wahoonc

Looks Like Utility Cycling to me

Around here, where I live, if you aren't a Lance wanna be you have to be an alky without a license or a welfaree....and actually a lot of them (welfaree's) drive better vehicles than I do. I consider myself a utility cyclist when I ride, I am usually riding to somewhere to pick up something. Usual attire is what ever I happen to be wearing, add a helmet, safety vest and gloves. I was working the low fields last week, plowing and mowing and needed some odds and ends from the grocery store, so off I went in my bib overalls and work boots.

Aaron

Cyclaholic

Donna, thanks for posting those pics. You just made my day.

KnhoJ

So that's the key to wearing your socks outside your pant legs, is using the right socks? Hmmm...

I did hear a little trepidation on the Shift list pre-ride about a bike move (extreme, no less) past Clackamas Town Center on Black Friday, but it sounds like the bikes won! As well they should, bike movers are a tenacious bunch.

donnamb 

Actually, they're short pants.

I-Like-To-Bike

For arguments sake - How much do you estimate it would cost someone to hire 26 or so people and rent/buy all that equipment to make a local move like that? Vice renting a truck for a couple hours and 2 or 3 people to do the lifting. Fun factor, camaraderie, group hugging and pizza party afterwards are factors to be disregarded; just economics and utility please.

Cyclaholic

What currency do you want to estimate it in? it's pretty easy to work it out in dollars but the currency that matters to me is the environmental costs because it's the hardest debt to repay and the one that will get passed on to my kids.

cooker

Economics is more complex than you make out. In a sense all human transactions are economic. If those cyclists appreciated the exercise and would have been out riding anyway, their labour costs do not have to be accounted for. Furthermore, the event could be written off as an investment in research and development, into alternate models of utility transportation.

On the other hand, where it may break down is the hidden environmental cost of the caloric inputs. In modern agriculture, food production requires a lot of fossil fuel input. Thus the cyclists expending extra energy towing huge loads of furniture and having to make up the calories, may paradoxically have used more fossil fuel than one moving truck, although we would need a detailed analysis to determine that. Of course, if and when we move to a model of truly sustainable agriculture, the bike will win.

donnamb 

If you disregard the coffee, pastries, pizza, beer, fun, camaraderie, community involvement, and the knowledge that others will help you when it's time to move, there's no amount of currency that would pay for it. I don't think anyone in those pictures would do it for money.

JunkyardWarrior

ummm...isnt that the entire reason we're still stuck on oil?....cuz its cheaper??

it all comes down to money unfortunatly.......my friends laff when i say i will work for food......but thats what im doin anyway........they either feed me and we're done or they pay me and i goto the store and buy food


and why dont you factor in the oil it took to make the truck in the first place....and how much oil it took to get the truck to the rental place......and how much oil it took for the rental place to open and stay in business and how much oil it takes for the employees to get to work everyday.....i wonder how many oil changes those trucks get a year



if you gunna nit pick then atleast be thorough and hit every possible angle there is


arent alot of jobs being outsourced to other countries cuz its cheaper??

mikepoole

[argue]
But fun factor, camaraderie, community-building et cetera actually are economic factors- they're just not easily quantifiable and not able to be easily plugged into a balance sheet.

[/argue]

I-Like-To-Bike

That is not a bad argument for getting together to do any activity with 26 other pals, especially if they have equipment that they are looking for any excuse to use. But it sure ain't a very practical or utilitarian way to move a household.

I-Like-To-Bike

Wouldn't it be even better for the environment not to move at all?

HandsomeRyan

Utilitarian can be defined as 'exhibiting or stressing utility over other values'.
Practical can be defined as 'adapted or designed for actual use'.

I would argue that using trailers to move is both utilitarian and practical.

A bicycle trailer is designed for hauling cargo therefore, it's use as a cargo hauling device confirms it's status as practical.

The speed or efficiency of a moving truck is irrelevent when considering the utility of a series of bicycle trailers. Although utilitarian is a comparative measure, it could be argued that a moving truck is less utilitarian becasue it includes things like air conditioning that are not requisite to the task of moving things, hence they are non-utilitarian.

To respond to the OP- I don't think the general public ever thinks about utility cyclist unless the utility cyclist in front of their SUV is delaying their trip to Starbucks. I'm not sure that 'we' have an 'image' to Average Joe American.

donnamb 

I completely disagree. It was wonderfully practical. We all burned off our Thanksgiving overindulgences in one fell swoop.

I-Like-To-Bike

BTW where do the 27 people store all those jumbo trailers, presumably with so much money tied up for an occasional weekend outing with their pals?

I-Like-To-Bike

Using your "argument" wouldn't it be even more practical just to move the household with a wheelbarrow, or better yet, with no wheeled devices, and with no additional hands?

JunkyardWarrior

i only saw one jumbo trailer......and my guess is at their houses with their bikes?

2manybikes

No !

donnamb 

There were 3 "jumbo" trailers. I presume they are stored in the garages and sheds of their owners'. Apart from my Burley Flatbed, the 2 Burley Nomads, and a couple of smaller trailers built by their owners, the rest were old kiddie trailers picked up off Craigslist and yard sales. Most of them are collapsible. As to cost, I think the only person who spent any money that day was Spokebreaker. He got the coffee, pastries, pizzas, beer, and extra bungee cords. Oh, there was another guy who couldn't be there for the move, but brought over a pan of lasagna and salad to Spokebreaker's new place. He must have spent some money for the ingredients.

2manybikes

Do you know what the heaviest load was?

donnamb 

It was one of the three jumbo trailers in the previous pictures. I'm not sure which one. Had there been a weigh station nearby, I think we might have taken a detour to check. The guys were joking about it.

evblazer

Not sure if this is what you were referring to but when checking out the guy asked me twice if he wanted me to get the stuff put aside so I could go home and get a car and then the salvation army guy kept stareing at me as I loaded up my bike and my wife couldn't stop laughing at me I may have gone too far. I wonder what our neighbors think now
Soooooooooo yeah I think I really need to work on the image of this situation where I look like I live off my bike. I think I have a couple duffells I will bring next time to keep everything a little neater and more worry free. Those drop bar mirrors are awesome for keeping an eye on the load though.




Imagine all I got out of that load is 6 bananas. It wasn't alot of weight but it was a show. I know didnt' bring bags but the plastic bags are used for the pups walks at times.

HandsomeRyan

No sir. You are trying to change my argument.

You said:
To which I replied:
I never said it was the most utilitarian or the most practical way to move, as you are suggesting. I only refuted your claim that it was "not very utilitarian or practical".

So you see:

I-Like-To-Bike

I agree. It is "possible" to move as shown on this thread. I agree that it can be loads of fun when done with pals. Of course so is playing a game of volleyball or touch football with 26 other pals on a nice day. Pizza and beer would make it even more fun and spirited. None of that makes something that is "possible" practical by any normal definition of the word.

Allen

utilitarian |yoōˌtiliˈte(ə)rēən| adjective 1 designed to be useful or practical rather than attractive. 2 Philosophy of, relating to, or adhering to the doctrine of utilitarianism : a utilitarian theorist.

utilitarianism |yoōˌtiləˈte(ə)rēəˌnizəm| noun the doctrine that actions are right if they are useful or for the benefit of a majority. • the doctrine that an action is right insofar as it promotes happiness, and that the greatest happiness of the greatest number should be the guiding principle of conduct.

practical |ˈpraktikəl| adjective of or concerned with the actual doing or use of something rather than with theory and ideas : there are two obvious practical applications of the research.

I do believe what you are trying to say, ILTB, it that it was not the most efficient way to move. Practical and utilitarian it was.