{"id":1147,"date":"2012-08-24T15:40:45","date_gmt":"2012-08-24T20:40:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.transitionamherst.org\/blog\/?p=1147"},"modified":"2012-08-24T15:40:45","modified_gmt":"2012-08-24T20:40:45","slug":"hauling-what-and-how","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transitionamherst.org\/blog\/2012\/08\/hauling-what-and-how\/","title":{"rendered":"Hauling: What and How?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.transitionamherst.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/ElectricutilityBike2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.transitionamherst.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/ElectricutilityBike2-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"Back from the store (XtraCycle)\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-833\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transitionamherst.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/ElectricutilityBike2-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.transitionamherst.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/ElectricutilityBike2-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.transitionamherst.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/ElectricutilityBike2.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a>I have been thinking about writing down the tricks of loading and carrying different cargo with bicycles. Partially because it is quite different than carrying load in a car, and also because with a little preparation and technique the carrying capacity can be extended and the carrying experience greatly enhanced.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Secure<\/strong> everything to the body of the bike. Moving content may affect your balance, and windswept content not only may get damaged, but can distract you riding in traffic.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Balance<\/strong> the load. Being balanced is especially important when the ride is hilly, the road is uneven, or you are close to the carrying capacity of the frame (or the carried weight is close to theat of your own). In each of these cases the lack of balance will show up as volatile bike handling or frame torque, that is disconcerting, and a sideway pull, especially while using the brakes.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Load placement<\/strong> is important from the visual perspective as well. Mark <strong>oversize<\/strong> items with a red flag where it sticks out the most, and place the bulkier part on the traffic-side of the bike, so you don&#8217;t hit the curb, and are more visible to drivers. They will also give you more space this way!<\/li>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.transitionamherst.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/P1010073.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.transitionamherst.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/P1010073-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"BobonBigDummy\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-1053\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transitionamherst.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/P1010073-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.transitionamherst.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/P1010073-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.transitionamherst.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/P1010073.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<li>If you carry people be careful about load limits. Some cargo bikes have a fairly low limit of weight carrying capacity. For example attaching the XtraCycle FreeRadical kit to a regular bike frame logically makes the combination weaker and more prone to torsion: It reuses the same wheels, and ads an extra piece between the regular frame and the rear wheel, while also elongating the wheelbase. None of these will make the resulting cargo bike any stronger, exactly the opposite. But why is this about people especially? Normally, when I load my bike with dead weight, I am aware how much I load. But when I give a ride to another person, the act of sitting onto the bike is so much easier than loading the bike with the same dead weight. So don&#8217;t overburden the bike. See some approximate load carrying limit below.<\/li>\n<li>It may not be <strong>windy<\/strong> when you are loading the bike up, but it will definitely blow more when you are riding. So ensure the lighter and larger objects are securely fastened. And if you carry a sail, be aware of the wind;-)<\/li>\n<li>Mind <strong>your own power<\/strong> too: Depending on your stamina and the length and steepness of the hill you plan to climb, the resulting limit may be quite low. You can in fact calculate it a good calculator is <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bikesatwork.com\/hauling-cargo-by-bike\/hpv-cargo-capacity.html\">here<\/a>.<\/li>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.transitionamherst.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/P1010020-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.transitionamherst.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/P1010020-2-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"Logging with a bike trailer\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-837\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transitionamherst.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/P1010020-2-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.transitionamherst.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/P1010020-2-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.transitionamherst.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/P1010020-2.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<li>The lower the center of the weight is, the easier to handle a bike. This doesn&#8217;t necessarily true for trikes and trailers, but the lower the center of gravity is, the better in general.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Bike\/trike carrying capacity by type (combined contains rider weight, otherwise the limit is without rider):<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/bakfiets.nl\/eng\/\">Bakfiets<\/a> style bikes: 200 lbs<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.christianiabikes.com\/dansk\/dk_main.htm\">Christiania<\/a> style cargo trikes: up to 800 lbs depending on the kind!!!<br \/>\nBikes at work Trailers: 350+ lbs<br \/>\nSun Atlas Cargo: 400 lbs combined<br \/>\nSurly Big Dummy: 220 lbs + rider<br \/>\nSurly Long Haul Trucker: 300 lbs combined<br \/>\nXtracycle FreeRadical: 100 lbs + rider<br \/>\nYuba Mundo: 450 lbs + rider!!!<\/p>\n<p>References:<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/carfreecanada.wordpress.com\/2012\/01\/12\/cargo-bikes-longtails-surly-big-dummy-xtracycle-kona-ute\/\">Longtail cargo bikes<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.joe-bike.com\/cargo-bikes\/\">Joe cargo bikes<\/a><\/p>\n\n\t\t<style type=\"text\/css\">\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 {\n\t\t\t\tmargin: auto;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-item {\n\t\t\t\tfloat: left;\n\t\t\t\tmargin-top: 10px;\n\t\t\t\ttext-align: center;\n\t\t\t\twidth: 33%;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 img {\n\t\t\t\tborder: 2px solid #cfcfcf;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-caption {\n\t\t\t\tmargin-left: 0;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\/* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes\/media.php *\/\n\t\t<\/style>\n\t\t<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-1147 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.transitionamherst.org\/blog\/2012\/08\/hauling-what-and-how\/olympus-digital-camera-86\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transitionamherst.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/P1010002-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.transitionamherst.org\/blog\/2012\/08\/hauling-what-and-how\/olympus-digital-camera-87\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transitionamherst.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/P1010020-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl>\n\t\t\t<br style='clear: both' \/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I have been thinking about writing down the tricks of loading and carrying different cargo with bicycles. Partially because it is quite different than carrying load in a car, and also because with a little preparation and technique the carrying &hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.transitionamherst.org\/blog\/2012\/08\/hauling-what-and-how\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cargobicycling"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transitionamherst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transitionamherst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transitionamherst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transitionamherst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transitionamherst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1147"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.transitionamherst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1161,"href":"https:\/\/www.transitionamherst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1147\/revisions\/1161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transitionamherst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transitionamherst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transitionamherst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}