Chatting with friends over a few glasses of wine after they
hosted dinner for us last Saturday, the talk turned to Christmas presents for
the kids. It turned out their two boys wanted bikes. They said they were going
to grab a couple of cheap bikes in Halfords. Inside my head I started
screaming: “noooooooo!”, I’ve been that soldier. After the problems I experienced
with two Halfords bikes bought for my daughters to learn to cycle, I found it
hard not to grab my hosts by the short front and demand they buy their children
better bikes. Who wants a bike whose parts have not been put together properly
so bits fall off and the brakes never work? You end up taking the bike to a
decent bike mechanic who looks at the bike as though you have delivered a big
dog turd into the shop. Halfords children’s bikes, unlike pets, are only for
Christmas. They are otherwise useless. Give your child the gift of a decent
bike.
I waited for my heart rate to slow down, drank a long sip of
wine, and suggested they purchase decent bikes for the lads. They responded by
saying the bikes were only for out the front of the house, not for serious
riding like some children do. They baulked at the idea of paying the price of quality
bikes. This is the problem. While Halfords and toy stores who also sell bikes
(such as Smyths) sell cheap and nasty bikes, the prices of these bikes have
become the baseline for what a bike should cost. It isn’t. These bikes have
heavy frames, crap brakes which hardly ever work and they inevitably become a
rusted wreck as they are disregarded by your kids as useless.
I made all of these arguments, but I was met with: “you would
say that, you are used to spending a fortune on bike gear”. I do. The proof is,
however, in the pudding. My bikes and my childrens’ bike (those not purchased
in Halfords) work. They are not excessively heavy, they go fast, the brakes
work and they are well looked after as a result. Family days involving cycling
are greeted with happy shouts, not miserable references to: “the brakes are
still not working”.
The conversation had by now reached what I thought was its
bottom line. Bikes were just one thing their boys wanted for Christmas and so
the budget available for presents wouldn’t stretch to a decent bike. This
argument is the equivalent of saying: “my kids want an iPad and other things,
so we are only getting him a LeapPad”. I can understand the need to have a
budget for each child and to stick to it, but when did getting a bike
constitute only one of your “big” presents? When I was a kid, you were lucky to
get a second hand bike and it would be your main present.
Anyhow, I had a solution to offer. I suggested one of them
(both PAYE workers) did the Bike to Work Scheme. The tax incentive is so good
they could have purchased excellent bikes for both the bikes for around e150
each, but no. They said: “The lads don’t need good bikes”, “they’d only be
stolen”, “where would be lock them up?” and other reasons for just not being
bothered to buy their lads (8 and 9 years old) bikes which would last years
(not days). In the end it came down to them being anti-bike. They wanted to be
able to say the kids had bikes, but they were not in the slightest bit bothered
if the bikes were functional or not.
This brings me to the final thing I will say on the subject.
How much has a parent spent on a child’s safety by the time they are 8 or 9
years old. They buy a safe car, car seats, stair gates, a buggy, a high chair
and more (these items would have cost thousands of euro). But when they are old
enough to ride a bike parents seem to stop caring. The brakes usually do not
work or work well on cheap bikes. That’s “THE BRAKES”. These are the things
which are mean’ to stop your child when they need to stop, such as when they reach
a busy road and to not stop means to die. Buy your kids decent bikes. If you do
not, you could regret it for the rest of your life.
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