It’s a Hauladay in our biking and hiking household! It’s new bike day!

We commute on our bikes and take Toothless to and from daycare on our bikes. I take Toothless to daycare on our Bakfiets and Natasha takes him home on her commuting bike with a Yepp Mini.

Toothless has been growing and he’s grown out of the Yepp and it has been getting awkward for Natasha so she’s been eyeing long tails for a while. Now that we moved, it’s getting to be summer and Toothless is really grown, we had to make a move.

We had two options in mind:

• A Bike Friday Hauladay that’s been listed locally in Marketplace/Craigslist for a while
• A classic Xtracycle Edgerunner longtail (old stock, never ridden)

Both bikes have a 20 inch rear wheel, which is desirable for stability with a kid in the back. This is surprisingly hard to come by – many bikes have a 26 inch rear wheel and we know the stability is a common complaint.

Natasha had already spotted the Bike Friday and was somewhat interested due to its reputation, price (without electric conversion) and the fact that it was a good alternative to the vast inventory of new and used Rad Bikes that we see in town for only a fraction less (the Radwagon3, which flooded the local market, has a large rear wheel; Radwagon4 has a smaller 22 inch wheel).

I brought the Xtracycle Edgerunner to Natasha’s attention just due to its history (its roots go back to Vancouver, Sunshine Coast and Vancouver Island) and how desirable those can be for people wanting to ride a bit on gravel or touring. I had in mind that perhaps we might want to go on a few bike touring/gravel rides with Toothless as he grows.

We considered both carefully but ultimately it was Natasha’s bike and her decision.

Xtracycle Edgerunner

This bike came without a rear wheel, crankset, and derailleur. So out of the box it would need a bit of work to get it on the road. The effort and cost is subsidized if we converted to electric assist right away (it would need many of the missing parts for the electric upgrade so we could have just bought some of the parts once if we went to electric right away).

The frame and components were new; it came with hydraulic brakes and was one of the desirable classic frames from around 2014.

The cost of buying it and getting it on the road without electric assist would be similar to getting the Hauladay purchased and on the road (new tires, brake pads, etc) based on my initial assumptions. The cost to buy and go straight to upgrade with electric assist would be potentially a bit cheaper than buying the Hauladay and upgrading.

In addition to the one I had in mind, I had found another Xtracycle Edgerunner available in Ontario that could be shipped. It would still be much cheaper than buying a new Xtracycle swoop locally, but was more expensive than building the xtracycle up or buying the Hauladay so this fell to the bottom of our list.

We didn’t get a chance to test ride an Xtracycle.

This is still a bit of a dream bike for me, so I’ll park this one!

Bike Friday Hauladay

This was used locally and had been listed a while.

It’s a folding bike, and adjusts so in a pinch Natasha and I could adjust it if needed to fit either one of us better. It came with the front basket, rear seat cushion and whoopie-doo bars. The Xtracycle didn’t come with any accessories (but we accounted for the cost when comparing the two bikes), so this means the Bike Friday had the seat for Toothless ready from the start.

I was worried about needing to replace the tires and maintain the brakes (the cost adds up a bit) and was worried about other components being in need of a tune up, but after test driving it we learned everything was pretty tight, had lots of life on brake pads, and only one tire needed replacement. The rear platforms were in poor shape, but could be replaced fairly cheaply.

The test drive went well. It’s a bit tippy and unstable when starting to pedal due to the geometry and small front wheel. My heels clipped the rear platforms when trying to walk the bike, but Natasha didn’t have that issue when she rode it.

Toothless sat in it for the test drive and LOVED it. He squealed and said “this is fun!”. His feet don’t reach the platforms, and are at risk of rubbing against the tires but we can space the platforms up to give him somewhere to rest his feet.

Decision

Obviously we went with the Hauladay.

Everyone was pleasantly surprised with it and it was ready to ride from day one.

A couple days after looking we made the owners an offer and they accepted. Natasha bought it and drove it home on a Friday morning and had the rear tire replaced by the afternoon.

We had a spare 20 inch tire from our Bakfiets, so even the one rear tire was replaced without having to buy anything.

Natasha needed a lock and chain, so that’s been the only expense really. But we would have needed to buy a lock for either bike.

The previous owners were generous and it came with a Yepp Maxi and they even gave us a sheet of plywood to replace the platforms.

I plan on using the Yepp Maxi on my 10 speed bike as a backup since the Hauladay is a little more compact than the Bakfiets. Natasha is more likely to ride the Hauladay daily even without Toothless, but I tend to ride my 10 speed and not the Bakfiets if I’m not planning on taking Toothless anywhere or going to the store.