good habit for them to always lock their bikes when they will leave them unattended.

Our school has three really long bike racks, and right now there are so many kids riding bikes to school that my wife reports some kids are locking their bikes together in pairs or groups of three near the racks, but not attached to them, because the racks are so crowded.

HardyWeinberg

In grade school my kids just had cable locks I had cut and looped at a hardware store, ~-$2-3 each, and luggage locks w/ settable combos. In middle school my son started using a larger cable (still made at the hardware store) w/ a gym locker combo lock. For high school, w/ my bike, I gave him an actual bike cable lock w/ settable combo.

One of my daughter's friends had her totally crappy magna bmx bike stolen off the elementary school rack this summer (their daycamp was at the school), even cutting the cable lock to get it. I can't imagine the bike was worth as much as whatever boltcutters were used on the cable. People gonna do what they do I guess.

caloso

My daughter rides to amd from soccer practice a couple of times a week. She inherited a Bianchi Milano from her Nana, which is the perfect bike for this: IGH, fenders, step through frame. It's about a mile to the practice field and she meets one of her teammates about halfway there. It's all neighborhood streets.

DogBoy

My son rides to elementary school. It's 6 blocks on an extra-wide sidewalk/path. He's one of the few that lock his bike, but the lock is a flimsy combo lock. My daughter rode until this year. Now that she's in middle school she would have a 3 mile ride and would have to cross 2 major intersections with a controlled light and 1 major intersection with a stop-sign (and crossing guard). I'm confident she could do it, but the wife hasn't let her try yet. She is only a 6th grader...

As far as equipment: she's at that awkward height where she could probably ride a 50-52cm frame, but her bike is a 24" wheeled bike with the seat-post at max extension and I've swapped out for a longer stem. I'm just not looking to buy a new bike for her this fall when her mom won't let her ride to school. We'll see about this spring.

Both kids use only backpacks, and both have be-seen lights, a cat-eye 5-LED red blinkie and I don't even remember what the headlight is.

Kids use the same locks as Squeeze mentions in the next post. REALLY flimsy, but better than nothing.

Squeeze

Wow, I hate to hear that. And a Magna? I could understand that more if it had been a quality BMX bike. I was amazed at what some of those cost when I started looking for bikes for our kids. I guess I could get them mini U-locks to carry in their backpacks, and probably should, but I don't think it's necessary (yet).

Here are the locks our kids use. They come in purple, too, or at least they did a few months ago when I found one to match my daughter's purple bike on the rack at a sporting goods store. My son has a red one to match his bike, and we also have a blue one that I bought a couple years ago for my own bike. That was about the same time I found this forum and saw a YouTube video of someone cutting through a cable lock by just sawing away at it with clippers until they finally got through it...which wasn't long. Before that, I guess I just figured a lock was a lock and any would do.

Link: Bike Locks

bigbenaugust 

My son is 5, started kindergarten this week, and wanted to ride to school with Daddy. We bought him a U-lock for his little Trek and everything. We leave together, cruise the less than half-mile to the school, lock up his bike, we do the drop-off, and I continue downtown to the office. My wife walks home with him in the afternoon.



(insert jokes about my luggage choice elsewhere )

RidingMatthew

that is so cool that you all are able to do this...

my kids are homeschooled so they don't ride a bike anywhere... my wife does not ride. nor does my daughter

my son has said he is ready to ride with me somewhere. He is five.

I do have to say I saw a kid riding a small road bike on Monday. I was blown away to see a teenager (maybe) riding.

jyl

My son's bike is locked with a U lock for the rear wheel and frame, that he carries, and a heavy chain for the front wheel and frame, that he leaves on the school rack (left it there all summer, I learned). Bike has Allen heads filled with silicone caulk, zip ties securing the lights. A high theft zone but so far, he's been okay. About half of the bikes are locked with just cables so his is the hardest target on the track.

mstateglfr 

We send our kids to a public school in the neighboring town, so riding is out of the question except for a few times each year when I have days off and the timing works out. 3rd grade and preK. The younger is proud as can be to roll up to school in her WeeHoo.

