Hauling things by bike

I had really hoped to have a more spectacular re-launch of CFA2 in time for Curb Your Car Month 08, but it's been way busy on the non-motorized transportation front lately (which is a good thing) and it turns out it's not that easy to find bloggers who are not already blogging. So we'll do the best we can and maybe hope to have lots of new posts in time for World Carfree Day in September.

I'm (finally) prompted to post by an excellent recent Grist article on cargo bikes. Who could resist a title like Haul's Well that Ends Well?

Now, anyone know if anyone in town has an Xtracycle?

grocery run

Homeless Dave points us to yet another way to get groceries home without a car, or without leaving the house for that matter.

Place an order online or by phone with Grocery Run and they will do your shopping, at your requested store, use coupons that you mail to them, and drop your order off at your door. You can send them to as many different stores as you are willing to pay for ($5/location). They cover any customer and any store within a 40 mile radius of Ypsi and deliver until 8pm on weekdays.

The costs of this service put us off a bit.
You can become a member for $40/year (you don’t have to be a member to order, you just pay lower fees if you do).
$100 in groceries costs $15 service charge and $5 delivery for members ($20/$7 for non members), so a non-member would pay $77 to have $50 in groceries delivered.

Another downside is having to place your order by 5pm the day before scheduled delivery.

If cost isn’t an issue, this may be a good option, especially if you buy lots of groceries at once (the fee percentage drops drasticallywith size of order).

bike messenger bags

Yes, they're trendy and they're expensive, but dangit, if you've got a really nice messenger-style Chrome bag, maybe you'll be more likely to ride your bike and haul your stuff around so that you can show off that stylin seat-belt latch on the front. Plus, they're totally ergo, and just bombproof.

Where to get'em in Ann Arbor? Great Lakes Cycling and Fitness at 2107 West Stadium.

Contributed by: Homeless Dave

Burley sells out to survive

Burley Design Cooperative is well known for their fantastic bike trailers. The company was also famous for being run as a cooperative, where employees shared in profit/loss and decision making. Sadly, there has been a lot of loss to share in as Burley lost $1.5 million last year and was scheduled for similar losses this year.
In an effort to resurect the dying company, it was recently sold to a local business man. Resulting in massive layoffs, a buy-out of employee shares, and a drastic cut in the product line. However, there is now hope that the company will catch up on its back-log of trailer orders and continue to provide their excelent product.

truck rental for hauling stuff

When I need to haul stuff (furniture, building supplies, etc), one of the best deals I've found is the Lowe's Truck Rental. $20 for 70 minutes. It's a big truck that can handle most loads, and I've found it cheaper & easier than traditional car rental places. I consider a sort of ZipCar for trucks.

Contributed by: Chuck

pets to the vet?

In a recent comment, Sara asks:

Do you have any ideas on car free pet ownership?
If your black lab is sick, how do you get him to the vet? What about the plain old routine vet visits and obedience classes?

This is a tough one. Buses, taxis, car rental companies, and carsharing organizations are all probably not willing to accommodate pets, even in emergencies. It is not impossible to use a trailer or wagon to haul a pet carrier to the vet by bike or foot. However, if your pet is sick or hurt, they may not appreciate such travel accommodations. As best I can figure, that leaves two options.

Use a vet that is close to your home. As pet owners, we generally choose a vet based on recommendations and quality service over location and convenience. However, if there is a vet close by, it may be worth checking into. I tried to find a vet in Ann Arbor that does house calls without success. This won’t cover all situations, but will make it easier if you are without a car.

The second option is to call in a favor and ask a friend, neighbor, or family member for a ride. Especially in emergencies, this is a good resource to turn to. Other pet owners are more likely to understand your needs and accept a little dog hair in the back seat, so introduce yourself to neighbors with cats in their windows and dogs in their yards.

