chefisaac

I decided last night to plan a trip to the grocery store this morning. I told my wife and of course she gives me a laundry list of groceries to get. I didnt care about how much the groceries cost... I was concerned where to put what in each pannier.

So I got up early, screwed around the house for a bit and then showered and got ready. Left the house at 5:30 am. I wanted to ride when there was no traffic so I could have time to scout out where to park the bike. I was concerned with that.

Took for 30 minutes to get to the store... a little over 5 miles. I feel slow on my mtn commuter.

Found a pretty good spot right under a camera which is nice. Took me a while to take all the stuff off my bike and get loaded. I grabbed a cart and loaded my panniers in, took off the lights and such and put them in my helmet and off to shopping I was.

Got EVERYTHING on the list and it was a tough go getting it all in my panniers but it all fit. I had to get eggs too and I was so nervous about it. I loaded up the panniers and back on the bike. The bike was HEAVY. The hills felt worse on my legs and I had to use easier gears. But I made it home! First commute to the store!!! Total mile were 11.75

questions:

I have a light that connects to a battery that I strap on the top tube of my bike. Do you all take the whole thing with you or just disconnect the light and take that with you?

Can you tell me YOUR procedure after you lock up your bike? I was going to stash all my lights and stuff in my panniers but then it would have been a pain in the @ss to dig them out on the bottom. My panniers, the ortliebs, only have small pockets inside. I am wondering how to stream line this a little.

Mark Stone

Whole thing.My answer may not be the popular one, but when I go shopping I also wear a backpack and then put all the bicycle stuff (lights, batteries, computer, skid lid, frame pump) in the backpack and wear it while shopping.

jimc101

Lights (front and rear), computer, anything else that isn't bolted on comes off.

I use Vaude panniers (very similar to Ortlieb roll tops), and occasionally an Ortlieb Shopper, locks come out, lock the bike, up, and everything goes in the panniers , panniers go into a shopping cart. I sort everything out at the checkout as I re-fill the panniers with shopping.

Panniers aren't a bottomless pit, so it's never too hard to find anything in them

PaulH

If I had to do all that, I'd never ride.

Paul

jimc101

Takes 10-20 seconds to take off lights and computer, not exactly a big deal, for the locks, you lock it or loose it, for packing / unpacking panniers it's no more hassle than packing a cart, and un-loading into a car.

The biggest issue I find with using a bike to go shopping with, is there to lock it to, some shops I just don't go to, as they don't have anywhere solid to lock the bike to.

irwin7638

I park wherever the bike will be highly visible, lock the ring lock and go about my business. I don't worry too much about accessories,hell, if somebody is that broke, they will steal the bike.
Oops! There is one accessory I don't leave lying around


Marc

gerv 

If you do a lot of travel at night, seriously think about getting a dyno light. It's solidly attached to the bike and doesn't come off (easily). Very convenient for grocery shopping or any quick trips.

Last year or so, I have been using a trailer. Actually I have a bike dedicated to grocery shopping (except in winter when it's my winter commuter...). I normally leave it hooked to the trailer and when it's time to go shopping, I throw my grocery bags in the trailer, put my wallet in my pocket and peddle off. Totally convenient. When I arrive at the shop, I just lock up, grab the bags and I'm good to go.

jputnam

I roll my bike into the store, park it where it's visible to the customer service desk, run a cable through the front wheel and frame, and start shopping.

They've never objected to my bringing the bike in the store; if they do, there are other places to shop.

SlimRider

Hey, JPutnam!

I'm with you, kid!

- Slim

wphamilton

I see no point in using a high end computer for utility cycling, so I use a $10 generic one and just leave it on. Various lights, I sometimes took off and still would if I rode with an expensive one, but again for daytime driving one or two LED flashlights is sufficient for visibility. Heresy, I know, but objectively we can go overboard. So I just leave my light on the bike. (that's when I'm riding old-fashioned, not the faired profile bike).

Naturally, I'm judging the risk to be fairly low at my usual supermarkets. $25 light times, say, 1% risk is a quarter I'm "spending" every time I leave it. That's an acceptable amount to me to not mess with it. Any higher cost or higher risk and that would change. I'd say the battery itself has a lower risk of theft so personally I wouldn't take that in either unless it was really easy to disconnect and carry.

prathmann

Agreed, but ironically that's the only kind of light that I've ever had anyone steal from my bike. They also removed the bottle generator clamped to my rear stay that powered the front light.

