What you need is a TRAILER! |
|
|
That's Dad and myself on our tandem, towing one of the trailers I've made. I'm a lucky tandem captain, because I have the rest of the family as stokers.
Until I made my first trailer, I had no idea how fun and useful they could be. A trailer transforms a bicycle into a, well, Sport Utility Bicycle! You are no longer limited to loads that will fit in your panniers. You can go shopping at the store and leave with four large grocery bags full of supplies. They'll ride snug and safe from the weather, because the trailer protects them from the elements. Best of all -- and if you plan carefully -- your bicycle only has to carry a fraction of the load, unlike with panniers, where the bicycle bears the entire weight. In the trailer pictured above, a 73-lb. load in the trailer only places a 12-lb. load on the bicycle. Best of all, that 12-lbs. is carried at the centerline of the rear wheel, so the bicycle handles much like an unloaded steed. If you don't need something terribly fancy, you can make your own trailer from salvaged bicycle frames and kid's-bike wheels/tires and a RubberMaid Action Packer (on sale, of course!) for fifty bucks. I suppose you could even use electrical conduit, though I didn't. Figure on another $2-3 for a coupler, and you're ready to hitch Ol' Paint up to the Chuckwagon. More pictures appear on the following pages... |
|
|
| |
|
|
||
| previous page |
|
next page |
|
|
||