The Scandinavian Side Bike Is A Sidecar That Doubles As A Sled
... and it doubles a a sled!
If you’re one of those avid cyclists who swore you’d keep commuting to work on your 2-wheeler even after you had kids, only to realize that getting them to daycare on a bike ain’t as easy as you thought and “Oh, wait, I should probably buy a Toyota Yaris” — hold up a sec. This sleek Danish-designed, bicycle sidecar for 2 could be your answer.
Built of lightweight fiberglass (or even lighter-weight carbon fiber, your choice) by a couple of parents from Denmark, SSB easily attaches (and detaches) to pretty much any old Huffy — mountain bikes, cruisers, single speeds, what have you — with a simple mounting bracket. Their goal was to pedal the kids to daycare and leave the whole sidecar there while continuing on to the office. (It’s assumed they would take the kids inside first.) The beauty of the SSB is that it’s not solidly fixed to the bike, and uses a tilt joint to ensure it bounces around, but doesn’t hop up off the ground cartoon-style when you bang a hard right at a light. Also, you can buy extra mounting brackets for additional bikes ($186 each) so that you and your wife can seamlessly trade drop-off/pick-up duties and absolutely never have to draw straws.
In terms of specs, it measures 47-inches long by 29.5-inches wide, and weighs up to 25 pounds depending on the model. It rides smooth on 20-inch wheels, and can tow up to 99 pounds — or 2 kids seatbelted in, log flume-style. And, it rocks a windshield and fold up canopy, so you don’t have to buy the kids leather aviator helmets and goggles (just one of these). The versatile seat pad (which, unfortunately, is sold separately) also doubles as a changing station in case you need to pull over for a pitstop.
If you’re lucky enough to live in a cold-weather clime where kids hurl themselves down snow-capped hills, then they’ll be elated to learn that the Side Bike also doubles as a sleigh (or “pulk” as they say in Denmark). Molded runners are built into the bottom and sized to fit cross-country ski tracks, so all you have to do is buy the drawbars, attach the harness, and teach your kids to yell “mush!” all the way to daycare.
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