Photo credit:
kamshots, flickr
You're committed to the environment and you're doing your part by riding your bike more places. Great! Only problem: what to do when you need to carry stuff? You can ride your bike to the farmers market or the grocery store no problem, but what to do with your load of veggies? Or, you'd ride to the office if only you had a place to stow your laptop. Or ... kids. They're too little to ride along with you; can you somehow bring 'em along?
1. The bike pannier. Install a rack over your rear wheel, drop in/hook on a pair of panniers (they double as grocery bags), and you're good to go. Or you can DIY your own panniers made from 5-gallon buckets, milk crates, bungee cords, and scavanged materials.
2. The basket. Sure, bike baskets may have for geeks once upon a time (at 12 I wouldn't have been caught dead with one), but embrace your inner geek (let's face it, geekdom is the new cool) and strap a stylish basket over your handlebars to hold all your necessities.
3. The trailer. Maybe you've got a bigger haul than will fit in a basket. Or there are kids involved. The Burley and the B.O.B. are the gold standard of bicycle trailers, but there are lots of options. Also hauls a week's worth of groceries for a larger family, or a dog, or, well, use your imagination.
4. The stretch. Add a kit from Xtracycle that replaces the back of your bike with one that's looooonger. Then dress it out with racks and panniers or a seat that holds kids.
5. The extreme. WorkCycles makes bikes that fit almost any hauling need. Got 12 extra kids you need to transport? Check. How about the neighborhood's recycling? Check. Opening a mobile flower stand? Check.
P.S. A simple backpack also carries stuff when you're biking. Low tech, but it works.
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It is always fun going to Amsterdam or Copenhagen and watching what people in a bike oriented society use. Bikes for transportation are different from bikes that are used as toys. Copenhagen Cycle Chic has a lot of photos of the locals and links to interesting bike makes.
http://www.copenhagencyclechic.com/
Great site, Steve, thanks! (and not a helmet in sight: interesting....)
Biking is much safer in the Netherlands and Denmark than the US despite helmets.. If you are interested in bike policy an excellent place to start is reading John Pucher of Rutgers (neat guy too). I blogged a link to some of his summaries
http://tingilinde.typepad.com/starstuff/2009/02/making-bi...
I think one main difference is in awareness, but I bike in Vancouver BC, a fairly bike-friendly city with lots of bike awareness compared to many North American cities, but still everyone wears helmets.
I'm not bemoaning the lack of helmets at all, or a lack of safety: I think that in Europe bikes are perceived very differently as vehicles than in North America. Here we tend to regard them as mini cars (and thus are chagrined when they are not, hence thinking protective gear like helmets are necessary to make them more like cars), whereas in Europe they seem more like extensions of human bodies, and are treated gently and with according respect. Just a theory. ;-)
Great links, fodder for further perusal!
We have one of those bike trailers that holds two kids - or, since we don't have any kids, up to 100 lbs. of groceries. It's fantastic! Got it a great deal on it too :)
I didn't want to spend any money buying a carrier;so. one day I decided to make my own carrier http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/NRxO2KO0xbwDTFM8iKMW...