Car Free Days

Ten Days with the Madsen Kg271 Bucket Bike

Posted on May 4, 2009 by Anne | 15 comments

Warning. This post is loooong. Tim and Anne co-wrote it. Singly they tend toward verbosity. Together? Oy. Maybe grab a cup of coffee or beer before you start.

Probably the best thing about this little bike blog thing is all the great people we’ve met. Folks like David and Stephan from Dutch Bike, Marge (who we’ve yet to physically meet, but I’m sure we will some day), Marcus and Elliot from Austin on Two Wheels, Val, and more. It’s been a great ride.

One of our newest blog buddies, George loaned us his Madsen KG271 (you know, the long bike with the big bucket on the back) for a 10-day testing stint.

Full disclosure: George is friends with the owner of the company and asked us if we’d give his own personal Madsen a try and share our impressions. He didn’t ask for any sugar coating, and it’s a good thing. Tim’s not real good at being sweet.

Over the course of a week and a pair of weekends, we both had the opportunity to ride the Madsen as part of our daily routines (where we normally ride our Xtracycles and Anne’s Oma), as well as on a couple special-purpose, made-for-Madsen adventures. Tim picked up bags of compost; Anne transported three kids home from school. We even had some of our bikey neighbors take it for a spin. Overall, the idea was to see how this one bike (in one size, shared by two people of very different size) could fit into this bike life we’ve built for ourselves.

Continue reading →

15 Comments

Posted in alternative transportation, BIG Loads, bike lust, bikes, cargo bikes, kids

Tagged bikes, cargo, cargobikes, kg271, Madsen Cycles, opinion, review

Transportation Forum + Bike to Work/School Kickoff

Posted on April 30, 2009 by Tim K | 1 comment

I love commuting with my wife

Friday is a big day.

We kick off Bike to Work month (Tim) and Bike to School month (Anne and the kids). I’m pretty sure we’ll be blessed with clear (or at least dry) skies, so don’t delay the start of your commute season. Remember, this is Seattle—the weather can only get worse as we get closer to June.

If you find yourself downtown with a spare hour around lunch time, I’d recommend checking out the Forum, TOWN HALL: Visioning the Puget Sound Region’s Transportation Future. It’s part of their ongoing Friday Forums series:

Transit demand continues to skyrocket while operating revenues are plummeting. How do car sharing, walkable and bike-friendly communities, and transit work together to form a new vision for transportation?

You’re even bring your lunch so if your schedule can swing it—unfortunately, mine can’t— please share any good takeaways. From over here in the cheap seats, it looks like an interesting collection of speakers will be covering some major ground.

WHEN:Friday, May 1st, 12:00 – 1:30 PM
WHERE: Bertha Landes Knight Room, Seattle City Hall (on 5th Ave.between Cherry and James St.)

More info at the Transportation Choices Coalition website.

-Tim

1 Comment

Posted in alternative transportation, bigger than here, Commute

Tagged bike-to-school, bike-to-work, bikes, bluesky, Commute, oma, seattle, transportation, weather

Could D.O.T. Secretary think bikes are for real?

Posted on April 30, 2009 by Tim K | Leave a comment

I mentioned this on twitter last week, but I think it might be worth exploring in a little more depth here with our blog readers.

The US Department of Transportation Secretary, Ray LaHood is blogging.

These days a blogging politico is no surprise. However, the things he’s saying have kind of caught me off guard (in a good way):

“Bicycling is an important factor in less carbon-intensive commuting”
“When I told the League of American Bicyclists National Bike Summit that “Cyclists are important users of America’s transportation systems,” I meant it.”
“And, when I wrote that “With DOT, bicyclists have a full partner in working toward livable communities,” I meant that as well.”

To cyclists, these statements are pretty logical. We get all of this and many of us have been saying the same thing for years. But the problem hasn’t been saying, it’s been the listening. That is, getting the Beltway to listen, and take us seriously (remember last summer’s anti-bike rant by N.C. Rep Patrick McHenry?).

Continue reading →

Pt. 3 Building a kid’s bike that doesn’t suck: Tires

Posted on April 28, 2009 by Tim K | 12 comments

Continued from the series of posts: Kids’ Bikes: They suck and what you can do about it. I started this “series” back in Dec. and then sort of fell off track as things melted down at work. As we’re heading into prime kid-biking season I figured I should dust off the drafts and get the info out there where it might do some good.

It’s possible experienced wrenchers may find this a bit too detailed. If that’s the case, visit the flickr stream for quick some ideas and examples.

By far, tires caused me the most trouble during this project.

I like to think I’m a pretty savvy cookie when it comes to bike parts. I’ve been around them a long time — as a DIYer and a shop rat. And on top of that, I’m a librarian so I know how to handle a search engine. But dang, these 24″ tires are difficult.

