tandem bike friday!

i've seen a few, but none with the front rack like that. he also said that it was usually set up for three people (for him and his kids).

if you are reading this, sorry i cut off your head...but no time at the stoplight to move back to get the full picture.



see any crazy fun bikes on your commute today?

Sleepy Time

If you took my advice yesterday, then you should be following Declan's example below, today.

And yes, it is true, Declan can sleep through a parade.  Or a Bike Party.

two for tuesday: computers by messenger

took this a couple of days ago while there was some blue sky hanging around in the sky. there is none to be found now.

stay dry! also, don't get blown over. that wind is very fierce. but makes for a better workout than no wind. silver lining!

also, i believe that is a bullitt bike, but i'm not positive. anyone know?

return of the tandem cargo bike

i saw this tandem xtracycle over at sf bike party and the bicycle music fest a few months ago. i thought it was awesome. they are often seen schilling for a local politician who is running for mayor.

well, looks like they get around town, and definitely make a statement...OF FUN!

and look, they've got roller skates! and they are locked to the frame! heh. cause you never know.

so this party of two or three certainly gets around sf. i also love that you can take two people around and also just carry things. practical! do you all see some practical party bikes all around your town?

Freakin' Yuppies

Yep. He is riding in a cargo bike playing on an iPad.

The best part- two women in a minivan pulled up next to us with three kids in the back seat. When she saw Declan playing on the computer, she conceded defeat.

Waste Disposal

We had a few used tires to get rid of.

Happy to say, they are now gone. Good thing to, because old tires smell like cat pee.

I Kick Back On The Weekends

I let the boys take the cargo on the weekends.

That is what husbands and teenaged sons are for. An enlightened, 21st century view, I know.

Fad Or Fab?

I was recently asked by a news reporter if I thought cargo bicycles were a fad. I answered that I felt it was more an expression of how utility cycling is evolving as people become more comfortable with leaving the car at home for more and more tasks. But the question left me thinking, when is something a fad and when is it something more? I think it is less about how many people do something and more about how diverse the group is that participates.

photo by Claudio Olivares Medina in Mexico City

If everyone who does "x" looks the same, is the same age, speaks the same language and only copies the last person they saw doing "x", that is a fad. When the people don't all seem the same, if there is variety in type things start to get more interesting and have a better chance of lasting.

photo by Slow RPM in Melbourne, Australia

Fads are something that gives fleeting pleasure but quickly become passé and silly. When we start to share these things with the people we love the most to bring us closer together they are no longer frivolous or temporary.

photo by baudman in Australia

I can not think of any fad that made my life easier, can you?

photo by Greg Raisman in Portland, Oregon

Who is comfortable putting their child in a fad?

photo by Cold Iron in Alameda, California

Maybe that is the surest clue to this question. Children. Living life in a way that teaches our children what we feel is important is not a fad, it is life.

photo by henry in a'dam in Holland.

For myself, cargo bicycles are not a fad, not at all. They are the answer to what had become an increasing problem for me- how to live my life the way I want to. That there are so many options entering the market around the world is simply proof that there are many people in the world who have the same needs and aspirations that I do.

Just because it is fun does not mean it is frivolous. For those who are choosing these bicycles, it isn't because the neighbor has one. How about you? Do you think cargo bicycles are a fad?

Tweed Street

A street with a bicycle is a well tailored street, indeed!

The weekend is upon us. Count your blessings and ride your bicycles.

Of Cargo and Kittens

Úna on a Cetma-

Declan on a Metrofiets.

Another gratuitous shot of my cat, Dottie

My Yellow Shoe

My yellow shoe on a Metrofiets-

My yellow shoe on a Cetma-

A gratuitous shot of my cat, Dottie.

"That's A Big Bike!"

I make no secret of not liking to ride light weight sport bicycles. I am enormously uncomfortable on twitchy, skinny tired, racy bicycles. The bigger the better for me. A huge, heavy monster of a bicycle is right up my alley.

Back in September, I got to ride the biggest, heaviest bicycle I have been on yet- the cargo bicycle designed for the 2009 Oregon Manifest show by Metrofiets. While it may have been light weight by the standards of many 7 foot long steel cargo bicycles, it is not a feather weight.

After deliberating about our upcoming transportation needs, James and I decided that if we were going to put this much money into a new cargo bicycle (Cameron has been gifted the xtracycle) that we felt best about giving that money to someone we knew in exchange for something one of a kind, a rolling work of art.

So with the addition of a wooden box (also handmade and removable so we can use the basic platform should we chose) this gorgeous machine is now ours!

Because I am too busy just enjoying our new ride, I have not come up with anything technical about my land based cruise ship. There are some lovely details I want to photograph that all of you bike geeks out there will drool over. In the mean time, I have a couple pictures of my first San Francisco day with my movable conversation piece.

Because I am fascinated by the front of my bike being four feet ahead of me I tend to notice the space right in front of me more than usual. Of course this also because I have to remember not to bump things with my front wheel. I think that the world would be a very different place if people noticed things like this more often.

Parking something this big takes a little creativity. Or a nice standard parking space in front of the bakery. The law does not say you have to park a car in a parking space, only that you must pay for it and observe the time limits, so in I went. I love how the guy in the black car waited for me to move as soon as I got in it. There were ten minutes left on the meter and I was feeling a need to use all of them. I usually only do this if there are multiple bicycles that need parking, but this thing is as big as three bikes so it works. Anyway, the space was already being taken over by alternate users.

At many points, people were unable to resist looking at my lovely bicycle. A couple of them nearly crashed while riding by because they were so distracted. Several pulled out the smart phones to take pictures. This guy used his to find info about the bicycle while he walked around it!

There will be more info in the days to come. I am going to have Hubby The Bikeman write up the technical stuff (he is a huge bike geek, so it will make him happy. I just like to ride!). At some point I will get comfortable enough on it to take some pandas.