On hauling goods by bike

28 Apr 2008

Got questions about the environment? Ask Umbra.

Hi Umbra,

Love your column. I'm a daily bicycle commuter and coffee achiever. Here's a cool mug and handlebar mount [for the reader who asked about transporting coffee].

Cheers,
John
Denver, Colo.

Dearest John,

Thank you. Take a look at the Soma coffee mount John suggests, everyone -- it got rave reviews from beaucoup readers. Another fun beverage-toting suggestion was a whiskey-flask holder from Ahearne Cycles in Portland (thank you, dearest JP). Looking at the Ahearne site inspired me to rig up my very own juicy bike for some spring riding -- and to dedicate this column to the bike-curious, who kinda wanna bike to the store, or work, or the library, but don't know how to easily hurk all their stuff around.

Photo: Kamyar Adl

I'll breeze over the diverse ways to bike with burden, and next time we can talk about variants on the traditional bicycle. Later this spring, we'll return to the perennial bicycling concerns of air quality and road safety.

By way of encouragement, let me say: Once you find the right gear for your particular bike needs, biking becomes a whole lot easier and more enjoyable. Getting out the door becomes less rushed and hectic. The coffee, for example. If you have the right vessel for your coffee, and a carrier on your bike to dock the vessel, then getting on the bike will feel similarly convenient to getting in the car. Just shove the coffee in its place, sit in the seat, and go. It is also feasible to purchase gear that fits your personal aesthetic -- hipster, modernist, outdoorsy, industrial, retro, cute -- which is more than we can say for the car.

There are a lot of wonderful, funny, inspiring bike resources on the web. One is Paul Dorn's Bike Commuting Tips. Mr. Dorn aptly summarizes gear choices: either you gear up like a bike messenger, with a bag and a coffee mount; or you gear up like a touring cyclist. There are excellent bicycle messenger bags (Timbuk2 being the leading brand), which fasten tightly around the shoulder and torso to retard slippage. I use my messenger bag for small loads or rides followed by pedestrian errands, or visits to friends for dinner. The downside of any back-based bag is it can make your back sweat a bit, and you may not be comfortable carrying heavy weight over the shoulder.

Ask Umbra continues below

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If you're going to ride any distance carrying significant objects, you'll likely go the touring-style route, with racks, panniers, saddlebags, and/or baskets. The classic bike rack fits over the rear and/or front wheel, providing a flat surface for saddlebags or bungeed items as well as slender tubes along the sides, from which you can hang panniers or baskets ready to receive more goods. Panniers are very well designed in terms of bicycle physics; they're balanced and can be weather-proof, they snap on and off and come in many sizes. I've used them for commuting to work, and they're also a good arrangement for grocery runs, farmers markets, picnics, fishing, and of course camping. I don't enjoy hauling panniers around on foot (either aesthetically or comfort-wise). There are panniers with shoulder straps; I've never tried them.

Saddlebags mount atop the rack or behind the seat. Could someone write in about using saddlebags, so I have an excuse to make a whole column about super classy saddlebags?

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After researching the state of the funky bike accessory, I'm ready for a basket. I'd like to be able to throw my other, regular bags (shopping, backpack, diaper) quickly on and off the bike, and I have the added problem that my rear rack is taken up with an infant seat. Remember the flowered plastic baskets on the front of girls' banana-seat bikes? They make those for grownups! Only sturdier. Perfect. Wald offers metal baskets, which fold or not, and mount on the handlebars or wheels (you'll have to add your own flowers); Nashbar made a giant collapsible pocket to mount on the wheels (it's currently unavailable, but so handy that we should keep an eye out for its reappearance or look for it used); and various other big, open panniers-cum-baskets can be found at large outdoor stores.

One more intriguing way to carry your stuff: platform racks for the front wheel, made by a two-person operation. It looks like a little porch on the front of the bike. The designer was a messenger looking for a better way to carry boxes; his idea has caught on, and the site includes photos of people carrying kayaks, musical instruments, cases of beer, and other such necessities on the rack.

If you don't bike, and you skimmed through this entire article and just saw the word FLASK, go back and look at the bicycle flask holder. It's a little door leading to the entire world of very cool, very useful, healthy, social, exhaust-free bicycling.

Dewarly,
Umbra

Yours is to wonder why, hers is to answer (or try). Please send Umbra any nagging question pertaining to the environment -- but first check out her FAQs!

The claims made in this column may not reflect the views of this magazine. Neither the magazine nor the author guarantees that any advice contained in this column is wise or safe. Please use this column at your own risk.

Umbra Fisk is Grist Research Associate II, Hardcover and Periodicals Unit, floors 2B-4B.

Comments: (11 comments)

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Rack and Forth

Umbra, did you miss the Xtracycle in your research? The extended wheelbase makes for smoother riding and the pannier/snapdeck combination provide ample room for both cargo and a passenger!
Their website is here: Xtracycle
and their pretty lively forum is here:
Rootradicals
Try one, you might like it
Kelt.

Freedom: From Gasoline, from Trouser Tyranny, from Fear. Ride On!

by Kelt at 9:40 AM on 28 Apr 2008

flexibility

Indeed, the XtraCycle is great. One of the reasons is that the load is relatively low to the ground. If you regularly carry heavyish items, low is the way to go.

