yesterday had me heading out for the first grocery shop on the new bike. after dropping off Andreas at school (he giggled the whole way!) i headed out to the westhills shopping district, with staples, the post office, and superstore on the to-do list.as you can see in the top photo it was pretty chilly with a light dusting of snow on the ground and patches of black ice here and there (more on that in a moment). i live really close to a safeway, about 4 blocks, but decided that a longer trip out to westhills was needed to give the bike a better test ride. the ride over to my local safeway is about 5 minutes, the ride to westhills worked out to exactly 15 minutes.
one thing i have noticed (not sure if i am imagining this) is that cars are giving me more space than on a regular bike. i like this. i am guessing the reasons are that the bike is very visible, being bright baby blue and/or they are hanging back before passing me 'cuz they are checking out this machine they've never seen before. either way, i like this too.
so, nothing special to report about the stops at staples and the post office. upon arrival at the superstore, i locked up the bike and went looking for a shopping cart. i forgot that the carts here require a loonie to release them and i was without cash. so, off it was on foot over to the bank to get some cash.
well, as luck would have it, i wiped out on some black ice walking across the parking lot. walking, not riding. figures i crash walking, not cycling. probably should have been wearing my pedestrian helmet!
$150 later, we're loaded up and ready to go! success!
one thing i noticed when running errands with this bike is that there is nowhere on the bike to keep things stored securely, i mean, out of sight. this is a problem that needs to be solved, and i think i have a solution.
i am going to make a full deck that will sit right where the seats are now. it will fit snugly in where the seats are, except that when it is in place, you will not be able to see whats underneith it. once it is complete, i'll post some pics.
otherwise, the madsen is doing what it is suppose to do. nice.
2 comments:
Awesome first report! Are you running studded tires on that thing yet? ;)
not yet, but a front studded tire will be going on as soon as it looks like winter is coming for real.
not sure about the rear tire. i know they are available for 20" - just not sure its needed due to the weight of the bike and size of wheel.
also being considered is an e-assist front wheel...my thought is that it might be nice in the winter during heavy snow days.
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