Cargo bike mod
 

The Original Longtail | A Tool for Simple Living - YouTube

I just saw this site..
FreeRadical BaseFrame | Xtracycle, Inc.

Looks like something that I might need someday..
I like the design. I wonder if there are less costly Chinese imports on Ebay??

Fairly common on the west coast (CA and OR in particular)... I think a lot of people build their own. There's even an instructable on it: http://www.instructables.com/id/How-...il-Cargo-Bike/

There are a handful of people that live near me who have extra cycles, they all have the saddle bags and foot pegs so you can carry an extra person as well, or a few weeks worth of groceries.
there are a few brands that make cargo bikes that are a single frame that is longer or that have front cargo space.
Part of the extracycle is that it's modular so you can add other pegs or bags on to it.

I was just thinking, even if gas goes to $10 a gallon, we could make food runs with
the new Prius c2 for a few months, just using the fuel we normally have on hand.
After that, we could bike haul as a last resort..

We have at least one of these locally but I have not yet caught up with the mid aged gentlemen riding it. It has the advantage of being able to carry an adult passenger without spending the money on a tandem.
I am not waiting for gas to get any higher. With a faired bike and trailer, I want to be able to make as many of the trips within the magic 25 miles of home without the car as possible. My retirement fund took a major hit. That and both my waist size and blood pressure numbers need to be smaller.

The bike will help with the BP and the weight. One thing that really helped me, was hiding the sugar bowl.
I use KAL Pure Stevia Extract Powder. It's a natural sugar substitute.
Took me a year to drop my 30 pound pot belly.. :o


I'm five years into retirement, and I'm hoping we get some leaders in DC that will stop the slide.
I'm betting things will get better. Just got us a neat little hybrid (Prius c).
IMHO, if gas only goes up to $10, we can still drive the Prius.
But, if it goes up much over $20, food prices are going to be so high,
the chances of surviving very long are going to be very slim.

Our retirement planing didn't factor in the buying power of our dollars
being reduced to next to nothing..

Cargo bikes
 

I bought the Yuba Mundo from a place called Vancouver Long Bikes and had it shipped here. Couldn't be happier.

I ordered it sight-unseen, but it was all they promised. Very stable with big loads, and even though it is a bit slower, it feels much more comfortable than sportier bikes, probably owing to the fat tires and long wheelbase. Further, it is slower to accelerate due to the weight, but cruising speed is only a few kph less than a relaxed ride on a commuting bike with 700c wheels (only really noticeable if riding alongside one).

I looked into cargo bikes a fair bit on-line, and came to these conclusions:

The Surly Big Dummy is a "proper" bike - basically a long-tailed mountain bike made of good chromoly and well spec'd with parts. Lighter, sportier, but less of a workhorse.

The Yuba is built like a tank - very solid and heavy for real load-carrying. The most utilitarian of the long tails.

The Extracycle is an add-on, said to be less stable. Better if you already have a good donor bike and you won't be carrying too much weight.

The box bikes (bakefiets etc) are very good for cargo and children, but require a bit more space/garage and aren't the best for going up stairs and such.

An excellent source of info on this stuff is http://www.joe-bike.com/cargo-bikes/, who are a retailer in Portland, I think. Also, while I have no interest in the business myself - the Yuba frames are on sale at the Yuba online shop http://yubaride.com/yubashop/5-cargobikes for those that like to do their own builds for $350 (note, though, that the rear axle is larger than standard).

I like my cargo bike. I make excuses to buy heavy stuff at the grocery store!

Don't forget to make a front fairing for it.

The cheapest way to test the cargo bike waters would be to start with a garage sale mountain bike. There are many early, pre-suspension bikes out there in pretty good shape. Try e-bay or Craig's to find a used Xtracycle conversion. They have been on the market for 15 years.

Personally, I like the Yuba frame and am considering swapping the parts over from my winter "ice bike" mountain bike. Although the sale price expired, now almost $500.

I just found this on "instructables". Homemade Sport Utility Bike (SUB) This looks like a very inexpensive way to build a basic cargo bike. Created by trebuchet, we used to have a member here who went by that name. Hmmm.