acastelletto | Hello, you're on bike talk! Hauling Cargo and Hauling A... (Reply)

While I deal with a mild case of writer's block, I'll regale you with tales of what I shall spend my first paycheck on this summer. I'm convinced that the car as we know it is on the way out. Call it high gas prices, call it policy failure. Doesn't matter. My wife and I can reach any destination we want by bike. What we can't do is haul much in the way of cargo. We can carry our day to day personal kit with panniers. We use high end panniers from Arkel. We've been bike commuting a long time now and the investment in carrying gear gets paid back over time as money saved on gas. If you're carrying a computer, you might want to invest in Arkel's armored laptop bag. I'm saving up for that one but I'll probably use my old Mac as the stunt laptop for commuting to school and back. My Open Source monster will probably stay at home until I can adequately protect it. Anyway, I love panniers compared to back packs. Commuting in the sauna that passes for summer in the Mid Atlantic between Philadelphia and DC makes back packs turn yucky real fast. Panniers mount on your bike's rack and keeps the air circulating across your back. Plus, there's two of them and that means you can cram all sorts of stuff into 'em. I used to carry a Monarch sized day planner, several Networking reference books, a lunch, change of clothes, and heavy duty Karate/Judo gi in mine on a daily basis. And a huge lighting system powered by lead acid batteries. I worked an evening swing shift in the boonies of Ann Arbor and there was no such thing as too much light. Weekends I could cram two and more bags of groceries in my old Jandd panniers. The things were immense! Still, you're limited to fifty pounds with your trusty bike saddle bags.

Fifty pounds is actually a lot. But, just try hauling kitty litter! That's dense, and if it fits into one pannier, it really unbalances your bike. What happens if you want to ride to the beach? How are going to fit a beach chair, cooler, towels, trashy novels, wetsuit, surfboard and sun block into a pair of panniers. Not easy unless your saddle bags were designed by an old Gallifreyan firm that specializes in higher dimensional luggage. What you need is a trailer. Fortunately, there are a lot of trailers on the market right now. I'm probably going to purchase Burley's Flatbed model. I'll talk more about that one in just a second. Here's a run down on what's on the market and my personal impressions:

This is Burley's Flatbed trailer. I used to see these things a lot back in Philadelphia. They are ruggedly made, basic hauling machines. I saw people haul coolers, bales of hay, gardening supplies including sapling trees and entire bike crates in these things. If they could strap it on, they'd tow it. Going price is between $225 and $280 new. There's also used trailer market for this make.
Burley also makes a spiffy enclosed trailer that carries a lot of stuff. This model is great for touring but probably won't haul odd sized parcels very well. Still, you can seal it against the weather and load it about like you would a car trunk. Going price is about $380.
The Burley Travoy is one of the best thought out bike products I've ever come across. You can't carry as much with it as the other two offerings from Burley, but you hardly notice the trailer's presence. I test rode one of these this spring and was really impressed. I was able to ride it around the inside of a bike shop and maneuver between all the retail displays. We couldn't figure out how to strap a body board and beach chairs to it safely so we dropped it from consideration. If you aren't carrying things like that, this trailer will handle almost every other hauling task. Going price is about $280-$300
Croozer makes a less expensive alternative to Burley's Nomad. The consensus is that it's not as nice the as the Nomad but that it's still a pretty slick piece of kit. Going price is $199.
The Surly trailer comes in a long version for carrying surfboards and a short version for everything else. Like every Surly product this trailer is over engineered and insanely durable. Get this if you intend to will it to your descendants. Going price is between $75 0for the short and $775 for the long version.
This is the venerable BOB Yak Sak. I tried one of these in the very early 1990s when they first came out. While I could not deny its utility, I sure knew I was towing this thing behind me. The workmanship is good, but, in my opinion, you can go better design wise. Going price $289.

There are a few other trailers on the market. If you have serious hauling needs, check out Bikes at Work. They make trailers that replace pickup trucks. I saw one at the surfing spot near the Scattergood Powerplant a while back. The owner had taken his entire family out surfing. He had the tailer loaded up with five surf boards including a long board and five wet suits. Dude was hardcore.

If trailers don't do it for you, there are several bike trucks on the market. Here's a rundown on what's on the market:

Kona started the bike truck genre with its Ute many years ago now. I've test ridden this beast. It handles like a truck because it is a truck. You can load this thing up with an unbelievable amount of cargo and still have a relatively nice ride. This was a very popular bike back in Philly. You can haul a kid and four bags of groceries on it. Going price is around $1000 new and you can find unused older models as low as $800. Also comes in an electric version,
Trek sells a two wheeled truck design by Gary Fisher for around $1400. It also comes in an electric version. I saw one on the street a while back being ridden by a neighbor. He uses it to carry everything and as his primary commuting bike. He swears by it. The bike is a heavier duty version of Kona's Ute and looks very similar. I couldn't find a decent thumbnail so you'll just have to follow the link.
Again, I can't find a good thumbnail, but Surly makes an exceptional two wheeled truck they call The Big Dummy. I have also test ridden this beast and it's something else. Rated for 400lbs of cargo and rider, this is the semi-truck of the bike world. Unfortunately, it's also pricey at over $2000. Word of warning about Surly in general. Surly is semi custom shop. They put a lot of love into their bike frames and they really put a lot of thought into their complete bike groups. They can be pricey, but you pay for astounding quality and durability, My next bike will likely be a touring bike built up from their Troll frameset.