Category: The Bike Log

Riding with Pre K kids. A letter from Jeff.

The kids are going back to school! If you’re like me, the parent of a Hedgehog rider, you likely woke up this morning to find that your four-year-old crawled into bed with you last night and is softly snoring into your face. Pre-K is a sweet age. My little son wants to be a big, independent kid – and he’s not quite there yet. My son goes to sleep on his own, for instance, but he still ends up crawling into our bed before morning. 

Bike to Work Day

Today is bike to work day. If you learned this just now, chances are you didn’t ride in. That’s ok. Tomorrow would be a great day to start.

A few years ago, I had to travel to a meeting in downtown Los Angeles. My best friend lives in LA, so I planned to stay with him the night before. For years, I’d hassled him for not biking to work. I rode everywhere by bike in San Francisco, so I brought my bike to LA expressly to bike commute to downtown LA and prove how simple it was.

Muir Woods National Park is closed.

In case you’re not aware, we’re almost a month into a government shutdown that is causing hardship to millions of people.  If the current administration didn’t cause such widespread tragedy so consistently, I’d dismiss all the current news as a joke.  Unfortunately, our President is tragic and his destruction is not a joke.  

Dry Earth

I’m sad to admit it, but it’s not so rare for me to have gaps in my riding. Regular, long gaps. Where “real life” is allowed to get in the way. Whatever that means. Occasionally (and fortunately, more often than not), my 1st ride back is usually one of endorphin-filled surges, ear-to-ear smiles (with a few close-calls as my already shoddy technical skills show themselves). Those rides make me feel full, gleeful, alive, and stoked to be on my bike, no matter how out-of-shape I may feel. But every once in a while, I have a 1st ride back that is not so glamorous. Today proves to be the latter. 

Cleary Bikes Inspiration

I started Cleary Bikes to give kids the tools to try cool stuff.  My son started adventuring on his balance bike and now he jumps off Navy Destroyers. He’s twelve.  I’m very proud.    

My son didn’t jump on a bike, mind you.  He’s a skateboarder.  His balance bike and various pedal bikes he rode by 3 taught him coordination…

Plus Size Fun – Meerkat with Kenda 2.6″ Plus tires

I have a pretty fun job. On Sunday night, father son duo Jim and Paxson tried a new bike set-up on Mt. Tam. Meerkat Chat I met them with my twelve-year-old son, who videotaped and edited all our footage, and my two-year-old son who rode like a boss down Diaz Ridge on his Starfish. We had smoothies together after.

4 More Years!

Our little bike company enjoyed our 4th Sea Otter this year.  Amazing. 

The two Hedgehogs pictured here are each three years old and they still ride smoothly and look great.  It feels like we started a little pedal revolution when we rolled into Sea Otter in our VW Vanagon loaded inside and out with bikes.  Our first conversations were:

MTBR 2017 Sea Otter Classic Coverage

With immense attention to detail, Cleary has set out to create truly child specific bikes that will fit your grom correctly and offer features that help them learn how to properly ride a bike and do it in a fun and progressive way.

From easy-to-operate singlespeed drivetrains and lightweight frames…

The White Room

We managed to keep the bikes clean just long enough to have pictures taken.  Then, people started swarming the bikes and riding them all over.  Fun.  And completely violative of our insurance policy.  Alas.

How to Fit a Bicycle

We at Cleary Bikes know that fit is important, especially for little ones just learning to ride.  “Bicycle fitting is a subject most people find quite mysterious.  Fitting systems with charts and graphs, computer software, measuring devices and “rules of thumb”…