Planning an Upgrade

I want to make it a full year before I invest in a new bike and associated bike paraphenalia that might better fit my commuting needs. My plan is to get used to the characteristics of each season and its impact on my biking before making a decision.

For example, initially, I thought I'd need "fall biking clothes", so I bought a pair of shins from Chrome Bags, as shown here:



While I love them, and they are great for biking in cool fall weather, they were quite expensive. I've since figured out that I actually prefer to cycle to and from work slowly in my work clothes, following the principles of the Slow Bicycle Movement and Copenhagen Cycle Chic.

To date, other than ice and snow, the biggest complication to my 3.2-mile commute is that I need to get my two small children to school before going to work. It's two blocks to the first drop-off and two blocks beyond that to the second-drop off. At present, I walk the four blocks with my bike and kids in tow, and then start actually riding after the second drop-off. As small kids walk slowly, this process takes 30+ minutes, including going into both schools, making my total door-to-door commute take about 60 minutes. My thought is that I could get this down to 45 minutes if I ferry the kids by bike.

I was initially considering a Bakfiets, as shown here:



I even test-drove one out in Seattle on a business trip. While I love the bike, it's pretty pricey.

Now I'm leaning towards an Xtracycle Electra Townie, as shown here, with the idea that two kids could straddle the rack:



Of course, even this is pretty expensive, so I'm also looking at a solution for one child, such as a Novara Afterburner 7-Speed Trailer Bike as shown here:



Not sure how this would work for two children, but it would speed up the second half of the drop-off.

So, the lesson learned to date is that patience is a good thing. By taking time to figure out what will work for my situation and searching for alternatives, I've realized that my initial impulses would not have necessarily been the best investment for my bike commute.

Let's see how the winter goes.