Commuting - shopping bike. ya baby

Do you have a shopping bike? I mean a bike that you use specifically for freighting lots of stuff - usually shopping.

These typically seem to be hideous machines. The family doesn't often want to be seen with you when you are on it. I have a couple of them. Neither are cool. One is the Schwinn Varsity shown below. The other is a 1964 all chrome space-age Flightliner with double side-saddle wire baskets - now that baby can haul some goods!

I was just doing some errands and on the way home stopped to do some shopping. I brought home 40 lbs (18+ kilo) of groceries including 25 lbs of flour and 5 gallons of vegetable oil (did you guess that I went to Sam's Club?).

All of it fit in the wire basket on the back of my bike. The trick is, of course, to keep the bike from doing a back flip when you are loading it.

Here is one of my freighters. She is a 1976 Schwinn Varsity. Don't hate her because of her cool finishings like the ruby cobra head handlebar grips or the Christmas lights on the basket or the leather purse-tool kit. The wire basket is an oversized milk crate donated by my friend who works at Morning Glory. These baskets are discontinued and hard to get these days, but OH, can it carry the goods without complaint.

How about you - whatcha got?

Any bike is a shopping bike when you're hauling a BOB trailer behind you. :)

I have BOB skewers on all of my bikes except my cruiser. A moment or two to hitch it up and I'm good to haul groceries for a crowd. We even hauled 16 cases of girl scout cookies (no, not my personal purchase! I'm a G.S. Leader. I'd sold them and was delivering them) on our bikes once, split between the bob and our baskets. When I'm on my cruiser, my ortlieb bags hold a surprising amount of stuff.

The funniest looking load I've ever carried on bike was the time I bought a complete kit to outfit a bed. Pillows. Down comforter. Blankets. sheets. Pad for the mattress. The whole nine yards. It wasn't heavy at all, just very bulky. I got it bungied to the bike somehow (have bungies, will travel!) . My bike looked very much like it belonged in some third world country, next to the person carrying a dozen chickens on their bike. People definitely stared at me as I rode home.l

I guess my latest acquisition qualifies:
A friend at work gave me an old Columbia trike he inherited. It has a Sturmey Archer 3 speed & a large wire basket sits between the rear wheels. It should carry a lot of groceries. My friend said I should have it for my old age. I do see a few on my commute & they seem to get the job done, albeit very slowly. Most heartwarming sight this year was spotting an elderly gent riding along on a trike with his walker stowed behind in the basket! Don

My bike looked very much like it belonged in some third world country, next to the person carrying a dozen chickens on their bike. People definitely stared at me as I rode home.l


Anyone who hauls a load like that, I want to marry. Ooo, ouch, ouch, I'm getting pulled away by the ear again! Wife says I gotta go!

Hillary Rose, you are cool.

Ollo_Ollo, your are cool too, of course, but you are really LUCKY! I've wanted an adult trike for a long time. I bet it would make a fabulous frieghter. Imagine hooking up a BOB or other trailer -even a wagon, to a trike and loading up. You could move a whole apartment's furnishings.

Those old Schwinn Varisties, I loved that bike, it was my first bike, and I rode it forever, it seems, I no longer have that bike, so I couldn't have ridden it forever, but it is the bike that I had in high school. I rode it everywhere, and it was before MTBs. It was better than the fat wheeled, steel bike converted to the cool ape hangered, banana seat bike, I'd ridden to that time.

The Varsity held up under some extreme events in my life, like my first bike/car accident. A really bad paint job. I finally let it go, and took over a C.Itoh(?) something I thought was pretty hot bike, another steel bike. And then I aquired a Motobecane. Thanks for the memories.

Those old Schwinn Varisties, I loved that bike, it was my first bike, and I rode it forever, it seems, Thanks for the memories.

You got it, naisme. The Varsity still rides really smoothly compaired with today's bikes. Of course, due to the weight, it doesn't have the sprint 'zip' of a lighter bike, but when she is rolling, she is a sweeet ride.

I use an old walmart ladies bike with a 3-speed. It is Kelly green with chrome fenders, I have an old milk carton attached to the rear rack. I don't even lock it when I shop and with the upright handlebars I have the stability to handle large loads(I even hauled a bike on the back that I found discarded at the recycle center).

Although I haven't had a chance to really load it up, I think of my old Schwinn Voyageur commutourcross as my heavy freighter and even named it Le Beouf. Of course, it's cheating a little since the bike was designed and sold as a loaded tourer, even came with 40 spoke wheels. I recently made it even more of an ox by putting a 48-spoke wheel on the back. Since it is not designed for speed, it has only one chainring, a 39, but multiple gears in back. With a 35 mm kevlar-belted I'm pretty sure this bike will carry just about any load I can securely mount on it

Like mike I am jealous of the trike find. I am dying to get my hands on one of those old funky trikes to use for some SERIOUS hauling. My elderly friend across the street loved to ride his bike in the neighborhood but had very bad knees from a serious auto accident many years ago. When he got too unsteady for his two-wheeler he bought a trike and rode it until he just couldn't. I see them advertised in the classifieds pretty cheap, but Rainbabe has said if I buy another bike I will be sleeping with the herd out in the garage! A trike would be pretty hard to hide. Hmm, she did specifically say "bike". Do you think...

Like mike I am jealous of the trike find. I am dying to get my hands on one of those old funky trikes to use for some SERIOUS hauling. I see them advertised in the classifieds pretty cheap, but Rainbabe has said if I buy another bike I will be sleeping with the herd out in the garage! A trike would be pretty hard to hide. Hmm, she did specifically say "bike". Do you think...

I want a trike too, but just for fun. I think the most eficient way to haul is with a trailer. That way the part that is built for strain from you riding will be light and able to take the torque. the hauling part can be light and just has to be able to hold the provisions.

