I am now #carfree! I have been debating trying to live without a car for some time now, and the timing finally aligned to give it a go. Theoretically between transit, ride shares, rentals, and my cargo bike this should be doable, but we'll see. #biketooter
A little backstory: I've had the same car since 2011. It was starting to get up there in years and maintenance costs, and #Somerville and #Cambridge bike infrastructure has improved drastically in that time. I've been toying with the idea for years, but never quite made the plunge.
My best friend got a job opportunity closer to family but across the country in a car-dependent area, so I decided to gift the car to her to help her move and settle in to her new space.
@scott Yay! Congratulations!
The shift in mentality will be interesting - I'll have to lean on delivery more for large items. For example, I want a new (large) rug but that's going to be challenging to do on the bike.
There's a chance I end up investing in one of those sweet bikes at work trailers...
@scott We moved house entirely by bicycle, and we relied on a Carla Cargo trailer for furniture: https://www.carlacargo.de/products/carla
Crucially it has its own braking system, an overrun brake which triggers when the bicycle in front brakes. That way it doesn't affect the handling much, and you don't have to worry about jackknifing as much.
I hear it may be harder to source now because the partnership with Tern ended, so they may not have a US distributor anymore?
@skyfaller ooh very cool! Thanks for sharing!
Oct 13, 2026, 4:35 PM@skyfaller @scott Oh, I hadn't heard of overrun brakes, that's really cool! And it's neat that you can use it as a hand cart.
A couple advantages for the Bikes at Work trailers, though: Modularity, and load-bearing fenders.
Scott, let me know if you want help moving the rug. :-) I could also just lend you my B@W trailer if you wanted to try it out.
@timmc @scott oh goodness, yes, the fenders on the Carla are an embarrassment. I would love to hire someone to make them load-bearing so I don't destroy them by bumping furniture into them. The newer fenders I got when I replaced the original were slightly sturdier, but still definitely not load-bearing.
Oct 13, 2026, 7:27 PM@skyfaller @scott I guess one thing you could do (and maybe you have already done this) is to clamp a vertical board into place next to each wheel, just inside the cargo well. So at least that would take the weight instead of the wheel... but still not ideal, for several reasons.
@skyfaller @scott dang, I didn't realize the distribution partnership with Tern ended! If anyone in the US was going to get them in again, of the ones listed on the Carla Cargo site as distributors, I'd keep an eye on Propel Cycles as most likely to for sure hear about it and probably stock them. They're one of a couple physical retailers in the US that sell ebikes locally as a local bike shop, but also are willing/able to ship (particularly, managing the shipping requirements of bike batteries). Clever Cycles in Portland does too, and shipped us a couple ebikes to Nebraska when we lived there, but they haven't ever had Carla Cargos afaik.
https://propelbikes.com/?s=carla+cargo&post_type=product&dgwt_wcas=1
@scott you've already had mentions here & in replies of the biggest options (for the US market at least) but in case it's helpful, I keep a running list of Really Big Bike Trailers to daydream about.
https://cassey.dev/big-bike-trailers/
You may also enjoy the #CarryShitOlympics hashtag to get more inspiration. :)
@scott Yay! Good luck!