104 degrees, plus humidity! That's really tough. You guys are all troopers but esp. those kids. That break in the shade looks inviting.
The loading problem is common when you have both panniers & a trunk bag or saddlebag. The idea of the lower (second) set of rails on the rack is to separate the side bags from the top bag. It sounds like the backabike ones don't allow this? Do they go on the lower rail? Ideally you'd get one kid's worth of school stuff in each pannier & have the front basket for your stuff, maybe not have to mess with the saddlebag. RE: kids bikes conditions: if those tires are typical kids bike tires & they've been baking in the garage in southern Nevada for a few years it would be wise to replace them, worn or not. Even if they hold air, the rubber is aged & brittle. Look at it this way: $100 at the LBS is a lot cheaper, more convenient & less stressful than a trip to the ER, and they can check the rest of the bike over, i.e., brake cables, other crash inducing stuff (ever seen a kid's pedal fall off?). Even if you have to take the van part way, you & crew will be cycling away from the madness. My wife & I do a regular ride on Wednesdays that takes us by 2 schools. In our district, the kids are out at 1:30 on Wednesdays. Nothing like massive SUVs and not-so-mini vans jockeying for pole position in the kid pick-up zone. dougP On Wednesday, August 31, 2016 at 6:05:44 PM UTC-7, LeahFoy wrote: > > Ah, the Bicycle Bus. Thanks for asking! T is out of it for now, pending a > new bike purchase and/or better ways of carrying her load. The pair of > sisters will be back at it again in the morning. I asked Mom to replace > that tire; she said she would refill it again and see if it holds. No word > on that, but I’m a bit scared to take that child on that lousy bike down > that huge hill again. > > We biked every trip until this afternoon. It was dreadfully hot (104) and > humid to boot. That was a losing combination and not worth the risk of heat > exhaustion. We did do the morning commute but for afternoon I parked off > campus and took the boys and their bikes home in the van. > > It was really too bad, because this afternoon I got my Nitto Big Back Rack > AND my Backabike bags on the bike! I plan to take photos tomorrow when I’m > not in cleaning clothes and we’re out on the road again. I think Little > Guy’s backpack will fit in one Backabike, and I will stow my own stuff in > the other. The big backpack can either go in the front basket or maybe I > can lash it to the rear rack. We’ll see. There was some wailing and > gnashing of teeth when I realized I couldn’t also use my Saddlesack - I > couldn’t open the Backabike bags. I really don’t know how I got this > ridiculous, but maybe I have Rivendellitis, which is characterized by > attempts to employ all your Riv stuff at once and then stare lovingly at it > while proclaiming this is the best setup yet! > > We have a new family joining us on the Bicycle Bus next week! Lots of > other people have stopped to chat about biking and how maybe they should, > as well. As I waited on campus today, there were cars honking and angry > drivers doing their best to show their frustration and other drivers trying > to cut in line while the harassed-looking crossing guard volunteers tried > to regulate the mess. So grateful for my bike!!! > > PS Here are some photos from yesterday, before my new bags and rack. > PPS I had to attach my Backabikes to the top rail of my rack. The bottom > clip won’t work if I string the bags on the pannier rails. Anyone else have > this issue? Am I doing it wrong or what? > > 1. Looking down the hill we just climbed. We're halfway done! > [image: image1.JPG] > > 2. Resting. Then more climbing. 101 degrees and only that one cloud in the > sky! Troopers![image: image2.JPG] > > 3. The grips I shellacked and twined. > [image: image3.JPG] > > 4. My now unusable Saddlesack. 😩 Too much stuff in the front basket. > [image: image4.JPG] > > > > > > > > On Aug 31, 2016, at 5:17 PM, Deacon Patrick <lamon...@mac.com > <javascript:>> wrote: > > How progresses the Bicycle Bus? >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> > With abandon, > Patrick > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the > Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this topic, visit > https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rbw-owners-bunch/y1-Q4VoxMaM/unsubscribe > . > To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to > rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com <javascript:>. > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com > <javascript:>. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
