Philphine

i know there's no hard and fast answer, and where and how it's used comes into play, but on a guess, what would you think would be too wide a cargo build?

one of my (not particularly serious) cargo experiments is a madsen inspired kind of deal. i was using their 27" width of their bucket sort of as my target, but the last idea i played with had me making sure i provided clearance for an earlier idea and now the bike is 31" wide in the rear.

truthfully i don't see myself riding it much, let alone in traffic. i'm just kind of wondering if there's some magic number or something. like if the 27" the madsen happens to be is just right for getting through fraffic and 4 more inches would make it impossible or even dangerous to a rider and damaging to cars or something. you know what i mean?

like i said, it's not real serious, but i am taking the time to build it, so i want to take it into consideration. i can backtrack some and maybe narrow it by a couple inches. i guess i'm just trying to figure out if the couple inches is worth the effort. thanks.

fietsbob

I see an addition to Xtracycles, a large folding side platform , with a 3rd wheel to support it,
that folds up to get through doorways and posts placed in bike -pedestrian paths , to exclude motor veh.

folding up also says to me, the bike still lean- steers.

turbo1889

I don't like my tail much wider then my handle-bar width up front personally if I'm trying to keep my set-up "single-wide". That being my own term for a bike of normal one person width. That way if the bars fit between where-ever I'm going then the tail should follow through as well.

I should note that for everything but a light weight road bike with drop bars I prefer wide MTB type straight bars.

Philphine

that makes sence. i don't think i can pull it in that much though without doing a lot of cutting and nearly starting over. i guess i'll leave it as is for now. i know i can get it down a couple inches without too much hassle if i decide i need to or it makes that much difference. thanks.

turbo1889

Or put wider bars up front.

tim24k

I wouldn’t go any wider than 27” Getting throw front doorways of your home and throw the steel concrete filled bars on the entrance of bike paths, would be tuff to do with anything much wider that.

bhtooefr

Recumbent trikes generally stay under 36", so as to fit through a standard 36" doorway.

Mine is 34" wide, and can (just) get past any bollards on the bike trail here.

Philphine

well, i narrowed it down to about 28.5". how much difference that makes will probaly be minimal at best, but it was bothering me. i think i'm happy (or happy enough) with it now to keep playing with it. the builds on the freakbike forums, but if i eventually get it done i'll post a pic here. thanks for the input.