Multi-Use, Multi-Passenger Vehicles

Thanks for sticking with FFDH!

We are finishing up our Panama posts; there were just too many good stories to stop just because we caught a plane a few days ago.

This post goes out especially to Annick and to Jesse. Read on, friends. You bike geeks will love this.

This post is all about one of my long-standing loves, the bicycle. Not the bicycle meant for pleasure or fitness, but the work-horse bicycle. The commuter bike. The grocery-getter. The one that gets used, abused, and has mis-matched parts. The one that has duct tape on it somewhere. The one that has a job to do.

We saw this kind of bike all over Panama. These bikes were not for fitness or for status, these bikes were workhorses of multi-use, multi-passenger utility.

Strollers are for white tourists. Locals know to just set the kid(s) in a bike basket.

Got someplace to go with your friend? Load up on your bike. Everybody can ride together.

Most bikes had a padded bench jerry-rigged over the top tube, in front of the seat and behind the handlebars. Most handlebars are of the ape-bar cruiser variety, which is ultra-conducive to second passenger seating.

People carry lots of goods on their bikes, including propane fuel cans and coolers.
Enjoy these bike pics, and get inspired to ride somewhere this week with a friend!! Maybe all on one bike!