I work from home since COVID and up until I bought my Blix I was driving my daughter to and from daycare every day. I wanted to start using this time to bike so I could get healthier and save gas, but I wasn’t feeling confident in my ability to tow a two year-old since I have weak lungs and haven’t biked regularly in years.
I wanted an e-bike but they are expensive so I thought I’d give a regular bike a try. I rented a high-end road bike from a local shop and rode it to and from daycare on my lunch break. Getting there was ok as it was all downhill but getting back took me three times as long as the gps estimated and the trip had me in gasping and on the verge of a breakdown, WITHOUT the trailer. Dramatic? Maybe. But also true. I knew I wouldn’t keep it up if the trips were going to be like that. Cue the Blix.
I bought my Blix and a Burley Bee trailer to tow the niblet. It took me a few hours to set it all up but was pretty simple. My first time on the Blix was a completely different experience. I spent the whole ride giggling! It’s so much fun! And the bike is SO much more comfortable. There is really no comparison! I can make the ride as challenging or easy and I want and towing the baby is no problem! I even stopped to get groceries on the way home the other day (two paper bags fit snugly in my back rack while the rest went in the trailer) and still was doing fine the whole uphill way home. Even though I often use some level of assistance, I still get good exercise and can feel myself getting stronger.
My neighborhood is very bike-friendly and having my Blix has allowed me to spend my commute outside, riding by the lake, watching baby ducks instead of cooped up in a car with rode rage. I actually can’t say enough about it. It’s changed my life and I’ll never go back. Now my husband wants one and two other parents at daycare have since bought their own. If you can make it happen, do it! You won’t regret it.
I have not had any mechanical issues with the bike at all since getting it but will probably have the breaks adjusted now that I’ve broken them in.
One thing to note: the battery display is sometimes a little slow to show the charge decreasing. It did die on me once. I went from nearly half a battery to no battery on a trip that doesn’t normally even take a quarter battery. I have noticed that the first half of the charge falls fairly consistently but the last half burns up faster, so I would not go below a quarter battery just to be safe. I charge my battery about every other day now (driving 14 miles a day with the trailer) and we haven’t been in danger since.
Slate Gray