Hermespan

My Flamingo folding bicycle the size of a mouse and with luggage capability the size of mouse turds is driving me crazy.

So, here'a a man size bike!



Trek transporter. with only one side ready so far. RM5000 at BIKE QUEST in Petaling Jaya. Ask for Ayu. Why Ayu? This salesperson was nice to me. Coming down a hill in this Kuala Lumpur suburb I heard third world war from my wheels. Road repair means tiny stones to mess up my virgin tires. Malaysian Highway Works does not warn motorists with signs or I was, as usual, lost in my thoughts. Hot time of day in hot season means half-melted roadway. Ayu lent me their exterior work space and a vegetable scrub brush. Needed something stiffer but beggars can't be choosers.

dynaryder

You can keep that. Looked at one before I bought my Big Dummy because they were cheaper. Sooo glad I didn't get one. Alloy frame + straight blade alloy fork + skinny 1.5" tires? No thank you. After having to ride the BD through a construction zone for the better part of a market season,I am so glad to have all-steel and 2" Big Apples.

pampera

Did you break the Trek transporter?nd me have similar bikes...I also have a flaming and now a very big transporter, a velonom prana, like a yuba mundo but steel made.
I also considered a trek transporter before the velonom.

hillyman

Nice ride. Saddle seems a little narrow tho

peterw_diy

"velonom prana, like a yuba mundo but steel made"

??? Mundo's frame and fork are all steel.

linnefaulk

I love the paint and finish of your bike.

KamikazeKunze

Enjoy it! It looks like a nice ride.
I also have a Big Dummy but I don't judge, riding is riding and use whatever you can to haul stuff and drive less!

Ridefreemc

What a difference in these posts. Thanks linnefaulk and KamikazeKunze for the positive-ness. I especially like the "riding is riding."

dynaryder

I was giving helpful feedback. I had a client bring a Transporter to my clinic to have me put a balloon tire on the front because the ride was beating him up around town. So it would seem my assessment was spot on. As I said,I looked into the Transporter before getting my BD,and after several years and many miles on it,I feel pretty confident it's a much better choice.

Note,I don't think Hermespan bought that bike,I think he just saw it in a shop and thought it was neat.

puckett129

I've got a Transport as well. It gets a little squirrely when the front is loaded or when there's significant weight on the bike, but overall I really like it. The fork's rigidity has not been an issue, nor have the tires. It's a comfortable ride, for sure. If I was hauling lots of weight I might step up to a Big Dummy or Yuba Mundo, but this works fine for me.

I see that Kona has brought back the Minute for the 2015 model year which I may have gotten instead (had they offered it this year). It's aluminum too, but the slightly smaller frame probably flexes less?

syncro87

The bash TT vs BD thing is a wee bit humorous. Of course the BD is a better bike. It ought to be, considering the price difference. You can get a new TT for around a grand. Last I checked, a BD was oh, roughly twice that if I'm not mistaken. It's like comparing a Honda Civic to a Lexus ES. A lot of folks don't have $2 grand plus sitting around to drop on a cargo bike...or they do, and are not willing to spend that kind of coin on a niche bike, like myself.

I bought the Trek because I found one for under $800 in perfect shape, barely used. It had an extra OE bag, and rear disc added already. At that point it made total sense from a value for the dollar spent perspective. It would have cost me twice as much to get a used Dummy, assuming I could find one in this cow town (forget it). With tax, almost three times that for a new BD. Uh, no thanks.

Tires? Easy to swap out with whatever you want...not that mine, running stock size, is harsh. Fine around town. If I rode across rough terrain regularly, maybe I'd put fatter balloons on there. But I live in the suburbs, so everything is paved. For what I suspect the majority of cargo bike folks would want a bike to do, the TT does fine. If you need to haul bags of cement mix or entire bedroom sets on your bicycle, well, nope, the Trek will not do that too well.

I want a BD, and someday will buy one. When I do, I hope it doesn't make me a cargo bike snob, because if it does, I'll sell it.

