girljen

I'm a n00b.

I have a few questions about things I'd like to carry, or may want to carry in the future. So please let me know...how do you carry these things? Or how would you carry them if you had to?

Multiple large glass bottles?

A hot meal?

Yard tools with long handles?

Wholesale-size boxes of paper towels/TP/trash bags/etc.?

A cat?

A load of laundry?

A keg?

dwnptrl_777

One answer covers 'em all, girljen: Surly Big Dummy.

Newspaperguy

For glass bottles, I'd use panniers. Put clothing or rags between the bottles to keep them from clanging together too much.

For yard tools with long handles, Strap the business end of the tool on the rear rack and fasten the handle to the top tube. I wouldn't want to take more than one or two tools this way, but it can work.

Big boxes may take some creative fiddling to put them on the rear rack. Once they're fastened, go slowly. A trailer would be a better solution.

For laundry, put the load in a hockey equipment bag and carry it on your back as if it were a backpack. Laundry is bulky, not heavy.

If you think you'll take loads like these on a regular basis, you should look into getting or building a trailer.

ken cummings

I've seen this one here. In a reinforced trailer.

StephenH

The key is to have 8 different bicycles. Or one bike and a couple of trailers. But specifically:

Multiple large glass bottles? Big baskets, big trailer, front-loading trike

A hot meal? Worksman Pizza bicycle with insulated pizza box (beware the bumps)

Yard tools with long handles? One of the longish trailers. Or a front-loading tricycle.

Wholesale-size boxes of paper towels/TP/trash bags/etc.? Trailer or front-loading tricycle.

A cat? A leash, basket, cage, trailer, whatever.

A load of laundry? Front loading trike or big trailer

A keg? Front loading trike or big trailer.

HSean

I'd think one of these is best, this ones mine, you can put whatever you want on them, I have diffornt attachments for mine.

coldfeet

Or an Xtracycle on strong MTB if moneys tight. Get the wideloaders and Longloader attatchments.
A biggish trailer would also do it.

Maxwell

I think front baskets work best for transporting take-out. If the food is in sturdy containers like chinese food boxes, anything will do. If it's in something that pops open easily, like styrofoam, a basket is best.

The suggestion of strapping them to the top tube with the ends on the rack could work. On my big dummy, I've strapped them to the deck with the handles pointing back.

TP doesn't weigh much, so you can strap it all sorts of ways. A costco sized pack goes perfectly on the top of an xtracycle snapdeck. On a smaller bike, if going for the jumbo pack, I'd strap it on the rear rack sideways, with the ends hopefully supported by panniers or baskets.

Cat carrier secured into a front basket or on a rear rack would probably work best.

A full keg is probably gonna require a two wheel trailer unless you've got a bakfietsen or cargo trike or something. those skinny corny kegs go great on an xtra though. https://www.surlybikes.com/bigdummy.html Notice the guy on the left.

Allen

1.) wrap them in a towel
or if they need to be cold
2.) I use h2o proof panniers--place the bottles in the pannier and pour a bag of ice on top of them. The ice keeps everything stable.






Or use a trailer

Donna has a good thing for carrying cats.
I would use:



Plus

StephenH

That's a cute little trailer!

What are the legalities of that? Is there an open-keg law for cyclists?

donnamb 

A cat.

CommuterRun

I've carried everything on your list except the cat and the keg on my Burley Flatbed.

Cats just don't feel comfortable on a bicycle, it doesn't matter how much duct tape you use.

Sirrus Rider

I don't disagree; however, not everyone can drop $899 to $1800 for a SBD. [sigh] Some of us have to dance with what we brung.

crazybikerchick

I have a homemade trailer made using a bent metal conduit frame around a large rubbermaid tote that would work for most of those items. Cat in cat carrier inside tote. You obviously don't want the cat in anything open since the cat is likely to get freaked out by being on the bike and bolt.

For yard tools with long handles the best I've seen is a long cargo trailer that specifically has holes for putting garden tools on it sitting upright. You might be able to carefully tie one to your top tube if this is an infrequent item. In fact I want to buy 10' piece of trim tomorrow and am going to try to do this by tying it to the bike.

For a hot meal, how far are you carrying it and does it have to be still hot when you get where you are going? (and how extreme is the weather?) I've taken chili to work before for a potluck in a big bowl inside a milk crate bungeed to my rack. I could rewarm it there though.

Large glass bottles, depending on how big and how many you could also divide them up between baskets, panniers, crate on a rack, backpack etc.

