If you’re a current or future family biker, in Seattle, and on Facebook, join the Seattle Family Biking Facebook group for fun events like today’s meetup! Lots of biking families and prospective biking families convened at South Lake Union Park to examine, inquire about, and test ride family biking rigs. Morgan Scherer from Family Bike Seattle was on hand with her Family Bike Expo, too–there were a lot of bikes today!

I saw a lot of great stuff, like an adult in a Bullitt box:

Side-by-side comparison of Bullitt and Workcycles bakfiets:

Creative DIY passenger foot harness on a Yuba Boda Boda:

That Boda Boda was a big hit! I rode it before the owner attached the Bobike mini to the front and it was a dream. I test rode the floor model at JRA (where this one is from) a while back, but that was just a quick little circle while the kids looked on. Today’s longer ride was super fun. Its shape seems well-suited to the front seat so I don’t think I would have felt any difference.

The Boda Boda family also has a Kona Ute with these cool kid foot pegs. I think Recycled Cycles devised them.

I cannot believe I didn’t get a picture of it, but the big hit of the day was the Xtracycle EdgeRunner built up by Ride Bicycles. It’s Zone Blue with two orange kid seats. I got a picture of its environmentally–friendly Selle Royal Becoz saddle:

The cargo-carrying elements are yet to be added–no side bags or front basket–so they carried a kid bike on their regular bike-strapped to the rear rack with a strap they found in the garage right before heading out. I worry they’ll lose the knack for packing so well once they’re spoiled by the cargo bike.

At least I got a picture of Tyler on my Big Dummy. He’s riding with his own kid and Davey Oil’s Little Oil. Davey wasn’t there, but his EdgeRunner and kid were.

Later in the day the kids and I rode with Spokespeople to Electric & Folding Bikes Northwest where we saw this Kinetic Expedir cargo ebike. It was fun to ride–twisting the handlebar made it shoot forward. Apparently one can pedal while using the motor, by why would you? I zoomed around, cackling, with my feet off the pedals.

After Spokespeople I returned to South Lake Union Park solo on my road bike to return Davey’s EdgeRunner. Despite the smaller (20 inches rather than 26) rear wheel, the deck and Yepp kid seat sit almost as high as on my Big Dummy due to the gap between wheel and FlightDeck for the e-assist’s battery. The bike felt the same as mine on flat ground, but it’s a surprisingly nimble climber. I think it’s a combination of the small wheel being especially good for climbing and the mountain bike gearing Davey’s got on this one. Having the weight of the seat all the way forward probably helps, too, though I experienced a bit of heel strike.

I thought about ignoring the e-assist since I’m not used to it, but I changed my mind after a few blocks. However, poking at buttons didn’t turn it on (apparently there was a key to turn that Davey told me about, but I’m not used to listening to instructions about e-assist, either) so I tried to keep up with Barbara on her MinUte as we scaled Capitol Hill. We didn’t want to go out of the way to hit my usual flat-enough route, but even on this sportier number, it was hard going. We switchbacked up between Roy and Mercer and eventually made it up up up.