The Mom-cycle. Practical transportation or inhuman child torture?

Tokyo is a city full of bikes. People operate them with varying levels of skill, but most cyclists are either daredevils whizzing between people and cars, or roadhogs taking over as much sidewalk as possible. Always a hazard to pedestrians, bicycles are sometimes a hazard to their riders in a more subtle way.

The Mom-cycle is a bike outfitted with a shopping-cart style seat over the back wheel. For larger families, the front basket is replaced with a seat, too. Mom pedals; white-knuckled kids grip the seat while she mounts up and swerves around the street. She can’t see the terror in the eyes of the child behind her.

I give Mom-cycles a wide berth. Daredevil Moms zip through traffic; but most Moms are less steady. I’ve never seen one fall over, but judging from the fear in kids’ eyes, I suspect they occasionally do.

Honestly, I think this must cause some serious mental stress to everyone involved. It certainly makes me tense! Posted by kuri at August 25, 2000 08:06 AM