gerv 

I've had to tell them I'll pack the bags after a few experiences with the heavy stuff on top and the bread at the bottom... or all the heavy stuff in one bag...

bragi

I NEVER let the bagger pack my panniers for me, it's just too painful to watch, and a waste of time besides, since I'd just have to do it over again anyway. It's also a bit unfair to some poor unsuspecting high school kid to expect them to read the mind of some wild-eyed, long-grey-haired old guy sporting a pair of filthy, well-used Ortliebs...

LesterOfPuppets

For some reason I trust my panniers on my bike here in my sleepy burg, so baggers never see my panniers.

I really prefer the setup at Winco where everyone bags their own, but the Winco's out of my way so only hit it occasionally.

Platy

We also buy powdered milk. We make it up a quart at a time in a blender. Then we pour it into a plastic milk jug to chill in the fridge. I think adding a tablespoon of canola or other light tasting oil improves the flavor. Instead of fiddling around with measuring cups we found a coffee cup that measures out the right amount of powder to make up a quart. It took us about a week to get used to the slightly different taste of powdered milk.

wahoonc

They freaked out at the store the first few times I told them to just put the stuff back in the cart. But now they are used to it, but then again the freaked the other day when I showed up with reusable bags (basket bike versus pannier bike). My panniers are the big 41 liter Dutch style and they live on the bike and are not easy to remove.

Aaron

Artkansas 

I usually use the self-checkout now. I'm tired of checkers destroying bananas that I have painstakingly chosen, when they sling them around by the stems.

My Grocery Getters are easily detached, which is good because I'm not lugging the bike, loaded with panniers, up a flight of stairs to my apartment. It's bike first, then the panniers.

Newspaperguy

In a few hours, I'll carry my biggest grocery load this month. I'm on a local food program and in winter, for $20, I pick up a quantity of mostly local fruits and vegetables. To carry the stuff home, I use a backpack (only for the stuff that is packaged) and a cloth grocery bag (for the stuff that isn't packaged.) I'm in a small town and everything is relatively close to me, so carrying the items is not a problem.

For my regular grocery runs, I can easily carry a couple of bags while I'm riding, or I can use the backpack. I have also used my touring panniers for hauling large loads, but I'm increasingly reluctant to go that route. The reason is because I also use those panniers for touring. I don't want food smells in the panniers to attract bears or other wildlife when I'm camping.

cooker

I have one of those. One time I trailed it behind a bike but it was too noisy. The handle is always a bit too short for me (I'm 5'11") but I could probably rig an extension for that.

freighttraininguphill

I use an adult trike with big front and rear baskets. It has steel rims too, so it's really heavy. A side benefit of riding such a tank is the workout it provides, especially uphill. I actually look forward to grocery shopping if I know I will be using that bike instead of my lighter, faster adult trike with aluminum rims.

wahoonc

They took those out of our store...people were stealing too much

Aaron

bragi

You shop with 41 L panniers?! You either have legs of steel or don't have very big hills....

Artkansas 

Maybe its downhill everywhere he goes.

Roody

I doubt it. I've noticed that supermarkets are almost always constructed at the bottom of a hill, so you coast in empty but have to climb out fully loaded.

wahoonc

It is uphill out of my road, then a slight uphill to the supermarket, so pretty much all downhill coming back. It is also only 1.25 miles Also that 41 liters is the capacity of both sides together. They are plenty large enough though.

Aaron

slide23

Okay, here goes.

The trailers are roughly equivalent, but still different.

The Travoy has a one-handed hitch.


If you have beefy thighs, your legs will probably rub the hitch if you mount it "properly." There is enough flex in the Burley coupler to mount the hitch higher or lower as necessary.

The Carry Freedom City uses a Chariot mount, also known as a lollipop. The problem with this hitch is that if you have Breezer dropouts, you can't use the hitch without a lot of machining. This hitch relies on a garden variety pin and bail to secure the lollipop.

In terms of rigidity, the lollipop spanks just about everything else out there in terms of elastomer-coupled axle hitches. Unlike most other elastomer hitches, the lollipop does not result in porpoising, even under heavy loads. I've carried loads so heavy that, upon tapping the rear brakes, the force ripped the rear wheel right out of the dropouts. If you're going to be toting heavy loads with disc brakes and an axle-mount trailer, I strongly suggest a bolt-on skewer such as a Halo.

The Burley Travoy hitch is on par with spherical bearing hitches in its rigidity. It's that good.

One advantage that the City has over most trailers, and to an extent the Travoy, is its adjustable trailer arm angle. This helps the trailer track level regardless of wheel size. The Travoy has a trailer arm that works best when level, but this may conflict with some setups and riders, as noted above. The upside is that the Travoy has a moderately flexible coupling that allows for varying trailer arm angles/mounting positions on the seatpost.

Objectively, the City probably has better flexibility than the Travoy.


The City has greater capacity.


This is about 150 pounds worth of books.


The City has the advantage of lateral casters on the bottom for slipping it through narrow spaces.


Both trailers fold small. The City folds thinner, but the Travoy folds to a smaller footprint.




One of my beefs with the Travoy was its lack of light loops on the Burley Transit bags that are designed go with the trailer. It turns out that my Travoy was an earlier model and did not come with the light loop for blinkies.


When I complained to Burley about the lack of blinky loop, they responded the same day and mailed me the loop pictured above. Awesome service!

slide23

The loop is not perfect, but it's better than nothing.


The Travoy has a unique binding system that is easy to use, but pseudo-proprietary.
Travoy bags lift off easily and attach kind of quickly.

