A bicycle built for three

My friend John is in Japan visiting his wife's family and sent me this picture: a bicycle for three. One kid on the back, one kid on the front, parent in the middle. And judging from some bikes I saw in use in Japan, a week's worth of groceries balanced in the middle too! This is a seriously practical vehicle. Now who said you can't have soccer moms on bikes?

I also just love the sheer sturdiness and sensibility of the bike. Little bitty tires, low bar so you can step over the frame without having to swing your leg up and back. Good for biking in a dress. Now that - that's a mode of urban transportation.

Nice kickstand too.

Just while we're hanging out in the Far East, Japan is also where they've implemented the most freakishly cool space-saving bike parking ever: according to BoingBoing.net, it "accepts your bike and sends it into the 7th dimension. Returns it to our world at your command."

And it's actually totally worth it to watch this clip from Japanese television giving a tour of the parking space. Partly because the engineering is so completely amazing. Ah, who am I kidding... mostly because Japanese TV is just too much fun. And watching the host climb down into the system, and the shots from the point of view of the bike, is way cool.