Today the speedo clicked over to 1000 kms together on the bike.
That’s like Brisbane to Sydney. San Francisco to Salt Lake City. Amsterdam to Berlin.
Riding with my grandson Remy is like medicine. I feel better.
Sometimes a drug. I get high. I feel waves of love?/something come down my neck across my shoulders.
I’ll unpack what I’ve learned in case you want to do it to.
What Sort of Cyclist Am I?
I’m a 65-year-old bloke and first-time grandad.
I’ve cycled regularly for 20 years, both as a commuter and a casual road rider in Lycra.
I ride about 80 km a week, and I feel tired from it.
My only cycling claim to fame is that I have ridden Brisbane’s Mt Cootha over 1200 times. It has taken 26 years, so I might hold the record for the s-l-o-w-e-s-t attempt.
When buying this bike, I was not in a cyclist’s mindset. I was after an introductory bike at an introductory price for an introductory experience.
1000 kms. Really?
We’ve been riding together for 6 months since I bought the bike in Sept 2025.
He was just 12 months old on the first ride. He has loved it since day one.
Remy is with Nanny and me two days a week. Each day I pick up and drop off on the bike.
Remy lives 7 kms away.
Then there are swimming lessons, library visits, park rides, childcare pickups and supermarket trips.
So I conservatively calculated he has done two-thirds of the journey.
Here’s my bike odometer today. It doesn’t take long to add up
The Bike
I chose an entry-level electric bike with disc brakes.
It cost approx AUD $1200.
You can easily pay into the $3 - $4K range up to the $10K mark.
I’ve been riding on side streets and bike paths and I have not had one problem with this bike.
It’s a Pedal Comet 3 Disc Electric Hybrid Bike from a popular bike retailer.
This is a Chinese basic model that must be sold in the millions worldwide, branded under different names.
Why I chose this bike:
What happens when you wear baggy shorts with full pockets, like I do when tending to children? With a horizontal bar on a regular bike design, you try to swing your leg over, but the pant leg catches your thigh. You can’t get the leg over. You wobble and hop and try to regain balance. With a child on the bike, the bike is top-heavy. The danger of dropping the bike with the child onboard is great. This is why I chose a step-through design.
BUT… I didn’t realise that the kid’s bike seat I chose requires a fixed bar between the seat post and the handlebar stem. I sort of snookered myself. So, I now wear looser pants with shorter leg length.
The base model of this bike has calliper brakes. I went one model up — an extra $200 — for hydraulic disc brakes. I stop faster with less effort. I have not had to adjust them. I have to regularly adjust my other bike brakes, which have cables instead of hydraulic fluid.
It’s a power-assisted electric bicycle.
That means it has an electric motor powered by a battery. This motor only kicks in when you are pedalling and cuts out when you reach 25 kph. It’s not like a motorcycle where you twist the throttle on your handlebars, and you zoom off.
What does this mean when cycling with a child?
Every time I use the bike, I use as much power assist as possible. That’s 5 on the clickable selector on your handlebars. It goes from 1 - 5. It’s less effort. It’s more pleasant. It’s safer.
Why?
If you try to pedal without power assist, it’s like trying to pedal an army tank. The bikes are solid and heavy. I’m heavy. A child is heavy.
With pedal assist, it’s almost effortless except up steep hills.
Steep Hills
Here are two things I’ve learned about riding with Remy up steep hills.
Slow down and let the motor do the work. If you exert your leg muscles up steep inclines, you only gain about 1 km/h extra speed. It’s not worth it.
Stopping on a steep hill, facing uphill. Don’t. You need 6km/h for the power assist to kick in. So with power assist, it can be a wobbly start on a hill. As a rule, I avoid stopping anywhere facing up the hill. Instead, I edge to the roadside or onto the footpath and do the hill start side on. After a second, the power assist kicks in, and I have full control.
This bike has a range of up to 30km. Using full pedal assist on setting 5 sucks the electricity from the battery. I barely make two return trips to Remys’ house. That’s 28 kms and some good hills en route.
It takes about 6 hours to charge a flat battery to full. So as soon as we arrive at my place in the morning, the bike goes immediately onto charge. Remy helps me do this. It’s part of the ritual we have developed.
I will likely upgrade to a bike to take two children in the coming few years. Paying $4k didn’t make sense. I have already got value from this entry-level $1200 bike. But what I didn’t realise when I bought it is…
Not Rear Seat Compatible
If I wanted to switch to a rear-mounted child seat as my grandson approaches 3 years old, I can’t. The rear luggage carrier on this bike houses the battery. It clearly states in the specs that you can’t have the rear child seat, but I wasn’t paying attention.
