nob

guys - doesn't exactly belong in this section but I use my bike with a rear child seat for my 2 year old. The problem is she is almost 20% of my weight (i'm superlight) so I manage but it's a little bit of am imbalance. I now need to outfit my bike with something to carry groceries when we stop at the farmers market. I'm wondering if a front bike rack with a trunk or panniers would be better than mounting something in the rear. I'm not a big fan of baskets. Any advice on what to do? Continue with a rear rack or mount something in the front. In terms of capacity, I need to put in 2 1/2 gallons of milk and 1 vegetable - thanks

Thanks

CliffordK

I have started using almost 100% powdered milk. It is much easier to deal with than liquid milk, and keeps essentially indefinitely without refrigeration. The "generic" store brands of powdered milk are good.

I only rear-load my bike, but you might look at front "low-rider" panniers.

It is hard to say where the best place to carry a child is. Trailers are popular (and may also have some capacity for groceries). Front loading cargo bikes? Rear loading cargo bikes? Connected pedal assist bike trailers like the weehoo?

nob

Carrying my child is a done deal using my yepp rear child seat which I found the best fit after trying 5 different seats!
Question is about best place to introduce some storage into the bike. Thinking about it now, I can't put a trunk over a carrier on the rear because the child seat will block it. So have to think about either rear panniers or front rack with trunk or panniers

VegasTriker

Think about the effect of that weight on steering. 2.5 gallons of milk weighs a tad over 20 pounds and you would need to balance the load evenly on both sides to minimize the effect on steering. I'm not sure I would want anything that would make steering harder with a child on the back. Think safety.

Ogsarg

So you'll be carrying your child and the groceries? If so, I would be concerned about what happens when you stop and need to dismount. You've got the weight of the child in the back and the weight of the milk, etc. in the front. May be tricky to keep the bike upright while you unstrap the child to get them out of the seat.

For that much load, you may want to consider a trailer that can handle the child and the groceries.

cambiker71

I've recently fitted a front fixed rack to one of my bikes and it's surprisingly good and hardly noticeable balance wise, apart from the weirdness of not being able to see the front wheel move it's been great for carrying all sorts of things, a weeks work overalls and boots in a kit bag was no problem!

Pic before the strip down and rebuild begins...

Viich

What rack is that?

pesty

I'm going to second the idea of considering a trailer. I've never used one for crying groceries, but I had triplets and have a lot of experience pulling kids. I found the bike itself to be much more predictable pulling a trailer than with a kid on the back.

nob

i hear you guys - I'm not a fan of trailers so will probably just install a rear rack. The issue is a rear rack trunk would not fit because the child seat mount is always there (even if child seat isn't on) - it's a yepp mini so may have to go with panniers I guess