Help me, Obi-Mom Kenobi! You’re my only hope.

“Patience. Use the Force. Think.” ―Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones 

Last Saturday morning through this past Monday evening were devoted to finding a new bicycle for the Padawan Learner. What has three days of near constant activity in one bike shop or another taught me? I have come to the conclusion, after much thought and contemplation, that I hate having to find a new bicycle. I love bicycles and think that a return to walking for short trips and the bicycle for moderately distanced trips is the most reasonable, sustainable and fun method of personal transportation around. I do not, however, enjoy the process of buying a bicycle.

We have a lot of bicycle shops in this area, but commuter/upright bikes are still a rarity. Most shops are chock-a-block full of road bikes and mountain bikes. There are usually one or two hybrid bikes out on the showroom and maybe an old-fashioned beach cruiser with balloon tires. A few of the shops in town are beginning to carry the Electra brand of up-right bikes. Yeah, a few commuter bikes…

We almost bought Padawan Learner an Electra Townie. It has ”one size fits most” frame geometry that would follow with him as he continues to grow and grow and grow, an upright cycling position (his biggest request) and it is very lightweight. Although I agree that far too many people have gotten carried away with the “weight” factor when choosing a bike, Padawan Learner is still under a hundred pounds soaking wet, despite his height, and has to frequently lift his bike to use the city bus bike racks, so the weight of a bike is a real factor in his being able to use his bike independently. Best of all, the standard 7 speed with derailleur was within our budget and he loved riding it. Loved, loved, loved riding it … until we gave it the “Dutch hill test,” that is.

Padawan Learner and I take Dutch language lessons. Seriously. We grab the bus from our house and ride it to the end of the route, two miles from our Dutch teacher’s house, and hop on our bikes from there. Near the end, we hit what we have come to call “Dutch hill”. This is a very steep ride for about 1/2 of a mile - San Fransisco steep. It’s a stand up and pedal kind of hill in light to moderate traffic. By the top of the hill on our current bikes, we’re both breathing pretty audibly. Since the Townie uses foot forward pedaling, this was a concern, since foot-forward doesn’t lend itself to standing up and pedaling. After a fair bit of internet searching, I learned that you can get some extra torque by gripping the handle bars and leaning back to increase your leg extension and find that much needed “gluteus maximus” power. It really does work, but not nearly well enough to make steep hills an easy or comfortable ride.

Now, a steep hill here or there wouldn’t normally be an issue, but when we started riding more and more around town we realized something amazing. Our city is hilly. Really hilly. “Where did this hill come from?” hilly. We never even noticed it as we drove from place to place. I knew we had come to the unfortunate decision to retire the Townie as a serious candidate when the Padawan Learner asked, “Could we just find routes without any hills?” Sorry, bud, not around here you can’t. Sadly, we returned home once again. As a last resort, we dropped the seat on Dad Windu’s bike and realized that Padawan Learner can just barely straddle the top bar and ride Dad Windu’s bike safely. So we’re going to put off buying him a new bike for the summer and see if he grows anymore before fall. We should then be able to buy him his perfect “last” around town bike. When Dad Windu isn’t with us, Padawan Learner will ride the full-size bike and I’ll do the on/off the bus bike rack duty and when Dad Windu is with us, Padawan Learner will ride his old mountain bike.

Yes, for the record, I have tried to find a good, used, medium-sized upright bike but have had no luck so far. I’ll keep trying through the summer. If only I could get back to The Netherlands….

Just to be fair - on the flat, I think that the Electra bike I rode during his test ride was just about the most comfortable bike that I’ve ever ridden. They glide so smoothly… but I wasn’t too impressed by the lag in shifting and Dad Windu absolutely despised the back and forth gear system of the 21 speed. That said, just drifting along on a flat bike path was absolute heaven. Tip: if you want to use a Townie on a city bus rack, spin the front wheel backwards to shorten the wheelbase (by a good 4 inches).