I imagine if this were an option she would already have a bike and there would be no need for this thread.


Have you ever seen this done? I mean... I live in Xtracycle country. Portland is the epicenter of cargobiking as a lifestyle. I have NEVER seen an adult on the back of one. Ever. I haven't even seen a child on the back of one. The closest I've come to that is seeing an Xtracycle equipped with passenger accommodations which I assume were for a child. My SO and I regularly pull a load that is not unlike the weight of a HWP girlfriend, in a trailer, with a tandem. I do on occasion pull the same load without my SO stoking. It could be done. Regularly? IDTS. It would get real old in a hurry.

Why? It's her car. At least the other guy who suggested this qualified it by saying he could put in gas money when he actually rode in her car with her. This just sounds like paying for stuff because that's what the guy in a relationship is supposed to do. Obsolete notion. The relationship will either work as is, with the dynamics as they are, or it won't. Or the o.p. could take the initiative and buy a tandem now. Walmart sells a nice, cheap one. We have one. Its our car. We also own a much nicer tandem for club rides. People ooh and ahhh and lose control of their bladders over the Walmart cruiser but only get mildly excited by the 10x more expensive road tandem we take out on nice summer weekends. Go figure...

There is this, however. Driving a car and driving a car well, are two very different things and unfortunately Americans don't make much of a distinction between them. I didn't own a car until I had children. I was 30 when I learned to drive, 33 when I got my first car. I drove regularly (weekly) for about a decade and have been car lite (very lite) since then. I am 53. IF the o.p. intends to rent cars or borrow the cars of friends he MUST somehow gain the necessary driving experience and this will not be obtained by making the occasional rental or loan of a friends vehicle.

H