Going with the flow - Bikepacking for pre-schoolers

"Daddy, look!"

More than a little alarmed by the accompanying ripping sound, I darted out of the kitchen wondering what on earth was going on, only to find Ruth in the hall trying to velcro her big brother's bikepacking bags to her 16" Islabike. Too much 'Mountain Bikes and Bothy Nights' on YouTube...

In trying to help her complete the 'play' task she'd started, it became tantalisingly apparent that yes, Thomas Ivor's top tube bag did fit nicely in the Cnoc 16's frame, and yes, you could strap a drybag to the handlebars without impeding the function of the brakes... and good grief! The seat pack fits under her saddle, too!

Before any of us knew it, we had stuffed some down jackets in the bags and were out at the bandstand, little Ruth lapping with tremendous fervour. A little boy on a kick scooter tried to race her, and that was it - she was off like a miniature, female, cycle touring Jeremy Clarkson.

I've written before about giving little children opportunities that others might think beyond them, but a bit like the cadence sensor when I taught Thomas Ivor to change gear, this one came as if from nowhere. It's only last June when Ruth was helping to hold her big brother's bike when 'King Louis' was being measured for a frame bag, and here we were witnessing another seminal moment. I mean, why shouldn't a little girl of just turned four have a set of bikepacking bags?

The next day we found ourselves in Newthorpe once more, and this time it was 'Merida's turn (it would seem so to have been named!) for 'the treatment' (see below for spec list).

Self evidently, it would be pointless spending a significant amount of money on a lightweight bike only to hand a child a load of weight to slow them down, or to impede their recently-learned steering, pedalling or braking, but the three bags come to a total of less than 450 grammes, and so far they've largely been filled with feathers, in the form of the down jacket she would otherwise be wearing, and her sleeping bag. At that, along with her spare inner tube, Ruth's bike still only weighs about 7kg - that's still only half the weight of a 16"-wheeled bike-shaped-behemoth from Halfords, before you add the tinsel tassels on the handlebars and the 'Tiny Tears' threatening to fall out of the basket. That's before you consider that many children of four years old are still using the 'S-word'...

Children love carrying something on their bike, especially when everyone else is. Family life is a team sport, and they feed off feeling like they are an integral part of the mission. In this case, Ruth has decided that now she has the bags, she wants to go 'bothying' even more than she did before (which was a LOT), so we've had the maps out and have a plan in development. When we tour longer distances, we'll still use her trailerbike to make sure we cover the ground and stay safe on the road, at which she will have a pair of panniers on her rear rack, once more feeling like she's part of the team. She can probably use her 'frame bag' off her Cnoc as a top tube bag on her trailer bike.

A ride out today, five miles or so, with Daddy on foot and Rhoda on her balance bike, has proved that the Cnoc remains stable, handles fine, and most of all that the little girl at the helm of what looks every inch a touring machine is exceptionally proud of herself, to the point of stopping to tell everyone coming the other way that she was carrying her sleeping bag!

We had a little play with our new Alpkit Krakau stove as well today, and had a hot snack next to the river, on the edge of the woodland where Mummy and Daddy went canoe camping last summer.


A very productive couple of days, which we never saw coming! Above all, a lesson in 'going with the flow'; of letting the children lead when it comes to their adventures and their kit - because if they, like you, don't enjoy it, you probably should be doing something else.

Ruth's Islabikes Cnoc 16 luggage:

Bar bag: Alpkit Airlok Extra Dry Bag (£12) with Dual Straps (£5) - contains Alpkit 'Cloud Cover' down-filled blanket for sleeping in.
'Frame bag': An upturned Alpkit Small Fuel Pod (now discontinued and replaced with a slightly different shape. Luckily found one in their bargain bin for £12 which fits perfectly!) - contains spare inner tube, and possibly a favourite pebble.
Seat pack: Alpkit Small Koala (was called the 'Wombat' originally - review here) - £70 (some in the bargain bin with minor imperfections for £40 if you don't mind grey or yellow at the time of writing!) - contains Spotty Otter Drift Down II combo jacket.