7up

I like the TT and am looking at one.I hope to purchase it soon. I like all types of bikes and would like to add this one to my collection.

fietsbob

Trek's Transport plus has an electric motor in the back wheel .. same original owner life time warranty on the frame.

Mark Stone

I have good news and bad news - The Trek Transport (not Transporter lol) is not in their 2015 lineup. Discontinued. Kaput. Banned. Interrumpidas. Abandonnées.

It's bad news for me, because I've always longed for one -

Good news for Trek -- I guess they weren't selling

Robert C

It seems Trek has dropped a lot of their niche bikes. I was looking for the belt drive SOHO earlier this year. . . also no longer offered.

fietsbob

Often comes down to Pre Season orders made at trade shows, by the dealers that can afford to go there.

resulting is smaller batch orders , that once they are in the warehouse the rest of the dealers, smaller ones,
that couldn't swing funding a trip to hotels in Vegas for 3 days , snap up for their shops .

so then they're gone before the season starts.

pampera

I thought fue new version was aluminium. Excuse me! I'll check before writing next time.

I considered the Transport vs Velonom before buying also, but liked more the Velonom. Steel and many design details prevailed.

syncro87

They didn't sell because the dealers were afraid to stock one for display. I live in a metro of over 2 million, with multiple dedicated Trek flagship stores, and a bunch of smaller Trek-stocking multi line LBS. None of them ever had a Transport in stock. I tried to find one to look at all over the place, including a city of 3 million peeps a few hundred miles to my east. No dice. Fortunately, I lucked into a clean used one.

Note to people who have the balls to bring interesting niche bikes to market, like the TT: If people can't ever find one on display to look at, 99% of your prospective buyers are not going to drop $1200+ to order one sight unseen.

So one one hand, kudos to Trek for having the guts to bring it out in the first place. Thumbs down for zero effort on the dealer side to promote the bike.

I'll bet if each dealer had stocked one Transport, they would have sold 5 times as many of them overall. People want to see and touch what they are going to buy, especially with something like a bicycle.

When I tried that hard to find a Transport in stock with no luck two years ago, I knew the writing was on the wall for it being dropped.

7up

I agree that this is my normal MO when it comes to buying something.I want to see it and touch it before I purchase anything.Most times the item i want to buy is never in stock and they won't sell me the demo. I made an exception to my rule and just purchased one of two that are still in stock.Awesome riding bike unloaded.

p nut

I've actually seen quite a few Big Dummies in the $1,000-1,200 range used. But they were all over the country and shipping would have been the deal killer.

The Trek looks like it will do the job just fine. But selling a bike because you read a couple of anonymous posts on the internet with a semi-snobbish tone is even more humorous.

shoalster321

Does anyone know if a replacement battery is available for the Trek Transport Plus? I read in Electricbikereview that they arent available but when i looked at the Bionx site it said that a battery is available for the particular hub thats on the Transport Plus.
I have a chance to purchase a Transport Plus but i dont want to if a replacement battery isnt available. I also read at the Bionx site that the battery isnt compatible with the Trek Ride+, which sounds similar to Transport+.

fietsbob

You may get a direct answer calling Up Your Trek Dealer .. they have the case shaped so as to fit under the rear rack over the Back wheel ..

Perhaps it can be opened up and you can Solder in fresh cells (I dont own one But I Do have a soldering Iron)

shoalster321

i finally got a response from trek, it took three weeks..........batteries are still available....i bought the bike......nice!!!

shoalster321

Ive had my Trek Tranport for a while and love it. Ive ridden mine over rough terrain on my 1.5" tires with no problems. All one has to do is change the tires out, whats the big deal? Ive had no problems with my fork and i live in an area with lousy bike paths and roads.

shoalster321

Ive had my Transport for a while and really like it. I live in an area with bad roads and bad sidewalks and i have no problems with the frame, fork or 1.5" tires. Whats the big deal? If one want bigger tires just change em out. I carry loads and i dont notice that much of the frame flex that has been mentioned.