Imagine a unicorn appearing at your door, in the flesh, and asking to hang around a while.   That would be pretty weird, because you always thought unicorns were mythical creatures like succubi or centaurs.  But it would be a hell of a lot weirder if your new one-horned lodger turned out to be mild-mannered, always helpful, impressively strong when the occasion demanded, and a total natural with the kids.  (Of course Teddy can come, sweetie. :)

[photo by Patrick Barber, aka hen power -- thanks!]

That’s the way I feel about my family’s new Xtracycle setup.  It’s a bicycle I never thought existed in American reality: a bike that is actually a useful and flexible form of family transportation. One that can carry a kid and six bags of groceries without creaking, tipping over, or making the steering go googoo.   It eliminates the need for dozens of car trips each week — and it’s fun enough it eliminates the desire for those trips too.

The Xtracycle is that rare thing in today’s world: a green product that could actually make a difference.  It could allow thousands of two-car families to switch to one car, and one-car families to switch to zero cars, and have more fun than they did before.  Right now my family doesn’t own any cars.  We have an Xtracycle, several personal bicycles, and a subscription to a carsharing service.  It’s working well and it’s really cheap.  Plus kids love Xtracycles.

[photo by carfreedays under Creative Commons]

Initially I was cynical about the potential of the Xtracycle to really change things.  …more