Monday, May 26, 2014

2 Bikes and a Bike Trailer in a Honda Fit

My wife has been the proud owner of a 2007 Honda Fit for the past 7+ years.  We have taken it from San Antonio (where it was originally purchased), up to DC, all the way up to Maine, and lots of places in between.

It's truly an amazing car.  Honda really did something right when they set out to design a small hatchback with a premium on cargo space.  For example, they moved the gas tank under the driver's seat (similar to the Jeeps of the 1940's) -- giving you as much room as possible in the back.

This Memorial Day Weekend, we did a family trip to a nearby park for a bike ride: me, my wife, and our daughter Beth.  This included my road bike (a 58 cm Motobecane Vent Noir), Bonnie's road bike (a 53? cm Specialized Ruby women's road bike), and Beth's bike trailer (a Nashbar bike trailer).  Oh, and of course, Beth's child seat, and all associated wheels, helmets, gloves, and backpacks for a picnic lunch.

Here's everything OUTSIDE of the car, ready to go on our picnic bike trip.

... and here's everything IN the car, as we were leaving for the morning trip:

Not to worry, Beth had plenty of room for herself:

Loading takes a little bit of care: Bonnie's bike goes in first as it's the shortest.  Then my bike goes in, and its handlebars fit neatly between the driver's and passenger's seat, as you can see in the above photo.  I also place a towel over the greasy chain to avoid greasing everything up.  And then the Kid Karriage II fits nicely in next to that.  Strap everything to the handy fittings on the driver's side of the car, and voila!  You're all set for a picnic.  Total load time takes a little over 5 minutes.


On a bittersweet note, we will be selling her trusty orange Fit soon.  Daughter #2 is due in July, and we need to move to a bigger car that can safely carry all kids, associated Stuff, and we'd like to have room in the car for a Friend if we ever have to carpool.  Although fitting 3 kids across can be done in a Fit, we are blessed that we have the financial ability to purchase a larger car.

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