From the category archives:

Biking

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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Family Bike Shopping Part IV: The third and fourth bikes we almost bought, Joe Bike & Neat Bike Box Bikes

by Dorea 10.31.2011
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(See also part I, part II & part III) After ruling out the Zigo, I was able to take our friend’s Gazelle Cabby for a spin. Now, we weren’t actually considering a Cabby for reasons I’ll get into in a minute, but before riding the cabby, I hadn’t been thinking a Bakfiets-style bike, with the [...]

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Family Bike Shopping Part III: The second bike we almost bought, the Zigo Leader

by Dorea 10.30.2011

(See also Part I for info on why we were shopping and what we were looking for and Part II for the first bike we ruled out) After ruling out the Sun Atlas, the next bike we considered was the Zigo Leader. It looked like it would have great weather protection, and since it was [...]

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Sad to see him go…

by Dorea 10.28.2011
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We never got around to posting here about our new favorite bike mechanic, Tim Ennis, a.k.a. The Rolling Wrench, Boston’s first and only mobile bike shop, and Tim does it all by bike. You may have seen him out on the Minuteman bike path over the summer or by the Davis square T stop. Tim [...]

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Family Bike Shopping part II: The first bike we almost bought, Sun Atlas Cargo

by Dorea 10.25.2011
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Back in part I, I described why we decided to wade back into family bike shopping. At first, we were just looking to find a longbike that would be easy for Angela (5′ 1″) to get on and off of, and possibly be a more stable ride with two kids. That approach led to the [...]

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Family Bike Shopping Part I: Why another bike?

by Dorea 10.19.2011

At long last, we’ve settled on a new family bike. Family and cargo bike shopping can be a daunting process, with limited access to test rides (see our previous desperate plea), limited knowledge available at local bike shops, conflicting info available online, and a confusing set of options that have different strengths and weaknesses, and [...]

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Hub on Wheels 2011

by Dorea 09.25.2011
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I rode the 2011 Hub on Wheels 10 mile ride today with friends Jesse, Brian & Maggie and their kids. This was the first big organized ride I’ve done (at all, not just with kids in tow) and we had a blast. Between getting there, doing the ride, and getting home we put in about [...]

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