Commuting with delicate farm produce
 

How do you all commute on bike while carrying delicate produce?

I went strawberry picking at the farm. Loaded them on my rear rack and road home. Found out the road vibration created a bloody mess with my ripe strawberries. Sad day, it got re-purposed into smoothies.

I am not sure that this can work for strawberries, but I sewed an insert out of foam mesh for my front basket, attached with velcro, where I carry delicate items. The mesh was originally intended for cars, I think, for seat covers etc. My original problem was that I was ruining books when the wire basket worked as a scraper on the covers. Now I carry all kinds of delicate items there, including commonly the phone, but again I am not sure there would be enough protection there for the strawberries. The mesh is also dense enough for small screws.

I have done two things, although, I don't know if they'd help with strawberries. I carry my office clothes in a back pack, which bungee to my rear rack on the two bikes with racks, and wear on the road bike. When I have smaller or more delicate items, I put them in the back pack and wear it.

On my MTB based commuter I also have Wald folding baskets. I have laced a bungie cord from side to side above the basket bottom to provide a springy base. It can't be too taught or the base will fold up. I suppose this would work better in a non-folding basket.

I haven't tried this next idea, but it may work. If you find yourself without a basket or backpack I would try to find a few plastic bags fto make a remporary back-pack. First I would double or triple bag the produce to ensure it won't breach the bag. Then I'd loop the handle of a new bag through the handle of the main bag on each side to function as straps that you can put each arm through and wear.

If you have a re-usable canvas tote bag you might try handing it on your shoulder like a purse. Or if the straps are long enough, across you shoulders like a messenger bag.

Sounds crazy but paper / cardboard egg holder..? You know how they come in either Styrofoam or the thick paper but you would have to bring it with you before you went to pick berries. Ive seen people cut them up and use them for " cushion "
Plus fyi a strawberry is not a berry but a banana is....

Carrying them in a backpack might work. Your own body would absorb the shock and vibrations from the road.

For Farmer's Mkt runs on my town bike I carry veg in an old Kirtland handlebar bag which has a few sheets of thin bubble wrap cut to fit as spacers. By design the HB bag is well insulated from road shocks, never had a bruised tomato or beat-up berries in years of use. Free range chicken goes double freezer bagged with sturdy stuff in the classic British seatbag to prevent cross contamination.

-Bandera

Bubble wrap type stuff works great for all kinds of padding jobs. I seem to have an endless supply now with all the mail order stuff I get.

Backpack works great. I often carry blueberries or strawberries for my muesli or sparkling wine without problem.

There is so much hatred for back packs and messenger bags and this utmost need to have panniers. A back pack/messenger bag would have been ideal for this. For my messenger bag, I have a box that is half cut out and has been formed to fit my body. It provides a solid base to put more fragile items on while riding. Often times I have a few recycled plastic bags in my bag because they take up no room. I would have simply wrapped the berries in the bag and placed them in my bag and went on my way.

Hatred is a pretty strong word;)...but I know what you mean. I prefer to have a backpack over panniers just because most days I don't have a lot to carry, and having something cumbersome and unnecessary attached to my bike for everyday commute seems, well, stupid.

I agree with you. A backpack beats everything else hands-down, especially with an urban multimode commute. Some mornings I cycle to a hovercraft or hovercraft to a bicycle. Some mornings, I ride one bike to a train, switch to subway and then to a train and back to another bicycle. It's tight on the subway and I want use of both of the hands/arms. I had a once every five day commute that when (cycle ... train ... airport ... plane ... airport ... subway ... bicycle) ... why would I want a pannier ... ugh

Hovercraft that gets used on some of my commutes (the terminal has bike storage inside!):

MM smoothies soound good!

Might not be too crazy. I often make 6-minute soft-boiled eggs and bring them to work in a 6-egg holder snipped from a disposable egg tray. But 1 big strawberry per hole would be pretty space inefficient!

Another idea, maybe a sacrificial towel could protect them? Lay out the towel, put a row of strawberries, well spaced, roll towel over the top, then put another row of strawberries, aligned with the gaps in the previous row, continue. Then of course you'd have to have a way to transport that roll without bungying it down and squishing it all

Just make sure they're not rolling or bouncing around and they should be fine. They survive the truck ride to the store after all.

going towel route I think is heading towards the right direction. Need spacing so the soft ripe strawberries don't rub against to each other. Wonder if putting them inside a container of water would work.

Ive never had an issue carrying produce home from the grocery store in my panniers, but the store I shop at is only a 1/2 mile from home, so there's not a whole lot of riding left at that point to jostle things around much.