Big City Bikerafts
 

Ready for a multimodal commute?

I've been commuting 16 miles each way off and on for the last few years and I've gotten a TON of great advice and inspiration here so I wanted to share this with you.

I am currently in the process of setting up a small bikeraft rental business, Big City Bikerafts. We're starting small with a fleet of 4 Alpacka packrafts and gear.

One day, we had a crazy idea that it might be a fun Saturday to bike the Trinity River Levees from downtown Dallas to Irving, float back to downtown Dallas in the bikerafts, and then ride home before dinner. We weren't able to find any outfitters nearby, but eventually found a few up in Utah and Colorado that hooked us up.

It was pouring rain on the day of our trip, but a little rain wasn't going to ruin our adventure! Twelve of us set out on our bikes for what turned into a 6 hour trip, and we had more fun we could have imagined.

We literally have not been able to stop thinking about our trip and we know there are plenty of other people that would love it too. After sharing our story with many people and realizing there was a definite interest, we decided to start a fleet of our own bikerafts.

We still have a few administrative tasks to finish up before we can rent them out but we are starting to take reservations now. We'll be ready to rent them out by January 2013.

We'd like to extend you an offer for $20 off the first day of two or more new bikeraft package rentals, just mention this post.

Please check out our website, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and wish us luck!

bigcitybikerafts.com
twitter.com/bcbikerafts
facebook.com/bigcitybikerafts

-Will

Just a suggestion. Add pix to your website. I didn't check facebook.

Very interesting! I've got your site bookmarked but couldn't find you on Facebook...

Yes, you are absolutely right about our lack of pics. rest assured we are working on it and should have some up soon.

Here's a link to our facebook page:
facebook.com/bigcitybikerafts

I just put up some photos, check them out!

bigcitybikerafts.com
twitter.com/bcbikerafts
facebook.com/bigcitybikerafts

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=284386

More photos. We did a quick loop, biking up White Rock Creek and the paddled down White Rock Creek to White Rock Lake. It was great! Now we know what Felt like Hernando de Soto must have felt like when he reached the gulf!
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=286284 http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=286285 http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=286286 http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=286287 http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=286288

Looks neat. So these are like inflatable rafts that you carry in a back pack, that once inflated can secure the bike while on the water? I've never seen that before. How do you inflate them when you get to the water? Surely not a foot pump.

You've got it. The bikeraft (it;'s really an Alpacka Packraft) weighs about 5 lbs and rolls up to the packed size of a small two person tent. We recommend strapping the raft to your bike and carrying your paddle and PFD in a backpack, but anyway you can carry it will work. Here's a couple set up options:
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=286311 http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=286309

An inflation sack is used to inflate the rafts. It's basically a big nylon pillow case with a plastic ring at the bottom that screws into the main valve of the raft. The raft also has a seat and back rest that are inflated by blowing into valves.
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=286312

And here's a video:

umm, wow. Have never seen anything like that but that is surely an ingenious method for inflating something without any sort of electric or mechanical pump.

Odd thing, why do your attached thumbnails keep showing sideways or upside down but they show correctly in the body of your posts? Weird.