12XU

Alright, I figure this is as good a place as any for a question posed to the scattered messengers of this forum. My friend is starting a food delivery service in Cincinnati and I/we are wondering how to deliver for some particular clients when their main product is quite tricky to move on a bicycle. Standard messengers do lots of solid objects which, while often large and unwieldy, remain intact during the delivery. Food delivery folks often face the problem of delivering liquids (drinks, soups, sandwiches lathered in sauce, etc). This is a big problem sometimes solved by copious amounts of saran wrap (for drinks) or not solved, as is seen when the messenger returns with a bag bottom full of some high fructose delight.

My goal is to have a delivery bike that can handle most any foods...I'm going to set up a porteur-style, internally shifting, fendered bike with a big 'ol front rack and some sort of attachment that will allow me to hold one or more drinks, etc. In the meantime, the only thing I have that will reliably hold a drink steady are my hands. Riding with one hand is the only feasible way, so who out there has delivered liquids on a bike, preferrably in a large quantity (let's say 5 cups of coffee)? The deliveries need to be made without spilling or deforming the container. None of this "Oh, you expected me to deliver that?? Well, of course I spilled it dummy. I'm on a bike!"

bboysubhuman

cargo bike?

MPH2

How about one of these

https://www.onerugby.com.au/Equipment...Equipment.html

You will still need to seal the cups somehow.

dueL_

5 cups of coffee...use a cardboard box, not a bag

pino pomo

I can't think of anything off the shelf. But something like this soft shell cooler could fit almost exactly in a Wald giant delivery basket. You could get someone to fabricate some dividers like in a bag for photo equipment that would attach to velcro strips sewn to the inside of the cooler like this:

Shouldn't be too difficult. Plus, aside from the obvious thermal benefits of using a cooler, the lining is made w/ waterproof fabric so you can hose it out at the end of the day.

El Duke

Kogswell Porteur with a front rack, and above bag solution.

bottom-bracket

Cardboard drink racks like they give you in drivethroughs stuck in the bottom of a front basket work pretty good. And you can fill space between items with newspaper.

deathhare

In Tokyo they deliver ramen and have it figured out. Its really hard to explain but basically the thing that hold the soups hangs. Its allowed to swing and is also suspended by a spring type thing that keep the bumps in the road from ruining ****.
I cant explain it well but maybe you can find it on the web. Its pretty smart.

shants

Depending on the nature of the shops with whom you plan to work, you might want to look into storing the liquid in a thermos (in the case of larger coffee orders) or other sealed container. Then you can just fill the cups upon reaching your destination. Obviously this creates a logistical hurdle, but I've heard of it being done with significant success.

mathletics

You could talk to a restaurant supply company about getting some of those boxes with bladders like DD's and Starbucks use to sell large quantities of coffee. They're leak-proof and stackable, and you could just bring empty cups (or let people use their own).

air wolf

I use a messenger bag that was converted from an old pizza bag and i use a basket with a front rack with water bottle cages attached to it for my drinks .its simple and it works for me. i mostly do sandwiches and salads . Good luck

remorashadow

I work for Jimmy John's and I mostly deliver sandwiches and chips and such, but occasionally somebody is an ass and orders a drink which we only have normal fountain drink cups for. The thing about a carbonated soda in a cup is that no matter what you do, some of it will come out if you're riding a bike. We usually tape the lid down with a few strips of narrow masking tape to try to keep the lid on. The carbonated drinks still spill everywhere but the lemonades and such do pretty well staying in the cup. We have plumbing pipe gadgets that we can throw a couple drinks in and put in our bags but they don't really work. Best way to handle it is throwing the drinks in a couple paper bags and holding them on the handlebars, but I generally just say screw it and throw the drinks in my bottle cage and accept that the stuff is getting on my bike and not my in bag with all the other food. Moral of my story is that for non carbonated drinks, a lid with some tape and one of those things shown above with some paper towels stuffed in the bottom just in case should do the trick. If you are doing carbonated drinks, make sure they are bottled.

deathhare

Maybe you should quit throwing the drinks and they wont spill.

dijos

Wald basket. Air Wolf's idea above regarding water bottles is brilliant. someone makes a bag tht goes in a wald, like a shopping bag. if you could insulate that, you'd be golden.

