alathIN

We have a lot of MUPs in our area, and I frequently see a lot of dead fall that would make perfectly good firewood. I'm tempted to pick up one of those big utility trikes, throw the chainsaw in (would certainly pick times when the trails are slow/deserted), and grab MUP-side firewood.

I often see those Schwinn cargo trikes on Craigslist for $200-ish. Would that be an OK choice for this use?
Obviously as a scrounger/scavenger, I'd prefer to stay away from hyperexpensive solutions.

https://indianapolis.craigslist.org/bik/5668259269.html
Here's one fairly recent and a typical example of what I see. Some appear newer, and/or have a larger cargo basket. This basket seems a bit small.

The other option would be putting a utility trailer on a bike I already have, but neither one of my two is really ideal for this - one is a cross/randonneur type road bike, and the other is a TT/Tri bike. A MTB/fat bike is in my future, but probably not very soon.

Gareth

Buy the trike, haul some firewood, haul some more firewood, haul a load more firewood and then realise a trike with a trailer can haul even more firewood; issue resolved.

prathmann

I tow a flatbed cargo trailer behind my road bike when needed. Don't really see any advantage to a mountain bike for this function since I wouldn't want to tow a heavily loaded trailer on most unpaved surfaces. On flat pavement the trailer has very little drag and the tongue weight is only about 10% of the load, so even with 100 - 200 lbs. of load it doesn't significantly increase the stress on the bike.

LorenMiranda

A trike is amazing for this little chore! I have used my Worksman adaptable twice now for wood hauling, and it performed flawlessly. I'm working on a way to connect my InStep Trailer to it (I have a new one now...a kid carrier, but it needs converted to flat bed as the fabric bottom has been dragged to ribbons). If you can get a trike... imo buy it and don't look back. Yes. They are heavy. Yes. They are slow. Yes. They can be cumbersome. But once figured out they are so much fun and so capable. Today I hauled about 70 lbs of groceries (including 2 watermelons lmao) on this thing. Tomorrow I'm going about 6 miles on it, the return half with refrigerated groceries...because I can carry a cooler with ice without a care in the world. Loading a bike and trailer can be cumbersome. Same with panniers. But I am just a little obsessed with my trike. Ask my wife!

NYMXer

That reminded me of my buddy who was going to save money burning firewood in a wood stove over 10 years ago. Basically, by the time he bought the stove, installed a chimney, fireproofed the stove area, bought a chain saw, gas oil and chains, bought wedges and sledge hammers, etc.... he is still trying to recover from his investment.

MichaelW

I have moved logs around on my flatbed trailer, to create a wildlife habitat rather than to burn. When you load up trailers, you need low gears.
Solid platform flatbeds are far more versatile than ones with fabric bases.