Big Brother has been riding his new Islabike Beinn Large and loving it! He's small for their size chart but can handle the bike well. We've only had two issues so far, he can't downshift and they were out of racks for his size bike. The downshifting problem has so far been solved by him complaining, we pull over when we can and I shift his bike for him. I'm hoping his hands get stronger soon. Luckily it's pretty flat around here. The bike racks are out of stock and will be for a few months. I was bummed because I had been looking forward to getting him loaded up for his first trip carrying gear.
Out of the blue a couple days ago, I got a text from our friend Keith who said he had a rack for us. I assumed it was one of his castoffs since he's always building new cargo bikes out of random folding bikes. Turns out, our friend Melissa mentioned that we needed a rack and donated one of hers to be chopped up and refit for BB's Isla! We are so lucky to have such wonderful friends!
Keith popped over and installed it for us. The blue is where he rewelded the rack to fit the 20" wheels.
I put on BB's new Ortleib panniers (which were from a Holland order Melissa had put together). These are the City Front Rollers and fit perfectly. Then I towed his bike to school so he could test it out. The look on his face was pure joy!
His first ride was a bit nerve-wracking. In his excitement, he tried shoving his large and full backpack into one of the panniers. Because the bag stuck out of the top, it made it difficult for him to mount the bike and he almost tipped over. That made him scared to ride.
I took his backpack back out and had him ride with the empty panniers to get used to the weight and shape of the rack. He got used to them quickly, thankfully!
He still needs some more practice and will have to build up to actually carrying weight but we're getting closer to our first Big Brother trip! We can't wait! Thank you Melissa and Keith!
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