Total Cost of luggage: £99

That's less than the cost of two nights in a Premier Inn - excitement aside, by your third night in the bothy, you're quids in!

Head to Head Review: Islabikes Rothan vs Strider Pro

For the second year, I've had the frustrating privilege of unpacking and building little bikes that are much anticipated by our children, but which will have to stay in hiding for a little longer.

This Christmas, it's little Rhoda's turn to get her first balance bike, and in a departure from our recent loyalty to Islabikes, we've gone in a slightly different direction. If you want to understand what balance bikes are all about, and why we would never touch a stabiliser ever again, we can write about that another time.

Rhoda has been trying for some time now to make a start riding big sister Ruth's Islabike, and whilst Ruth was 23 months old when she got Rothan, Rhoda was nearer 16 months when she first gave it a go. The weight was just a little too much for her. In any event, Ruth is still some way off being ready for the next step. A few more laps round the bandstand for her!

Fast forward a month and the girls found themselves at the NEC, trying out the competition. The lady who imports Strider bikes gave a very strong and knowledgable pitch for her product, when I explained that we had a Rothan and were considering a second balance bike.

Long before we had finished talking, Ruth and Rhoda had both selected a display model to play with. Rhoda found the top of the range aluminium Strider, the 'Pro' (I'm not sure how a toddler is a 'pro' at anything, but there you go!) much easier to handle, and was making a significantly better fist of walking with the bike. Ruth was shifting, too.

You will have gathered by now that we have purchased a Strider, but after a year of living with Rothan, what's it up against?

The Islabikes Rothan is the baby of their range, but very much a member of the family and oozes quality. Thomas Ivor and Ruth had bikes in matching green paint, which Ruth kissed better when she chipped it! The bike has a v-brake on the rear, with an extra-small lever, a threadless headset with an adjustable stem, pneumatic (presta-valved!), tyres on conventional spoked rims. Short of pedals and a front brake, it's a proper bike. It looks like a bike, it feels like a bike, mechanically it has everything in common with a serious bike from a serious manufacturer. It's a beautifully engineered piece.

We've lived with Rothan for a year now, and Ruth loves her bike to bits. It's covered some miles, but now we will need to spend some money, because she's outgrowing the starter saddle, which has an integral seat post (£15.99 at the time of writing). Nevertheless we are pleased with our purchase, and we are glad we chose it - one should bear in mind that Ruth actually wanted a Strider like a little Australian girl she found on YouTube!

So why, if we love Rothan so much, have we bought a different bike this time, and how does it compare?

Let me get out of the way the things I don't like about the Strider, compared to Rothan, because the case for the change has to overcome some serious misgivings on my part.

In my personal opinion it looks cheap, plasticky and gaudy. That may be saying more about me being a puritanical parent, or just a reflection of how we cycle and view bikes, I don't know, but we like quality products. The Rothan is a piece of engineering for toddlers. The Strider is brash, drawing on BMX styling - I couldn't bring myself to fit the number panel! The frame is agricultural, the headset is a bit rough and the other components are plasticky. Whereas Ruth kissed Rothan's chipped paint after a mishap in the park, I don't think the Strider, even this top-of-the-range model is the kind of bike that encourages children to look after it. It's toy-like. I genuinely didn't think the Strider was in the same league as the Rothan when we bought Ruth's bike last year.

Hold on, though, let's just pick that apart.

It looks cheaper because it is cheaper. Only two-thirds of the cost of a Rothan. And it includes a second seat with a longer seat post. The first seat is specifically designed to accommodate a child in a nappy. "No brakes!" I hear you cry. Well, no, but Ruth hasn't actually used hers successfully yet, and she's now nearly three years old. I reckon she'll quite possibly master pedals before brakes.

The plastic wheels and solid foam tyres weigh less than those on the Rothan, and you can't get a flat tyre. Not sure you can argue against that when the rider is still in Huggies and can neither read nor write yet.