Currently I use battery lights and sometimes remove the front light. The rear Planet Bike SF blinky stays on the bike.

sam21fire

I take off computer and easily removed lights. I use Arkel panniers with the new locking system (I don't remember which model bags, the large ones). I tuck the unlocking strap down under the rack and place a small padlock around the shoulder strap ring and the rack. I know that this won't keep someone with cheap wire cutters from taking the bags, the goal is to slow down the opportunistic thief. I'm fortunate that the stores I shop at aren't in high crime areas (yes I know, doesn't always matter). I just don't worry about it too much; if there's someone suspicious hanging around in front of the store I'll take my bike inside and keep an eye on it.
So far my record is 62 lbs of groceries in 2 panniers and I've only broken 1 egg in 2 years of shopping.

Artkansas 

My panniers are Sunlite Grocery Getters, they seem to do okay. My rule of thumb is that I plop the panniers in the grocery cart and I put all the purchases in the kiddie seat. If the kiddie seat is full, I know my panniers will be. Then I have the main cart basket for loading the panniers after I make all my purchases.

You can pop all the bike items in the panniers when you lock up and then when you go to load the pannier with groceries, they all go into the cart while you load the panniers. It only takes a few seconds. I don't know why anyone needs a bike computer for a utility bike though.

jimc101

When your using it for short rides, it can be useful, having a clock on it, it's easier to glance down and look, rather than wear one, only use a basic one thou.

Mark Stone

We like to track mileage.

Digital_Cowboy

What I do when I go shopping is this:

First I empty pannier and top bag of the usual BS that I carry as the grocery store is on the next block to the north of where I live. Of late I take my bike into the vestibule and lock it to the steel bar (they've been doing some construction/renovation work and the bike rack has been blocked and no one connected with the store has said anything to me about doing this, also at first I was taking it inside and parking it near where they stored the grocery carts). I then take everything off except I keep forgetting to take off my frame pump. I hang the pannier bags over one side of the shopping cart and fill them up as I'm shopping, and when they're full I head to the checkout line. As the cashier is ringing me up, I tell the bagger NOT to bother bagging my groceries that I'll do it myself when I put my bags back on the bike.

Digital_Cowboy

Agreed, I like to know what the cumulative miles are plus it lets me track maintenance.

cyclokitty 

I have a pair of REI shopping panniers that I hook into the grocery cart. I fill up the panniers as I shop, pretty much until the panniers are full. I think the most the panniers can hold is about 40 lbs of stuff. My bike also has a handlebar basket and I put light weight stuff in there but not eggs. I broke several eggs the first time I rode home with eggs in the basket so I know stow it carefully in one of the panniers. When I get to the cashout, it's easy to empty out the panniers on the conveyor and simply show the cashier the panniers are empty before re-bagging the panniers. The panniers are just simple open top bags on a frame so I also bring large reusable shopping bags that I can tie to avoid sprinkling my route with eggs, yogurt, pasta and cat food.

Luckily my favorite grocery store has plenty of city installed ring and post bike racks located in front of the store but occasionally they have been full. Instead I would lock up my bike to the grocery cart corral nearest the store.

Yo Spiff

I just picked up a pair of those on a really good sale. They seem a little strurdier than the similar ones I've seen at Performance. I hadn't thought of hooking them over the cart and filling them as I shop. Thanks for the good idea, that should save me from some of those "oops, it won't all fit" episodes.

cyclokitty 

I'm happy to share ideas. I actually found that tidbit here in the commuting thread a few years ago when I started grocery gettin' on my bike. It's always great to see other folks making bike commuting and all of it's errands seem like they are completely normal (and fun) activities!

fietsbob

I have a hub dynamo for my lights , so I just take off the pannier/handle-bar bag, and go inside.

Grocery shopping, the checker puts the stuff in the bike bag,
and credits a nickel for not needing one of their bags.

dcrowell

I generally leave the accessories (other than the GPS) mounted to the bike. The Dinotte lights I bought in 2008 may have cost $500, but the average thief knows nothing about them. I'm also slowing converting my bikes to dyno-powered lighting.

I have two local grocery stores with bike racks. I forgot a lock once, and brought the bike inside. Nobody batted an eye.

Ekdog

That's a great policy, especially when you consider how much damage those plastic bags are doing to the environment.

John_1961

I don't take anything off the bike when I go shopping it all stays on the bike it's easyer for me that way.

rogerstg

I don't take anything off my bike either, I just roll it in and use it in lieu of a shopping cart. There's no chance of buying more than the panniers can handle that way.