Growing up, I rode the .8mi to elementary school starting in 2nd grade and did it every day that was dry and above probably 50degrees in the morning, so maybe 1/3 of the school year. Did it thru middle school too riding 1.5mi. We used to ride all over the burbs each summer getting into semi-trouble for miles and miles each day.



Now? I cant imagine my kids riding around unsupervised like I did. I don't trust drivers- way too distracted in my eyes. Hopefully as they age, ill grow more comfortable. The 3.5mi ride to school probably wont ever happen on their own though, just too far.

PatrickGSR94

I rode all over the neighborhood growing up, with my brother and friends and stuff. But I never rode to school. I remember the summer of 1995 when I took Driver's Ed, I rode my bike about 1.5 miles to the Community Center. But I never tried riding the ~1 mile farther to the high school. I did ride to the local Walmart a number of times in the 90's, before I started driving. That was about 2.5-3 miles each way and it always seemed like a hard ride to me. That was back when I used sidewalks along busy streets and such.

I took my son to the first day of Pre-K last year in the bike trailer, which because the road by our neighborhood isn't continuous, it's over 2.5 miles each way due to the roundabout way we have to go, and more like 3 miles for 3 months in winter when the park is closed for Christmas lights. If they would ever finish and connect the road by our neighborhood, my son's school would only be a quick 1.2 miles from the house.

I've been waiting for that road to get connected for over 10 years now.

jyl

Rode to meet him at school, then let him lead us to an appointment he had. Watched him ride. Pleased to see he's at least as careful as I am.

Magz

My daughter started riding to school at the beginning of 7th grade. It was about 1.5 miles each way. I let her pick out the bike. She test rode a few and decided on the Specialized Expedition. I hoped to get her on a road bike, but she loved that bike and the comfortable ride.

I put a rack on the back. The first two years she used a novaro trunk bag from REI that she really liked but she also wore a backpack. she would move items from the pack to the trunk for the ride each way each day.

This year she started high school, the commute is closer to 3.5 miles each way. She loves riding it and it's been up to 115 degrees on some afternoons but she rides.

I bought her a pannier messenger bag to use this year as I didn't like the idea of all that riding with a backpack. She likes the bag but it barely accommodates everything and she will start carrying a laptop too very soon. Still trying to work out the baggage situation but other than that she loves riding her bike to school and around town.

She does wear a helmet and her bike has front and back lights and a bell. She also requested bar ends. That resulted in some funny looks at the LBS but they installed them.

She rides in the bike lane on quieter streets if there is one, on the busy streets she rides on the sidewalk. I know that can be controversial but we both agree it's best for her. She knows that pedestrians have the right of way.

Gresp15C

Both of my kids ride to school (Middle and High) and also use their bikes for errands and summer activities.

One exception is music lessons, because we don't have a good way of transporting their instruments by bike in all weather.

Middle school is almost too close to bother, about 10 min walk, but getting there by bike affords an extra 5 minutes of sleep in the morning.

High school is only about 12 min by bike, whereas the bus takes much longer considering that it arrives 30 min before the school bell and leaves 30 min after. The high schooler has asked for studded tires, for the winter. I'm a bit ambivalent, because winter riding involves more than just keeping the bike upright, but also increases the danger of getting hit by a car.

Both bikes are boring hybrids, with lights, fenders, rack, and side basket. Luckily nobody has to transport a computer, which I hope remains the case.

jyl

If you have a high schooler bike commuting, what do they use to carry stuff?

My son's bag is not large enough. It is a medium or smaller messenger style backpack. By the time you put in some notebooks, a couple textbooks, laptop, calculator, pencil case, flat repair stuff (tube, etc), mini pump, Ulock, rain jacket, rain pants, paperback book, lunch, snack, wallet, phone, etc - it is not large enough.

