Bikes for the Grandkids

This summer we left our camper trailer at a campground in Littleton, NH called Crazy Horse. We decided to leave it in one place rather than travel to different locations. Now we can come and go as we please without having to pull the trailer and be bothered with the trailer setup. You can see the campground web site at the link …. http://www.ucampnh.com/crazyhorse/default.asp

We also bring our grandkids to the campground as often as we can and they really enjoy all the camp attractions. There is a swimming pool, playground, game room, camp store and fishing pond. In addition, most of the other children at camp have bicycles that they ride all around the camp roads and trails.

Although our grandkids have bikes at home we wanted to have other bikes that we could leave at the campsite. Consequently, we started looking online and in stores to purchase some inexpensive but rugged bikes that they could use. We needed 3 BMX type mountain bikes with 20 inch wheel size and found that the prices ranged from $70 to several hundred. You can see a sample bike at the web link ….. http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=888103

We also decided to look at the local Salvation Army Thrift Store for some used bikes since we frequently donate used clothes and other items and have seen bikes there. On our first visit we purchased one bike that needed a little clean up and paid only $10.00. After a few more visits, we had the 3 bikes that I repaired with new tire tubes or nuts and bolts or chain links. I still make weekly visits to the store to find other bikes that I can fix and have given them to other kids at camp that had none. You can locate the nearest thrift store to you at the following web link ….. http://www.use.salvationarmy.org/use/www_use_mas.nsf/vw-sublinks/C0EC25AA664045D1852574DC005FF44E?openDocument

With a few common tools you can make most bike repairs and there are online web sites that show you how. A few of these web sites are at the following links ….. (Bike Encyclopedia) http://www.sheldonbrown.com/ and (Bike Repair Videos) http://video.google.com/videosearch?sourceid=navclient&rlz=1T4GGLJ_enUS228US228&q=Bike+Tire+Repair&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=FCh4SuPHGpCNtgfZps2WCQ&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4

You can also see some photos of the bikes that I have purchased and repaired at the following web link ………… http://picasaweb.google.com/markryan312/BikeRepair73009


Please send comments and suggestions to markryan82@comcast.net