YamacrawJ

Last weekend, I installed my new rear rack and collapsible baskets. I rolled up a queen-size mattress pad (sleeping bag style) and bungee-corded it across the rack and baskets, so it stuck out side to side. I then rolled up a comforter and bungee-corded it to the mattress pad. I pedaled them to the coin laundry (just over a mile), washed them in their giant washing machine, then brought them home to dry on the clothesline. I felt international, taking my place among people who carry big loads on their bikes.

Today, I picked up a plastic foot stool at the grocery store. It fit over the rack with the legs in the baskets. No bungee cords with (learning has occurred) so I threaded the cable part of my lock over it to secure it.

I love the baskets. I can haul around and attach more stuff.

P.S. It's HOT (96) here today - have to ride with weather/physiological smarts.

gorn

I went to a bike shop and a thrift store with my mom recently, just to pick up some parts for her bike and some shorts for me, but we found a car rack while we were at the thrift store, for only $12. We considered getting a bike there too, to put on the rack, but that might've been a bit difficult. I strapped the car rack to my rear rack, using it's own straps and some bungies I had with me. My mom had the shorts on her front rack, and I had the bike parts (freewheel/light/rear brake) and locks in my bag. We took side streets home as I had a rather wide load. Worked very well.

sbeatonNJ

I once carried rotors, brake pads, and brake fluid in a Jandd grocery pannier and a Kirkland pannier, it weighed a ton.

Nightshade

"I love the baskets. I can haul around and attach more stuff."

If you think the baskets are great consider buying / using a trailer, mate.
You can haul an unbelieveable amount of stuff with one.

YamacrawJ

Here's a fun article about hauling stuff and it talks about trailers. Too cool!

https://www.vabike.org/archive/ar96_1a5.htm

Do you have a trailer, Tight? Type? Weight? I did a quick search on the 'Net: Burley Nomad looks nice: 14.5 lbs.? Sweetness! No kids/pets to haul - just stuff - groceries, maybe.

primaryreality

I have double rear baskets on my bike, too, and they are infinitely useful. I stuff them full of stuff, put more stuff on top, and even hang canvas shopping bags from the sides in makeshift pannier-style with S-hooks when I have too much stuff to fit in-or-on.

Oddest things I've carried: a four-foot flourescent light bulb, and an oxygen tank (that one got me some odd looks). With a little ingenuity you can carry amazing things on a bike.

That said, I'm on the lookout for a good used trailer because that would certainly extend the possibilities greatly. I figure one will turn up at a garage sale eventually.

Nightshade

I built my own trailer with plans from Mother Earth News years ago. I used old 20" wheels and salvaged
lumber and left over paint but it's lasted me all this time as a grocery getter , kid hauler, everything
else hauler. I had a brief period 5 year period when I could not ride but I'm back at it now.

By building your own trailer YOU get to decide a lot of stuff about how it will do most everything
you want it to do. Use it....then unhook it when you don't need it. The best of both worlds I say


https://www.motherearthnews.com/libra...icycle_Trailer

YamacrawJ

"I built my own trailer..."

I love a good tightwad! Way cool, Tight. Thx for sharing the wealth - your ideas, experience, and the link to Mother Earth News. Glad to hear they are still around - hadn't thought of them for 30 years.

I'm so glad to hear you and Old Faithful are back in action. You rock!

sethw

This first one is a few years back, but in those bags and rubbermade tote is a bunch of stuff to be taken to the recycling depot.



And here's my wife and I at Target doing some grocery shopping. On my new bike I don't have a rear rack, so I get to carry home those 8lbs. of kitty litter on my back. Woo!

slvoid

I hauled home two 3ft long 3" DIA aluminium tubes once. That was about the largest thing I can think of.

YamacrawJ

"... I get to carry home those 8lbs. of kitty litter on my back. Woo!"

Lucky kitties, sethw! So cool that you and your wife are figuring out how to Shop & Haul, then recycle via bikes! Any plans for racks and what-not?

"...largest haul to date..." Too cool, Lauren. You had volume and weight!

