[brado1]

This past weekend my son and i made our way up to Tsali, NC for a weekend of riding, campin' and having fun. Mom decided camping wasn't her thing, so we left her a home.

What a great weekend. heading up through Asheville traffic was at a crawls pace, so we did a u-turn and went up the Blue Ridge Pkwy for the slower, but more scenic route... Harrison even turned the Game-Boy off to enjoy the trip :thumbsup:

We met up with the SirBikesa-lot Gang and their families, Harrison spent the whole weekend riding his bike, lap after lap around the campground.

putting the Banshee to good use

more laps

Here's Daniel on his son Gabe's bike

Daniel havin' fun

Sirbikesalot sans videocamera

little dude on the trailer-bike "Come on Dad, Faster...Faster!"

Taking a Break

Me and Mini-Me

Ride on

No better way to end a Day of Riding!!!​

thanks Little Buddy!

.

 

[gabe]

Thanks for sharing......

You guys have inspired me. I'll have to get my little buddy (6 years old) and hit the trail on the old tag along.........I just hope that I can pull the load beyond the drive way and onto a trail.

 

[Maida7]

VERY COOL!

Brad:

How old is your son? What's he riding? My eldest is 7 and he's still on a 16" wheeled walmart BMX with the rear coaster brake. We have done a few VERY flat trails and he just dosn't have the power to make it up even slight inclines on upaved surfaces. Whats your experience? How do you like the tow along thing? What kind of trails do you guys do together?

TIA

 

[brado1]

VERY COOL!

Brad:

How old is your son? What's he riding? My eldest is 7 and he's still on a 16" wheeled walmart BMX with the rear coaster brake. We have done a few VERY flat trails and he just dosn't have the power to make it up even slight inclines on upaved surfaces. Whats your experience? How do you like the tow along thing? What kind of trails do you guys do together?

TIA

My son is 9 , the trailer-bike is great fun, we hit all kinds of trails Bent Creek, Dupont, Clemson, Spartanburg... we've gone up Little Hickory then down Ingles Field Gap (prior to the trail-rework) and Wolf Branch... We went a little slower than i normally would do it.:eekster: He totally digs it. he gets to go faster than he rides on his little Kona.

Kona has a 20' Makena which is a very light bike for beginners, Harrison's is a 24" Hula and it's taken a year to grow into for him to getting used to the larger wheels.

The trailer-bike is a Giant Halfwheeler 7 they make a singlespeeder as well... but he likes the gears!... it's great going uphill to.. all you gotta do is say "Pedal, Pedal, Pedal !!!" he really helps out. every now and then i'll hear "come on Dad, Pedal!"

 

[DM-SC]

That's just way too KEWL! :thumbsup:

 

[wxflyer]

when did he switch from the 20"?

My son is ready to move up to an MTB, but I'm not sure if I should get a 20" or 24". He's 7 years old, not sure how tall, but the 16" BMX bike is definitely too small. How'd your son handle the transition to the bigger bike? Should I go w/the 24" now so he can grow into it?

Thanks, great photos!
John

 

[brado1]

My son is ready to move up to an MTB, but I'm not sure if I should get a 20" or 24". He's 7 years old, not sure how tall, but the 16" BMX bike is definitely too small. How'd your son handle the transition to the bigger bike? Should I go w/the 24" now so he can grow into it?

Thanks, great photos!
John

my son just turned eight when i bought the Kona Hula, my son is a little smaller than most kids his age, and his hands in particular had a hard time at first with the brakes, but in no time he got the feel for it and was gone. For a while i let him choose which he wanted to ride the tank of a 20" or the 24" every now and then he'd choose the 20, but he grew tired of the heavy bike, so now it's just the Kona

 

[wxflyer]

I really like the Kona 20" and 24" bikes after checking out the web site, but the nearest dealer is 1+ hours away, and they didn't have either in stock.

So...I went to my local dealer and looked at the Giant MTX 225 and 125. The 225 (24" '06 model) was just too big. My son could ride it, but it wasn't alot of fun. I went with the '05 MTX 125, a 20" MTB. Zach loves it! It looks like a well made bike, not too heavy. I'm really impressed with the quality of the components. Tektro quality seems alot better than it was several years ago.

Haven't hit the dirt yet, but we have a blast on our neighborhood rides. Now that it's cooled off a bit, we'll be hitting the trails!

Thanks for sharing your experiences w/your son.:thumbsup:
Cheers,
John

 

[tennessee17]

You sir are the man!

Some of the most enjoyable memories from my childhood was clinging for dear life to my father's shirt while riding his Harley around town.

Your son will thank you one day for taking him biking..... especially at Tsali.

I have yet to visit Tsali this year. Your pictures not only brought back fond memories of Dad and I on his hog, but also many fun memories I've experiences at Tsali.

Thanks for the most excellent post!

 

[dstinsley]

From one dad to another, Brad: One word - AWESOME!