I’m now a few days into using an electric cargo bike (a Tern GSD) as my primary form of transportation. It’s…awesome.

Paul Cantrell

#BikeDiary I notice that I greet people a lot more commuting on the Tern. Just a nod, a smile, a friendly hello — but not a thing I did inside a car. The electric part helps: I'm not out of breath. And again, the upright riding position has a surprisingly large effect. I notice more of the community. I feel like a part of the place I’m riding through.

Paul Cantrell

#BikeDiary I also notice nature. I mean, this seems obvious, we all know that’s part of cycling, but:

Earlier in the week, along the Mississippi, a bald eagle came gliding down fast and silent and plucked a squirrel right out of the middle of the road not 50 feet from me. Full, long view of it — not out a window, no roof, just full view — as it lifted off and sailed away.

Would this have happened if I'd been in a car? Unlikely. Would I have had that view? Definitely not!

Paul Cantrell

(This is not quite as unusual as it sounds! Minneapolis and St. Paul straddle the one and only natural gorge on the Mississippi, and we have bald eagles nesting near the gorge on a regular basis. It’s right in the middle of the city, but 125+ years of conservation have kept the river gorge forested and semi-wild even as the city grew around it. It’s a pretty cool place to live.)

Tim Lavoie

@inthehands Speaking of bad weather, how well-rated are the motors for rain? My riding is mostly fair-weather, but wet on the West coast sometimes. Not a lot of time with cold and snow, but it would suck to kill motors prematurely.

Deb has moved! (see profile) 🇨🇦

@inthehands I gave up biking because the posture gave me migraine (I have neck damage). This makes me a little more optimistic.

Climate Jenny 2.0

@inthehands Yes. When I’m on my e-bike I feel about 30 years younger. I’m supposed to be using it for doing local chores, but once I’m on the bike I keep discovering little side-missions, just to prolong the ride.

Mark Kornblum

@tim_lavoie @inthehands we have had a first gen GSD in Seattle for 4.5 years, a few thousand miles on it now, no problems in rain whatsoever. We ride it year round, although more in the warmer months. The newer modules have more powerful motors than ours so I’m sure you will be fine

Tim Lavoie

@mkornblum @inthehands Awesome, thanks. I'm not *quite* in the market yet, as I still need my Civic, and my wife things I've got too many bikes already.

I do manage sometimes with a trailer, but that can be a lot of work on hills. (To be honest, I should do this more often first.)

Paul Cantrell

@tim_lavoie @mkornblum
My strategy has been to get cargo bike first and keep leaning on the Civic when necessary, rather than going cold turkey. It’s going to take a while phase out those last things that really want a car.

Paul Cantrell

#BikeDiary One week in, I’ve put 111 miles on the bike. I needed a car exactly once. Still love it.

Paul Cantrell

#BikeDiary My one really big fail with the bike: the seat has a handle underneath that looks for all the world like it’s for lifting the bike.

️ Do not lift a Tern by the seat handle!! ️

Despite all appearances, it’s not for lifting. It's for a rear passenger to steady themselves. If you lift the bike by the seat handle, the seat top will pop out of the rails — as I found out!

It's the the one really big design fail I've found on this otherwise excellent bike.

Paul Cantrell

#BikeDiary Searching online after I did this, apparently the problem is incredibly common. If you're somebody who's not mechanically inclined, take it to your dealer. But if you have some tools and elbow grease and mechanical know-how…apparently also take it to your dealer, because you'll bend the seat rails trying to fix it.

I took it to the dealer. They apologized profusely for not warning me about it. No biggie, but I did have to ride on my other bike's seat for a couple of days!

Carsten Franke

@inthehands back in Germany I biked everywhere, I did not even get a drivers license until I was 27... that all changed when I moved to St Paul 21 years ago. The distances were just too far and not easy to do on a bike. Your post changes that and I am starting to look at the options of electrical bikes. Thank you for that!

Paul Cantrell

@ClimateJenny
It’s so true!!

Paul Cantrell

@deborahh
Ugh. I can’t speak to your situation, of course, but I will say that it the posture feels •really• different in my body than my other bike. There are still some mobility demands, particularly with getting on and off. But if you’re comfortable sitting at, say, a piano bench, then this might have a chance of working for you.

Paul Cantrell

@carstenfranke
Hooray! MSP’s bike infrastructure has improved a lot over the last 30 years, and is still getting better. One does need to plan around it a bit, and anything in the suburbs gets dicey fast. There are some horse riding lessons in our life that would be absolutely unworkable with anything but a car. Still, I know more and more people who are going carless, or driving less, or sharing one car for a whole family.

Paul Cantrell

#BikeDiary This from @ClimateJenny is so, so true: https://mastodon.social/@ClimateJenny/113254906789433356

I also find myself discovering side missions. Today my kid and I stopped by Minnehaha Falls just to look at the waterfall on our way back from an errand. ~17 years in this neighborhood, and I don't think we've ever •once• had a spontaneous quick visit to the falls by car.

Neighborhood businesses are definitely profiting from my spontaneous side missions too!

Brian Marick

@dimsumthinking @inthehands I have Strong Opinions about the hale and hearty students who are riding their rental ebikes all around and never bothering to pedal. It’s a red letter day when I see someone pedaling an ebike.

I’m judgmental that way, at least about the Damn Kids.

Carsten Franke

@inthehands yes, agreed. But it still infuriates me that bike lane markings disappear in the intersections... This is the bike path I took to school every morning... Greatly improves biker safety when it is so clearly visible in the intersection.

Paul Cantrell

@carstenfranke
Minneapolis is now frequently extending the green bikeway stripes through intersections when they are present. It really does help.