Tag Archives: Cycle Speedway

Bike Check – Henry’s Frog 58 Cycle Speedway Bike

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As mention on my recent post about Henry’s seventh birthday, one of his presents was a cycle speedway bike. Last year he had been riding a club bike – a converted BMX, and the gearing was not right for him. It was also really heavy. So I knew he needed his own bike. Up until a few weeks before his birthday I did not have a plan, then I saw that Daisy (@pint_size_cyclist on Instagram) was selling her Frog 58 track bike – with 20″ wheels, 1 gear and no brakes I figured that it would be a good base to start from. The only problem was that it was set up as a fixed gear velodrome bike…

Still, I collected the bike from Bristol, and ordered a pair of cycle speedway handlebars. Once I got the bike home the shopping list expanded – the velodrome tyres were too thin for the speedway track, and there was no freewheel fitted. When I took off the huge 42T chainring, to refit the original cranks and chainring I noticed that the bottom bracket was a bit crunchy, so I got Albany Cycles to replace that too. Once the bars arrived I also realised that the stem clamp on the Frog stem was too big for the cycle speedway handlebars, so I needed a BMX stem. I finished the bars of with some coordinating DMR Deathgrips.

What I had not been aware of when I bought the bike was that there are two different wheel sizes labelled as 20″, this was the bigger one, that is actually nearer to 22″, this meant that the fit was better for Henry, but that buying tyres was trickier. In the end I was able to get some Maxis DTH BMX race tyres, I would have preferred something knobblier, but I had to work with what was available. I have not even tried setting them up tubeless…

It is tricky to get gearing right for a speedway bike – you have to find the balance between being quick off the start line, but not having legs spinning too fast on the straights. Originally I was going to get Henry to do some testing on the cycleway outside our house on his other green Frog bike – a 55, which has 8 gears, but given the lack of freewheel and rapidly approaching birthday I went for refitting the standard 36T chainring and 114mm cranks, but an 18T freewheel, to make it slightly easier to start. My guess seems to have worked – Henry is happy with the gearing, and has been riding much faster than last year.

I missed the first training session of the year, due to work commitments, so the first time I saw Henry riding the bike on the shale oval was at the first race meeting of the year and it fitted him perfectly! The gearing also seemed right. Henry was pleased to not be the smallest rider there for once, but somehow Owen and Henry had been seeded together. When they lined up together for the first race, with a much smaller boy, I was just hoping that they did not take each other out. Henry rode brilliantly, finishing only a few bike lengths behind Owen! I would not have expected that at the end of last season (even if Owen said he was just riding fast enough to win). The gap to Owen was bigger in subsequent races as faster kids joined them and gave Owen more of a challenge (he was all five of his races!), until Henry lined up just him and the smaller racer in a heat. Henry has always been the smallest/slowest, so this was his chance, he seized it and took his first race win!

Now I just need to sort out a speedway bike for Owen, fortunately there are purpose built bikes available, so I just need to find one for sale…

Owen’s Ninth Birthday

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This weekend Owen turned nine! It has been a really busy weekend (more on that in my next post), so I am only just getting around to writing this post. Friday, the day of his birthday, was very low key; he opened his presents before school, then went to his usual karate session after school and we got a McDonalds on the way home. We are going to got karting with a few of his friends later in the month when things have calmed down a bit.

Saturday would have been the day for a party, but Owen was already double booked, with a regional karate competition in Walsall and a regional cycle speedway race in Coventry. Fortunately Owen chose speedway. He had an excellent race, the way the numbers worked out, Owen ended up riding with the under 14s, rather than with the under 10s – this means four lap races, rather than the three that Owen is used to. That did not stop Owen from doing some of the best speedway riding I have ever seen him do, not only was he keeping up with competitor three or four years older than him he kept going right until the chequered flag. He came second, out of three, in the “B” final, on paper a worse result than his last race, but considering he was riding up a category it is a great result. I think riding with the bigger kids forced Owen to bring his A-game – if he was still riding with the younger kids he would have easily beaten them, most are only six or seven, but I do not think he would have needed to ride flat out to achieve it. This just shows how far he has come on after only three months of riding cycle speedway. Not only was his riding good, his attitude was great too, usually he would not react well to a set back, like racing old children, but he handled it well.

