Dickie Dee Bike

So Gus and I came home from our recent adventures at family camp to discover that our chariot and two bikes had been stolen from our back shed.  Besides being quite upsetting, the lack of a chariot left us with no way to conveniently transport our kids, except our car.  Actually, we had already been facing problems with the chariot being to small for our growing family.

We needed something with capacity for 3 kids.  We considered a bunch of hybrid solutions involving attaching the chariot to the tow bike or having an infant seat on the bike and the chariot behind it, but all the configurations were awkward and all would be rendered useless if we decided to have a fourth child.  But nothing existed that would carry 4 kids and absolutely nothing worked for an infant.  Well almost nothing...

It turns out that a small bike company in Guelph sells cargo trikes reminiscent of the ice cream Dickie Dee Bikes I used to see as a child.   The bike consists of a large cargo box in the front and a bike behind it.  It seats four children and the seats can be flipped up or removed to accommodate other things (such as an infant car seat).  It also comes with a very hefty price tag and a high risk of theft.  So we decided not to get it....

But then our chariot was stolen and we were looking at at least a few hundred to replace it and then it wouldn't even be able to meet our needs...so we changed our minds about the Dickie Dee bike.  Gus brought home the new ride on Tuesday and we've been having lots of fun experimenting.  We took all the kids to swimming lessons in it on Wednesday and today I bought $210 worth of groceries and carried them all home on my bike.  I was wearing my helmet in the store and the cashier kept eyeing it as I was checking out.  Finally she said "you aren't biking with all of this are you?"

"I sure am!"  That felt great.

The official review after a couple of days of use:  The cargo space is awesome and it is very comfortable to ride. It is heavy, but not as bad as you might think given how much weight you are carrying.  It is pretty cumbersome, but I'm not sure how that could have been avoided.  The cargo compartment could really use shocks and it would be helpful to have some easier gears, especially on hills.  I also find it is a little too easy to tip when coming off curbs, something we will have to be very careful about with the kids in there.  The seat belts that come with it are pretty crummy, but I think they can easily be made more effective with a small do it at home hack.   It would also be really useful if we could detach the bike portion from the cargo cart and use it as a "stroller" as well as a bike.  I'm already hatching design plans, but Gus says I'm crazy ;)  Oh well...we can't all be perfect.

Darwyn and mommy on the cargo bike

$210 in groceries

Gus and 3 kids on one bike