Originally Posted by
tandempower
How far is it? Why isn't there anyone else to drive her?
It seems pretty unreasonable to expect someone who lives car-free to drive for the sake of toting someone else around. If the situation was reversed and it was a 15 year old wanting to bike 20 miles to school each day but for some reason they needed an adult to bike with them as chaperone, how many adults would be willing to take that job?
She'll be staying with my mother. But, it will be difficult to expect her to do drop-offs/pick-ups twice a day, every day.
I could probably borrow a car (pickup), for those occasional days I'll need to help, but I've chosen not to impose myself on other people's vehicles.
Distance is about 9 miles each way, plus about 32 miles RT for me to get from my house to the Mom's house and back, so shuttling won't be particularly practical for me either.
In gradeschool (age 11 or 12), I would occasionally do the trek one-way, solo, but further, maybe 20 miles or so. We moved closer, but generally along the same route between 6th and 7th grade, so by age 13 or 14, I was frequently doing most of the route to school (ending in a different direction).
Anyway, I've been riding on those roads for many years. But, Mom doesn't want to turn my niece loose on the bike.
I've been looking at my Ferves Ranger. I could probably get it road worthy in the next month or so, but it should have a roll bar and seatbelts added which might put me over the deadline. Still, worth doing some work on it. So, it will probably be the Fiat 500. I could, of course, get one running, then do an engine swap into the other if I was ready.