An interesting article from Gizmodo: "Why You Should Be On A Cargo Bike"

Why You Should Be On A Cargo Bike

"I used to care about weight. I'm one of those OCD types who meticulously weighed components out on my gram scale. I'm the jerk with the hollow pin chain and all Dura Ace on his carbon fiber LOOK 595. I stripped my mountain bike down to its frame, and replaced every. single. part. Every one. All in order to shave seconds. I have strong opinions about rotational weight, and when, exactly, you should take on water during a race, if at all.

....

Yet today, my favorite thing to ride is a burly beast of a bike, laden with as much gear as I can load on it. I want to stack as much stuff as I can on there, and then ride it everywhere, all the time. "


Why You Should Be On A Cargo Bike


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Permalink Reply by Michelle Loomis on April 26, 2012 at 2:25am

I have to add a MTB to hit the single track.. but I lived in northern MI, our needs are a little different there.

Permalink Reply by Gort 12-mile Pinklegneep on April 26, 2012 at 2:51am

The upside of people getting these and having them languish is they end up on craigslist dirt cheap and spotless. That's how I got my xtracycle.


Ash L. said:

I don't want to get to a point where people buy these things just as fashion statements and they languish in garages eternally. I sold my Madsen last fall to a person I know while never ride it more than a couple of times a year. The funds from that sale helped me to upgrade to what I've got now but ultimately, these utilitarian bikes are meant to be ridden hard and put away wet, not for some show piece.

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on April 26, 2012 at 4:16am

* A CX race bike (or 2 for extra pit bikes) 

* A unicycle

* A tandem

* A triple-tandem

* A clown bike that has an extra hing for the rear wheel for parades

* A tall bike 

* A bike that has shoes instead of a tire on the wheel.

Permalink Reply by knowbody on April 26, 2012 at 5:10am

...a velomobile

Permalink Reply by Gort 12-mile Pinklegneep on April 26, 2012 at 5:39am

the velomobiles are crazy expensive but I'd like to make one at some point. I could personally only find them useful in cases where I needed to get out to elk grove or somewhere around there.

Permalink Reply by Dave Grossman on April 26, 2012 at 6:14am

Its amazing how many bikes you can get for so little money.  I got a new job last year that is less than 10 miles from my home and bike nearly everyday.  Since then I have acquired 3 bikes.  The 3 bikes are all good quality and still cost less than one year of the car I am still paying off.  Nuff said.  

I am now going to be on the lookout for a CL cargo bike!

Permalink Reply by Gort 12-mile Pinklegneep on April 26, 2012 at 6:24am

I set up something that does custom searches of craigslist every few minutes and had it search for "xtracycle" like over a year ago and finally managed to get a bite maybe two months ago which I could leap on.

Permalink Reply by knowbody on April 26, 2012 at 7:12am

Gonna be helping someone with their composite canoe build out over the summer. Was considering that it wouldn't be too difficult to utilize one of the molds (both canoe and kayak molds within easy access) for minimal tooling of a velo build. Considering partial or graphing together the bow and stern eliminating most of the center or vice versa. Thoughts of using a glider's canopy for the cockpit, etc. Would be a fun project.

Thoughts of converting my "new2me" 16' Mad River Kevlar Explorer canoe into a velomobile swimming in my mind at the moment... that would be a total cost of under $500.... hmmmmm?

Peenworm Grubologist said:

the velomobiles are crazy expensive but I'd like to make one at some point. I could personally only find them useful in cases where I needed to get out to elk grove or somewhere around there.

Permalink Reply by djm on April 26, 2012 at 6:10pm

knowbody said:

Thoughts of using a glider's canopy for the cockpit, etc. Would be a fun project.

 

It might not look like it but glider canopies typically run into the thousands of dollars.  You might be able to find a cracked one if you could live with that.

Permalink Reply by knowbody on April 27, 2012 at 3:26am

Understandably so but occasionally one comes up on ebay which the word canopy in my post is linked to...

  

"T38 Talon Trainer Plexiglass Canopy, Fair to Poor

Buy it now US $400.00

Military surplus, plexiglass canopy, may have delamination around edges and may have cracks, but will clean up or polish out to decent condition. NOT for aviation use. Roughly 61" long by 35" wide. AS-IS.

OUTSIDE USA SHIPPING - I dont ship outside the USA so dont even ask.

NON-USA Registered Buyers - Dont accept bids from non-USA registered buyers so dont even ask-no exceptions."

 

Currently considering putting this in a shallow water sumbmersible.

Permalink Reply by April on April 27, 2012 at 7:42am

+1  Here Here!  To trend purchases and cheap resale!  

Peenworm Grubologist said:

The upside of people getting these and having them languish is they end up on craigslist dirt cheap and spotless. That's how I got my xtracycle.


Ash L. said:

I don't want to get to a point where people buy these things just as fashion statements and they languish in garages eternally. I sold my Madsen last fall to a person I know while never ride it more than a couple of times a year. The funds from that sale helped me to upgrade to what I've got now but ultimately, these utilitarian bikes are meant to be ridden hard and put away wet, not for some show piece.

Permalink Reply by Steven Vance on April 27, 2012 at 10:49am

I just sold my Yuba Mundo to a guy who is going to carry his children to school. For a bit less than I wanted, but I still got a good deal. 

Peenworm Grubologist said:

The upside of people getting these and having them languish is they end up on craigslist dirt cheap and spotless. That's how I got my xtracycle.


Ash L. said:

I don't want to get to a point where people buy these things just as fashion statements and they languish in garages eternally. I sold my Madsen last fall to a person I know while never ride it more than a couple of times a year. The funds from that sale helped me to upgrade to what I've got now but ultimately, these utilitarian bikes are meant to be ridden hard and put away wet, not for some show piece.

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