Commuting - Need help carrying someone on a bike!

Hi all. Never posted yet, though I've been lurking for about a week.

I've been using an old 10-speed road bike as my only means of transportation (in Montreal) for about a month now, riding about 200-300 km per week. Everything is going great after a few early obstacles (minor), but I'm still trying to overcome one problem:

My girlfriend doesn't like biking much, and it causes a problem when we both want to go somewhere together (i.e. movies, shopping, etc). I want to keep myself committed to my "100% bike" philosophy, so instead of using the bus, or worse still, using a car, I'd like to find a way to get both of us somewhere by bike without her having to make much (if any) effort.

I figure I have 2 options:

- tandem bike (but it's probably too expensive, and I have no place to store it)
- bike trailer (can those things be adapted to carry an adult instead of a child?)

Can anyone tell me where I can find a trailer designed or adapted to carry an adult (100-120 lbs)?

Thanks in advance!

AFAIK, there are a few adult-sized "trail-a-bike" units out there. Otherwise, keep your eyes open for a tandem. Carrying her in a trailer will get real old real fast for both of you. 'Course, if she insists on being chauffered around, and you insist on obliging, two other possibilities come to mind. One, the "Xtracycle" SUB, a frame attachment that sets your rear wheel back further, allowing you to fit a "deck" on which to carry a passenger. Two, a "jitney", essentially a bike version of a rickshaw.

Straying off topic, and perhaps into taboo territory, I would also think seriously about a relationship that has each of you in these postions. A tandem or trail-a-bike offers more potential for transition to separate bikes.

Check out the xtracycle. Not only is it one of your only options, it's a great one!

www.xtracycle.com

Eddy Cycles on Monk Street in Ville Emard, has a tow bar device that will allow two bikes to operate as a tandem. It costs about $100. It can be unhitched so the bikes can be operated normally.

Keep an eye out for the tandem option -- I picked ours up (low end but functional 1995 Norco Cape Cod) for $250 from the local tandem specialist company MBS Tandems.

Check out the xtracycle. Not only is it one of your only options, it's a great one!

www.xtracycle.com

i second the xtracycle. don't have one myself but want one.

one of the coolest things i've seen involved a very rainy day, a guy riding an xtracycle-equipped bike, and his girlfriend sitting behind him holding a gargantuan umbrella over the two of them.

i was jealous even though i like riding in the rain.

The xtracycle looks interesting.

I would try something cheaper first though:


put her on your handlebars.
BMX pegs on your rear axle.
rollerskates and rope
get a second bike at a thrift store.


Why would any normal, healthy person object to pedaling a bike a short distance ? I think she will get over it, if you give her a chance.

Dan

I have one on order and will convert my haro escape. I think they are the bomb-> and will solve all my bike utility problems. I just wish I knew how to surf. :) The freeradical is going to help me be carfree!




i second the xtracycle. don't have one myself but want one.

one of the coolest things i've seen involved a very rainy day, a guy riding an xtracycle-equipped bike, and his girlfriend sitting behind him holding a gargantuan umbrella over the two of them.

i was jealous even though i like riding in the rain.

Why would any normal, healthy person object to pedaling a bike a short distance ? I think she will get over it, if you give her a chance.

Yeah, she'll get over it - with another boyfriend.

Yeah, she'll get over it - with another boyfriend.

perhaps that's not the worst thing in the world. if you don't like to bike, there's clearly something wrong with your personality.

if my wife hadn't at least been game for pedalling (and paddling, for that matter) when we met, it wouldn't have gone too far.

Tell her to call me...i have a car!!!!! but if she prefers going topless ( no roof)
she can ride in the back of my pick-up truck :) LOLOLOL

My wife rode a bike once in her life before we met.

she started ridding on the bar that goes between the handle bar and the seat post.
Then she graduated to riding on the bikes rear rack.
Next was riding my bike as I walked close by.

Now she has her own bike!

Raving on the Xtracycle... My fiance and I own 9 bikes between the two of us. We love to ride and both work with bikes. She got an Xtracycle so she could ride with her guitar to gigs rather than driving. Well the gigs have taken a backseat as music takes a sabbatical, but the Xtracycle is our favorite "tandem" for the Farmer's market, going to the movies, quick jaunts to the BART and San Francisco. We love tandeming on it, and get great response from drivers and pedestrians.

get another woman or have her drive ya.

I would suggest that you buy here a pass for the Metro.

Frequently my wife drives, and I bike. Rarely is there a big difference in time that it takes us to get somewhere. Even when I bike with a friend, it's rare that we would independantly choose to go the same speed, so I appreciate all my solo trips.

Each of us has to find what is the best form of transportation for ourselves. If you've found that biking is best for you, you're fortunate. Of course, all of us here, think that.

I think you need a rikshaw.

I think you need a rikshaw. Gee, wish I'd thought o'that...

If your woman prefers to let you pull her in a wagon rather than biking herself or contributing to the ride on a tandem, get a new woman. Would she actually be willing to sit in a trailer and have you pull her? What, does she have bound feet or something? I guess I can see her simply refusing to bike. That sucks, but that's life, but who could sit in a trailer and have someone pull him/her?! Well, I guess I did a couple of times in Indonesia, but I paid the poor bastard.

This is a telegraph of things to come. The best partners are those who are willing to pull their share of the load.

Hi all. Never posted yet, though I've been lurking for about a week.

I've been using an old 10-speed road bike as my only means of transportation (in Montreal) for about a month now, riding about 200-300 km per week. Everything is going great after a few early obstacles (minor), but I'm still trying to overcome one problem:

My girlfriend doesn't like biking much, and it causes a problem when we both want to go somewhere together (i.e. movies, shopping, etc). I want to keep myself committed to my "100% bike" philosophy, so instead of using the bus, or worse still, using a car, I'd like to find a way to get both of us somewhere by bike without her having to make much (if any) effort.

I figure I have 2 options:

- tandem bike (but it's probably too expensive, and I have no place to store it)
- bike trailer (can those things be adapted to carry an adult instead of a child?)

Can anyone tell me where I can find a trailer designed or adapted to carry an adult (100-120 lbs)?

Thanks in advance!
If she can't pull her own weight then why should you?

I'm going to offer a slightly differing opinion than "your way or the highway."
You can't force her to ride a bike and even if you do, she won't be comfortable with it. Either she learns to appreciate it or she doesn't. If you're using the bike against her, she's only going to hate it even more. Bike commuting every where's all good and well but there are times when you just don't want to arrive sweaty from the ride. Even if I'm pedaling at 30% of my vomax, I'll be sweating, it's just a fact of life.
Try to get her to take short trips on the bike or maybe have her roller blade if she wants. In the end, you've gotta compromise. Either do that or end it right there because if no one's willing to budge, the thing's just gonna go straight down hill.
Talk it out with her, see why she doesn't like it and what her opinions are.

Compromise is how you keep a girlfriend. In this case, the girlfriend is not a cyclist. So, if Wildcard is interested in maximizing both his girlfriend and his happiness, he is going to have to break down and take the bus with her when they want to be together.

Wildcard says he's been 100% cycling for about a month. I wonder if her will still be 100% cycling in February when it's really cold and there's snow in the street? Some folks do but it takes a special kind of dedication.

I think I'd laugh my ass of if I saw a dude pulling his non-handicapped girlfriend in a trailer.