I can't find the maker, I think it's a woman. Anybody know who I'm talking about?

edit:

Lemolo bags: https://lemolobags.wordpress.com/2006...es-basket-bag/

andre nickatina

I will type of a lengthy reply after I go to / get back from work.

remorashadow

I deliver food to drunk college people who have no idea how to tip. I am an angry and spiteful person. I throw things. Sometimes its drinks, sometimes its sandwiches, sometimes its poo...you just never know.

air wolf

i just stole this pic from another thread

air wolf

[quote=remorashadow;5269810]I deliver food to drunk college people who have no idea how to tip. I am an angry and spiteful person. I throw things. Sometimes its drinks, sometimes its sandwiches, sometimes its poo...you just never know.

Hey are you that guy from the Natty that has that interview on the inter web not sure were i saw it but i remember the guy had a jimmy johns jersey

remorashadow

[QUOTE=air wolf;5269839]No, not me, I'm up in Indiana at Purdue.

Modest Proposal

I also work for a Jimmy John's as a bike delivery person, WVU Morgantown, WV. Our solution is either putting a fountain drink in a larger drink cup with a lid on top so if it spills you can pour the drink back into the cup or we take a small latex glove and put it over the top of the cup which keeps them from spilling. Hey, remorashadow, can you bring me a number 10 with dijon instead of mayo plz?

andre nickatina

Okay, I've been doing the food delivery thing for a little while now, just finishing up this job. I'm not really sure if you plan on doing heavy loads or not (by heavy I mean 30, 40, 50 pounds). But here's some general advice + the bit about liquids:

-Using a rear AND front basket/flatbed/rack will come in handy if you're doing heavier loads. The more equally you can distribute the weight, the more stable you're going to be able to keep the bike. I'm rolling with a strictly rear basket and it gets to the point where I have so much **** in the back that if I'm not straddled over the top tube, the whole bike does a wheelie and tips. If I only had a front basket, the bike would endo and doing the same thing without me sitting on the seat.
-Double butted spokes are a very good investment for this kind of work. The more things you can do to reduce shock that would otherwise be spilling / messing up your food, the better. Likewise, 700x28 or 700x35 road tires could also be really nice... I'm running 23's w/ straight gauge spokes but that's because I'm ********/don't have the money for a wheel rebuild.
-Bullhorns are really nice not only because you can keep a little more stability with them but also because you can hold things on your handle bars a little easier if it comes down to it.
-As far as doing liquids, those are the absolute worse. Every day I transport beans, salsas and soups, but I dread the order with soft drinks involved. What you need if you can't accept the fact that paper cups can and will spill even if you're cautious and don't hit any bumps is 1) a sealproof container to put the liquids in and 2) some sort of box or something to keep it from moving around in your bag. This makes just about all the difference between arriving with 95 percent of your Coke intact, or 50 percent.
-Have your friend invest in heat bags if you're doing hot food.
-Remember that speed doesn't take priority over getting the food there intact. You have to alter your riding style a bit and stop hopping curbs, start avoiding bad train tracks and watch out for potholes. It's also a lot better to time lights to where you can get a constant flow as opposed to start/stop/start/stop riding.

That's about all I can think of for now

roadfix

In Japan they use a steady cam type device to deliver bowls of ramen.

flipflop

We use this kind of thing on boats...

https://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/te...con&hasJS=true

Might help with the drink spillage... or at least something similar.

air wolf

[QUOTE=flipflop;5272038]We use this kind of thing on boats...

https://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/te...con&hasJS=true

Might help with the drink spillage... or at least something similar.[/QUOT

That's perfect

TenSpeedV2

I am gonna necro thread zombie the hell out of this one. Just started delivering for JJ on bike. The drinks are ridiculous. Today was my first day. Rode fixed one handed and carried a Diet Coke that I almost dropped 3 times in a mile. I cannot believe that in the last 8 years that this has not been fixed yet. Strangely enough, a Google search brought me back to this forum and this thread.