Madsen hood, viewed from a bakfiets

My old 995

It didn't feel right to blog about getting the kids about on a cargo bike without talking a bit about the bike that got me into cycling the kids around this way in the first place. In 2007, I was lucky enough to find a barely used ex-demo De FietsFabriek 995 for sale a couple of miles away from where I live. I tested it, loved it and bought it. It was a fantastic deal and at the time I thought small issues, such as not being able to touch the floor when I was on it, could be resolved. The 995 is a beautifully smooth bike to ride and takes no effort at all; it just rolls which meant we were able to have some fantastic long summer rides without me needing to get too fit. Seth loved going in it too, and with the cover on he could sleep and his head wouldn't loll around, although it did get pretty hot in there. We could pick up his friends and just have fun riding about. At the park, rather than the having fun in the play area, most of our time was spent letting kids take turns on a go in the bike.

It did have small problems: the rain cover leaked, and it was a bit twitchy on wet leaves and slippery conditions. Other than that, it was a great bike. The biggest problem for me was the frame size. I tried a number of tweaks to get the bike to fit, such as using a flipped Brompton seatpin extender, but it still didn't fit, and after coming off with Seth in the front (he was fine), I decided it was too risky and I had to find an alternative. However, I loved this bike, if I found out they were making a smaller version, I'd pick one up tomorrow!

Eli's throne

It is finished! It didn't take too long to make and is a perfect fit in the Madsen. Once it was finished, I was surprised at how similar it is to our old Weber seat that we used in the Croozer 737 trailer we had, just a smidge narrower. That didn't fit, so I guess it is that smidge that has made all the diference. It has two hooks on the back to secure it into the Madsen and will get a test ride tomorrow.

Coughs and Sneezes

We've been stuck in most of the week. Seth had a terrible cough at the beginning of the week and Eli caught it yesterday, meaning just as I was preparing to get out and about again, we've been forced to stay home. Seth has been moaning all day; he wants to get out and he got sick of painting, sticking and wet play ideas really quickly today. I'm also frustrated; when the kids take up every spare minute I don't get time to do my own thing. I've been given a car seat and am desperate to start hacking it down so I can fit it into the Madsen and take the kids out for rides. We live in a village with no public transport and I don't drive, so getting the Madsen up and running is really important to me, as it gives me some independence. With the old De FietsFabriek 995, we would chuck a hot water bottle under the cover a few minutes before the ride, and it would be cosy warm for Seth. However, I hated riding the 995 in wet slippery conditions whereas I LOVE riding the Madsen in any kind of weather as I feel so much more in control - probably has some thing to do with the sizing as well as the set up. I can't wait to do the hot water bottle thing with the boys in the Madsen and start visiting the museums in town together. Lets hope I get a few minutes spare this weekend.

The Madsen Rainhood

We got our Madsen thinking that the rainhood would be coming any day, and riding out with a fairly new baby and a 4 year old in cold winds and wet weather was out of the question, so we were really disappointed to find out that the guys at Madsen had had some problems with the hood and it was delayed. I'm not a patient person at the best of times so I looked into a way round the problem. My first idea was to just get a cover for the baby car seat and then wrap the older boy up to keep him warm, however, as we are going for Julian's (www.totcycle.com) baby carrying solution, the seat is going to be so cut down a raincover won't fit. I was getting more and more frustrated, and when I got the all clear from the Doc to start riding again I decided I had to take matters into my own hands. As the Madsen box is not so different to the Christiania, I decided to try and use their design and make it fit the Madsen.

The metal for the mounts which go on the inside corners of the box cost £3.50,our neighbour designed and made them for us. Fixings were £3.58. The Christiania hoops were £22 from hugh at schoolruncentre.co.uk, but we're also going to see how much it'll be to make taller ones to give more headroom, as they are just bent solid alloy tube. The hood itself is a Christiania hood. The way the mounts are fitted means it's a bit too long. It fits okay due to the bakfiets bungies, but looking at the design, it'll be cheap to have a new one made - it's just 1 large rectangle of tent material with 2 small squares sewed on the long sides with two pieces of elastic sewed on the joins and 8 eyelets - there's less than £25 materials in it, even just buying at quantity for a one off.

The material for the tent arrived today so I'm really looking forward to getting our made to fit tent finished. Just need to get started on the baby seat now.

The blue dog bike

Our Madsen arrived from Practical Cycles just before Christmas. It looks lovely, and having been using the De FietsFabriek 995 and the BSP Motherbike to haul Seth about, I am looking forward to getting the Madsen set up for Seth and Eli. I was pretty sad to sell the De FietsFabriek 995, but only being 5ft 2 it just wasn't working for me and didn't feel safe taking kids on if I couldn't reach the ground. So my first 'woohoo' is that even with a squishy seat on the Madsen, my feet can reach the ground. Watch this space for how well a car seat fits into the Madsen, our lovely homemade hood, and the lights we set up. Oh, and the reason we call it a dog bike? Check out this great video for an explanation; our 4 year old loves it!