My Sorte has been with me for one year this past monday. A year of fun family biking with two or more kids. Winter biking and sometimes some rainy biking.
I have recently been a bit down on the old girl. Ever since my dreams of a motor were dashed I've felt like she was slow, sluggish and too hard to bike up and down the hill to school errands. I had dreamed of using the Sorte to go everywhere in Newton. To not use my car really much at all and make most of my trips 2-3 miles and under by bike.
However that didn't happen. The Sorte is sometimes slow as walking and I exert a great deal of energy to travel a mile or so. Tuber has also complained about the bike because it is so slow.
So I've had to re-adjust how I see the Sorte. It's clearly for short trips, particularly if we aren't in a rush to be somewhere on time.
Now that it's March psychologically I am ready to get back on the Sorte again. Last March I was so excited to have her. This year I still really love riding when I'm on flat terrain.
Tuesday, Tuber and I had to make a run to the store. Tuber wanted to ride his own bike. However he demanded I bring the Sorte so he could put his LEGO toys in it. Tuber did a great job and biked for .75 miles to the store. It took a while but he made it with me riding slowly behind and to the side of him.
On our ride home, he decided to hangout in the box with his bike and LEGO.
Wednesday, Girlpie and her friend take an after school class. I have to pick them up since they miss the bus in order to take the class. This Wednesday I decided to give it a try to use the Sorte to pick up Tuber at his school at 3:30 then ride over to the elementary school and pick the girls up at 4:15 and then ride all three back home. I was a little nervous, but it went well. That last hill is a killer but I figure, my legs will thank me. I dealt with the slow factor by giving them a box of oreos and a box of cheezits to eat on the way home. They quietly munched the 25 minutes it took to get home.
(1 seven year old, 1 six year old and 1 nearly four year old in a box)
Food is the great shutter of whiny kid mouth. If it is going to be slow on the way home I bring a bag of popcorn. Declan is a slow eater, so it usually lasts 3/4 of the way home- no whinning.
ReplyDeleteyup. and things like Oeros are special special so they were really happy. And they didn't even finish the whole package which I was happy. I love that the sorte no food falls. On a kid seat I swear my son would drop the bag!!! ( probably b/c he'd be holding LEGO people with his hands and trying to hold the bag with his knees.)
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the Sorte anniversary!
ReplyDeleteEven if the bike is not all you hoped it would be, it still shaped your life over the past year in a meaningful and positive way.
I often wonder whether I made a mistake in buying the Pashley, because it was so expensive (by some standards) yet not quite perfect for me. But then I think about what life would have been like if I spent more time shopping around and comparing instead of having made the emotional purchase. It would have been less nice.
In any case... An object is never just an object, but can be a symbol of and a catalyst for so many things. It's quite amazing actually. Enjoy the Sorte and all the ideas/things/people it has brought into your life.
Happy one year anniversary! Even though you did not get the motor you wanted, what you're doing is amazing. Seeing pictures of Tuber riding his own bike, then sitting in the box with his bike, is so cool. Those kids must be learning so much from their awesome mom.
ReplyDeleteYou've been a great inspiration for me during my journey to give up my bike. Hopefully this time next year we will be year bike free (well part time anyway)!
ReplyDeleteHappy One Year. Actually, our cargo bike anniversaries are quite close-- we got the bakfiets in February 2009. I just got overwhelmed by life so didn't blog about it, but I did mark it in my head. It amazes me how much the decision to buy that cargo bike has changed our lives-- in such amazing and positive ways. Funny actually, a Sorte-like cargo bike is in this month's O magazine, by an author in London writing about frugality.
ReplyDeleteThink about how much the Sorte got you jazzed on bikes in general. In that way, it was an invaluable purchase. Just look at that last snap!
I hear what you are saying about these types of bikes being slow and sluggish on hills! Not sure what type of motor you had issues with but I recently put a geared hub motor on my trike and it is fantastic. You can read about it on my blog lifewithatrike.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteAaron- I can't even go into the type of motor b/c it depresses me. Let's just say I perhaps got bad advice and got a motor that was cheap and not worthy. I was set back $ and so I havne't tried again. I actually am thinking about trying agian in a little bit but still it will likely be a $ process.
ReplyDeletewhat type of motor did you use? You keep the battery inthe box I see. I didn't want that b/c my box gets crowded as I haul sometimes four kids plus their backpacks and wanted all the room avail for them. but that wasn't the problem.
How much torque do you get? How fast can you go on a hill? this is what I want. I have a dream once the kids are a bit old for transpo here to bring the bike to cape cod and use it to get around- but the distances are much longer- I wonder if it would work though. I would LOVE to bike to a pond or the ocean. I couldn't bike to the supermarket there as it's 20 miles away. ah dreams- and it would be nice to zoom around even at home too. But I think I have burned my good graces with the husband on throwing money at the Sorte...
If you look at some of the older posts on my blog you can see the full answers to your questions (nov - dec 2009 mostly). Short answers are it is an ezee geared motor kit from ebikes.ca (can't speak highly enough of the service from them even though I am in Australia!), torque and speed up hills is great even fully loaded. In fact I type this after just riding back from shops with a full load of groceries and easily do 15-20km/h up hill with me pedalling (say 9 to 12mph total weight of about 400pounds). The battery is not huge (though it is heavy) and I see they even have a longer range battery now that is the same size! Expensive yes (especially after allowing for aussie dollar and overseas freight) but worth the investment - the bike now has a new lease of life and is a lot more versatile.
ReplyDeleteVee,
ReplyDeleteI've been reading your blog for a while, and I just got myself up to date on Aaron's.
I think you need to give a motor another try. It must be uber frustrating to have gotten bad advice, wasted money, and then gone nowhere. However, it seems like with the kind of set up Aaron has, you will actually be able to realize your tricycle dreams.
Courage, Vee!
thanks Giffen. I was reading a little too and looking at the site Aaron mentioned. However I'm nervous b/c that site requires that I know what I'm doing that I don't. That's how I got burned before b/c I can't figure out if it's going to work before hand.... But I have been re-thinking it. Although it isn't good that the consult I was trying to get never got back to me. They came and looked at the bike and were going to get back to me with a proposal on best motor and how to set it up and then nada. I think they got over busy but I wonder if it was a project that seemed too hard so they trashed it thinking it would be too costly etc...
ReplyDeletewould be nice though. Although by the time I figure it out- the kids will be too old to want to ride and I'll have to electricfy the Xtra for lifts if they deem that acceptable...
If it's any help I did not know anything about electric motors or trikes before I went down the path I am on now! A bit of research goes a long way and it is also good to have a reliable and friendly local bike shop who can help out when things get a bit technical.
ReplyDeleteQuickly looking at your trike in more detail the main things you would need to check are what type of hub motor would best fit in the rear wheel. By the looks your rear wheel does the steering and the front wheels do the driving which is the reverse of mine! You may need a front wheel hub motor to actually put in your rear wheel and thus would need to check sizing etc to make sure it would fit ok. Good luck!
Re. speed, I've recently changed my bakfiets.nl cargotrike for a bakfiets.nl cargotrike. I log everything via gps (I am a health psychologist with an interest in self-monitoring, not just an obsessive). We're averaging a little over 14kph on the trike compared to >16kph on the cargobike. My average on my commuting bike (a big tyred drop-bar tourer) is 26kph.
ReplyDeleteFWIW, I don't find it tiring. On saturday mornings, our round trip is >25km (swimming lessons, brunch at university, kung-fu class, then home - I am not sure who is getting more exercise, my eldest or me).