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Cargo Bike in front of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center

Riding our Xtracycle Family Cargo Bike in Oregon City

  We spent a couple of days in Oregon City with the Xtracycle Swoop cargo e-bike (an electric longtail family bike) and had a nice time using it as our primary mode of transportation. Riding the cargo bike to the Oregon City Farmers Market I took the cargo bike and the two kids up Linn Ave to get to the top of the Hill in Oregon City, where the Oregon City Farmers Market is located.  It’s at the corner of Beavercreek and Kaen  Rds, at the Clackamas County Red Soils campus.  The ride up was okay. Car traffic was moving kind of fast, which is a little unsettling in the bike lane with kids on the back, but it felt okay.  We had to stop briefly because my kid was having a moment.  The bike was fine. It felt stable […]

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One of the hills at the Albany Bulb

Kids Bay Area bike rides: The Albany Bulb was so much fun!

Kid Bay Area Bike rides: The Albany Bulb The Albany Bulb is an area on the San Francisco Bay that bulbs out as a small peninsula in Albany, California. Like a lot of places along the shore, it was built from landfill – construction debris was dumped into the Bay in the 1960s-80s to create more land.  There are walkable and bikeable gravel trails there and a lot of interesting informal outdoor art made using found materials.  There’s also a lot of bird and aquatic life. including a habitat for burrowing owls. If you’re wondering where you can take kids for a bike ride, the Albany Bulb may be a good option. Albany Bulb Riding Overview (for kids) The trails at the Albany Bulb are mostly hard-packed dirt with some rocks and gravel.  There are not really paved paths, though […]

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Frog 55 20" wheel Kids Bike

Frog 55 20″ Kids bike: Quick thoughts

We briefly had a Frog 55 kids bike (20″ wheels) to try out for a bit and so I wanted to share some thoughts about it. Frog Bikes is a UK-based company that designs and makes lightweight children’s bikes.  Like other bike brands (Islabike comes to mind) they were founded by parents looking for nicer bike options for their kids. Their goals are to make riding easy, comfortable and enjoyable for kids.  The Frog 55 is a slightly larger 20″ bike than the Frog 52, where the “52” and “55” correspond to the child’s minimum inside leg measurement to ride that bike. Slightly aggressive geometry My kid currently rides a bike that is the same size (20″ wheels).  She said that the Frog 55 bike feels more stretched out than her other bike, but she didn’t mind too much.  On […]

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Children riding their bikes to school

Bike Twitter’s (or soon Bike Tooter?) tips for helping kids bike to school

Why bike to school? There’s something special about biking to school and watching your child wave to friends as they near the front gates.  If you’re just starting out, for Bike to School day (in Alameda County, it’s Walk and Roll to School Day), or because you want to take climate action and make sure your kid(s) get exercise, here are some reasons why biking to school is great: Builds community and friendships Lets kids have fun riding with friends – bikes make people smile! Promotes better air quality & a lower carbon footprint Reduces the number of cars on the road Gets Kids and adults healthy physical activity Saves money on fuel Allows kids to be independent “You and your kids will be happier riding and get used to it quickly” – @share_hugh on Twitter As easy as riding […]

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A bag of cherries in a pannier.

Cherry picking (and other U-Pick fruit picking) in Brentwood. A successful 20-mile adventure by bike!

April to May to June is U-Pick cherry picking season in the Bay Area When I was a child, I remember apple picking in New England with my dad.  My memory is fuzzy now and I don’t remember if we just went once, or multiple times, but I still remember climbing a ladder to pick, and watching cider presses.  I was confused when the cider came out brown when apple juice wasn’t.  It seemed odd, but I still enjoyed drinking it. There’s so much locally grown produce in California, and I wanted to create a similar experience for our family.  Especially after friends at a picnic shared some of their u-pick cherries with us. Last June, we went cherry picking at a u-pick farm in Brentwood for the first time.  Brentwood is the place to go for cherry picking in […]

