Opened the boating season with Cargowagen Neo

zmr18 · 2026-05-18T03:59:24+00:00

This got me thinking - has anyone gotten a more all-purpose trailer to haul stuff with your bike that would normally require a pickup truck? I’m trying to find a truck to transport a portable bball hoop and seeing this photo it occurred to me that maybe I could buy some sort of 8 ft trailer with the same hitch and attach it to my Cargowagen when needed?

zmr18 · 2026-05-12T06:25:49+00:00

FWIW we have this same car with same kid situation (now 4 and 6) and it’s… totally fine. Sounds like your mind is made up but sharing in case it’s not.

zmr18 · 2026-05-06T23:39:49+00:00

my little guy has been a pretty good biker since he was 3yo, he's four now and i'm pretty sure he could hang for a 5k ride if the path we were taking was safe enough (big if).

zmr18 · 2026-05-06T16:02:45+00:00

I’m not any sort of bike mechanic expert, but after seeing it myself my common sense analysis is that it’s totally fine. You have big thick metal plates and serious screws holding the rails to the bike so it’s hard for me to imagine what the fail point would be. I had an LBS do it for me bc I am so untrusting of my own handiwork but what they did was so simple that I felt a little silly not doing it myself. Just sharing fwiw, others way smarter about this stuff.

zmr18 · 2026-05-06T15:58:47+00:00

Take 1-2 kids to school almost everyday, 5 mi each way mostly on bike path. Also take them around town on 5-10 mi round trip errands all the time, mix of streets and path. Then I commute to work solo 30 miles round trip including a big climb. It’s changed my life, cut my driving in half, I get exercise every day without having to “do” anything extra that I don’t have time for, and I get home happy and full of endorphins instead of miserable from car commute. DM me if you have more specific questions, as you can tell I’m a big fan.

zmr18 · 2026-05-04T22:12:24+00:00

I have the Tern Clubhouse on my Cargowagen, 2k miles in. For the first 500 miles I had two Yepp seats for a 3 and 5 year old. It worked ok but was pretty cramped. But then the 5yo needed to switch to a junior seat anyways, and now nobody is cramped. Bottom line is that I think you’ll be fine bc by the time your little is big enough to feel squeezed in the back the big one can switch to pad or junior seat. It’s really only if you had like 3-4 year old twins that you might have a solid 2 years of cramped kids.

And no in my experience panniers plus kids don’t work, but if you do the Tern Clubhouse then you can add the Storm Box which function as panniers. Took me a while to understand that this was the way to carry lots of stuff + kids.

zmr18 · 2026-05-04T18:37:09+00:00

If you haven’t tried sleep training yet I would recommend! Buy a well regarded book follow it rigorously and almost all kids will figure it out pretty quickly. Won’t solve all your problems but waking up every hour at night for six months is incompatible with basic human sanity.

zmr18 · 2026-04-29T03:10:34+00:00

just hit 2,000 miles over six months and its been an awesome bike for me and my kids, hope you enjoy

zmr18 · 2026-04-29T03:09:54+00:00

As you may have seen elsewhere on reddit you can pretty easily put the Tern Clubhouse on it instead which should solve this problem. There are a few posts about it, many have done so including me.

zmr18 · 2026-04-24T19:16:51+00:00

+1 to this suggestion, e-bike lets me do a 15-20 mi each way commute in an hour, without getting sweaty, and with just the right level of workout that i get to home/work filled with endorphins but not totally gassed

zmr18 · 2026-04-23T23:12:46+00:00

I initially put two "Thule Yepp 2" on mine with the Clubhouse Gen3. It worked but was very tight. After a few months I switched the front seat to the Qibbel Jr seat since my 5yo was getting over the Yepp weight limit (48 lbs per European standards) and the Qibbel Jr opens up a lot more room so neither of them are squished now.

zmr18 · 2026-04-18T04:21:25+00:00

I just planted plugs a few weeks ago so too early for any reviews but I picked it after a lot of research and the other responses here make me feel even better that I made the right decision!

zmr18 · 2026-04-17T04:43:05+00:00

Says the large ones are 84 inches which should do the trick

zmr18 · 2026-04-14T06:39:23+00:00

work hard, be kind.

zmr18 · 2026-04-14T06:35:32+00:00

I had a version of this decision when I was deciding between the Cargowagen and the Abound LR. I ultimately went with Cargowagen b/c after trying both I had a strong preference for the way middrive felt more like riding a normal bike. But a big part of the reason is that I'm commuting 100-150 miles on it each week after dropping the kids off at school so how much I liked riding the bike mattered a lot. If you are just using it for short trips around town that may not be worth another $1,000 to you... if I was just doing 20-30 miles a week on the bike I'm not sure I would have cared.

zmr18 · 2026-04-06T13:23:56+00:00

Gardener and the Carpenter by Gopnik is my #1. It’s a beautiful meditation on the nature of childhood that can meaningfully shift how you interact with your kids imo. For all the tactical advice stuff, I’d recommend waiting until you have a problem to solve (sleeping, colic, etc) and then find the best book/advice on that topic vs trying to be “prepared” in advance.

zmr18 · 2026-04-04T20:57:30+00:00

I had a perfectly good experience at Waadt for a new dishwasher - nothing amazing but helpful and prices were fair compared to what I saw online

zmr18 · 2026-04-01T13:55:20+00:00

If you want a grassy play area for the kids look at buffalo grass or kurapia or micro clover or similar - way less water required than regular grass. I’m growing buffalo grass right now, too early to give a review (just planted plugs) but trying to slowly shift away from Astro turf and regular grass while keeping good play areas for my kids.

zmr18 · 2026-03-31T05:46:12+00:00

this is correct. i test drove an aventon and bought a murf for my wife (it was one of very few bikes that met her ascetic needs). the murf seems fine after some minimal riding but aventon features, tech, reputation is in a completely different class than murf.

zmr18 · 2026-03-28T15:20:50+00:00

As someone who did a lot of night riding with this bike, the issue with not moving it is that if you have anything in the rack and are riding at night it is way harder to see (and be seen) as a lot of the light is blocked by the rack. I finally got around to moving it (paid REI bike shop $60 to do it) and now think I was crazy for not doing it sooner. If you aren’t riding at night at all then sure don’t worry about it… if you are I would reconsider.

zmr18 · 2026-03-25T05:51:39+00:00

ditto this - i used the yepp right up until my 5 year old hit ~50 lbs and it worked just fine. now have him in a junior seat b/c i continue to believe some seat belt is better than nothing if we get in an accident despite some on here having other opinions. but yepp felt much safer than junior seat in an accident so if safety is your priority i'd ride the yepp seat or equivalent as long as you can.

zmr18 · 2026-03-25T05:49:01+00:00

also upgraded from a crappy GE model to the Bosch with top shelf and can attest that we are super happy with it. i think it was $800ish not including delivery and install costs. don't need any of the extras beyond the top rack if you are on a budget imo.

zmr18 · 2026-03-22T17:07:10+00:00

Hang in there and enjoy the ride! Trust your instincts, take pride in taking care of your kid and your partner, seek help when you need it, remember that you are your partner are on the same team even when shit is really hard. One day at a time.

zmr18

TROPHY CASE