beach cruiser 7

BEACH CRUISER DIET 7

BIKE CARGO

I can already hear the excuses and shouting about how it is so vital that you keep your car because you must go buy groceries for Junior who is a Special Needs kid and how you can’t carry groceries on a bike and blah, blah, shut the hell up.  I live miles from town on a dirt road and I carry groceries, water and even tanks of propane on my bike with two baskets and a backpack ( for two people ).  If you live thirty miles from a Costco just rent a car once every other month and the rest of the time go shopping for perishables closer to home.  On your bike.  Go to Amazon, or your local bike shop if you haven’t a clue what you need ( expect to pay 50-100% more as they have to pay rent ) and purchase two bike racks.  One front and one back.  They sell specialty front racks that hold hundreds of pounds, but expect to pay accordingly.  Otherwise, buy ones that hold thirty to fifty pounds.  Those are more standard, mass produced items.  Do NOT, I repeat NOT, buy from a China-Mart as the quality sucks and you will waste your money.  Even if you spend $50 each, they pay for themselves.  As my former truck was about to give up the ghost, refusing to idle at stops or to go into gear, I made it to the bike shop on a wing and a prayer and installed racks.  The next day I started hauling everything by bike, retiring the truck and never looked back.  Just on insurance and AAA dues alone, not counting gasoline at five miles to the gallon for my 75 Chevy or mechanical bills, I could buy a new bike rack every month.

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And that is yet another reason to have a single speed coaster bike rather than a multiple speed mountain bike.  You can so much more easily  mount a front rack for double the cargo hauling, due to lack of all those damn wires for braking and shifting gears.  A bike carries most of your weight over the back wheel.  By placing half, or most, of your cargo weight up front, the load is much more balanced.  You place less wear and tear on the rear wheel, which takes the brunt anyway.  I used to haul all my groceries ( prior to the short interval I owned the truck- I’ve lived most of my life carless ) on a geared bike.  I tied all the plastic bags to the handlebars.  I got a weeks worth of groceries for two tied on that way.  I don’t recommend it-get the racks and the baskets.  I have one of those thin wire jobs up front.  I don’t really care for them as they seem to rust through after a few years and are overpriced.  The back is a milk crate zip-tied to the rack.  Again, do NOT buy zips at the China-Mart.  Go to a hardware or ranch store and buy extra thick ties that advertise their temperature ratings ( say, good to 30 below zero ).  These are more expensive but since they last ten times longer than cheap ones they cost less in the long run. 

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