Thank you to each of our 77 backers!  $5,856 in pledges! Wow - that's quite an accomplishment.

Well - we did not fund (and so - your credit cards will not be charged), but we made some new friends all over the country, got some great press and learned a bit about kickstarter and how it works... a good start.  We are looking at posting another kickstarter project with a lower goal (most kickstarter projects have goals under $5,000 but we'll have to see what we could accomplish - realistically with that amount of funding.)

We know less than half of you personally and we would like to send each of you a fun little "parting gift" so if you have not yet communicated your mailing address or e-mail address to us, please be in touch  - send me a quick note at tamararubin@mac.com.

I am in Denver right now with my lead poisoning prevention advocacy work ( http://www.leadsafeamerica.org - at the National Healthy Homes Conference) and as soon as I get back to Portland we are getting some souvenir (in the true sense of the word - as a way to remember this project and thank you for your vision and support) buttons made up with the M.O.M. heart logo and we would like to send each of you one as a keepsake.

Thanks again - and please do stay in touch so that when we relaunch this project we can let you know it's happening again!

Sincerely,

Tamara Rubin (the Wife, & Business Partner) - (You can always contact us directly at 415-609-3182 or through our website http://www.portlandbicycletrailercompany.com)

John joined our kickstarter project as a backer today and here's what he had to say: 

"I've been in the bike business since 1971 (same year I started using bicycle trailers), and have never met anyone with more technical prowess, more understanding of how hardware meets (or doesn't meet) user needs, and more innovative energy than Len Rubin. When Len comes up with a new design, I have EVERY confidence that his trailer will do everything trailer users would want it to do, plus much more. -- John Schubert, technical editor, Adventure Cyclist"

He's joining the rest of you including the bike advocates and luminaries noted in the attached list - if you are one of our Kickstarter backers and you are active in the cycling community (as an advocate or a retailer or whatever) please introduce yourself to me and let us know what you are up to so we can tweet about you on twitter and share about you with the rest of our backers.

Thank you all for your support and please keep spreading the word about this kickstarter project! Just 11 days to go!

(& don't forget - we're having a Pedalpalooza event at our house tomorrow morning from 9:30 to 10:30 am - it's a "trailer summit" where people can share their trailers, swap trailers and check out other people's trailers.  Children welcome! Donuts & coffee too! e-mail if you would like to come and need our address: tamararubin@mac.com)

- Tamara

I've been meaning to write an update for days... I have so much to share, but have been spending every minute of my time twittering and facebooking and e-mailing and phone calling and posting flyers trying to get the word out about this project (oh - yeah, and working a little bit too!) I am going to save the next big update for tomorrow, but I wanted to take a moment to say thanks again for your commitment to our project. 

With your backer pledge you are supporting the dreams of an entire family and helping us to create the opportunity to start a new chapter -  doing what we love! 

I wanted to share this picture of our family with you (from last weekend at Multnomah Falls in the Columbia Gorge, )... my five boys... Len, Cole, Avi, A.J. and Charlie! We are so excited because we know that when M.O.M. gets into production our entire family will be living our dream. (The second photo is a picture Avi drew for school this week... Teachers asked the kindergarteners the question "What do you want to be doing when you are 50 years old" - Avi's answer "Hav a Bik Shop" (of course) and his picture clearly shows the trailer and Len's folding bike and all the wheels Len has hanging from the ceiling in his shop!)

Also - thanks to prompting by new backers - the Elmore Family from North Carolina  -  we started a Facebook Page for this Kickstarter Project, please check it out and join the group and share it with your facebook friends! https://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_223470841014690&ap=10 

Please continue to help us spread the word (twitter, facebook, phone calls and even real-live-in person conversations!) and make sure to tell people about the opportunity to win a FREE trailer by helping us get $450 in backer pledges (details can be found in the F.A.Q. section on our Kickstarter home page.)

Tamara

Hi Friends!

We wanted to thank Elly Blue ( http://ellyblue.net/ ) and Stacy Elias for joining us as backers!  & we also wanted to bring your attention to our new backer levels... we got rid of some of the old levels that did not yet have any sponsors and added some new levels too.

The levels we got rid of make it so anyone who pledges at $399 or $650 will get one of our first trailers (but we can't edit the category text to remove the part that says "after we make the first 235" so we wanted to let you know about that here - if you pledged at that level you are now bumped up to the front of the line!)

The new backer levels include "vacation packages" - a one week, two week or one month stay in our NE Portland Rainbow House! http://www.pdxgreenrentals.com. 

The Rainbow House is in a great neighborhood (right by Irving Park).  It is the neighborhood where we lived car-free for our first three years here in Portland (we finally broke down and bought a car shortly before son #3 turned one year old!)

Thanks for reading  - check out the new backer levels - and keep spreading the word!

We hope you had a terrific holiday weekend.

Tamara (& Len)

(a photo of the Rainbow House)

Hellooo again friends!  We are so excited about the progress of this Kickstarter campaign over the last day!  Our pledge $ have more than DOUBLED in the past 24 hours!  We now have $3,192 in pledges from 49 amazing backers - with 25 days left to go to our funding deadline!  We are just $308 shy of being 10% funded! Our average pledge has also bumped up to $65.14! and we have 212 facebook "likes" - Thank you all for spreading the word!

Deborah Moon at the Oregon Jewish Review is working on an article about the project and I will post a link to that as soon as it is available.

I would also like to specifically welcome three of our newest backers.... (since the last update) - The Outer Rim bicycle shop (a really cool "destination" - jazz bike shop in Portland, Oregon - http://www.outerrimbicycles.com/ ), bicycle advocate Chris Smith http://chrissmith.us/ and my uncle & personal cycling hero (the guy who inspired me to ride, to race and to tour Europe by bike when I was young) the legendary Larry "PigPen" Glickfeld ( you may remember him from Competitive Cycling in Berkeley, California in the 1960s)

Also notable - we posted a couple of events for Pedalpalooza at our home on June 11th & June 18th! Check out the Pedalpalooza calendar and let us know if you would like to come by! http://shift2bikes.org/cal/viewpp2011.php

Tamara (the Wife.)

P.S. - our ongoing request... YOU can make this project successful! ... please share our project on Facebook, tweet it on Twitter and e-mail your friends and anyone you know!  Here's the short link for tweeting! http://kck.st/lfDvzr

The photos for the day....one of the most common uses of the M.O.M. Trailer™ to date... scenario... I (Mom) walk to the park with the three little boys (ages 2, 6 & 8)... we play at the park for an hour or two (or more!) and the kids are just tooooo tired to walk home!  Len comes to the rescue!  He rides to the park on his UFB with M.O.M.™ in tow, stacked with little people bikes... the boys all hop on their bikes and ride home (ten times faster than dragging their little feet walking!)