How many times have you thought about - or maybe you did - buying a bike for your kids? Those late Christmas Eve nights spent in the cold garage, quietly assembling the bike so they wouldn't hear ... only to surprise them on Christmas morning ... Now it's your turn! Granted, you won't be able to keep it a surprise but this would make a great opportunity for you to spend some time with the kids and teach them some important mechanical lessons. Heck - as I found out, it's a great opportunity for yourself even, since you'll get a much better appreciation for the different parts of your bike compared to simply buying it from the store.

BeachBikes.net contacted me about this opportunity earlier this year. Not only are they great bikes that you can buy pre-configured, but they also have a custom bike building site where you can pick pretty much everything you want for the bike and they'll send it to you ready to assemble.

You have two options once you've finished configuring your bike, you can pick it up at their store in Torrence, CA or have it shipped to your home. The third option is to have them assemble it for you and pick it up at their store, but then you'll miss the fun of building something cool with your kids.

When everything is assembled, my bike should look something like this one ...

Stay tuned for more, or visit their site and check out the custom beach bikes site so you can start building your own. Prices start at about $150 for the pre-configured bikes and just about $250 for the custom bikes. However, once you add in extra speeds and custom options, you are looking at more than $400.

Still though, what you are paying for is the knowledge that you have something that is uniquely yours and the opportunity to potentially share the opportunity with someone that's important to you. That in itself makes it a great Fathers Day gift since it is a shared experience that you will remember long after the bike is gone and the kids have grown up.