Burley Travoy

When I have been stuck with just my motorcycle I used my cases for shopping bags even though they were essentially suitcases. It does help keep you reined in to your actual carrying capacity.

It seems like where you would run into trouble and need for a trailer is the cost of small quantities of things that are cheap in bulk, like TP or dog food. How much are you actually saving?

I like my Wald folding baskets.
I can still use the rack as a rack or not.

+1 and the baskets fit reusable shopping bags, so I carry those into the store instead of panniers. Very simple and flexible.

A Travoy is $300... just the frame. The lower bag is $80.00 and the upper bag is $55.00. And the aero's suck. I was not tempted. But the Wike! I am seeing that for the first time today and I've been looking at it on their website. $100. That's Canadian dollars I suppose. Last I remember that was $75 USD. I'm sure it isn't that anymore... even if its one to one, there's no contest. Simply no contest.

H

Considering the cost of panniers racks bags and tie downs a used light weight trailer would be a good idea...

You can really stack things high if you have the balance and the time...

I was talking with a friend at the Bike to Work Day event. He's had one for two years now and uses it to commute. He says the most unusual thing about it is that it doesn't surge and drage like most trailers. It's so smooth that he has to look back to see if it's still attached. He loves it.

it works for hobos and bag ladies so why not you, right?

any basket or rack mounted bag will be a 100 percent improvement over hanging bags on your handlebars

i personally have a rack and panniers for small to medium grocery trips
and a child trailer that the kids outgrew for large grocery trips and trips to the beerstore to buy and to return empties

Cute puppy!

Awesome!

Wald folding baskets are good, but a little heavy. I have converted some reusable grocery bags to casual panniers by putting a piece of corrugated plastic in one side for a stiffener and using s hooks in the grommet holes that are in the bags already, total cost was about $4 apiece.

Marc

I just bought two Koki Bagatelle Cyling Panniers from Sierra Trading Post for a very nice price. I looked at reviews before I bought them, and they seem to work well for smaller grocery trips. Check out this post from Cycle and Style. Once they come, and I have had a few days to tinker around with them, I will post an update.

I agree they are a bit heavy, but OTOH, you can really pack a lot of weight in them.

I was at WIKE factory last year.

Have you ever seen Travoy in real life? Have you ever ridden one? Try stuffing 20lbs of groceries in your panniers and feel how they are like...with Travoy, you don't even notice they are there.

FYI, Travoy comes with a open top market bag.

Carried 70 lbs of groceries yesterday.

Wow!

Isn't the tap water potable in your area?

I've been kind of drooling over the Wike Adult Special Needs trailer. My Mom never learned to bicycle, and with a frozen shoulder and severe osteoarthritis, she's not going to start now. It would be nice to take her along with me on a MUP adventure, and hit some of the tourist traps along the Confluence trail, like the Confluence Tower, the Lewis and Clark State Historical Site with Camp River Dubois, take one of the tours of the Melvin Price Locks & Dam, and such. It would be nice to share a bicycling adventure with her.

I have no luck combining plastic grocery bags and handlebars. The swaying with any kind of load becomes dangerous.

However, when I ride my recumbent and am heavily loaded, I've found that I can put the lightest large items into plastic grocery bags and insert my arms through the carrying loops and hang them from my elbows and they are fairly stable and out of the way of my knees.

What kind of a bent is that?

Thanks for the reply guys..

I looked up on trailers, and thinking of investing one of those cargo trailers next month.. I haven't checked the folding baskets in my LBS, but it seems promising.. As of now after searching in nearby stores the one I'm eyeing right now is the Freight Cycler Pannier in the MEC website..

Sorry if it seems to be in the wrong section, the reason why I'm asking this is because I'm also planning on getting panniers as to avoid having a sweaty back since summer is near.. The Avenir Metro Pannier looks a good all-rounder and cheap, will compare it to the Axiom Appalachian in the LBS..

I live in Vancouver, so weather-resistance is another factor for me..

Because when I do my groceries bi-monthly expect in those plastic bags a soda 12-pack, 4L milk, 4kg rice, bathing & cleaning supplies, etc. I leave it to your imagination how I balance it..

Good for you, unfortunately I'm terrible with DIY stuff..

I use the Wald folding basket.

https://waldsports.com/index.cfm/wald...ingbasket.html

Each basket will hold a standard size paper shopping bag, and the baskets fold flat when not in use.

+1 to the Travoy. I have one and when I know I'm going to hit Target after work, I just put the travoy on my front porteur rack and strap it down with a cargo net (it only weighs 10lbs), ride to Target, lock up the bike, wheel the Travoy inside with the steering handle it has, do my shopping and load up on whatever I need. I'll wheel it out, clip it to the bike and off I go. As one person stated, when it's behind you, it tracks well and you just flows with you. I've had mine for almost a year now and I've used it a fair share of times from shopping, camping, or just shuttling xmas presents to my moms house this past year. Its a jack of all trades.

When I loved in a hilly town, part of my grocery shopping calculus was the relative altitude of shop vs home and the gradients inbetween. For my beer and wine runs I would select the shop higher than my house.

The Ortlieb panniers makes the most sense but I'm throwing in my budget solution.
I couldn't find any milk or metal crates so I went with wicker baskets zip tied to my racks.
The front one is actually a planter basket I sprayed black.
I can carry a lot of groceries with this setup, but it is top heavy.
I'm 190 pounds so the extra weight doesn't bother me so much.

On Monday, I went to two supermarkets. After getting about six bags of groceries, I went to the pet shop and picked up a 30-pound bag of dog food. That would have been hard with baskets. I used a trailer. I felt pretty bad*ss, but then I read about a woman towing two kids and a lot of groceries. Then again, she probably doesn't live on the top of a hill like mine. I have to confess I took the long, less steep approach back home.