Originally Posted by Schwinnrider

I've been thinking about buying a bike. I need a bike to use for grocery shopping and errand running. The Ibex flat bar road bike I've been using is OK but it's really too race-y and doesn't handle well when I put a heavy rear load on it. So the new bike will end up with a front rack or basket. That, combined with a rear rack and panniers, will give me all the capacity I need. Not as much as an Xtracycle, but Xtracycles are too big for my apartment. I have a few choices:

Dream setup:

Kogswell P/R. $540 for frame/fork/fenders/headset/seatpost, so figure at the absolute cheapest, I could build it for $1500. That's giving me $960 for wheels, crankset, derailleurs, brakes, racks, bags, etc. Could be done but I'd have to do a lot of eBaying and catalog searching. It is designed for 650b wheels, so my local shop won't have tires in stock. They can order from QBP, though.

Pros: Designed to handle heavy front loads. Frameset price includes a lot of parts, so actually pretty cheap. Multipurpose, could use it as a touring bike as well. 650b wheels.

Cons: Expensive. Even though it could replace two bikes for me, $1500 or so is a lot for a bike that I'll lock to racks while I grocery shop. The P/R is pretty flashy looking. 650b wheels.