I have one trailer, but I've found that it doesn't accomodate every load, so I thought I'd get another. I might get away with one more, but then I know I'm headed to the garage to sleep after that!

I say everyone should have one of these trikes. They are pretty primitive compared to a road bike & not capable of much speed but the Columbia is surprisingly light considering the Hi tension steel frame & steel rims.

Rainman, I have grandchildren & the girls really like giving each other rides around on the driveway. I also keep a mixte frame bike forthe older kids to ride in the neighborhood..... If you don't have grandkids, you may need to make friends with the neighbor kids to justify that trike. Don

Like mike I am jealous of the trike find. I am dying to get my hands on one of those old funky trikes to use for some SERIOUS hauling. My elderly friend across the street loved to ride his bike in the neighborhood but had very bad knees from a serious auto accident many years ago. When he got too unsteady for his two-wheeler he bought a trike and rode it until he just couldn't. I see them advertised in the classifieds pretty cheap, but Rainbabe has said if I buy another bike I will be sleeping with the herd out in the garage! A trike would be pretty hard to hide. Hmm, she did specifically say "bike". Do you think...

I would be dropping hints to the neighbor gentleman to have a garage sale and get rid of that ridiculous three-wheeler (hee hee). Tell him that adults drive cars - not trikes. Then when he sees your riding the trike that he sold you for $5.00, tell him that you are still young enough to ride it.

Mike, he would have given me that trike in a heartbeat if he had thought I wanted it. Unfortunately this was quite a few years ago before I started riding regularly. Even more unfortunately for those of us who loved him he is now trundling around on that trike in a better place.

Don, I don't have grandkids yet. My daughters are old enough they just aren't cooperating. I am looking forward to having little buddies to spoil rotten.

You know, until a couple of weeks ago I was hot to get a little motorscooter (a real motorscooter, not one of the little toys that have cropped up recently) and eventually maybe even a big motorcycle. Then the Saturday before Christmas a good friend was apparently sideswiped riding his Harley. He lost the lower part of one leg and had other broken bones and serious injuries. He would be dead if he hadn't been wearing a helmet. So Rainbabe has now put her pretty little foot down pretty firmly on that subject. So maybe there is room for a trike in the stable after all.

I literally nearly stumbled across this trike in my tiny hometown WalMart while visiting my folks for the holidays. I was suprised a) that Walmart was carrying a trike and b) it was relatively inexpensive (US$269).

Walmart Folding Trifecta Trike (http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=882975&cat=4180&type=21&dept=4125&path=0%3A4171%3A61903%3A61904%3A4180%3A4183%3A5297)

This trike is made by Worksman Cycles

http://www.worksman.com/

who make lots of cargo worthy cycles (my favorite is the industrial Low-Gravity Bike). The Trifecta trike looks like a single speed version of the Worksman Port-O-Trike. (oops, looks like Walmart website carries the 3-speed Port-O-Trike as well!)

regards,
-j

I use an old walmart ladies bike with a 3-speed. It is Kelly green with chrome fenders, I have an old milk carton attached to the rear rack.

I want to try this, too, and I've been wondering: is it "acceptable" for a guy to ride a women's bike, like for shopping? :) Is there any downside or problem with it (other than the risk of looking quite unmanly :D )? My mom is getting rid of an old Ross 3-speed from the late '70s (coaster brake and one hand brake), hardly ever ridden, and though it needs a lot of cleaning/tuning and new tires, I thought it might be useful in nasty weather or for those not-too-distant errands where I have to lock it in the open. At least the color is a nice shade of blue and not pink. ;)

Johann:
The illustration looks similar to my Columbia Trike. That price is not bad although its a single speed. I noticed the Mfr. site shows a 3 speed adult trike but the price is quite a bit more. The 3 speed doesn't help to increase the top speed much as once you turn one of these, you realize the need to keep speed down but the lowest gear does make it easier to top the hills. Don

I literally nearly stumbled across this trike in my tiny hometown WalMart while visiting my folks for the holidays. I was suprised a) that Walmart was carrying a trike and b) it was relatively inexpensive (US$269).

Walmart Folding Trifecta Trike (http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=882975&cat=4180&type=21&dept=4125&path=0%3A4171%3A61903%3A61904%3A4180%3A4183%3A5297)
This trike is made by Worksman Cycleshttp://www.worksman.com/
who make lots of cargo worthy cycles (my favorite is the industrial Low-Gravity Bike). The Trifecta trike looks like a single speed version of the Worksman Port-O-Trike. (oops, looks like Walmart website carries the 3-speed Port-O-Trike as well!)regards,-j

Thanks for the great links, johann. I am glad to see Walmart offering trikes. I am not sure why I feel this way, but I hope it is a successful offering.

Hey, did you notice that it is "Made in the USA". Not bad for $260

I liked the pics of the Fred Flintstone HPV golf cart and the tricycle made for two.

Neat-0-!
http://www.worksman.com/images/image10.gif

is it "acceptable" for a guy to ride a women's bike, like for shopping?
well, the only problem is that your voice will start getting higher and your facial hair will gradually but surely grow sparser, and etc.... (some of these things shouldn't be mentioned in a public forum)

All because of the fact that the frame is made such that it's easy to step over. it's true, i'm telling you. ;)

but seriously, i rode an old women's bike for quite a while, (and i'm a guy) and there's really no practical difference unless you're worried about things like a couple grams of weight or a little bit of pride. :D

I use a BOB trailer pulled by a Specialized Rock Hopper. Carry a Rubbermaid storage container on it. If I buy more than the container can hold I'll strap the rest of the stuff on top with a cargo net. Almost every time I'm at the grocery store at least one person will comment on what a great idea the trailer is.