Being as how la Casa Presidencial is a one-working-car-family since the untimely demise of my terrible, awful, no-good Ford Focus, when the wife goes out in the car in the evening, the youngsters and I are effectively marooned within walking distance. OR SO YOU WOULD THINK! But honestly, did you think I got to be Presidente de China by sitting around and letting carlessness keep me and my sons from after-dinner ice cream? Come on, now. As the photos below demonstrate, I fashioned a handy, modular seat that fastens neatly and securely to the rack of my Raleigh Twenty, which, when I add some extra handlebars, makes a swanky (and free!) tag-along-style ride for my five-year-old. Then I attach the trailer for the two-year-old and voila: Nous avons de mobilite!
Here are the boys all saddled up, full of ice cream and ready for the ride home. Note the stirrups hanging down on either side of Max's seat - they are made from an old tire.
You can't see him, but Reuben's in the trailer saying "cheese."
Scrap wood, an old tire, and good old American ingenuity. If you click for the larger version and look carefully, you can see a carefully placed screw that, along with two others, keeps the seat from sliding side-to-side. Once the strap is cinched down, pulling the whole business toward the bike's seatpost, it doesn't wobble or move at all.
OK, is it possible that I'm a little too proud of myself for this relatively modest feat of engineering? Yes. But goddamnit, it works, it cost me nothing, and Max loves it. If a man can't take pride in all that, what can he take pride in?
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
This is why I'm hot
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5 comments:
that better be ac petersen's, because if you're on the sidewalk in west hartford center, you're so busted!
We were in WH center, but were only on the sidewalk to park, not to ride. We went to the U. Conn. dairy bar place on Farmington. We managed to avoid any brushes with the law.
I do something similar only it involves a bike, trail-a-bike, and a Burley Trailer.
I only ride this way on rail trails and Greenways. I won't take my kids on the road.
Is it just me or do you have a seemingly endless supply of stems and handlebars? Seems like every new project integrates one of these. Quite the parts bin.
K -
It's funny, I have a decent parts bin, but I never have the things I truly need. Handlebars? Sure, about 12. Pedals that don't have a bent axle? None!
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