I like to tell the joke on bike to work day, “I’d ride my bike to work, but my wife doesn’t like it when I ride in the house.” I have worked remotely (at home) for several companies for the better part of 7 years. I consider myself an adept remote worker. When a friend of mine offered me to work with him, you’d think I’d think twice about the set-up.
Go into the office? Why?!? Well, first of all, going into the office is optional, I can still work from home. But I can also get away from any home distractions, which are surprisingly few as I’ve managed them over the years. However, I like the in-person conversations I’ve missed over the last 7 years.
The monitor on my desk at the office is 27″, so I’ve got that goin for me. But I think the primary consideration for me was the location. The office is exactly 1 mile from my house. It is also entirely downhill 😎 I now have the opportunity to become a full-time bike commuter as there are literally zero excuses. Some people think I’m crazy because I have a perfectly good car. But riding to work really hasn’t been bad even on the shortest and coldest Minnesota days.
I specifically recall riding home on December 21st, the shortest day of the year. I left at 5PM and while the sun was already down, the twilight of dusk was nice enough to provide me with a pleasant ride home. I did have to ride with lights, it just didn’t seem like the middle of the night .
My first ride in 2016
To clarify, I don’t ride into work every day. I enjoy biking and I’m an evangelist but not a hard-liner. If I’ve got to go somewhere far right after work, I’m going to drive in.
I procrastinated riding in during my first full week at work in 2016. We finally got some big snowfalls over the holidays. I was driving in because I hadn’t yet switched over to studded tires on my bike. I finally mounted the tires so I could ride in by Friday. I got up early to make sure I had enough air in the freshly swapped tires, fastened on my pannier and rode off. The ride in was great, a little snowy but the cloud cover meant it was comparatively warm.
At work a couple of coworkers admired my bike and were astonished I’d ridden in on a snowy day. It took one co-worker over an hour to drive in to the office – bleh!
Later that morning, there was a loud bang that came from near the front door that sounded like a gunshot. A woman from the neighboring company that sits closest to our entrance door screamed. I (and several co-workers) wondered aloud what it was. One of the concerns was that there was a shooter in the building. My friend Tom, who’s dad owned a gun range, remarked that it sounded like “AD” – accidental discharge. One of our coworkers apparently conceals and carries, and while he was on vacation Tom wondered if he had come back a day early.
I certainly did not rush to the entrance since there was a possibility of firearms involved. I was actually concerned about those who were getting up to investigate. Then someone reported back that it was my bike tire that exploded!
We all had theories about the expansion of gases since my bike was pumped up outside and was now being stored inside, but I don’t think that is entirely to blame since it wasn’t really that cold – ≈24°F. Luckily I came prepared with an extra tube and a C02 cartridge. I installed the new tube at lunch and filled it up so I could ride home alive and not shot dead. But when I left that afternoon my spare had gone flat as well. I hitched a ride with a coworker who was also still alive and not shot dead.
My suspicion is that it was a combination of things that caused the explosion. First there was obviously something sharp touching the tube (because of the 2nd flat). Over the weekend I checked the pressure of the rear tire with a gauge separate from the one on the bike pump, it was over-inflated. I think the 2nd factor was that the bike pump gauge was somewhat frozen, not fully reading however much I actually pumped into the tire. I purchased two new tubes and some new rim tape since the 2nd (patch-able) puncture on my spare tube was near the valve stem.
Live and learn. I’m just glad I’m still around to tell about it.
There are several ways to carry kids on a bicycle, and many can be combined if you’re portaging 17 children and Vito your helper monkey. I’d like to focus on one of the less expensive options which should work on many bikes: the Topeak BabySeat. Continue reading →
The BabySeat (technically the BabySeat II) is $150 and mounts to a Topeak rear rack that can be used for several other things. That’s what I like most about this setup, you’re buying a system. Take the BabySeat off and you can can mount any of Topeak’s bags or baskets (plus any panniers).
Once the rack is mounted to your bike, adding the BabySeat is somewhat simple. The trickiest part is making sure the metal clip in the crotch part of the seat is properly clipped to the front bar of the rack. You’ll probably pinch your fingers a couple times before getting it right (Lord knows I did).
The major difference between the BabySeat rack and all other Topeak racks is the big hole where the slide lock goes. You probably can’t buy an extra rack for your extra bike at your favorite local bike shop, but you can easily order an extra online.
Adding a bag
Since the BabySeat occupies would-be trunk space, I was missing out on my cargo carrying ability. What fun is a trip to the library with your child if you can’t bring anything home?
I used some zip ties to attach a lightweight backpack to the back of the BabySeat. Any cinch-bag will do the trick, but the bag you see below is a Banjo BrothersNice Ride branded bag with a waterproof pocket on the inside. Check out the reflective straps!
Many (nanny) states have laws stating that you can’t legally ride a bike with a child under one year of age. I believe this recommendation is for an age where a child may not be able to hold his/her head up. If you have a trailer (and an infant), you can simply fit your car seat inside. I was able to fashion a strap out of 1″ webbing, the same size used on my Chariot trailer. To that I added a “parachute” buckle purchased from JoAnn’s, which happened to be interchangeable with the buckles on the trailer. Then I could put the car seat in and attach our new “belt extension” to both of the outside straps/buckles to secure the car seat in place. (See photo below for example).
Combinations
Many of these options can be combined for maximum carrying capacity.
Jim Thill of Hiawatha Cyclery wrote a great post about the evolution of his kid-carrying rig. He has experimented with several combinations on a tandem with a raised bottom bracket for a kid co-pilot, with iterations including a BabySeat and an Xtracycle. It’s one wild machine that surely will give inspiration.
At my age, it’s not often that I get to say this anymore:
I’m too young to remember but… Bike shops back in the day had a mechanic who was also versed in welding and brazing. He may not have been a bike builder by trade, but knew how to add accoutrements to an average bicycle such as eyelets for racks, fenders, bottles, etc. Today that person doesn’t exist in the bike shop, but s/he does still exist, in the form of your local bicycle builder.
My need was for a bike which could tote a human child. While in Belgium, Jessi and I rode bikes with kid seats mounted over the back wheel, which my son and I had enjoyed:
A friend of mine recommended getting a Chariot Carrier – he said other trailers he tried were cheap (quality wise) – Chariot’s are definitely not cheap. But I quite enjoyed our Belgium ride set up, and I found the Topeak BabySeat which mounted atop a rack that could be used for other things, and it was 25% the cost of a Chariot without any fixin’s.
Unfortunately my bicycle did not have any provisions for a rack. I could have sold my bike or frame and got another with mounts pre-installed. Or I could have just got the Chariot Carrier. Both of those options were going to cost a pretty penny. My favorite local bike shop recommended me to Erik Noren at Peacock Groove, suggesting he could simply add some rack mounts to my frame. Having Erik add mounts was going to still keep it cheaper than the other options, plus I get to keep my bike which I’ve grown attached to. Erik’s bread and butter is building complete bikes, not doing bike mods, but if you can fit your modification needs into his busy schedule, he can surely do it – he can pretty much do anything with a bicycle.
Erik gave me the “star” treatment with these water bottle mounts acting as rack mounts on the seat stays:
Forgive my shoddy paintwork, it’s meant to be cheap and functional, not a show bike.
Then Erik added a super-beefy mount to the dropout for the rack to thread into:
Erik does amazing work and I would trust him with my son’s life.