Limited choices + confusing sizes

The legendary Sheldon Brown illustrated the problem quite clearly in the following chart: Continue reading →

12 Comments

Posted in bike lust, bikes, kids' bikes, wrenchin'

Tagged bikes, kids, kidsbikes, schwalbe, shopping, tips, tires, wrenchin'

Taking the new skis for a ride (with Paris)

Posted on April 26, 2009 by Tim K | 4 comments

I recently scored a smokin’ deal on some telemark skis on craigslist. Because I harbor a special guilt about my addiction to making turns (pretty much the only reason we own a car is for getting to the ski hills, and I don’t even want to think about the massive carbon footprint of the ski industry), I sure wasn’t going to drive to SoBa to pick up the planks. Continue reading →

4 Comments

Posted in alternative transportation, BIG Loads, bikes, Burke-Gilman Trail, cargo bikes, xtracycle

Tagged ballard, bikes, g3 craigslist, parishilton, skis, soba, xtracycle

Getting Ready for Bike to School Month

Posted on April 21, 2009 by Anne | 4 comments

It’s hard to believe a whole year has passed since we planned our first ever Bike to School Month at our local elementary school . I feel so much older and wiser this year : ) Continue reading →

4 Comments

Posted in alternative transportation, bigger than here, bikes, kids, neighborhoods, School

Tagged Bike to School Month, bike-to-school, kids, School, seattle

Happy Spring!

Posted on April 7, 2009 by Anne | 3 comments

The Cherry Blossoms in full bloom at the UW are a sure sign of spring in Seattle.

I hope Spring has sprung where ever you are!

It’s a beautiful day in Seattle. Cheers!

– Anne

3 Comments

Posted in bikes, seattle, weather

Tagged Cherry Blossoms, seattle, Spring, UW

Leaf-Blower Elegance in a Bike-friendly Package

Posted on April 1, 2009 by Tim K | 14 comments

Oma Tanker As most of you know by now, the team at Car Free Days is involved in an outright crusade to drive less and ride more. So far it’s been great. We’ve been riding (our Xtracycles and Anne’s Oma, mostly) nearly everywhere we need to go.

Those of you adept at reading through the lines, however, have probably noticed a little discord along the way. There was our son’s brush with hypothermia on the New Years cargo bike ride. There were challenging logistics for a 10pm wedding reception in Auburn. And we still get grief for the 50″ Plasma we scratched the crap out of hauling it home from Costco on the Xtracycles. And yes, the hills. Always the damn hills.

In many cases, my friends, pure people power isn’t the only answer.

We’ve dabbled with the idea of powering our Xtracycles with a Stokemonkey. Everyone we know who’s used one loves it. And Todd at Clever Cycles is a total peach. Really, the Stokemonkey is a perfect product, save one major shortcoming: They run on electricity. Franky, we just can’t condone the wasteful use of electrons wondering if perhaps a salmon got trapped behind a dam or a seagull met its demise at the blade of a wind turbine.

Though people can overlook such negatives, we at Car Free Days like to think our moral junk is of a stiffer quality than average. So that’s meant schellping our damn kids up the damn hills on our damn bikes with only our damn legs to thank.

Until now…

Continue reading →

14 Comments

Posted in alternative transportation, bigger than here, buildin' the xtracycle, consumerism, gas, Ha, safety gear, sustainability

Tagged alternative transporation, april 1, april fools, e-bike, motorized bike, oma, seattle, xtracycle

Tour de Seattle’s On-Street Bike Parking

Posted on March 26, 2009 by Anne | 2 comments

On-Street bike parking in front of Stumptown on 12th

On-Steet Bike Parking on 12th

On-Steet Bike Parking on Broadway

Tim and I have blogged about bike parking many times. You could say we’re into our bike parking.

Having access to a convenient bike parking spot is the key to using bikes as everyday transportation.

One of the main reasons we have embraced getting around on bikes is the simplicity and ease of parking a bike. No other “alternative transportation” option beats pedaling to the local store, pulling right up to the front door, pulling out a U-lock, locking your bike and walking into the shop. You can’t do that in a car, ever. And the bus…um….

As we’ve said before, we appreciate a nice rack.

Aesthetically pleasing racks add so much to the street ambiance. I love the artistic and whimsical racks. They seem to say, “not only am I practical and utilitarian, I’m also fun and pleasing to the eye, so use me or just stop and admire me for a bit”. They invite people to linger on the sidewalk. Continue reading →

2 Comments

Posted in alternative transportation, bikes, Rack that Bike

Tagged bike racks, Broadway, Capitol Hill, Greenlake, on-street bike parking, seattle, Stumptown

SXSW Adventures: Bike Hugger Mobile Social Ride

Posted on March 25, 2009 by Tim K | 2 comments

As I mentioned, I was in Austin last week at SXSW. While there, I had the good fortune to participate in the Bike Hugger Mobile Social Ride and BBQ. Anne and I are fairly regular participants in Seattle-area cargo rides and so I thought it would be fun to check out the dynamic of a mixed tech-texas hybrid event.

The day dawned like any other in Seattle. Wet, cold and dark. It wasn’t actually raining so I was raring to go. One problem: we weren’t in Seattle and the Austinites aren’t quite used to gray skies and wet roads. Though roads dried by the time morning SXSW sessions finished, it was only their 3rd day of rain since summer or something. I’m thinking this had to have an impact on the number of riders , yet the turnout was impressive (somewhere between 100 and 150) anyway. Continue reading →