Trail-a-bike upgrade

Thanks for the post Peter,
I've read quite a few of your posts in the archives, both on T-A-B's
and on tall frames (I'm short at 6'-4"). Right now at a LBS there is
a Trek with a 24" wheel and 6 speed drive train. I'm leaning pretty
hard towards this bike since Trek is only making single speeds in the
24" wheel this year. Also it's marked down to $175 from $250. I'm
sure I could get $50 for our Instep. I'm not sure about the Trek
hitch but I also have a race car and through my race car buddies I
could upgrade the hitch to an automotive type U-joint that would be
bullit-proof.
thanks agian
Shayne Dillinger


I used an Adams for 5 years, mostly off-road. Over that time my daughter went
from 45 to 85 lb. We put tons of trail miles on it, wearing one tire down to
the cords. We also bashed it over innumerable rocks & logs. We never crashed,
and it never broke. We had the 5-speed model, which I think is a good idea, as
even if the child is too young to understand shifting, you can "pre-shift" for
terrain at first, then tell them to put it in a given number later on. My
daughter grasped shifting about the same time she outgrew it. The Adams has a
20" wheel, which I think is fine. I was reluctant to retire it, so I wished it
was a 24" at the time, but she went on to a 26" bike pretty seamlessly. The
generation I had developed some slop in the hitch, causing some flop, but I
actually think that caused her to learn to balance, she became adept at riding
with a list to one side, and it didn't seem to bother her in the slightest.
The newer ones have larger hitches, so they should be better anyway. I like
the Adams hitch design, I had hitches on 3 different bikes, and I just left
them on for my solo rides. One thing to consider, the Adams isn't all that
expensive, and they're a cinch to resell. I've had many unsolicited offers. My
daughter won't let me sell it, though, too many memories sniff.

Very nice site Karren. Looks like you and your girls have a lot of fun.

Shayne Dillinger



(Karen M.) wrote in message . com...
Shayne wrote:
...
The tandom thing may be something we try in the future as my wife just
can't ride very fast. We just had the Mid-West Tandom Ralley here in
Dayton, were 550 teams spent a 3 day weekend riding around our bike
trails. It was pretty neat to see, they were everywhere. We even
went down to their hotel on Friday night and crashed their trade show.

And you didn't buy the ancient 23/21" road tandem ("must sell!!")
for $450 from the Canadian folks???
Tons of info about TABs and a reasonably inexpensive tandem:
http://home.earthlink.net/~veloise/GRLPOWER.HTM
I sold the TAB when I got my Counterpoint. Another option was
kiddie cranks; I picked up a pair, changed my mind, and sold them
almost immediately via tandemmag.com. I could have sold 20 sets.
HTH
--Karen M.