So my breakdown... The Carry Freedom City has straight-up higher capacity and greater flexibility out of the box. But you will need to futz with it more to get that flexibility. The Travoy has greater ease of use for in-and-out trips. The City will get you rolling for less money (~$300), but you lose a little functional usability. The Travoy will cost you about $550+ nicely appointed (upper and lower Transit bags, two hitches, rain cover).

The bag that comes with the City is nicely trimmed with reflective piping. The Travoy comes with a bag that is designed to carry the folded trailer, but is ill-suited for much else. Unless loaded very carefully, the bag will rub against the wheels. The Travoy comes with two of the adjustable straps that allow for carrying almost anything on the Travoy. I use one of these straps to hang a Timbuktu Messenger Backpack on the trailer. Two of the straps hold a large Coleman cooler for my meat-smoking business supply and delivery runs.

Both trailers respond well to out-of-the-saddle sprinting and hard cornering. If the City is loaded much above the axles, one should be cautious when cornering. I have flipped this trailer with high, heavy loads. But duh... really that was a case of PEBCAK. The Travoy, on the other hand, has cornered well with near-capacity loads and no problem. I have had 32 pound and 54 pound loads of ice. While loaded, both trailers are roughly equal.

The major difference between the trailers is what happens at the endpoints of your trip. The Travoy beats everything I have ever used. Both trailers do well as off-the-bike carts, but nothing goes on and off the bike like a Travoy. The Chariot hitch is a close second in ease of use, but watch out for disc rotors and Breezer dropouts.

Both trailers are great, but it's up to the individual to decide which trailer would be best. I am actually keeping both because I have legitimate need for both.

slide23

Some final notes:
You probably don't want to fold the City frequently. It's really not designed for that. The Travoy is.

The City will probably age better. It has means for adjusting and re-aligning as things wear out. The Travoy doesn't. The Travoy also has a lot of plastic in places that look like they may wear out. Time will tell. Even if I had to buy a Travoy every three years, I'd still see it as a worthwhile expense. I think it will last somewhat longer, even with the daily, commercial use to which I will be subjecting it.

The City comes with a very useful bag that becomes a pseudo-messenger bag off of the trailer. The bag has organizational compartments on the inside sides of the bag and top, as well as an adjustable Z-strap on top of the bag.

Shortly after I bought my Travoy and bags, Burley announced a 51L waterproof bag which is what I really wanted. Probably a worthy bag for owning.

Grease the axles pins of the Travoy before riding it in the rain for the first time.

AdamDZ

As others said: a trailer would be your best bet. Larger shopper panniers might be too much for your frame/rack once you load them. If you don't mind spending ~300 you can get a ready built cargo trailer from Burley (2 wheels) or Bob (single wheel). Otherwise, it's possible to DIY one for around $100 if you can get a hold of old Burley kid trailer for cheap.

You'd put the heavy stuff inside and then strap the large, light stuff such as pack of toilet paper or paper towels to the top of the trailer.

Such a trailer can carry up to 100lbs.

tsl

Bah! Just like everything else when living car-free, you need the right gear.

My bike club does potluck dinners several times a year. (The first of the season is this coming Saturday.) I use Corning Portables to transport my hot potluck dishes. Just because the logo includes a minivan doesn't mean you can't use it with a bike. They have a snap-on plastic lid, and come with a quilted cozy and hot/cold packs. I strap it right to my rear rack with a cycling cargo net I got from Nashbar. The quilted cozy keeps the dish from rattling on the rack too.

I'm one of the few in my club who uses their bike for transportation, and the only car-free member. It makes an impression (hopefully a favorable one) when I show up at meetings on my bike, with a hot casserole. Especially with the club, I never use the bike as an excuse to not do something.

wahoonc

slide23,
Thanks for the trailer comparison. I am working on getting a Brompton P6R and will want a small portable trailer to complement it. I am also planning on a Bike Friday NWT, that one will get the travel case with trailer frame.

Aaron

dcrowell

I had really wanted to buy a cargo bike, but I have a small house and no garage. I already have four bikes in the house. I really can't afford another bike now anyway.

I did pick up a cheap used Safety First kids trailer on Friday. I met the guy at the grocery store, bought the trailer, loaded it with groceries, and rode home. It worked fine. It's got plastic wheels, and is only rated for 100lbs, but it'll do.

AdamDZ

Oh, related to the thread topic.

I'm only car-lite for the record. My biggest challenge would be when I'm really sick and I have to get to the doctor.

I woke up one day two weeks ago with 103F fever and weak, sweating. I could find any available doctors in the area that could see me the same day so I had to go to Manhattan to see my regular physician who always has times reserved for his regular patients for same-day visits. Riding a bike was completely out of question. I don't think I would be able to drive either but that had to more with insane NYC traffic than the actual ability to drive. I took the subway. I considered calling a cab, but that's like $30. Not sick enough to call an ambulance or go to emergency room so I opted for the subway. I was thinking then what would I do if I lived in a place with less available mass transit and no car. I have no idea. I think, I'd keep a small, cheap car as a backup if I ever move out of big city.

dcrowell

The occasional $30 cab ride is cheaper than plates and insurance on a car.

(I still have a car)

anastrophe

In my area (where there's lots of farming) the local food movement has gotten big. This is great for many reasons but for me, the best is that I can get good local stuff delivered. There is a CSA and a dairy farm both that will deliver to your house. Vegetables and milk are both bulky and heavy, since we started doing this I have stopped bringing the trailer to the store.

It's more expensive but hey, these are the luxuries I get for not babysitting a car. And many of my neighbors on my street get it, so I liken it more to a bus (still uses gas, but doesn't make individual trips for each passenger) than having your friend drive you places.

Roody

People are friendlier in small towns, so you could probably ask a neighbor for help. Also taxis are cheaper, and the hospital is probably closer, so you will only need 4$ or 5$ for taxi fare.