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September 21, 2005
Hot Mamas Drive Bugaboos (& the Rest of Us Lurk on Craigslist)
I've been shopping for a gently used double jogging stroller. We've decided that the double umbrella-style just ain't cutting it for our ever-more-robust (a.k.a. heavy) child and the preschool-age friend she spends her days with. Luckily for the health and sanity of our supernanny, we've decided we're movin' on up.
Or at least we're trying. The search has proved more daunting than I'd ever imagined.
What happened to the good old days, when there were exactly two models of baby strollers on the market? When I was born in 1970, choices were easy. There were few (if any) safety standards -- seatbelts, much less carseats, were almost nonexistent, for goodness sake -- and your choices were between unwieldy and equally unwieldy.
Yes, back then a stroller weighed 90 pounds and was a tank-like beast made of molten metal and stick-to-your-legs vinyl. But at least parents didn't have the headaches of comparison shopping -- An experience which, by the way, has reached new levels of insanity. It's worse than car shopping and just as expensive, this urban woman's Quest for the Grail.
Do you go with a travel system, or separate pieces? Will the basic umbrella stroller do, or must it have the detachable basket? Do you need one-hand collapsible?
Which accessories MUST you purchase to make it through winter? Will you really use a pram, and will it convert easily to carry a five-year-old later on?
How wide should the sunshade be? Will it come with a bug net and splash guard for the rain? Do you need adjustable-height handles?
Old-school jogging stroller, used, at a bargain price? Or should you spring for the new-fangled front swivel wheel, ideal for negotiating city streets?
For your twins, will a double jogger fit through the door of your rowhouse, and of the coffee shop down the street? Or will a tandem-style elicit fewer eye-rolls from singletons trying to edge past you on the sidewalk?
Which model is easiest to get on and off the metro -- the Q Series or the Platinum XJC? Can you even TAKE a stroller on the bus?
Just thinking about it makes my hair hurt!
I admit it; I covet my neighbor's customized Bugaboo Chameleon, which can chop celery nine different ways, water the plants, and teach the baby Chinese. In my dreams, I glide through Old Town pushing that beautiful, beautiful, versatile, functional, beautiful Bugaboo Chameleon. In reality, I own the most passe and sensible of suburban strollers. A perfectly respectable, sale-priced Graco travel system. After 17 months, it's coated in saliva-Cheerio papier-mache paste, and the sun has faded its cheerful plaid. It lacks a cool single front wheel, and to add injury to insult, the wheels it does possess have started to squeek.
Just when I'm noticing how very un-hip I really am, here comes Bugaboo, Inc. to rub it in, spamming me with an advertisement for their latest and greatest.
Talk about raising the bar... The "limited edition Bugaboo Bas pram" is "the first in a series called Bugaboo By, which features up-and-coming Dutch fashion designers who are invited to personally interpret the Bugaboo stroller with their own artistic imprint." We're talking aesthetic heaven -- Pop artists from the Dutch Fashion Foundation, making signature strollers, yielding "a genuinely fabulous ride for the little ones."
[Insert sigh.]
"Created by fashion designer, painter, collector, performer and puppet-maker, Bas Kosters, who was inspired by ads from the 50s featuring ideal families in a carefree world, the result is a design that captures a nostalgic sense of an uncomplicated and happy time."
"Kosters hit the fashion scene in 2003, when he won a prestigious Dutch design award. With his eccentric collection, 'Two teacups and a frying pan', Kosters (whose style cross-pollinates fashion, cool design, vintage clothes, colorful illustrative prints and extrovert performances) has become Holland's fashion darling."
"Needless to say, uniqueness comes at a price. Your limited edition stroller retails for $2000. Think of it as the perfect marriage of form and function."
If you want to really induce nausea, go to www.bugaboo-by.com and see it for yourself.
However, if you're still living on this planet and simply trying to purchase a stroller that will putter along without causing your child emotional scars, here are a few resources I've found helpful:
Join the DC Urban Moms listserv, where desperate stroller searchers and sellers connect on a daily basis.
Ebay, baby. Just to check out what these things are going for.
Amazon, for a decent if oversimplified collection.
Get yer new jogging-style strollers, all shapes and sizes and prices, at Jogging Stroller.com: Training Wheels for Parents.
If you want to buy new but test drive in person, I suggest the Bethesda location of Buy Buy Baby. They have a better selection than Frustrated R Us.
Then there's Strollers.com, the virtual Wal-Mart of stroller shopping.
And if you happen to be one of the beautiful people (I'm not trying to make you feel bad -- really!) and you want that new Bugaboo Chameleon in one of its 48 custom color palettes, the exclusive dealer in the District is K Baby, on M Street in Georgetown.
Enjoy the ride!
Posted by Sarah at September 21, 2005 8:04 PM.