CrankyOne

My son rode 4th through 6th grade, about 1.5 miles each way on quite streets. There were a number of kids who did that so drivers were pretty cautious. Middle school was out of the question due to no safe facilities for the 7 mile distance. Same for high school.

When my son was in grammar school 15 or so years ago there would usually be about 20 to 30 kids who'd ride (out of 310 in 1st - 6th grades). Today that number is zero due to increased traffic on the county road by the school and some of it from a bit farther away and seemingly much less cautious drivers than local drivers with kids at the school. There's been increasing pressure on the city and county to put in a bikeway or MUP along here but they're saying that it won't happen until their regular redoing of the road which is scheduled for 2027.

A nearby suburb began a fairly intensive program of building side paths about 20 years ago. At the time there were an average of 5 kids who'd ride to the middle school. Today that number is over 100 (of 680 students). They have a goal of 80% of students within 3 miles riding which would be about 250. In talks with kids and parents they've determined that the problem is a couple of intersections. They're working on improving them but the county is reluctant to do anything.

One of the grammar schools wasn't doing nearly as well even with a lot of good paths and some traffic calming in neighborhoods. After talking to parents they determined that the concern was primarily one single crossing of a county road directly in front of the school. Parents said that even with crossing guards they were concerned especially since kids would often not leave school until after the crossing guards had left. They installed a tunnel about 5 years ago and the number of kids riding has been growing quickly ever since.

CrankyOne

Does he really need all of that stuff? Rain jacket & pants? Most high school kids are OK getting soaked. Flat repair & pump? How long is his ride? Can he walk in the unlikely event he gets a flat? Buy lunch @ school?

Notebooks, textbooks, paperback, and a computer? Talk to your school. They should be telling students what books they need in class and what to keep at home. Many students here carry only a notebook or iPad back and forth along with maybe one spiral notebook. This is very intentional due to concerns over how heavy backpacks were getting and their causing back problems.

jyl

Good question. For sure he could lighten his load. But that requires organization. Which he is a little short on.

Darth Lefty 

Our schools are very close, almost too close to make biking worthwhile. However we are angling to get him and any possible sequels into the next district over, in which case it would likely be too far.

HardyWeinberg

This'll be my daughter's 6th year of riding 5 blocks to her grade school. Next year she starts the 5 mile (daily) commute to/from middle school. Her brother has hoed that row before her. Hoping she can talk one (or more) of her friends whose house she will pass into joining her on that commute. Her brother's friends all either took the bus or got chauffeured. I banned my son from accepting rides, but let him choose whether he would bike or take the bus. He always chose to bike, no matter how bad the weather was.

Magz

My daughter doesn't even carry textbooks, just composition books, papers, lunch (she hates school lunch) and very soon a laptop, this fills her pannier messenger bag. I'm considering a folding pannier for the other side to put lunch etc. I'm trying to avoid backpack.

CrankyOne

That's good. About 10 years ago our district began a campaign to lighten kids backpacks which sometimes weighed more than the kid. Initially they talked to publishers about lighter books or making books in to multiple parts and having teachers try to find ways to kids to keep textbooks at home which many were able to do with little difficulty as they said they weren't really needed during the school day that much. The inclusion of notebooks and IPAs (with keypads) over the past five years has made it even better. Many teachers have gone 100% iPad with students not needing to carry anything else.

Gresp15C

For many subjects, our kids can use online versions of their textbooks at home, so they rarely have to carry a full complement of books. The district is reeling from budget cuts, so it's unlikely they'll be buying a lot of computers anytime soon.

SpeedyStein

My oldest just started first grade, and he rides to school nearly everyday, with my wife walking/jogging the younger two in the stroller. We took the training wheels off just as he started kindergarten, and he rode almost every day last year. He loves it! Fortunately, we live in the same neighborhood as his school, about 3/4 of a mile on residential streets. He locks his bike to the school bike rack with a cheapo U lock from Amazon - we find it easier than the cable locks, and usually just leave the lock on the rack rather than carry it home. The bike itself is a simple single speed, coaster brake, basic hand-me-down kids bike.