I also notice that Owen is getting a bit too big for the speedway bike that he is borrowing from the club – it fitted him perfectly at the start of the season and I had been looking to buy him that model of bike, but I will have to restart my search, looking at models with 26″ wheels.

My parents had come up to watch Owen racing, but after the speedway most of Jen’s family came round for birthday cake and a general catch up. As ever with Jen’s family there was a lot of cake, but it was good to see everyone and Owen enjoyed the fuss.

I cannot believe that next year Owen will be in to double digits, it does not seem that long ago that he was a tiny baby!

Owen Tries Cycle Speedway

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On most of our bike rides from home, Owen and I pass the cycle speedway circuit on Hearsall Common, and Owen usually asks if he can ride it. On our ride last Tuesday (with Jen and Henry too) we stopped to watch the racing – their first meeting of 2020. Later that evening I noticed on the Coventry Cycle Speedway Facebook page that they would also be restarting junior coaching sesssions on Saturday morning. Owen was very excited – he has been missing his Ready Steady Riders sessions over the past few months and must have been looking forward to bike coaching from someone other than me!

For those who do not know what cycle speedway is – it is a form of cycle racing held on small shale oval tracks. Four riders, two from each team competing, race against each other in a short sprint race. Oh, and the bike have no brakes! (Owen was riding his regular bike, with working brakes).

After a rush to leave the house, we ended up being the first to arrive – a novelty for Owen and I, but when people arrived they were friendly – Owen loves telling people about his bike! It was good that Owen was not the only first timer, nor was he the only under five. Like everything these days, there had to be coronavirus measures, so each of the riders had a cone in the centre of the track to stand by when they were not riding. I think our only newbie errors were wearing shorts and me keeping Owen’s drink, rather than sending him on to the track with it – given the speed of the riders, I can see why they do not cross the track to get drinks etc.

As soon as Owen got on the track he was off like a shot, putting in laps with the other riders – with a huge smile on his face! Owen’s first test of listening to the coach, Myke, was when the group got split up, with the older/faster riders going first (the session covered from preschoolers to teenagers!). Of course Owen wanted to ride with the fast ones, rather than his allocated group. His listening was much better when he got out onto the track for the younger riders’ structured warm up – speeding up and slowing down as instructed. I always find it interesting watching the boys when they are with somebody else – usually it is only the moments before I am spotted at nursey pick up time, so it was good to watch Owen from the spectator area. He was taking instructions and participating in the group – he is definitely more outgoing than I was as a child!

The main area of coaching for the session was line choice in the corners – something that will transfer well to Owen’s riding on mountain bike trails. Cones were set up to mark the entrance, apex and exit of the corner and the riders took it in turns to ride through on the racing line. Owen got the hang of this quickly, (including the queuing system with two metre gaps due to help with social distancing). I also noticed that on the run from the corner exit to the back of the queue he was practicing his mountain bike “attack position” (pedals level, knees and arms bent) – a proud Dad moment for sure!

The last part of the session, was Owen’s favourite – races! Again the riders were split into their groups, and some given a handicap, starting further around the track. Owen did some great defensive riding, taking wide lines to prevent other riders from overtaking. I have no idea if it was intentional, maybe he picked it up from watching the racing earlier in the week, but it was impressive! Being the smallest rider, he came last in the races, but what matters is that he was trying hard and having fun!

After the session had finished, we rode home through the woods, with Owen asking to stop and session a few trickier bits of trail. He was so pleased with himself after the ride and deservedly so – not only did he ride well, he listened to the coach and behaved well too.

Cycle Speedway is completely different from the mountain biking that I enjoy, and would like to encourage Owen to also enjoy. However a lot of the skills are transferable and any time on the bike is good. Having a good local club, means that Owen will be able to go regularly, so will benefit from the structure and commeraderie of training with a team. It would be a two hour round trip for any similar mountain bike coaching for him, which I think would detract from the fun. We will definitely be going back to more of the club’s cycle speedway coaching sessions.