The frame is nowhere near as beautiful, but at 2.2kg it weighs significantly less than the Rothan at 3.4kg. Weight is meant to be one of the biggest selling points for any children's bike.

There's no brake, but there is a patented foot rest on the rear fork, which makes a good deal of sense when you see a more competent child tripping over their own feet as they accelerate the bike. When your feet are your main method of propulsion, you can use them pretty efficaciously for braking, too.

The Strider was delivered promptly, it assembled quickly and easily, the only tool required being an allen key, which is included. My subjective opinion of the form may not be yours, but it functions just as it should.

Second hand prices indicate that the Rothans are holding their value, which underscores the quality of that product and the respect people have for the brand, but also makes the low opportunity cost of getting your little one on a Strider before they're out of nappies a tempting proposition.

For the very youngest children (say, sub-21 months), we believe that the Strider 'Out-Isla's Islabikes', in a way that overcomes our manifold difficulties with the rest of the design. Islabikes have always made justifiably strong points about weight, and about fit. Though I prefer the Rothan in every other regard, for a child as young as Rhoda, that different in weight and therefore initial ease of balance is huge! She doesn't need a brake. She won't want to be fixing punctures (the Islabikes wheels are a swine to inflate because the access to the valve within such a small rim is tight). Yes, she may well fall off it. So what.

Bottom line - if I was buying for a slightly older child, I'd buy the beautiful Rothan again in a heartbeat; for an under-two, I'd seriously consider the Strider based on the price, simplicity and light weight. Since few parents have children quite so close in age as our girls, having two such bikes in the family is not necessarily an economic proposition, and personal preference and budget will come into play.

In a year's time, Ruth will most likely be well onto her first Islabikes Cnoc (for which we see no competition in our eyes) and Rhoda will then have the choice of steeds. It will be interesting which way she goes, and in the meantime how our experiences of teaching on the two bikes differ. We will report back in due course. For the moment, I'd better hide the evidence before the girls wake up!

Islabikes' Rothan is available from the manufacturers' website for £149.99 at the time of writing, with a choice of seat post lengths. We bought our Strider 12 Pro from Action Kids for £100.

We forgot to close the garage...

We're off. It's persisting with rain and the traffic bound for the South West is predictably appalling, but we made it to Gloucester services for a pitstop and Katie is now in the 'hot seat', or the queue as it is currently known. We will get there when we get there!

This is the bit of the trip where I always think of the MacCallisters on their plane to Paris. We can be sure we've forgotten something - it's just a question of what, whether our guesses are right, and how severe it is. Every trip seems to follow a similar pattern - we shall see if this one conforms!

So here we have the Family ByCycle guide to things you forgot, with apologies to Donald Rumsfeld...

1. Things you forgot you forgot (5 Points for each)

The sunglasses, camera mount or map that you find on the settee when you get home, having never noticed you'd not taken them. Otherwise known as 'inadvertent weight saving'. Don't bring them again and bank the benefit on future trips. Win.

2. Things you forgot you remembered (5 Points for each useful one, -5 points per 100g for duplicate items, or things you shouldn't have packed)

More good news. At some stage in your tour, you discover that you have something with you, that comes in handy, even though you never meant to have it with you, or thought you'd forgotten it in the first instance. Remember not to forget it next time.

On the flip side, if you grabbed something at the last minute and it turns out you have two, or didn't need it, or it's the wrong one, you've just lumbered yourself with dead weight.

3. Things you remember you forgot (see tariff)

Oh dear. Eventually, something you forgot becomes very much remembered. There are sub-categories to this one, depending on severity:

3(a). Things you forgot, that you can manage without at a push (-10 Points for each)

You may smell more, ache more, go a bit hungry, or miss out on a useful piece of technology, but your trip still happens, and you just deal with it.

3(b). Things you forgot, that you have to replace locally at a price (-10 Point per hour lost, AND -1 Point per pound wasted)

Sometimes you get lucky and it's something consumable. Sometimes it's not very expensive. More usually it's a swine to get your hands on. It will cost you time, effort, definitely be very poor value and not quite the right one when you do find one. In certain cases it will also sit accusingly in your home in future, reminding you of the whole upsetting affair by not being as good as the one you left behind and still own. I bought the most expensive 'changing bag' in the world from a camera shop in Cologne one Christmas over a decade ago, and it still rankles!

