Covet

[TwoWheelsDC]

@jrenaut 94265 wrote:

The Viaje bikes are really pretty except I just can not get excited over the curved top tube. I realize there are definite advantages to curved or slanted tubes, but aesthetically I just can’t get myself to like them.

I find the Viaje is one of the few bikes that I don’t mind the curved top tube that much…that curved down tube though? Blech.

[KLizotte]

I use the Vaude Cycle 28 combo bag (they also carry a 22 and 30 size). It is a pannier that cleverly turns into a backpack (or vice versa). Comes with a waterproof cover and helmet holder too. And it has a padded laptop pocket as well.

[Phatboing]

I’m starting to make eyes at the TRP Hylex, because it took me this long to realize that I have two bikes it’s perfect for. Two! Will it be on the Fargo with the bar-ends, or on the dingle-speed Woodchipperized Purple Troll monster thing? Oh boy!

[dasgeh]

Yuba kids’ cargo bike

[Harry Meatmotor]

@dasgeh 94721 wrote:

Yuba kids’ cargo bike

i’ve been watching coverage/attending interbike for almost 20 years now and that’s one of the most clever things i’ve seen that is so devilishly simple i can’t find any jaded industry-type pessimism to be grouchy about!

[KelOnWheels]

@TwoWheelsDC 94271 wrote:

I find the Viaje is one of the few bikes that I don’t mind the curved top tube that much…that curved down tube though? Blech.

You gotta see it from the back when it’s all covered in gravel dust. Then it looks awesome.

[Bruno Moore]

@CaseyKane50 94181 wrote:

You might want to also look at the Arkel line of panniers

A late second to this—I have a pair of Arkels that are my go-to commuter/grocery/growlerhauling/C&O panniers. If it weren’t for the dirt and “how is this still here?” oatmeal in the bottom (grocery bag explosion), they’d pass for put-’em-back-on-the-shelf new. The rack I put on at the same time looks like it’s seen more action than those panniers. I met a guy on the Canal towpath last year who was using his dad’s 20+ year old Arkels.

You can’t destroy them—well, I guess you could with a flamethrower or something, but that’d be cheating.

[ShawnoftheDread]

@Harry Meatmotor 94724 wrote:

i’ve been watching coverage/attending interbike for almost 20 years now and that’s one of the most clever things i’ve seen that is so devilishly simple i can’t find any jaded industry-type pessimism to be grouchy about!

It’s been done (though not as well):
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0055P25QW/ref=mp_s_a_1_14/176-0301103-1738630?qid=1410917606&sr=8-14&pi=AC_SX110_SY165_QL70

[hozn]

I am just not sure I see the need for larger balance bikes. By the time my son outgrew the balance bike he fit great on his 14″ bike and preferred to ride it by that point anyway (faster, has brakes).

[mstone]

@hozn 94733 wrote:

I am just not sure I see the need for larger balance bikes.

They’re for helping older riders learn to ride with panniers.

[dplasters]

@dplasters 94202 wrote:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]6602[/ATTACH]

Come to me my pretty… I can’t turn down 15% off coupons from Timbuk2…….

[Starduster]

@mstone 94734 wrote:

They’re for helping older riders learn to ride with panniers.

Ahem. :p :rolleyes:

[Tim Kelley]

@Harry Meatmotor 94724 wrote:

i’ve been watching coverage/attending interbike for almost 20 years now and that’s one of the most clever things i’ve seen that is so devilishly simple i can’t find any jaded industry-type pessimism to be grouchy about!

I think the Skuut brand balance bikes have been doing the flipped frame for years, right?

[hozn]

@mstone 94734 wrote:

They’re for helping older riders learn to ride with panniers.

Yeah, I guess the pannier part on a balance bike makes even less sense to me than the flip thing. I can’t fathom what a kid would need to carry on a trip around the block — not to mention the silliness of adding weight and balance challenges to the tool designed for learning … but it is cute.

Arguably it’s even sillier than panniers on grown-up bikes!

@Tim Kelley 94745 wrote:

I think the Skuut brand balance bikes have been doing the flipped frame for years, right?

Indeed, it does look like Skuut has been doing this for awhile. I think they have some models that are more elaborately convertible — from tricycle to bicycle, right? Anyway, that also seems silly to me; why would you put a kid on a tricycle when you have a balance bike option … And why on earth would one select a heavy wooden balance bike for a tiny child!? I have no idea why I have such strong opinions about any of this. Kids bikes are very ephemeral.

[dasgeh]

@hozn 94753 wrote:

Yeah, I guess the pannier part on a balance bike makes even less sense to me than the flip thing. I can’t fathom what a kid would need to carry on a trip around the block — not to mention the silliness of adding weight and balance challenges to the tool designed for learning … but it is cute.

You clearly have not met my daughter. She has been asking for a baby seat for her balance bike basically since she got it. She would fill the panniers with her “diaper bag” and her “doctor’s kit” and throw babies in the front basket in a heart beat.

Of course, we’re dying to get her on a bike with brakes so she can stop wearing holes in her shoes…

[Author]

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