Last Ride of the Halfwheeler

I bought this Giant Halfwheeler trail-a-bike 5 or 6 years ago for $75 off Craigslist. I had been thinking the kids have just about outgrown it. To give it one last hurrah, I hooked it up a few weekends back when Henry wanted to go riding with me on an early morning library run.

Turns out, a seat post mounted trail-a-bike, a lightish 'cross frame, and a burly 10 year old isn't the best combination in the world:

New Bike: Raleigh Pardner

While I was visiting China a few weeks back, I made a somewhat impulsive online purchase of a Raleigh Pardner fatbike, using their corporate discount code (in a bit of odd coincidence, the Raleigh is presumably made in China, where I was, but shipped from a Central Ohio warehouse, where I live). I had a hankering to try a steel fatbike, got tired of waiting for a used Pugsley to show up, and so decided to order the Pardner before Raleigh's rumored departure from mountain bikes.

A big, heavy box was waiting for me when I got home Saturday morning:

It went together pretty quickly, although I haven't bothered adjusting the hubs yet, if they need it. Raleigh thoughtfully included a few bags of reflectors and dork discs that will never get installed:

There's a lot of open space in my neighborhood, but not many trails. One of my ideas is I can use this bike for local bushwhacking:

Bikes of China

I had a business trip to China last month, so of course I took some bike pictures. Hordes of Flying Pigeons burdened with ridiculous loads? Not so much. Where we stayed in the city center of Guangzhou, it was mostly commuter bikes like this: