AAA towed my cargo e-bike

Our Yuba Spicy Curry got a flat tire a block from the house a couple weeks back. Thankfully, it wasn’t too far away, and I was able to push it back home without too much difficulty (and not being across town).

I had originally thought to change the tube myself, but after looking at it, the reality set in that it would be tricky to work down there: the pannier bags, the other accessories surrounding the rear wheel, and just the frame blocking a lot of the wheel. It was better to get the shop to take care of it: they could get the thing up high and easily access the wheel.

But then came the question: how was I gonna get this thing into the shop? We don’t have a truck, so I thought first to ask a truck-owning friend a favor.

I did some quick googling for how to transport a cargo bike, and this reddit thread came up with a simple unassuming comment:

This is not what you asked, but AAA will bring your bike somewhere to get a flat fixed if you have it.

Oooh, really?

I went to AAA’s website, and, lo and behold! Each of their plans cover bicycle towing as part of AAA Roadside Assistance!

Today, I made it happen:

• Previously, I’d tried to schedule a tow via their website, but the flow requires that I enter vehicle make/model information from a pre-selected set of options. Of course, they didn’t have “Yuba” as one of the manufacturers in their list.
• I called the number on the website, went through their menu, and at one point it asked if I was on a mobile phone. I said “yes,” and the system sent me a link to complete the process. I decided to ignore it, thinking they were probably going to send me to the same car-centric flow again and get me dead-ended. I proceeded with “I didn’t get the text message” and got connected to an operator.
• The operator asked me:
  • my AAA number
  • year, make, model of the bike (err, I don’t remember the year, just guessed this one)
  • color of the bike
  • riding with driver?
  • where the bike was at
  • where my destination was (the bike shop, about 2 miles away)
• I also asked the operator if I wanted to pre-schedule a tow in the future, could I do it, she said that wasn’t possible, so I’m glad I waited until I was ready for the tow to call them
• A tow truck came within 10 minutes, the guy was a little confused, and he told me he didn’t even know AAA towed bikes
• We got the bike onto the huge bed, laying it down on its side, and he strapped it down; I wish I’d taken a photo of this, doh!
• A short drive across town, and, voila, the bike is in the shop ready for service!

Yay!