Now and again a complaint arises of the narrowness of woman's sphere For such disorder of the soul the sufferer can do no better than to flatten her sphere to a circle, mount it, and take to the road. An hour of the wheel means sixty minutes of fresh air and wholesome exercise, and at least eight miles of change of scene; it may well be put down to the credit side of the day's reckoning with flesh and spirit.
From Woman and the Bicycle, by Marguerite Menton, as cited in http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/10/05/naked-cities
Every now and then when life and work get too busy, I work work work to meet demands, and then slowly let go of loose ends and instead grab onto small details of life that are arguably more important, and definitely more enjoyable. Like buying a sewing machine. Or starting to knit a pair of mittens for my son (key word: starting). Which probably explains why I'm sitting up at 11pm, waiting to start the yogurt-making process. That and because my husband was bitten by our daughter and needs antibiotics, and I firmly believe in the power of probiotics.
And so I've recenlty convinced myself that I'm going to be a bike commuter one day. I carried my son on my front, and then back, up until he was about 2.75 (and I was about 7 months pregnant with my daughter). i am not sure I'll last as long this time, mostly because now I have to hold his hand while shlepping her around. I've been voraciously reading carfreecambridge.com and humofthecity.com and twowheelingtots.com. I think I've learned a few things.
1. A practical bike for kid-carrying is not readily compatible with carry-up-the-front-stairs-store-inside-the-house plans.
2. It's silly to decide that an expensive bike is a must-have without some credible third party reviews, kickstarter campaigns notwithstanding (I"m looking at you, xtracycle cargo node).
3. My "dream bike," if such a thing could be said to exist, is a Kinn Cascade Flyer, despite the fact that it fulfills few, if any, of my needs. Also, it is super expensive. Also, it carries one kid and I have two. Also, it lives in MA and I live in PA. But look at it!
Look, I already spent a large amount on a ZIgo trike which has been lots of fun. But my husband gets super annoyed every time I break it out, just from the idea of carting it in and out of the house. But at least I tried that one before I bought it.
I think my requirements and needs are as follows:
I have one kid who can ride a two-wheeler but not in the street (yet). I cannot actually commute with him regularly. So most likely we will mostly be weekend recreational riders for the next 2 years or so, with maybe an occasional jaunt to school if the SRT is not blocked by a freight train.
The other kid is nowhere near being able to sit unassisted on the rear of the bike, so a longtail xtracycle / yuba mundo type longtail, or anything else, is out of the question without a child seat for the time being.
It needs to be step-through for me, so I don't have to roundhouse the kid to get on and off.
It needs a chain guard, apparently hard to find in the USA. And a double kickstand (by the river in the summer, my brain always adds).
It has to be light enough to get inside at the end of the day.
As a non-bike person, I don't have a lot of technical knowledge (and thus technical requirements), but the argument that it is easier to balance kids on a lower deck rings true (and also easier to walk the bike with kids on it). Unfortunately, that seems to be true in relatively few bikes, mostly the "long-tails."
I prefer relatively few gears, and an internal hub, less for ease of care than for the claim that internal gear hubs make it easier to shift gears while stopped or to start from a stopped position.
But the thing is, I'm not actually a bike commuter, and it will be a couple of years before my older kid is reliable enough even to get from the SRT to school without extreme coaching. So a longtail, or even a mid-tail, is overkill at the moment--at least for the kid-carrying capabilities
So it probably makes sense for me to use a regular bike with a front child seat for the younger, and maybe a strong rear rack with a "junior" seat as a backup for the older. The Simcoe Step Through Signature looks like the best, if I can find it--a local shop carries the "Classic" 3 speed, which I imagine is fine but would prefer the nicer brakes and a few more speeds. The Public C7i comes to mind (some bikes have integrated racks but their capacities are not large enough). Also Brooklyn Bike Willow. The other contenders (Jamis Commuter, Papillionaire Sommer, Civia Twin City Step-Through, Linus Dutchi) all miss one of the requirements. And the Breezer Uptown, but it's not great-looking. And the Paper Bicycle seems like it'd be great also, but isn't available in these parts, and I'm sure the shipping, even if you nixed the 20% VAT, would make it pretty expensive.
But I could probably buy two for the cost of that Kinn Cascade Flyer!
Look, I already spent a large amount on a ZIgo trike which has been lots of fun. But my husband gets super annoyed every time I break it out, just from the idea of carting it in and out of the house. But at least I tried that one before I bought it.
I think my requirements and needs are as follows:
I have one kid who can ride a two-wheeler but not in the street (yet). I cannot actually commute with him regularly. So most likely we will mostly be weekend recreational riders for the next 2 years or so, with maybe an occasional jaunt to school if the SRT is not blocked by a freight train.
The other kid is nowhere near being able to sit unassisted on the rear of the bike, so a longtail xtracycle / yuba mundo type longtail, or anything else, is out of the question without a child seat for the time being.
It needs to be step-through for me, so I don't have to roundhouse the kid to get on and off.
It needs a chain guard, apparently hard to find in the USA. And a double kickstand (by the river in the summer, my brain always adds).
It has to be light enough to get inside at the end of the day.
As a non-bike person, I don't have a lot of technical knowledge (and thus technical requirements), but the argument that it is easier to balance kids on a lower deck rings true (and also easier to walk the bike with kids on it). Unfortunately, that seems to be true in relatively few bikes, mostly the "long-tails."
I prefer relatively few gears, and an internal hub, less for ease of care than for the claim that internal gear hubs make it easier to shift gears while stopped or to start from a stopped position.
But the thing is, I'm not actually a bike commuter, and it will be a couple of years before my older kid is reliable enough even to get from the SRT to school without extreme coaching. So a longtail, or even a mid-tail, is overkill at the moment--at least for the kid-carrying capabilities
So it probably makes sense for me to use a regular bike with a front child seat for the younger, and maybe a strong rear rack with a "junior" seat as a backup for the older. The Simcoe Step Through Signature looks like the best, if I can find it--a local shop carries the "Classic" 3 speed, which I imagine is fine but would prefer the nicer brakes and a few more speeds. The Public C7i comes to mind (some bikes have integrated racks but their capacities are not large enough). Also Brooklyn Bike Willow. The other contenders (Jamis Commuter, Papillionaire Sommer, Civia Twin City Step-Through, Linus Dutchi) all miss one of the requirements. And the Breezer Uptown, but it's not great-looking. And the Paper Bicycle seems like it'd be great also, but isn't available in these parts, and I'm sure the shipping, even if you nixed the 20% VAT, would make it pretty expensive.
But I could probably buy two for the cost of that Kinn Cascade Flyer!
