You don’t have to wait until your children are grown until heading out on a bicycle tour with them. Small children will enjoy the tour just as much as you will, although it will be a very different experience for them than for you. You can take a bike tour with small children – and have a variety of options for how to carry them.

Trailers: There are many trailers available for hauling young children behind your bike and these are great for kids up to about age five. Until age 3, they are the only option possible, but some kids prefer trailers to other means until a bit older. Pay attention to the needs of your child when making the decision.

Trailers are wonderful in that children can sleep while you are pedaling. While awake, they have the choice of watching the scenery or playing with toys. Plus – you can use extra space in the trailer for additional gear.

Trailer bikes: Starting at age 3 or 4, you may be able to transition your child onto a trailer bike. A trailer bike is a one-wheeled contraption that hooks on to your bike, and has the advantage of allowing your child to help you pedal.

The downside to a trailer bike is the lost efficiency – the connection system simply isn’t as rigid as a tandem so you will be wasting a fair amount of energy hauling the trailer bike. Also, if you get a cheaper, one-gear trailer bike, your child will not be able to help pedal up hills.

Tandem: A tandem is the vehicle of choice for kids that are big enough to stay seated and pedal. They are much more rigid and efficient that trailer bikes, but are also much more expensive. On a tandem, you are teaching your child proper cadence for pedaling and road safety techniques.

In order to extend the life of the tandem, you can buy one that is very large for your child and put a “kiddie crank” (child stoker kit) on it. The kiddie crank raises the pedals up to where his feet are and can be lowered as he grows – until you take it off completely. In this way, your tandem can fit you both for many years.

Coupler with child’s bike: Another option that is fairly new on the market is a coupler that can attach your child’s bike to yours. Using either the Trail Gator or Follow Me coupler, you can tow your child through traffic or other tricky situations and then unhook his bike so he can ride on his own when safe.

Getting kids out on a bike is a great experience for all involved and you’ll have wonderful memories of your time together.

Learn more about bicycling with children. Stop by Nancy Sathre-Vogel’s site where you can find out all about bike touring with children and how you can tour your your children.

Buying a mountain bike can be a bit frustrating not to mention time consuming. In this article we will be discussing a few things to consider before plunking down your hard earned cash on a mountain bike.

As you will find when you start looking for a mountain bike, there is a large range of prices attached to these things. Before you begin your search for a new mountain bike, you should determine your upper limit as to what you are willing to spend. With that said, you should stay away from the mass merchant stores such as K-Mart and Wal-Mart and concentrate instead on the local bike shops in your area. You will get much better service as well as a much better bike for your money.

You will soon find that all mountain bikes are designed around several different terrain types and riding styles. The first thing you should determine is the terrain types you will be encountering the most. You need to determine whether you will be doing cross country racing, smooth riding, mountain cruising, or lift accessed downhill. By doing your due diligence you will be ensuring that the mountain bike you select fits you and your style of riding intead of that of the sales staff.

A full suspension mountain bike is always worth the extra price if your wallet will allow it. The hard tail without the rear suspension is a much lighter bike and pedals more efficiently. However the full suspension mountain bikes are more comfortable as well as giving you better overall control. But again, you will want to factor in your price range, type of terrain, and riding style before finalizing your purchase.

Comparing mountain bikes component to component is nearly impossible, as there are far too many combinations available. The best way to go about doing this is finding a few components that are the most important to you and making sure the rest or the minimums fall within your price range. You can start with the fork then look at the wheels and rear derailleur.

During the year, the prices of mountain bikes can fluctuate quite a bit. Spring through summer is the main buying season. If you can wait until the right price pops up, normally in the fall and winter, you can save a couple hundred dollars. Many bike shops will also offer discounts or other accessories if you buy from them.

Ranking up there alongside finding a good price on your mountain bike is finding a good bike dealer. Finding a dealer who cares more about making sure you end up with a great bike as opposed to simply a high priced one may be a bit tricky but can be done. You will find that a top notch mountain bike dealer will keep keep a clean repair shop along with giving you the impression that they can be trusted.

Make sure that you test ride as many mountain bikes as you can that fall within your riding style and price range. The more you get the chance to do this the easier it is going to be to determine the ones that feel right for you. Test rides also give you the opportunity to determine first hand what works for you and what does not.

Make sure you avail yourself of any product reviews that you find online or elsewhere concerning the bike you have identified for purchase. Product reviews are some of the best ways to learn first hand from the horse’s mouth so to speak, about the performance and reliability of a particular mountain bike before committing to your final purchase.

Debbie Parkinson spends most of her time outdoors in addition to writing about challenging outdoor activities. Mountain biking is a fabulous outdoor activity but can be significantly enhanced with a pair of coolmax socks. These over the calf socks wick sweat away from your feet to insure they stay dry and comfortable for a full days ride.

You will find the cost of a mountain bike frame to be in direct proportion to the a) material used in the construction and the b) treatment that material has received. As you begin your research for a mountain bike frame you will soon learn there are five types of materials used in the construction – a) high tensile steel, b) chromoly steel, c) aluminum, d) titanium, and e) carbon fiber. In addition, tubing material treatments adding to the increased cost of a frame are a) oversized diameters, b) heat treating, and c) butting.

Lower priced mountain bikes frames are usually constructed with a very durable alloy known as high tensile steel. High tensile steel has a large carbon content so it is less stiff than chromoly steel. Because of this, additional material is necessary to ensure that this frame is stiff enough to be used in bicycle frames. As you can guess, this process makes the bicycle relatively heavy.