I'm really happy with my setup, which I got before I knew about XtraCycle. I have a rack and two collapsible wire baskets on the rear wheel. The baskets are good for my (canvas) shopping bags. If I need to haul a wide object (like taking a box to the P.O.), I open up both baskets so that they form a wide, flat surface and bungee the box to the resultant platform. I've hauled up to 11 boxes to the P.O. by putting smaller boxes in the baskets and in my backpack and stacking larger boxes on the rack. But if I had to do it again I'd go XtraCycle, because my baskets are relatively short.

by mihan at 12:00 PM on 28 Apr 2008

panniers

I have the Topeak Pannier Dry Bags.

http://newhorizonsbikes.com/itemdetails.cfm?catalogId=39& ...

They are amazing. I tote textbooks and notebooks daily, as well as other stuff, and they are perfect for all weather: they roll down and cinch shut. Large capacity, too.

They are also strong, and come with a quick shoulder strap that you can clip on for transitioning.
They also clip from the top and sides of the rack so there's no bouncing.

I use mine for school, groceries, the gym, and for any other errand.

This was my year to switch to primarily cycling as commuting, and I was able to do it in a record snowfall winter, too! Go, cycles!

by sfrikken at 3:20 PM on 28 Apr 2008

Changing the world with Xtracycle

I second the comment above about the Xtracycle. The Xtracyle is the best thing that ever happened to bike commuting (in my humble opinion) and I've got panniers and a trailer to compare it to. The Xtracycle combines the convenience of panniers with the carrying capacity of a trailer. Why just the other day I rode home from the feed store with 80 pounds of dog food on my bike and then headed off to deliver a counter-top oven to a friend's house. Check out the Xtracycle webpage (www.xtracycle.com) for all sorts of inspiring photos of people getting the most out of their 'sport utility bicycle'. By owning an Xtracycle and a bike trailer, I no longer have a need for a car and was able to go car-free several months ago. I'm still loving every minute of it.

by tucsonbiker at 3:38 PM on 28 Apr 2008

Good panniers

If you can find them, Arkel-brand panniers are well-built, tough, and very weather resistant. I have been using them to carry all my groceries for about a year now.

a sibilant intake of breath

by sindark at 7:08 AM on 29 Apr 2008

Xtracycle rocks

I recently added an xtracycle "Free Radical" attachment to my front-wheel drive recumbent (cruzbike) and now I look for opportunities to haul stuff around without a car. It's great.

I returned an entire mid-size office's worth of styrofoam to the styrofoam recycling event -- it was wonderful. I got there and there was another cyclist carrying styrofoam, and we breezed past the long, long, long line of cars, all sitting with their motors idling, up to the trailer. Our office had a huge mattress bag full of saved styrofoam, and I carried most of it on my bike in just two trips.

The 5% Project

by JMG at 8:31 AM on 29 Apr 2008

commuting on bike

I am car-free as of January 1st. If you have the right gear, it is possible to ride in any weather.

Some days I felt like yehuda moon's character.
http://yehudamoon.com/ for true commuting comics

Check out http://www.mapmyride.com/ to map your route.

TONS of info on commuting on the web.
http://www.bicyclinglife.com/PracticalCycling/index.html is only one example.

by kdrex at 9:43 AM on 29 Apr 2008

milk crates!

I'm a bike commuter and grocery shopper on a beater bike. I found an abandoned milk crate that I have been happily using. Don't steal them from the back of the grocery store, you can get fined. But sometimes you see them in alleys or roadsides. This is a great way to save a load of cash, AND make use of existing materials instead of getting something brand new that took fossil fuels to produce.

A good blog article on how to attach it: http://www.chicagobikeblog.com/2007/08/milk-crate.html

You can also take 2 3' bungee cords and hook them down and around the crates, perpendicular to each other. You would want the hooks to go at the very top of the crate to provide enough stability.

by vyzl at 10:39 AM on 29 Apr 2008

Backpacks work great too

I live 2 miles from the nearest grocery store and use my big backpacking rucksack. I can fit a ton of groceries in it, don't have to worry about remembering to grab enough canvas bags, and it has two straps to give me support around my chest and hips, more than I can say about most messenger bags.

Also, careful with the front baskets. If you put too much weight there it makes it harder to control your bike. It's easier to ride if the weight is on you and not the bike.

by Oceanfreaky at 11:27 AM on 30 Apr 2008

Hurk?

Umbra referred to people who "don't know how to easily hurk all their stuff around." I don't know the word "hurk." A Google search showed up mostly proper names. Dictionary.com doesn't list it. Urban Dictionary gives definitions that are--well--unsavory. "Hurk" in Umbra's sense sounds like a marvelously vigorous word. Is anybody using it this way?

by ballroom16 at 6:31 AM on 08 May 2008

Trailers are the way to go for bigger loads

I do my grocery shopping with a BOB trailer hooked on to the back of my old mountain bike (http://www.bobgear.com/trailers/index.php). It requires a special skewer, which I keep permanently in the back wheel. While generally too clunky to deal with for regular work commutes, it's fabulous for a big grocery trip -- it can hold TONS, and is super stable. It's meant for touring -- works great on dirt -- when you need to hold weeks worth of gear. Highly recommended!

by aok at 8:43 AM on 08 May 2008

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