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A bike with the Argo Cargo Bike Kit installed in Oakland

Nice Bikes: An Argo Cargo Bike kit in Oakland that converts your bike into a practical front loader

An Argo Cargo Bike at the park Bike adventures are big fun.  Bike adventures with kids are even better.  I’d seen the original Argo Cargo bike Kickstarter for their “Lift” product and thought it was a neat idea to be able to turn any “regular” bike into a front-loading cargo bike.  They had a successful campaign and raised $105,429 for their front-loading cargo bike conversion kit.  Many front-loading cargo bikes cost $3000+, so a kit that adds on to an existing bike for $1149 is compelling. The Argo Cargo bike attaches mainly at the front fork and the bottom bracket, and requires a minor modification to the brake cables to connect your brake lever to the brake on the front wheel. I saw a parent ride in on their Argo Cargo Bike with their kids in the front, and asked […]

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Lemond Prolog E-Bike

Nice Bikes: A Lemond Prolog spotted in Oakland (An attractive, stealthy e-bike)

  The Lemond Prolog is an e-bike that doesn’t look like an ebike. I spotted this Lemond Prolog last month in North Oakland, parked on the sidewalk.  It is an attractive, good looking bike, launched last fall, that I had only see photos of online.  Lemond has done a remarkable job of designing the Prolog so that you have to look very hard to find clues that it’s an ebike.  The motor is a small rear hub motor that is only a bit larger than a traditional hub. The other clues are the integrated rear lights in the seat stays and the power button on the top tube. It’s on the pricier end of a single person eBike at $4500. It doesn’t weigh as much as an eBike either Lemond also managed to keep the weight extremely low, at 26 […]

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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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Riding on the gravel paths of Berkeley's Brickyard Cove Park

Kids Bay Area Bike Rides: Berkeley’s Brickyard Cove

Riding on the gravel paths of Berkeley’s Brickyard Cove Park We took the group of kids to bike on a family ride at the new Brickyard Cove park in Berkeley at the shoreline.  It recently opened earlier this year.  Apparently it had been privately owned land that had been a dumping ground for decades.  Originally slated for a mall, after zoning battles, it appeared to have been purchased by East Bay Regional Parks in the late 90s.  And now it has finally been developed into a park in 2022. Brickyard Cove has beautiful views The location is nice.  It’s right off of the University Ave pedestrian bridge, aka the Berkeley I-80 bridge, and is right next to the Bay Trail.  It offers expansive views of San Francisco, the Emeryville Marina, the Bay Bridge, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Berkeley hills, […]

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Bike Flag Light Pole, made in Oakland

Flag Poles for Bicycles: Helpful Pros and Cons

  Hi.  We’ve been riding around with bike flags as a family for more than a year and a half now.  We’ve been riding in all seasons (in Northern California, so there isn’t a ton of variation) and in rain and in fair weather.  I wanted to share our experience of riding with a bike flag for kids. Pros: Why should I ride with a flag for my bike? Bike flags make the rider more visible The main reason to use a flag is visibility.  Until we get more protected bike lanes, we often need to share the road with cars, and it’s important to be seen by drivers when on the road.  The flag poles typically mount to the axle of the rear wheel of the bike.  While riding to school, we can see a bike flag from 3-4 […]

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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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California Street and Dwight Way Bike Infrastructure improvements

Dwight Way and California St intersection traffic improvements – Berkeley

Building the right infrastructure for people: Traffic Calming in Berkeley There are a number of new quick-build traffic calming improvements sprouting up all over the East Bay. Crossing Dwight Way at California street as a pedestrian or person on a bike was traditionally difficult.  It’s wasn’t terrifying, but the traffic speed and volume made feel like a bit of an adventure to cross.  California St is far enough from a traffic signal that might create breaks in the traffic.  By the time drivers reach this intersection, they have had a chance to accelerate to faster speeds. The City of Berkeley has put in temporary traffic improvements as part of Phase 2 of the Dwight Way/California Street project.  The City of Berkeley will record data and use this to evaluate whether Phase 3 permanent improvements will be implemented.  I hope this […]

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