Relaxed bicycle cruise group

[Gryphonn]

Spring is coming and I'm looking for others to form an ongoing group for bicycle cruises. Although I mainly mountain bike, I also build kustom cruiser bicycles and would like to join up with any others (beach cruiser, recumbent, mtb, bmx, young, old, male, female, etc) for relaxed rides in and around Nanaimo, Parkway Trail, E&N Trail, Cedar or w.h.y.? Times, locations and routes to be decided by group suggestion and/or concensus.

[click]

Sounds like a plan.


what's a kustom cruiser bicycle. That's your livelyhood?





oh ya... google

[Gryphonn]

Thanks for the speedy reply Click. No, I don't build kustom bicycles for a living, just a hobby. I've been building, customizing and restoring cars/motorcycles for about 25+ years and just started building bicycles a couple of years ago after seeing some of the creations on www.chopperbicycle.net/forums. In the last 'Bicycle Build-off' one of my bikes placed out of the top 3 but in the top 10, up against 50 entries from around the world, it's huge in Holland and Europe. Healthier and much cheaper than building custom motorcycles to be sure!

What's a kustom cruiser you ask? Not everybody's cup of tea, but it's fun to get creative and push the boundries...



I've asked around the bike shops and googled without finding anyone except the nanaimo mountain bike club, but I already have group of buddies to go downhilling with. There are a lot of bicycles sold in stores here, it'd be nice to get 5-50 people together on a sunny weekend afternoon or weekday evening for about an hour or so, couple of times a month/weekly, just for fun and to meet new people. Depending on who's interested, the time/distance/difficulty could be adjusted for those with young(ish) children, I'm not necessarily looking to start a group for pub cruises (although not out of the question occasionally). I was thinking something like: meet at Maffeo Sutton Park, ride along the seawall, up and through Bowen park, back through downtown, stop at Timmies for coffee and chat, then down to the start point, or perhaps half to full length of the Parkway Trail, picnic reststop (or the Black Bear Pub) and back, etc. You could check back here and/or send me your e-mail and I will drop you a line if anything develops.

Alan

[riverrat]

Awesome, Gryphonn, and welcome to the forums!

I can't join the biking crew, but it sounds pretty awesome. I like your seawall-Bowen Park route idea.

Hey, nice bike (above). Is that a hand-brake behind the pedals?

EDIT: By the way, check out this cool bike riding group event thingy that was going on a couple years ago. Not sure whether those people still do this...

[Gryphonn]

Thanks for the compliment Riverrat. Too bad there's no contact info for this group, it'd be great to hook up with some of them, kinda the idea I was looking for. Perhaps that's a good way to get things started, just put up a poster and see who turns up, I'm a bit surprised there's only been one reply with the number of people checking the post. The lever underneath is actually the shifter. The bike runs an 8" disc brake up front and a Nexus 4 speed internal geared hub with coaster drum brake in the rear.

[shifty]

I would definitely join up for a ride.

I have noticed the occasional posters for critical mass bike rides in Nanaimo over the last year and a bit. I used to go to some of those in Vancouver and they are very fun. Unfortunately, the events here always seem to take place mid-weekday which really doesn't work for working stiff like me....

[Gryphonn]

Shifty: I agree that day time mid-week rides aren't appealling to most of us working people. Weekend days/afternoons or early evening mid-week is do-able for most people I think. We went mountain biking until after 7:30 last night and didn't even need to turn our lights on. Sounds like we have at least 4 interested people now, that's enough for me, bring a friend or two. Pm me and we'll set something up soon.

[Gryphonn]

Here's my suggestion for a ride around the downtown area, takes me under 40 minutes to complete on my 56lbs cruiser bike, shouldn't be too difficult for most people. Very scenic, along the waterfront, through Bowen Park beside the stream, ocean views from along Howard Ave, through the Old City Quarter, etc. Anyone game? Feel free to post alternate suggestions.

[Gryphonn]

Need inspiration to get on your bike and cruise? Check out this Dutch link...

[Soda]

hahahahaa... I love the "legalese" under the route, Gryphonn!! Always need the CYA Caveat!!! How long is the route do ya figure?