Last Friday the weather was very cooperative, and to crown all the bike week related events, Amherst had a well attended Commuter Breakfast and Bicycle Show right in front of Town Hall.

I took nine bikes and a trailer to the show, specializing in cargo carrying and fun items this year. Here are two friends who are helping getting some of the bikes to the town common early Friday morning. Lucky that I take the cargo bikes, eh? In the middle here there is a home made box trike loaded with a good few items, namely two small trikes with casters for back wheels – it is fun spinning out sometimes uncontrollably, even though with time you might be able to learn how to control that somewhat, – a bamboo bicycle trailer, and a upright handcycle. And to the right there is my new Yuba Mundo, that I just took home from the shop the previous night, luckily it arrived just in time for the show.

I wasn’t the only one, by far, who took unique bicycles. Some of them is caught on the next picture. And what I hope was also caught is the enthusiastic atmosphere that was present throughout the whole event. Some dropped by on their way to work to grab a few bites, some were curious of all the commotion, but many people came, stayed for a good while, tried out the different machines, and got deeply involved in discussions about them.

The spin trikes were a big success, and not just amongst children. Many adults tried them in spite of the slope of the parking lot that housed us, and the seriously cracked pavement.

But people were interested in all the other bikes too. The next picture shows our bread-lady, who is looking for a suitable way to transport the raw materials needed for baking, and to deliver her baked goods to markets and events, along with a table and other things to set up shop once there.

And is this a date-ride? Or just trying out how the Front Decker here steers with load up front? The picture doesn’t show it, but I saw the smiles on both of the faces during and after the test-ride. And I see many passers-by smile when I give a ride to others either behind or up-front, so I think they weren’t the only ones smiling. Wouldn’t you say bikes are special? How many people do you see smiling, as they are looking at cars in traffic, carrying another passenger other than the driver?

And I would like to report about a surprising encounter, that took place during the show. I call it ‘The large and the small’ for now, but doesn’t the position of the rider seem to indicate the little bicycle actually looked back ? 🙂