About a month ago I went to get my bike fit done at Bike2Body in Westboro. My visit was not particularly timely since I’ve had this bike for almost a decade, and I finally got an answer to what is wrong with my position. It turns out that my bike is too small for me.

Mary the physiotherapist filmed me biking and corrected my position as much as possible given the bike size. We also ordered a longer handlebar stem which should help matters once it is installed. I already noticed improvements as my average speed has increased by 5km/h and this is not even with the optimal position!

One of the reasons why I finally got the bike fit done is that I have to decide how to get all three kids on the bike. As you might know I have been thinking about this for a while and I have narrowed my choices down somewhat. After some experiments and experience of owning a city bike I have come to accept the fact that I live in the suburbs. There is not much point in going anywhere without the car but if I insist on biking I better make it fast and call it exercise. This excludes things like upright positions, regular clothes and no helmets. As sad as I am to concede, I will not be getting a bakefiet.

This leaves us with long-tails. I have originally dismissed long-tails due to crossbars and logistics of getting three wiggly boys on the bike without knocking it over. I have since accepted crossbars as a fact of cycling life (see paragraph above) and found a kickstand that will turn a long-tail bike into a jungle gym. With this in mind, two obvious options are open to me; I can turn my trusty old bike into a long-tail by installing a Xtracycle bike trunk or I can buy a heavy duty cargo bike, called Big Dummy, that uses the Xtracycle specs so all the equipment (kickstand, child seat, etc…) that I would get for the Xtracycle can be used here. As usual, I present my conflicting thoughts in a table format:

Bike	Xtracycle on the old bike	Surly Big Dummy
The cost is about as much as a…	nice hybrind	racy road bike
Load handling	Xtracycle should be fine but I am not sure the hybrid can handle that much extra weight. I need to investigate further.	It is rated for much more that I intend to carry.This is marketed as a mountain touring bike; you can live on it.
How does it ride?	It’s the devil I know.	I will probably not get a chance to test ride it as very few stores carry Surly and none of them have Big Dummy in stock.
What else do I ride?	Converting my hybrid will mean that I no longer have a fastish bike. I will own two cargo bikes and nothing else.	I will have at least one bike for all occasions.
What happens in 6 or so years when I no longer need (or can) carry the kids?	I will only keep one of my cargo bikes, which, I don’t know. Hybrid will get use either way.	I can always use the Big Dummy for bike camping or other adventures we might want to go on with our pre teen and teen boys. Grocery shopping is always a possibility but there is always a chance that I will not use the bike often and have to sell it.

So there. Which, if any, will I pick? I don’t know!