Quick scroll down to see my NEW BIKE!!

This is Suzie Too, my beater bike. I have a car but try not to use it. I want to bike for environmental as well as health and economic reasons. The car I drive is a blue VW Rabbit and it's quite economical, but nothing beats a bike for economy. Furthermore, the less I drive the Rabbit, the longer it will last me.

The trailer is very sturdy and has never needed a lick of maintenance. It can carry up to 300# I think although it's not "rated" as it's custom built. It can even take my extension ladder when I have a painting job to do.
The basket on the rear of the bike has a lockable lid and is extremely sturdy. I've had heavy loads in it but I find anything over 50# in that basket makes the bike terribly unstable.

The bike is NOT light by anyone's standards, it weighs 55# without a load. I call it the "semi trailer" of the the bike world. It's built to haul, not to zip, but I get around just fine all the same.

I've come up with some cute tricks for standing the bike without a kickstand. The usual is to lean it on a wall somewhere, but I can also set it against a curb and by setting the pedal just so against the curb it will stay put upright. With the trailer I can jacknife the whole affair as I've done for these pictures and it will magically stand stably all on it's own. I love to do this in a parking stall at the grocery store. Drivers are usually surprised and somewhat perturbed to see it. I think they think I don't deserve to use up a parking space.

The beauty of a cheap old rusty bike is that only joy-riders will trouble to steal it. This makes locking up quite simple. I have a lovely old european spoke lock I found at a yard sale. It attaches under the seat and a ring closes through the wheel with a lever. Then one manipulates the springy little button in combination and the lever shoots back! Very fast, very simple. Once an angry thief tossed Suzie Too about 10 ft but she didn't even pop her "trunk lid." Now THATS a good bike!

She has 7 speeds on the rear free hub, a shimano, and disk brakes front and back. She's from www.electrabike.com and customized by www.bikedoctor.ca.

I don't do a lot of long distance travel but there's nowhere in this city I won't go on my bike and even when I lived in Vancouver BC there was no place too remote for me and my pedals. I never considered it difficult to pedal for a few hours to get somewhere. I might have minded the scheduling but generally I find that a bike gets to point B almost as fast as a car in regular traffic patterns. Only automotive travel at night or on the highway is faster and driving during peak traffic periods takes much longer than biking.

For all of my twenties I relied solely on my bicycle winter and summer in all types of weather. I then got a car and my cycling fell off but I joined the icebiking list at www.icebike.org and the added support and guilt of communicating with other winter bikers has really motivated me to bike all year again. I have a car still and use it more than I really have to, but with the new information on things like winter hardy grease for the bike and sources of good winter wear for my body I've been able to get around all season.

I think I'll name her Danielle because Daniel bought her for me.

A little about Danielle. I've had her a little over a year now. The hokey spokes www.hokeyspokes.com have dramatic results. People can clearly see them as they drive up from behind because they almost always slow down as they pass for a better look. Sometimes I wonder if I'm going to cause an accident by being a spectacle! Sometimes I grow tired of all the attention and actually go out without them turned on for a break.

I keep the paint job waxed and polished and this has not only given it a silky sleek shine but also eases cleanup when it needs washing. Dirt just slides off the wax. It also helps prevent scratches and scuffs as the wax surface takes the abuse first. On the top tube I've had an autobody shop apply a clear vinyl film called "stone guard" to protect it from the extra abuse it recieves as I step over it getting on and off the bike. I wish I could get the fenders done too but it's a little prohibitively expensive and I don't ding the fenders often enough to merit it. Nail polish has proved an excellent touchup resource for those rare occasions when I actually *gasp!* chip the pearltone pink paint. I know every chip on the bike and could recount them to you. I do love my bike that much.

I recently added some battery powered neon wires to the basket and seat post but I don't have it photographed. The wires glow pink at dark and one is a straight border round the bottom of the basket and the other a spiral twist down the seat post tube to the first junction of the the top tube.

I take this bike out far more often now than the older bike. The comfort level is distinctly different and the fat tires on Danielle are much more stable on questionable surfaces like ice, sand and mud than that of Suzie Too up there. Suzie Too is now relegated to mucky days and dangerous destinations. The bike trailer hardly sees use because when it would be brought into play is an excuse I can use to take the car. this may change now that I've had my low thyroid diagnosed and medicated. I have been battling severe low energy for five years. Now that's improving, I expect to see more cycling.

Time to go for a bike ride.