Cycle Sprog round up of 2021

As 2021 draws to a close I thought it would be good to look back on the past 12 months and remember all the important things that happened in the wonderful world of family cycling.

Join me on the Cycle Sprog review of 2021!

New kids cycling products launched in 2021

There were a number of great new kids bike ranges launched during 2021, which was great news because some of the more established kids bike ranges were struggling with supplies!

May saw the launch of a new range of kids bikes from Specialized, called JETT.

Sadly Specialized forgot to tell the UK cycling press that the bike has a great unique feature - an App that tells you how to set the bike up to fit your child perfectly!

Thankfully here at Cycle Sprog we turned super sleuth to work out what the various marking on the bike were for, and got to be the only cycling publication this side of the Atlantic showcasing the bike to its full extent!

You can read our first impressions review of the Specialized Jett range here.

During the summer Hornit launched their new HERO kids bike range with the release of the 14" and 16" wheel models.

The HERO range has a belt drive rather than the more tradition bike chain, which makes it easier to maintain and stops the problem of getting oil on fingers or clothing.

We were very impressed with the quality of the Hornit HERO 14 we were sent to review.

In the run up to Christmas we saw Karen and Gary Wood return to the world of balance biking.

The former Strider Bikes UK distributors have partnered up with their opposite numbers from Australia and designed a brand new balance bike.

With almost half a century of balance biking experience between the four founders, KidVelo is certainly going to be worth watching as they expand their range into 2022.

We were pleased to get an early test of their first bike, the KidVelo Rookie 12 which you can read about here.

Kids Ride Shotgun, who make the great front bike seat for mountain biking with young children added a really useful new product to their range to help keep families cycling all year round.

Their pogies are really thick mittens that fasten onto the handlebars and keep your child's little hands warm whilst you're out on your winter rides.

Genius!!

You can read more about the Shotgun pogies here.

During the first half of 2021 there was a real shortage of kids bikes.  Whether you blame Covid, Brexit, the Ever Given it meant that for months it was really difficult to find a decent kids bike.

The Bike Club realised that something needed to be done to get all the great bikes that had been grown out of back being ridden, and launched their reCycle Scheme.  As well as buying your old quality kids bike, they also arrange collection and provision of a box for transportation.

During the latter half of the year The Bike Club also rebranded, becoming Bike Club and swapping their pink branding for purple and orange.  Nice!

In 2021 we said goodbye to several old friends.

The Frog 55, which was the very first bike we ever reviewed here at Cycle Sprog, was discontinued, along with the Frog 52.

It was replaced with the brand new Frog 53 instead.

You can read more about this change to Frog Bike's 20" wheel range here.

There were also big changes underway at one of the best loved kids bike brands, Islabikes.  Their founder, Isla Rowntree, decided to step back from the helm, with her very first employee Tim Goodall, taking over the role of managing director.

Olympic inspiration

Obviously one of the cycling highlights of 2021 was the Tokyo 2020 Olympics!

Cycle Sprogs everywhere were inspired by the amazing performances on the track, road, park and trails.  It was wonderful to receive so many emails and social messages about the impact Tokyo was having, including this one from Claire who got in touch to show us how much her granddaughter has been inspired by the Olympics:

What was your favourite family cycling memory of 2021?

My favourite cycling memory was going to Kirroughtree with Chris and the boys and riding the blue route, and some of the red route during the summer holidays.  This marked a real turning point for us, as Chris and I had both spent the previous 17 months struggling with Long Covid.   Boy, was it great to be back in the saddle, doing what we love as a family!

I'd love to hear what your favourite family cycling memories were this year. Do drop a comment in the box below to let me know.

Here's to a great 2022.

Happy new year!