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Cycle City bicycle book by Alison Farrell

Great bicycle books for kids: A list and resources

Great bicycle books for kids Bikes are fun to ride and fun to read about.  As parents who spend a lot of time riding our bikes with our kid, we try to read bicycling books as well.  Since May is Bike Month, I wanted to share some of the bicycle books (and bicycle-related books) that we’ve read and enjoyed.  I’ve been surprised at all of the great kids’ books about bikes out there! Books we’ve read Duck on a Bike – David Shannon “Easy to read and it’s simple but funny.” We found Duck on a Bike as a sidewalk find while walking around Portland.  It was great timing.  We needed something to keep our kid occupied, and this book was fun, bike-related, and serendipitous.  It’s a silly story about a duck that commandeers its own bicycle.  It has engaging […]

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Yuba Flip Flop Kids Cargo Bike

DIY Bike Lessons for Kids: Easily teach your child to ride their bike!

Do it Yourself: Bike Lessons for your kid How we taught our kid to ride a bike We don’t have a car and bike a lot, so our child has been exposed to bicycles practically since they were born. We weren’t sure what this would mean for how quickly our child would take to riding a bike of their own.  And we were of course hoping to try to maintain their interest in bikes so they’d want to learn. Balance bikes vs bikes with training wheels I learned to ride on a bike with training wheels, as did most people my age.  I have nothing against training wheels, but thought it’d make more sense for our child to first learn balance and handling.  This can be done while scooting and gliding on a balance bike.  I had noticed that some […]

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Yuba Bike by the legendary Richard Masoner on Flickr https://flic.kr/p/hAY5re

Helpful tips for biking with children (via SFBC and The New Wheel)

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition and the New Wheel bike shop (Located in San Francisco, Marin, and here in Oakland.. soon!) put on a webinar a little while ago that covers an introduction to biking with children.  It has a bunch of useful information, especially for those who may be new to biking or new to riding their with children. Karen from the New Wheel spoke about the benefits of family cycling (it’s joyful, flexible, fun, and empowering) and how improving city infrastructure has made this easier than before.  Electric motors and improvements in battery technology have made it possible for e-bikes to serve as a lower-carbon and more fun minivan replacement. She talked about different ways to carry kids (trailers, trail-a-bikes, family bikes and cargo bikes, front and rear seats, having kids ride their own children’s bike) and common […]

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Rivendell Susie W Longbolts Frame with a Child Trailer

Nice bikes: A Rivendell Susie W. Longbolts with a childrens bike trailer

Riding in style in Berkeley’s Elmwood District I came across this beautiful Susie W. Longbolts bike made by Rivendell Bike Works in Berkeley the other day.  The Susie W. Longbolts is a lighter duty “Hillibike”, which Rivendell describes as their steel-framed bikes, with longer chainstays and wheelbases made to absorb bumps better for trail riding and road touring.  The bikes also feature room for big tires and higher handlebars.  The name “Susie W. Longbolts” is an anagram of Gus Boots-Willsen, a similar but slightly heavier-duty bike of theirs. They look way more stable on bumpy surfaces than a road bike would be. The parents had set it up with chunky tires and a child bike trailer to tow their kid and scooter around in style. Or follow along for updates:

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Clothink Top Tube Bag for a Child's Bike

Top tube bags for childrens’ bikes: A quick review

Why use a top tube bag for a child’s bike? As parents, we want our children to enjoy their cycling experience.  We had been searching for a way to enhance that experience for our child by finding a way for them to be able to carry their stuff on their own bike.  I looked around for a couple of bags and had found an old bag that we had used before.  It was beneficial because it allowed our child to carry their own snacks, band-aids, and other things deemed to them to be essential.  It also freed us from having to carry the various sticks, leaves, rocks, toys, and other small things that children often collect and carry. The top tube bag location is great.  It allows a child to easily access their stuff, even while riding. The top tube […]

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