Relatively inexpensive to produce, you’ll find high tensile steel in trail bikes, city bikes, and even entry level mountain bikes. There are some bikes that come with a chromoly seat tube, while the rest is high tensile steel.

Short for steel alloy, chromoly (chromoly steel) is best described by its major additives – chromium and molybdenum. This is probably the most refined framing material, giving over 100 years of dependable service.

Dependent upon the kind of heat treating and butting, you may see this material contained in bikes from as little as $400 dollars on up through and beyond $1500. The chromoly steel used in the manufacture provides excellent durability and a compliant ride characteristic.

For the past 15 years, aluminum has been refined in pretty much the same way as chromoly. There have been various alloys developed, as well as heat treatment, oversizing, and butting. With dual suspension bikes, aluminum is the preferred material as it’s the stiffest and most cost effective.

Aluminum is stiffer than chromoly, and therefore it will crack before chromoly. Of course, this depends on how you ride and how much abuse you give the frame. The advantages of aluminum is that the frame is very light and very stiff through oversizing or butting.

Even though titanium is somewhat exotic, the prices for this material have come down over the last few years. Frames made of titanium remain expensive because it takes longer to weld the tubes to the frame.

Small amounts of aluminum and vandium are normally mixed with titanium making it an alloy and improving its weldability and ride characteristics. Providing enhanced fatigue and corrosion properties, titanium is more compliant than is chromoly.

Regardless of the frame material you choose for your new mountain bike, a big factor determining its life and longevity is where you ride and your riding style. If you take care of your mountain bike and treat the frame with respect, most frame materials will last for years.

Mountain biking is a wonderful sport and will take you places you’ve never been to before. Now make sure you return to where you started with a GPS Garmin Watch. The Garmin GPS Watch such as the Garmin Forerunner Watch is going to make sure you don’t get swallowed up by the wilderness you set out to conquer.

Nothing beats free! If you want a bicycle, now you can pick one up without having to pay anything. You just have to know where to look! Many people give away their bikes when they don’t want them any more. Some people even toss them in the trash.

Every year, people give away their bikes because they don’t need or want them anymore. This year you can be the person that benefits from someone else giving away their used bike.

The Internet is a great place to start your search for a free bicycle. There are two web sites in general that should be checked for bicycles that are being given away near you. Of course, you’ll find much more free stuff being given away than just bicycles, so you should definitely check these out even if you don’t want a free bicycle!

The first web site is called Freecycle.org. There you can join the group for your area and see what is being given away for free. Depending on where you live, you can often find someone giving away a bicycle they no longer want. Everything on this site is being given away for free. This site is a good place to get rid of some stuff you don’t want also. If you have a bunch of stuff lying around that you want off of your hands, you can give it away on Freecycle.org.

Craigslist.com – it’s such a simple web site, and it’s so popular that, depending where you live, you should be able to find a free bike that someone is giving away near you. After you select your area on Craigslist, look under the “For Sale” area for the “Free” section.

Check those two sites often and you are likely to find someone giving away a free bike, (unless you live in the middle of nowhere!).

For extreme toys, alternative transportation, and human powered fun, check out ActionIsle, a web site filled with the latest and greatest, scooters, electric skateboards, cycles, sleds, luges, watercraft and more. This and other unique content ” articles are available with free reprint rights.

Picking out a new bike for anyone especially a new biker can be a real challenge if one pays heed to every new endorsement on the net/newspaper. Every bike has been designed in such a way that it meets the needs of the biker of every genre in a satisfactory. Bikes available in the stores are available for a cost-effective price of $500 and for a pricey note of $10,000 too.

While picking out a bike for yourself you will have to consider many factors such as the type of terrain you will be riding your bike on and the region in which you will be residing. These criteria are capable of excluding a wide range of options from the list. Geographic location matters a lot at the time of purchase for example; if you want to ride your bike around gently sloping hills, you should avoid the purchase of a downhill bike.

The more the number of location options in your hand for riding the more will be the number of styles to choose from.

Although you may have a big list in your hands in the order of preference, every bike that you may think of buying is constructed on a basic concept that remains the same in all of them.

‘All mountain bike’ is one variant that most of the purchasers opt for. These bikes have been patterned in a manner that they can be used for all-purpose and riding styles. You can ride comfortably on any form of terrains with this bike.

When viewed at a glance externally cross country bikes and mountain bikes may seem similar to most of the new riders, even when they have may things dissimilar in their make-up. Riders who are mainly looking for the speed attribute in their bike should opt for the purchase of a cross-country bike. It is for this reason that narrow tires are installed in these bikes.

Bikers looking forward to the purchase of a bike that is reliable enough for the performance of stunts in a satisfactory manner should opt for the purchase of Freeride bikes. Freeride bikes render the much-desired freeness with their design that bears the weight of every jump and curve of the stunt.

Purchasers rarely go for the buy of Downhill bikes. These bikes are only meant for going down the slope and cannot be used for going up a slope, as they are heavy. The design of Downhill bikes is made in such a way that they can be used only for easy motion in a downhill manner.

After having a look at the attributes of the bikes mentioned above, riders will feel more confident when they decide the bike appropriate for purchase.

Find out more about mountain bikes and which one you should purchase at www.MountainBikesOnline.net