My cargobike is a snowmobile!

Last night (Nov 23) we had the Seattle's Snowpocalypse of 2010. We needed a grocery run for our Thanksgiving holiday, and I, loving cold weather and ice as I do, decided to attempt a trip to the store on my cargobike.

This trip was on relatively flat ground, and only 2.2 miles roundtrip. I had a safety precaution to go slow enough that if I did lose control I could just put my feet on the ground and wrestle the bike to an upright stop.

Going there had some slippery moments. Didn't go down, but did feel the tires lose traction. Then I loaded the bike up with two gallons of milk, chicken, beer, etc, etc. $107 worth. By then I had a little experience from the ride over. The rest of the trip was a hoot(i.e. fun). The extra weight, plus driving in a higher gear (4th and 5th), worked to an advantage just like in cars. It took a certain amount of discipline -riding the bike with "ice driving rules"- but wow was it fun in a unique visceral sort of way.

Yet another way in which cargobikes do what no other bike does.

One year with the cargobike

Last week was a milestone, it was the second time to haul a big pumpkin home for Halloween. Last year (2009) the ride home with pumpkin was one of the first trips for our new cargobike. So now a year has passed and a review of my life with this bike is in order.

Daily Use

The main good news is it is not gathering dust in a the back of a storage shed. I ride it daily -to work, to the grocery store, and to carry my son his school and various activities. I enjoy the rides. I've skipped a few rides and taken the bus when the weather was especially windy and wet, and missed the pump I get from riding.

Hills

I climb hills like the rise from the Ship Canal to Greenlake, and the lower northeast side of Capitol Hill taking my son to school. I did climb most of Capitol Hill once, but walked the bike one block. To readers I caution that the cargobike might not work for commutes with steep hillclimbs. For me, in hilly Seattle, it gets me to everything I need to get to.

Maintenance

One bike tube replaced due to slow leak. Spent $5 for that tube. That's it. No other maintenance. Oh, and I left it parked outside for weeks. Strongest bike in the world.

Wrecks and Spills

I've went down only once. It was on Westlake Avenue and caused by going over the trolley tracks too fast in the rain(my son was not onboard, I'm much more cautious when he is around). I have a long negative rant about those trolley tracks to be posted someday. It was not the fault of the cargobike's design, many bike commuters are reporting spills on these [expletive] tracks. I ride over rail tracks almost daily in other parts of town and have no problem.

Does my son still like riding it?

Yes, my son consistently likes riding it. He started riding as passenger around 1 1/2, and every ride has went fine.

Rock star treatment

Everywhere I go, people comment about it. From people that look around 150 years old, to tourists, to anyone else.

Cheap advertising campaign on cargobike

Through the years I've seen graphic advertising on vehicles -VW Beetles, Mini Coopers, Hummers, and of course city buses. I've been thinking my cargobike gets so much attention -there's often a few people looking it over where ever its parked- why not do graphic advertising on it?

I have a book I'm trying to promote, and I'm trying to stay close to $0 as possible on the marketing costs. I have an ideal bike for attracting attention. So why not put my own ad on it?

Then I got to thinking about how much a custom poster sized sticker would cost, and guessed it might be between $50 and $100, and I didn't even want to spend $20. So I decided to make my own poster and tape it to the bike.

Well, here is my very rough, very homemade, very hillbilly attempt at a serious marketing campaign. And if you want to know more about the book, here's the official page with free PDF of the book: http://athena-techne.appspot.com/ .

SDOT installs my requested bike rack

Months ago I went through the process to request a free bike rack from the City of Seattle [here]. Today it was installed on the sidewalk in front of our apartment. Love it. Thanks City of Seattle!

Drag Racing: Cargobike vs South Lake Union Trolley

Most assume a Dutch cargobike makes a poor drag racing vehicle. On Monday morning I proved otherwise. I went by the South Lake Union Trolley just as it was beginning its route at the Westlake Center. I stayed consistently ahead of it until it turned direction and left Westlake Avenue. It was thrilling.

A little context mayhelp explain my victory. This light rail is on the street, so it stops at stoplights. It would catch up to me at stoplights, and I would out pace once we got a green light. Key to my victory is an ever so slight a downhill grade, not truly a downhill, but a small loss of elevation, which helps the cargobike move forth like a jet fighter.

A family and their "car"

My son playing around the cargobike