I'm needing to make a decision on whether to give up on the truck soon. Just had something else break down (the saddle), and the cycle shop owner has offered to refund me for the bike. I'd still need to find something to use, and I like the principle of the bike... so is there anyone in the area who knows more about mechanics and framebuilding who can look the thing over sometime very soon and give me a second opinion on the quality, longevity, etc. of the thing?

I'm reviewing the thing on this thread in Utility Cycling and trying to decide whether i'm having just a long list of awful experiences with defective components, or if the bike in general is poor worksmanship from top to bottom. (It's made our family vow not to buy American if we can avoid it, so far..)

There are a few people around who build frames. Check craigslist, they advertise there and might be able to give the bike a look over. If you decide to dump the Worksman the Torker Cargo-T looks like it might be a possible alternative. You'll need to add your own basket but it has front and back cargo racks. Gerken's Bike Shop in the Upper 9th (on St. Claude) is a Torker dealer and they're good folk.

Here's what the Cargo-T looks like: https://www.torkerusa.com/bikes/utility/2011-cargot

Check out Plan B (bikeproject.org) if you haven't, I don't think they get too many cargo style bikes in, but it's great for doing your own maintenance and I think there's a bus stop nearby.

One more link: https://www.truckbike.org/2011/03/loc...rom-hades.html