From the category archives:

Links and reviews

This year’s offering to the winter visibility g-ds

by Dorea 12.27.2012

It seems like every winter I end up forking over at least a hundred bucks to feel sort of visible out on the road after dark (and this time of year, a lot of our bike riding is after dark). This year is all about adding reflective tape to everything. In a city environment like [...]

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Xtracycle Hooptie: Initial Impressions

by Dorea 12.25.2012
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We set up our Xtracycle almost 5 years ago, when our now 6 1/2 year old daughter was not quite 2. It’s hard to explain how different the cargo and family bike market was back then (or the family-biking-blog scene, for that matter). The only true extended frame on the market was the Big Dummy, though [...]

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Co-rider: the good, the bad, the ugly

by Dorea 11.26.2012
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I really love riding with our youngest (R, now almost 3 1/2) on a front-mounted bike seat. It’s pretty much my favorite way to ride with one kid, provided we don’t have to haul much stuff with us. Thus, I was pretty sad when it became clear he was growing out of his bobike mini. [...]

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A warm bikey glow

by Dorea 03.03.2012
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Last weekend, a collection of cargo and family bike folks gathered at our place. Aaron Naparstek, streetsblog founder, is here in Cambridge instead of Brooklyn for the year, and he and I put together the event to contribute to the Revolutions per Minute crowdsourced documentary by Liz Canning. If you haven’t seen the trailer, check [...]

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True Life Stories of the Carfree: Carla, Adam, Rosa (4), and Quincy (2), Seattle WA

by Angela 02.20.2012

Here is the fifth in our series about families living carfree — please let us know if you would like us to feature your family! This installments comes from an interview with Carla Saulter, who is better known as Bus Chick. I was able to talk to Carla on the phone a while back about [...]

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What we ride

by Dorea 01.09.2012

I thought it might be useful for readers to know in more detail what bike gear we use to ride with our kids. Sure, we ride our cargo bikes, but we also ride (and have ridden) several other more standard (and more affordable) set-ups. So, here is some basic info about our current rotation. I [...]

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Car culture and kids toys

by Dorea 01.02.2012
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Like many families, we’ve just had a channukah-induced influx of toys into our house. Recent improvements in storage mean that we actually do have space for these toys, and they have been keeping our kids delightfully busy. We are also blessed with considerate grandparents who remember our space constraints, often giving our kids craft sets [...]

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Local Roundup: Somerville Illuminations ride, cargo bike sightings, new local family bike list

by Dorea 12.27.2011
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Last weekend, H & I decked out our bikes in festive lights, put on all the wool socks we could find, and and headed out for the second annual Illuminations Ride put on by the Somerville Arts Council and the Somerville Bicycle Committee. We arrived to a festive gathering of 75-100 brightly lit cyclists, including [...]

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True Life Stories of the Carfree– Melanie, Michael, Ryan (4) and Sarah (2). Winnipeg, Manitoba

by Dorea 11.20.2011
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In the fourth of our series about carfree families (that aren’t us), we turn to Melanie & Michael of Winnipeg, Manitoba, to provide us with some serious inspiration for winter riding as the weather gets colder. Are you a carfree with kids? Would you like to share your story? Please contact us at carfreewithkids at [...]

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Family Bike Shopping Part V: The Final Verdict

by Dorea 11.04.2011
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(See also Parts I, II, III and IV) In a final round of consideration, we looked at some of the higher-end bakfiets, looking for something essentially like Mike’s bike, but with a better raincover and a less finicky kickstand latch. The trimmest I found was the well-regarded Workcycles Bakfiets Short, which is available in the [...]

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