Comfort
The front-mounted child seat means I cycle with my knees splayed a little compared to how I ride on my other bike. True, this is not an ideal cycling position. That’s not how I’m approaching this. My riding goal is explained below. Know now that I suffer no discomfort. It’s very cruisy and relaxing.
Tyre Pressure
On my other road bike, I cycle with between 60-80psi in the tyres. When I started out riding this bike, I had the tyres inflated to 35psi. I’ve found that to be way too hard with these bigger tyres that are more like truck tyres. At 35psi, you feel all the jolts. I’ve found 15-20psi to be a sweet spot. The tyres still handle well. It’s cushioned. I get a month or two before repumping.
Mudguards
Real men don’t need mudguards. That’s what I’ve silently felt since I can remember. Now I love them. On a bike without mudguards, even if the rain has stopped, you arrive with a wet back from the water spun up by the back wheel. With mudguards — as long as it’s not a downpour — we arrive mostly dry.
Removable Battery
When I bought the bike, it didn’t even occur to me that a removable battery would be useful. It is. When I’m going on a longer ride for a half day, I can unlock the battery, slide it out and—if I have brought the wall charger along—give myself some reassurance I’ll make the trip home. And don’t underestimate the value of that reassurance.
It unlocks in one click, slides out and replaces so easily.
Plus, it’s really not a heavy battery.
The Seat
After a fair bit of research, I chose the WEERIDE CLASSIC BIKE SEAT.
It’s an Australian-designed seat that’s been around for 10 or so years.
It cost approx AUD$195.
Simple to fit.
There is a deluxe version that has more padding, but the classic version works perfectly. Remy has never complained in over 1000 kms riding.
You can remove and remount it with one screw (once it has been originally fitted).
Why have the seat in front of me?
Because the greatest gift I can give my grandson is AGENCY. To show him how to be in the driver’s seat of his own life.
With the seat upfront, he feels like he is driving. We talk. We laugh. We point at things. He rings the bell. He fiddles with all the controls.
I watch other bikes that have kids’ seats behind the rider. The child sees the rider’s back. There are many reasons to have a seat at the back. It’s your choice.
Is it safe up front?
For me, I lessen any safety issues from my Grandson being in the front seat by riding safely and cautiously. The joy we share counters safety concerns.
The Helmet
I chose the MET Hooray Kids Helmet Green Forest from the popular bike retailer.
It cost AUD$75.
More expensive than one from Target, but his safety matters.
It adjusts easily. I loosen the inside cradle each time I put it on for him, then give the adjustor knob at the back a twist to snug fit it.
I’ve since added a helmet sun-shade.
I got a Treadley Helmet Hat online for AUD$35 delivered.
An Easy Way To Secure It
I found the sunhat came off easily, always when my hands were full and the little guy was grumpy. I found this to be an easy fix.
I used 4 x small plastic cable ties 100mm x 2.5mm.
I used a skewer/awl/sharp pointy thing to poke a hole through the styrofoam of the helmet and the cloth of the sunhat.
From the inside to outside, I poked one cable tie through both layers.
With a bit of extra force, I pushed the fatter square bit of the cable tie flush into the styrofoam so it was snugly out of the way. From the outside, I slid/attached a second cable tie to the first and slid it down, firm, to the base of the first cable tie.
Then I snipped/cut/sliced off—with care—the long sections of cable tie. All that remains is what looks like a square plastic button.
I did this front and back. Now the sun hat never comes off.
Getting the child on/off safely
The side kick-stand works perfectly well to support the bike. But it is not designed for putting your child onto/off the bike. IT IS VERY DANGEROUS. Just the thought of the bike toppling over with my grandson strapped in makes my stomach turn.
I bought a second-hand bike stand that sits on the floor and supports the bike perpendicular to the ground. It’s still unstable once you put a child in the seat.
So made this simple wall attachment from half of a bungee cord, some cable ties and a large washer. I screwed this to the wall where I knew there was a vertical wooden wall stud. I hook it to the forward bolt that holds the bike seat on. This arrangement is very secure.
When I am out and about, I use the elastic straps on the back carrier to secure the bike from toppling. Look for a tap, a protrusion of some sort, and you can hook these straps in a makeshift but secure way.
Longer Rides
My little guy is pretty interested in everything along the way. For longer rides, I added a Duplo-on-a-string attached by a keyring to a hole I drilled in the underside of the child seat armrest. It keeps him engaged for 5 minutes here and there. Well worth the 15 minutes it took me to create.
Biggest learning
Slow down. An extra few minutes added to the journey makes it more enjoyable.
In a nutshell
This setup is not perfect, but it is cost-effective, reliable, comfortable, enjoyable and safe.
I never expected it to be, but hand on heart, riding with my grandson has been one of the best experiences of my life.
I’d love to hear how it worked for you.
