Day One: 800m
By cFletch | March 6, 2010
The Kid Mover
Here it is. Not as cool as the joe, but entirely functional, and still kinda cool.
So: what we have here is a Schwinn Premise electric bike (Canadian Tire) with a Bell trailer and rear-mounted seat. A bicycle built for four. The rear-mounted child seat presented a few problems – the main one being that the legs of the seat were narrower than the battery rack on the back of the bike.
rear-mounted seat
My husband took care of that with a Sawzall. I’ve got a bit of filing to do to clean up the edges. I’m also re-covering the foam pads that came in the seat because they were filthy. In fact – the whole thing is filthy in this picture. The seat was a curbside find, almost two years ago, which has been languishing in the shed since.
So the maiden voyage went well – up and down the street a few times. 800 meters worth. The battery on the bike only lasted 200m before we had to bring it in for a charge. I’m eager to take it out for a spin tomorrow and see how far we can really go.
More work to do yet: need a place to carry my purse, my diaper bag, the groceries… and whatever else we might need to haul.
6 Comments
michael holloway on March 10, 2010 at 2:39 am.
That’s great, a diary of a post industrial transportation strategy. Your really breaking new ground with this.
As a renovation carpenter and a stick in the mud when it comes to the internal combustion engine, I carried on a small business for 20 years with out a truck. It was hyper local and planning was really important. Driving to the nearest Canadian Tire to get materials was not an option.
Everything had to be delivered from the wholesaler, planned well in advance, which meant a ‘critical path schedule’ to keep the job moving. My costs were lower and because of the local nature of the business, reputation was everything. I got every job I gave a quote for. (Not always a good thing; but that’s another story.)
I don’t do that anymore.
When I see those macho GMC ads with the construction workers and their 15 miles/gallon monster trucks – I just laugh.
Good luck with your bike centric approach, and the blog. Can’t wait to read more!
Joe T. on March 10, 2010 at 8:08 am.
Michael’s comment reminded me that I’m planning to do a few posts over on my JoeBikes blog about doing home renovations while not owning a car.
We completely renovated our condo and I have now re-built our front porch (and am now finishing up renovating a 2nd bedroom into a nursery) for our house without owning a car.
duncan on March 10, 2010 at 9:16 am.
Great use of found items! http://bikehacks.com/ would be very proud of your ride. Check out his site if you’re looking for more inspiration to help with adding more storage capacity. A front basket may work, but the sturdy ones that brace using the front forks are probably out of the question with suspension.
cfletch on March 10, 2010 at 9:39 am.
Love Michael’s comment – “hyper local” is something I’m just learning about. Used to just jump in the car and drive till I found a store that had what I needed – 50kms for a part? No problem. Now I’m having to research and plan every outing before I step out the front door. Big change. Joe, I am very interested to hear about the renos.
Joe T. on March 10, 2010 at 1:57 pm.
I am hoping to get some reno posts up soon.
michael holloway on March 11, 2010 at 6:59 pm.
After reading your “Repairs’ and ‘Karma’ posts today – I’ll say it again, this is great!
I’ve never read a lifestyle blog – as they’re called, although this isn’t – it’s more like ‘lifestyle revolution’.
Interesting too hearing about Joe’s no-car renovations.
Are young families doing this sort of thing en mass? Losing the car, and finding different value in their communities?
Does this spell the end of the ‘Box Store’ and a return to the local neighbourhood? I hope so.