[Yak] Baby seats, and mounting a bike with a tall load

[John S. Allen]

At 10:26 AM 10/8/2008, Frank Krygowski wrote:

>I'll answer a question you haven't asked.
>
>There's another, better way to hoist your leg over a bike with a 
>tall load.  Instead of swinging your leg up and back, try swinging 
>it up and forward, over the handlebars.
>
>In detail:  Stand on the left side of the bike with your left hand 
>on the handlebar, your right hand on the seat.  Swing your right leg 
>up and forward as you let go of the handlebar for a second.  Your 
>foot should swing up past the left side of the handlebar, over the 
>bars to the right, then down past the right side of the 
>handlebars.  You grab the handlebars again as you straddle the top tube.
>
>It may sound a little tricky (and it may look like something from 
>Monty Python's "Ministry of Funny Walks"), but it's really easy - 
>much more so than hoisting your leg over the back.

Some of us didn't keep up with the stretching, have suffered 
injuries, etc. and aren't so flexible! (Mea culpa. that's Latin for 
"my bad".) Some of us have higher handlebars than others.

So, thank goodness for the Friday's low top tube, when carrying a 
load on the rear of the bike ane it can't be tilted to lift a leg over..

The major risk of a mishap when mounting a bike with a high load at 
the rear is that if you hold it by the handlebar, not securely enough 
(two hands), it can tilt around the line between the handlebar and 
the rear tire contact patch and dump load (or baby) on the ground.

When flinging raising a leg over the handlebar, you can't keep the 
hands there! You have to hold the bike securely by the saddle. Or to 
have a cooperative  baby hold onto your waist.

And, if the child seat's footrests cause heel strikes, then it needs 
to be mounted a bit farther to the rear.

John S. Allen

Regional Director for New York and New England, League of American Bicyclists
League Cycling Instructor #77-C and Member of the League's Education Committee

http://bikexprt.com