3(c). Things you forgot, that totally kibosh your trip. (-1000 Points for a total loss, -500 Points for a trip home that costs you one more more nights of your tour, and/or -10 Points per pound spent on gifts for the friends, relatives, neighbours or total strangers who dug you out, if you miraculously recover the situation)

The towing arm off the trailer (Wales, Spring 2015 - Katie and the girls rendered unable to ride for the duration of our visit). The quick release bolt for the arm on the Mountain Train (Devon, Summer 2014 - friends went to our house and posted one to the campsite).

Thanks to our friends Hilary and Graham, that's the face of a man who's just avoided a catastrophe.

And finally...

4. Things you remembered you remembered

i.e. most things from 3(b), and anything that has previously featured in 3(c) having become a source of neurosis.

I'm just patting the trailer's towing arm smugly, wondering how many points the last 24 hours' packing effort has earned us. Tomorrow we shall start to find out!

PS: The Amazon delivery arrived at about 1830 yesterday, having written the day off for any tasks needing to be done in town. I had a haircut at 0800 this morning whilst Katie fitted the bike rack and loaded the 'Daddy Bus'! It was worth it - review to follow this tour on the products concerned....

Power is everything

"Power is everything" - so goes the quote from 'Apollo 13'. Much of today is about power, as we prepare to set off.

I used to be a motorsports photographer - oddly enough, one who didn't drive a car and cycled all over the place to photograph people who did! Photography is important to me and all the more to us as a family because of the very limited time we get to spend with Thomas Ivor. As such, we are in the business of creating and recording memories that will encourage and inspire him.

Inescapably, trying to take pictures and film, whilst using modern technology to navigate and sometimes to entertain the residents of the trailer, all uses power. We take it for granted at home and yet when we're on the road, whilst not life-or-death, it does become a preoccupation when battery levels are running low. We are always on the lookout for the next socket, and rationing our usage to match our charging expectations. Depending on the circumstances, it swaps places with food in the hierarchy of needs!

Hub dynamos would be nice, but putting out maybe 500mA and only whilst travelling at a decent pace, isn't enough on its own. Solar chargers are a lovely idea, but they do seem a bit of a faff and very expensive. I keep looking at them but I've yet to be totally convinced.

Last summer, we made it through the Hebrides with just one 15,000mAh battery pack, which takes all night to charge on a 2 amp charger. We also had the benefit of being able to use all our regular chargers without adaptors.

This time, we want to shoot more film, and with a DSLR rather than a separate video camera. I've bought some more GoPro batteries and a twin charger, which will daisy-chain off the camera battery charger, for which I found a continental mains lead in our household's 'box of random cables that came with various things and might come in handy one day'. Meantime, I'm waiting on two important items from Amazon - a 20,000mAh battery, and a 40 Watt, 5 gang USB charger, so that our other USB-charged devices can be hooked up to a single socket and juiced up as the opportunity arises.

It sounds like a lot, and it may even look like it as Ruth and Rhoda sagely survey the tech stuff before it is packed away into various places on our bikes, but we've managed to slim the weight down significantly from previous trips whilst still having some useful fire-power, and if Amazon Prime is as good as it usually is, before long I will have some confidence that we can last the distance!

Meantime, I am working on navigation, which these days is intrinsically linked with power, too. At Darren Alff's suggestion, we are going to run Maps.Me on our iOS devices, with GPX data hacked from Google Maps in there, and also on Cyclemeter, which is my weapon of choice when out riding.

Some accommodation to tie up at the end of the trip, which has got a little messy, but we're getting there. It looks like Katie and I can celebrate our wedding anniversary tonight by finishing off the packing of the panniers, and we can get this show on the road.

Come on, Mr Amazon Prime. Let's have that knock on the door, and I can breathe easy...