Saturday, April 14, 2012

New Yuba Setup, April 2012

Today was a big day in our family bike world: we implemented two new kid-carrying configurations. The first is a new IT Chair for Dave's Brompton, which lets him carry Jasper, but I'll let him post on that little adventure.

And the second: the end of the boxes on the Yuba, at least for now. Kes is big enough to ride up front, so Jasper moved to a Yepp Maxi on the deck. I'm sad to lose such a distinctive part of their babydom, but glad to be 50 pounds lighter on the bike.

Since there are no babies in our immediate future, I think we'll be selling the boxes. Let me know if you're interested!

14 comments:

Matt in Tacoma said...

Wow! This is a step that I somehow missed with my girls. I think we trailered through these ages. But before you know it, they'll both be sitting on the back and barely holding on. They grow up too fast...

Cheers!

Stacy said...

I would love to see how your Yepp Maxi is attached to your deck. We don't care for our PeanutShell and looking for other options. Specifically, easy to take on and off and rides well on the rear of the deck. Does the YM do this?

Congrats on the transition. I would love those boxes just because they are beautiful. But 50lbs! Oy vey ;)

sara said...

The new set-up is terrific.

These transitions are bittersweet though, huh? Your boxes were so distinctive but they served you well and here's to them serving another crew.

melanthius said...

@Stacy: I wrote a little blurb about getting the Yepp mounted on the Yuba in a Flickr comment; http://www.flickr.com/photos/40100270@N06/7078945337/

I plan to do a bit of a tech blog post on how I did it and how I would do it if I were to do it again. You must have a strong, load-bearing deck (mine is 12mm marine plywood) to make it work.

In answer to your questions: It's easily removable (10 seconds?) from the mount but the mount is bolted down and not easily removable. I'm not sure what you mean by "rides well on the read deck" but is about a perfect fit for the width of the Yuba's rack.

Chicargo said...

Glad to see you posting again, but a little envious of your nifty ItChair. Where'dja get it? Whaddya think of it? I can't wait to hear...

melanthius said...

I got the ItChair as new-old-stock from Clever Cycles. It's pretty great! I plan on doing a tech post about it too, but am jsut now catching up from going bike camping (!) this weekend, which also deserves its own post.

Anonymous said...

This is maybe a silly question, but how do you get off the bike with both kid seats on? When my daughter was in a front seat I didn't have enough space to comfortably straddle the top tube of the bike. Of course, now that she's moved to a back seat, I have to re-train myself not to dismount by swinging a leg over (we have had several close calls where I almost roundhoused her). By the way, thanks for writing a rad and inspiring blog. I am pregnant and getting around almost exclusively by bike with a toddler, and it's awesome to read about other folks doing the same.

Lindsay said...

Hey do you still have the boxes for sale? I have a fried who's interested. Cheers!

Lindsay
youaintgotjack.blogspot.com

inkandpen said...

Anon- It's not a silly question, but I don't have a great answer. I have to do a dorky little one-footed hop maneuver to get on the bike with both seats, then immediately slide back onto the saddle, which I keep low enough to keep a toe on the ground while straddling it. It's not elegant, but I'm used to it.

Chicargo said...

Het we were peeking in to see how the summer rides were going. We hope that you are having plenty of two kid fun on your new rig. J.

melanthius said...

The rides have been pretty amazing. So busy making the most of the summer that we haven't had time to write about it! Updates soon!

Elliot Schwartz said...

Hey, can I ask why you guys chose the Yepp Maxi EasyFit (which it sounds like was a bit of a challenge to mount) vs. the Peanut Shell?

(We're also trying to figure out if we can reuse our seatpost-mounted Yepp Maxi Standard...)

inkandpen said...

Elliot, this is way too late to be useful, but: We like that there is no fabric padding on the Yepp, as it gets really wet here and uncovered seats parked in the rain are a certainty. We also think it's nicer looking, though that's less of a big deal.

Unknown said...

Yeah, getting the kids out the door with any clothes at all has always been time consuming. Even in five years, your kids will probably just want to motorboat around the living room mumbling about G.I. Joe, totally oblivious that they're late for school. Frustrating but still, you herd them out. I find myself asking, "why aren't you on the porch already?" I often used to try and get them to play in the front yard so they would get cold and wet so they realized they wanted to wear shoes, socks, and shirts. Silly kids.