So I've had my Fuji Feather a year now and love it. Ride it at least a few times a week. I have a dilemma now though. The wife has graciously decided I can blow about $300 on bicycle gear. Now my dilemma is this, do I drop $100 on an ortleib velocity and $200 on my Fuji, or pick up a $300 bike off CL (around here that means a $200 bike) and throw on a kid seat or drop it all on a project bike that I'll sink another couple hundered into.

The Ortleib seems like a knapsack which will work as well as any other knapsack. Unless you ride in the rain frequently, I don't see why a Dollar-store knapsack wouldn't work as well .... and on rainy days, i'd simply triple-wrap everything in grocery bags (15 years of daily commuting in Florida and nothing ever got wet except the panniers and the rider.) I don't see what makes the Ortleib a good investment unless you ride in the rain frequently ...or even then. Buy five $5 cheapo knapsacks and use them up over the span of ten of fifteen years and pocket $75.


I assume you mean the market is tight and people charge too much for their bikes? Patience, or being willing to drive a little farther ... Well, I don't have children, but if I did you couldn't pay me enough to put them in a kid seat on the back of the bike. Sure, you never crash or drop the bike and no one ever hits you, so you really aren't gambling with your child's well-being, right?

Winner. I'd buy something on CL (not necessarily $200-$300) ... I'd wait for a nice older bike that no one values to show up. Stucky and I were discussing the Raleigh Super Course, but there are hundreds of great old steel frames which aren't really heavy and would build up into a really nice-riding bike.

Whether you chose to keep it mostly original or update it, you could start slowly, just cleaning it up and tweaking it, adding modern drivetrain bits off Ebay (again, patiently waiting for the good stuff at the low price to show up) ... You can get indexed downtube shifters, or go with brifters, get modern derailleurs ... stuff that looks good but works better than the old stuff (unless the old stuff works well which is a factor in how much you had to pay up front.)

Shoot, you might find some barn find at a garage sale ... I got my Raleigh for $35 because it had sat for a few years unused in someone's shed and they didn't care.

Since you have the Feather already, you wouldn't need to rush to get the thing finished, and any time you wanted to do a little more, you could just ride the Feather some more and work on the new (old) bike.

You'd probably need tubes and tires no matter what you got (but you never know) so part of the budget might go there. If the wheels from the Feather fit (and they should ... the Feather takes 700c wheels (I am not sure of the dropout spacing but it is probably 130, you can measure it )) that'd be a plus--you could buy tubes and tires and explain that they were for both bikes, not just for your project.

Whenever an extra $5 or $10 turned up you could throw it in the bike jar and occasionally add a new part to the new (old) bike ... and ride it or the Feather on alternate days while you were doing it, if you wanted.

A) I do ride in the rain about about twice a month, heavy rain not just a drizzle. I carry my laptop
B) I need a quality backpack, I won a $100 oakley about two years ago and it's already falling apart. I beat on my bags
C) It would allow me to grab a few different front and rear sprockets, possibly a new wheelset

Also I have no problem throwing my son in a seat and going down to the canal trail, its a road they turned into a bike path

A project would be nice, but it most likely turn into a family cruiser to put a seat on, otherwise I don't need another ride, so it's still putting a child's seat on

Well ... that's it then. Buy the bag, the gears, and maybe some Vuelta zero lites (a personal favorite of mine for decent, strong wheels at 2 Kg and about $100.)

If I were carrying a laptop in the rain I would Definitely want a very well made, super-high-quality waterproof bag---and I would still triple-wrap it. My laptop cost a a lot more than my current bike.

Are the Vuelta Zero lites an upgrade from my Vera Corsa DPM27 rims? The hubs just say high flange track hubs so Im guessing any decent hub would be a good upgrade

i did a bit of seardching and I cannot find any info about the wheels except that they are specced for several bikes---Fujis in particular.

I like Vuelta because they claim to be hand built (not that that means better) and for the price they are pretty light, and strong enough for a fat guy like me. Most people seem to recommend rims that cost a lot more for the same weight or weigh a lot more for the same money ... but are "better" brands. I've had luck with Vueltas so far, I have the Zero lites and ther Corsa lites.

I really haven't shopped for wheels much because I got the two sets I needed at a cost I could afford. A wider search might turn up stuff I missed---or you might want stronger wheels even if they weigh a tiny bit more for urban riding---big potholes, hopping curbs and occasionally slamming them, maybe bumping down a step .... It looks like the dpm27s might be 32-hole ... I seem to get different data at different sites.

If you want your kid to ride with you, so you can bond and get in more rides, you should look at things other than a child seat. They can be dangerous, due to how high the kid is sitting off the ground.

Look at something like a Burley Kid's Trailer. It looks like some are right at $300.

If the kid is old enough, you can get a trailer that basically turns your bike into a tandem.

GH

Yeah, those ride-along-tow-alongs are pretty cool. The seat scares me pretty much... if the bike does go down the kid is essential accelerating in an arc three feet in radius and those plastic sides are not any softer than pavement at that speed. Tons of parents do it though, and the kids seem to love it. It's therefore maybe worth the risk ... and after all, the world is not short of little kids.

When I was growing up if a kid wore a helmet it was to play army, and if an adult wore a helmet on a bike it was a motorcycle. Yet still , the race survived.

I think you should invest in a pair of cojones

Lol, you are selling yours because you don't use them?

Ive looked at thre trailers. I just like the seat more because its more of spending time with the kid than shoving him in a little trailer. I come from a family that was raised by nuns and a single mom in the 70s, so I feel that kids are resliant. Todays parents are too safe, if you never let your kid touch the hot stove how will they know not to type thinking. But vaild points to all. Maybe wait till i can get him on a tandem type trailer

That's the spirit!

That's fine. Just wanted you to think about the decision, as opposed to not knowing there was a choice.

As long as the kid is wearing a helmet, there probably won't be any permanent damage from a fall.

GH

I need a tissue.......