Bike Balance

Here's an interesting bicycle accessory, or accessories. It's called the BikeBalance. The main unit looks like a pair of bicycle forks with a third leg. The forks attach to the rear dropouts of a bicycle and the third leg attaches to the seatpost. (The attachment is similar to a rear rack.) Once attached, there are a multitude of components that can be used on or with the bike.

The component on the company's website front page, and the component from where the company got it's name, is a handle attachment to aid beginning bike riders called the Training Handle. From the website: "The Training Handle is the original Bike Balance attachment. It can be used either with training wheels to create a stable, safe bicycle platform for very young children or can be used as an attractive alternative to training wheels for an older child learning to ride a bicycle for the first time."

With the Training Handle removed from the main unit, other components can be attached, from wire baskets, an integrated surfboard carrier, a dog jogging attachment, and a collapsable utility trailer which can carry surfboards, kayaks, and even spare bicycles. (The thought of carrying another bicycle along on a bike ride is very intreguing to me. No more spare tube, tires, chain breakers, or dirty hands.)

The various components seem to be well thought out, although, many of the accessories put the weight of anything you're carrying high on the bike, causing potential stability issues. The components seem to be reasonably priced, but when I looked at the order page, virtually every component and accessory was presently out of stock.

http://www.bikebalance.com/