"I hauled home two 3ft long 3" DIA aluminium tubes..."
slvoid (LOVE the avatar - Cheeky!), did you attach to rear rack sideways (W - I - D - E Load)? Longways on bike, somehow?

"...even hang canvas shopping bags from the sides in makeshift pannier-style with S-hooks when I have too much stuff to fit in-or-on..." Thanks for the tip, primary. You must wind up with a pretty wide load too at times. Too cool!

" I strapped the car rack to my rear rack..."
gorn: I LOVE that you're hauling around a car rack on your bike! Viva la bike!

sbeatonNJ: You are Iron Person! "...rotors...brake fluid..."

I adore ingenuity!

slvoid

Nah, I stuck it in my messenger bag. Better not let GW read about my aluminium tubes, might decide to liberate my apartment from the WMD's...

YamacrawJ

He'd never leave.

Cyclist0383

I once hauled home 10 meter long posts for an electric fence. I think that's the strangest thing I've ever hauled.

nitropowered

I've carried a trainer. THough it wasn't that far of a ride, it was really awkward and heavy

HAUS!

Location Photo Shoot!

phidauex

The other day I had tied a milk crate to my rear rack, and then bungeed a 60" long set of blinds for a giant bay window to it. It was humungous, and was bungeed at an angle, so I wasn't a full 60" wide. Then I put a bunch of bananas in the milk crate under the blinds.

Another time I carried 40 bottles of wine and a case of assorted vitamins and minerals in a trailer. It was heavy.

My dream is to haul a kayak around.

peace,
sam

steveknight

I have hauled 134 pounds of lumber on my burley flat bed trailer. well I have done it several times. almost killed the trailer when the wood had slid back and made the trailer bend at the joint. hauled 75# of lead on it. the wife's new loud speakers.

rjagodic

I can't take credit for this but I thought I'd post it anyway.
I think this is the most hardcore thing I've seen. They traveled 6 miles through Chicago streets taking up a whole lane.







Images from www.chicagocriticalmass.org

weed eater

i hauled a very large tree stump on my bikes at work trailer. between the ungainly leverage I had to use to get it on there, and the weight of it on the ride, by the time I got home the trailer was all out of square! I could twist it back into shape no problem, but I think I bent one of the cross trusses. Oops.

There's a thread in the Carfree forum (sub of Advocacy) that has some good pix of this kind of thing (inc. me hauling a tree).

Love the piano. Is that snow? ????

Baggsy

How about another bike! BMX'er wrecked on the bike path and I hauled it home for him on my shoulder while he sought 'Mom's attention...

bjorn

Here I am with $100 worth of groceries and a case of beer.

Roody

You people rock my world. I am such a minimalist that I don't usually carry much. Y'all have definitely expanded my horizons.

I did once carry a 3 gallon gas can to the gas station, filled it up, took my bike and the can into the store to pay, and carried it back to my son's house. You can imagine the smart comments I got while waiting in line to pay for the gas. "How many miles per gallon do you get?" "Did you forget where you left your car?" "Where's the motor on that thing?" And I was already pretty ticked off, since my son got me out of bed late on a cold night because he ran out of gas, and I spilled stinky gas on my favorite gloves.

DCCommuter

I can't beat the piano, but when my twins were four I took them on a camping trip in a trailer. I estimated by gross vehicle weight at 350 lbs, which breaks down as:
Me -- 190
My bike -- 25
Trailer -- 25
Twins -- 2* 30
Food, water and camping equipment -- 50

That was a fun trip.

oboeguy

Back when I lived upstate and used my MTB (no longer have it) for commuting through the snow, I would go to the grocery store about 2-3 miles away, fill-up my large panniers, bungee a half-case of Snapple or something like it to the rack, and then hang a few bags from the handlebars. The bike felt like a tank, let me tell you.

I've also did a "bike and hike" thing during that time. I was the strongest rider of the group, at least for sheer mule-like capacity, so I took a whole lot of camping stuff on my rack, in my panniers and, IIRC, in my backpack too. I still beat everyone up the hills without using the granny.