Two large panniers should hold a load of laundry.

StephenH

Actually, this looks to be the ultimate for carrying laundry, especially large quantities:
https://www.huskybicycles.com/Merchan...roduct_Count=7

Sammyboy

Pretty much all of those things can be done with this:



But day to day riding is perhaps not ideal in a 3 speed cargo trike that weighs about the same as your house....

crackerdog

So, girljen, what kind of bike are you using now? I use a Bikes-at-Work(BAW) trailer and could easily carry all that at once. I use it to carry construction stuff around.

MichaelW

You can get utility bike specially designed to carry large loads but if you have a regular hybrid/urban/3-speed/tourer whatever you can still carry most fo that stuff.

Bottles: any large pannier with good stiffening board will work. I used to do the bottle run with 2 carradice panniers packed to the gills with glass.
Hot meal: A front basket is probably your best bet; I prefer wicker ones to metal. You can easily fiond a polystyrene box to insulate your takaway.

Tools: Tied to the top tube/rack with business end to the rar. Tie a red rag on any overhand and ensure free steering and braking. Watch out for paint damage.
Big, lightweight packs: I strap these on top of the rack with bunries, chord or old inner tubes. When carring heavier bulk items (bags of cement) i sometimes need better suppoert so I have a short plank with some holes drilled in. I wire the plank sideways on the rack and ties the load on.
Cat: No experience with feline livestock but you can acclimatise them to bags or baskets. If your cat is anything like my dog and you have trained it to sit, stand, lay down, fetch and
stay, then bike training will be easy.
Laundry. 2 large panniers (with darw-chord extension for over-filling) can carry a weeks-worth of stuff. You can carry more in a stuff sac on the rack.
A keg is the only thing that a basic bike can't take. Trailers are probably your best answer although I did see a recumbent specially designed to carry one under the seat. There is a design for a bamboo trailer which is very strong but needs no welding.

crazybikerchick

You might be able to rig something up with a bundle buggy and some bungee cords if you don't have a trailer. Its all a matter of creativity and making do with what you have. Scrap metal collectors I often see pushing a grocery shopping cart of metal in one hand with the other on their bicycle.

girljen

I have a K2 T-Nine Crosswind, an aluminum hybrid bike from REI. I have a Bell child trailer, which is usually filled with 25 lbs. of toddler, which cuts down my towing capacity to 75 lbs.

Thanks for all the cool suggestions so far!

Sianelle 

My cat absolutely hates being taken anywhere in a car, but enjoys travelling in a carrying cage on the back tray of my utility tricycle.

Michel Gagnon

I don't have cats and I don't deal with them. For the rest :

– Bottles : tightly packed together and upright. Either in a box with cardboard separators (ex.: box of Mason jars) or with a towel between them. If I were travelling long distances on a bumpy road, I might put a foam or old towel underneath to cushion them.
Transportation would either be in panniers or in a trailer depending on what I have. Though if by trailer, I would need some decent weight (i.e. filled bottles or other stuff) to prevent the trailer from flying in potholes.

– Hot meal : For one or a family: thermos. For a group: either the milk crate or the trailer with the pot in it. The challenge is to find tight containers or to find ways to prevent the soup from making waves out of the pot. Been there, done that, when feeding groups of 30-40 people at church.

– Yard tools : If I have the trailer, that's where they go, tool end in the trailer and handle on top of the rear rack. Otherwise, I will wrap the tool end to safeguard my panniers, put it in the pannier, zip it in a way that keeps the handlebar upright and use one or two straps to secure it in place. I often did the same with plans that were rolled in a 4-ft or 5-ft roll.

– Wholesale-size boxes: In the case of garbage bags, it would fit in my panniers. Other heavy stuff would fit in too. As for paper tissues, toilet paper... it's usually fairly easy to strap sideways onto the rack. The load is kept upright onto the rack and panniers, and even when I shopped far away from home, I never had to re-tighten the load. If I have the trailer, it will typically go either onto the rack or on top of the trailer: when I carry such loads, it's usually on a day I also shop for lots of non perishables, so panniers and trailer are likely to be full with more dense stuff.

– Laundry: I have done it either in the trailer or in panniers. Trailer is much easier.

– Keg: Haven't done it, but see soup above.

surfimp

Now that's classic!

I recommend an Xtracycle and possibly a flatbed trailer for all of the above. Or a Big Dummy, if you can find one and pony up the cost (up to > $1k just for the frame now, per the Surly Blog).

Steve