Ding ding! We have a winner! 🏆
Going out from the ID.4:
- Rivendell Joe Appaloosa, in the new Mermaid (slightly metallic green) color. Yes, it's a Brooks B17 Special (slightly thicker leather, I'm heavier than average), always covered when traveling in case of rain. Nitto Noodle bars; nice wide gearing range for towing the trailer. Dynamo lighting, full fenders, Soma Shikoro tires make it dependable in all combinations of time of day/weather/trail conditions.
- Rivendell Cheviot. Bosco bars, Brooks Cambium saddle. I tend to bother a bit more in adding some "blingy" details on my wife's bike, like the hammered fenders. Also dynamo lighting, full fenders, 650B Gravel King tires.
- Islabikes Beinn 24. Nice lightweight kids' bike with "real" components that actually work right. Daily school commuter, also capable for longer efforts. He's done up to about 30 miles in a day on it, not bad for an 8 year old!
- WeeHoo trailer, showing its age a bit. Our 3 year old can pedal or nap as needed. The single wheel means the passenger gets a feel for leaning into turns, and we can navigate rougher trails and descend at speed much more ably than a 2 wheeled trailer. As "advertised" by the plate tied on the safety triangle, our oldest rode in it the entire length of the Erie Canal when he was 4. Tow bar and warning flag are in the trunk.
Close! We were on our way to Maine. This was at the Top Notch Inn in Gorham, NH. We drove up Mt. Washington in the morning. When we got to Maine, all the bikes (and riders!) were very happy on the carriage roads in Acadia National Park.
On-topic content: it's a very tight squeeze getting all of this onto a hanging rack (Saris Glide, which allows trunk access), though it will improve slightly when our youngest graduates from the WeeHoo. I would have preferred a platform style (1UP, etc.) rack, but with the 1.25" receiver the platforms only allow 3 bikes. Now that we've got a (just) functional setup, I'm torn about expending the money and effort to "trade up" to a 2" receiver and platform rack. It's pretty rare that we do a day outing where we're loading up the whole crew like this - usually we start from home, so it's really just vacations - so it doesn't quite feel like we're at the tipping point of gaining enough convenience from the upgrade.
On the Maneuver braking issue: it would be great if a software update could introduce "macros" (to use a techie term) of relevant settings for common use cases like a bike rack, which would do things like deactivate the braking and rear proximity warning until I get back from vacation and turn off "bike rack mode". Also needed: car wash mode, dog mode, camping/stargazing mode (drive functions off, climate on, all lights off). I have a hunch that, for the bike rack at least, I might be able to achieve this by plugging some lights into the wiring harness so that the ID.4 thinks there's a trailer attached. I don't have any lying around, but I might try to borrow some for experimentation.