I wish I could offer more practical advice here. Does anyone else have tips on carfree pet shuttling?

paniers

Also known as "saddle bags", paniers are the classic tool for hauling stuff by bike. These are bags that attach to the rear rack of the bike. I routinely load my panniers up with a paper grocery bag or about 40lbs worth of stuff. Paniers are the best way to carry heavy loads that don't warrant a trailer because they keep the weight (and thus the center of gravity) low and off of the front wheel unlike handlebar baskets that make for unbalanced turning.


Contributed by: Ken Clark & Scott TenBrink

If you are feeling handy, Chuck pointed out DYI paniers made from plastic waste baskets.

jogging strollers

Jogging strollers are great "All terrain" vehicles for getting kids around town. We've got two--a single and a double, both available at www.joggingstroller.com, which has great service!
They are not convenient for using on the bus, though, because of their heft and bulk and difficult to fold up. They are great for getting downtown, to the Arb (or Eberwhite, or County farm park, depending on where you live), and other adult-walkable places. Even much older kids can be put in a good jogging stroller when they get tired of longer walks (my 8 year still occasionally hitches a ride), and they're also decent for transporting groceries.
You can also add baskets to a jogger that allow you to haul about 20 lbs of stuff along with a kid (up to 80 lbs without if your kid decides to walk).

Contributed by: Karen Smith & Ken Clark

laptop commute screen saver

My first laptop screen had a permanent smudge across it from the space bar rubbing against it as a result of over-stuffing my bag or being bumped and jostled during my bike commute, even though my backpack has a special laptop compartment.

I have plans to design a laptop sleeve that includes a satin screen cover, but until free time for that project presents itself, I find that laying a facial tissue over the keys before closing the lid will keep the screen smudge-free.

Contributed by: Scott TenBrink

bike trailers for hauling kids

We put a carseat in our bike trailer when the kids were infants and transported them that way most of the time. I once went to a WATS meeting in winter like this with our daughter. We eventually had to buy a bigger trailer to carry both of them. We bought a Wike trailer, which had far less cargo capacity, but was excellent for carrying around two kids. It folds and converts to a stroller and folds down completely for storage as well. (I miss our Wike, and having two kids small enough to use it.)
Website: http://www.wicycle.com
email: wike@sypatico.ca

Contributed by: Ken Clark

Also, from Karen Smith's recent comment:

Man! Why didn't I do this sooner? I just bought a kid trailer for my bike. It's great! (Chariot Cougar double). Now I can take both the twins to around town by bike---before we always had both parents hauling each one kid to get around (or one parent went by bus). So now hubby can snooze on the couch while we go to more exotic parks (or vice versa)! I should have done this 2 years ago.
The chariot cougar was a bit pricey ($435), but I think you get what you pay for in this type of purchase. We got ours at AA Cyclery on Packard (great store BTW).

grocery hand cart

This is one of the best ways to haul groceries as a pedestrian. These are wire basket carts that usually have two large wheels and two smaller wheels at the bottom. They often fold flat for storage. You can pretty easily get a few bags of groceries in these carts and upto 100 or so lbs of goods. I know Carpenter Brothers has three different carts like this.

Contributed by: Ken Clark

bike trailer

I use an Equinox bike trailer ($422 base model) that I bought on line. I routinely (literally every week) load this trailer up with a week's worth of groceries for our family of four. Most Saturdays, I buy a 40lb bag of compost/manure at Downtown Home and Garden, pick up our Tantre Farms share at the Farmers Market as well as another 20 lbs or so of whatever's in season, and then head to the Food Co-op for milk, eggs, etc. It often runs to 100-120 lbs of stuff. I've put up to 150 lbs in the trailer and another 40 lbs in my panniers. You need low gears for this kind of hauling. There are trailers rated to 500 lbs (see bikesatwork.com).

Contributed by: Ken Clark

DIY bike trunk

I used to do this as a student, and I still see people doing it from time to time. Put a rear rack on a bike and bungie or tie a milk crate onto the rack. This allows you to carry up to 50lbs of stuff on the back of the bike. I once managed two full paper bags of groceries this way.

Contributed by: Ken Clark

note: you need to install a rack on the back of your bike first.