The site for commercial cycling: One Less Van

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Reeves) — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 08:12:00 +0000

I was having a trawl through the Google Images this morning and found this ebay page advertising another tubular framed, canvas covered load trailer. The details were a bit scant but the trailer folds for storage and has a load box capacity of 140 Litres (2 good rucsacs full) and internal dimensions of (Cms) 70Lx56Wx36H.. The payload weight is max 100kg and the good bit is the price tag of £57.99 plus £9.90 UK mainland delivery.

From KMS Distribution Limited who are the importers. Judging from the picture the trailer seems to have a metal floor under the (covered) load bag. That being the case some customization should be possible. I'd fancy some weld-mesh sides for trips to the tip. Wheels seem to be 20 inch with wheelchair type QR hubs. Further information can be had from info@kmsdirect.co.uk or phone 01268 733888.01268 733888

A bit on the side.

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Reeves) — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 14:21:00 +0000

I ran across a bicycle with a sidecar when I was searching Google Images for anything new for the blog. The one I saw had and aerodynamic sidecar for a passenger and of course I had to see if anyone had come up with commercial cargo variation. Narrowing my search I found a wonderful site called OldBike with some long gone cargo bikes, trikes and sidecars. Then I found this photo on the website of an Italian park The Parco La Mandria, near Turin.. The photo was on the English version of the site. It seems to have electric assist and 26 inch wheels and is its designed to accept a wheel chair. In America Jeinkel Heimer Bicycle Sidecars produce these cargo carriers (lower two pictures) at their base in California. Nothing found from the UK though, unless of course, you know different.

French Freight

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Reeves) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 11:09:00 +0000

I posted about this trailer under the heading "Budget baggage" on 29th June last year. It was on ebay at £49.99. Recently I discovered the identical trailer from French trailer maker Erde. Possibly a bit of Taiwanese engineering with badges added in France. Not uncommon in the cycling world.

It's on sale in the UK from Wilstow.co.uk at £95.99 including VAT and delivery. Fairly basic in its design the trailer is constructed from steel tube with a steel sheet floor. This contributes to it's 18Kg weight. Internal dimensions of the load box are 73x55x35 cm (LxWxH). Not a huge box but a 100Kg Gross weight lets you haul 82Kg of stuff, more than twice some trailers twice the price. The website recommends that the trailer doesn't outweigh the bike + rider.
Wheels are 20" steel QR and the out-rigger bars are also quick release to allow easy wheel changing.

The top cover is included in the price and the trailer is fitted with reflectors. It folds flat for storage with the tow-arm underneath.Wilstow claim that this is the only bike trailer to have the German TUV quality cerificate.

This seems to be a good trailer for the money.
If you have one let me know how you get on with it.

Getting hitched

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Reeves) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:02:00 +0000

I wanted to have a look at the varoius ways in which a trailer can be connected to a bike or trike. methods at the bike end of things include couplings to the left chain stay (or both), the rear axle bolt (or both), the seat stay or the rear luggage rack. Here's what I've found. As ever, novel solutions from your own projects are always welcome by comment or email.. Also instructables.com is a great source of pictures and videos to give you help and inspiration for your home-built.

Chain Stay.

Bikes at work of Iowa, USA produce heavy duty ladder frame trailers designed to handle 500lbs (226 Kg). A complete trailer or trailer kit might be a tad expensive to ship but they will sell you parts like their tough tubular tow arm which attaches to the chain stay, ahead of the axle as pictured below. To allow movement up and down & left and right, Moz from New Zealand made his hitch (above) to include a plumbers spring. I had to enlarge the picture so that you could see the spring on top of the tow arm (the trailer is standing on it's rear end).

Axle Bolt.

These often involve a secondary bracket to the chain stay to prevent the fixed part of the hitch from twisting outward to the left. This one found on a you tube video features a universal joint (seemingly from a small front drive car) on the trailer end which anchored by a split pin to a U shaped bracket which attaches to both axles. This solution is also used on the BOB Yak, the Mission monowheel trailer and many homebuilts such as this green one from Joe Dillon who uses it in his cycled parcel delivery business Cycle Link.

Seat Stay.

This is a common way of adding trailers and is used commercially by Roland, Cam Carts, Mission and many others. You need a clamp or collar to go around the saddle stem and a small universal joint connected, either attached to the collar or the trailer's tow-arm.. The UJ could be a stip of truck tyre drilled through for attachment, a short length of plumbers pipe-bending spring bolted into tubes at each end or, as pictured a properly engineered joint.

Luggage Rack.

I'm not quite sure about the strength of the these as rear luggage racks are designed to take weight in a downward direction and not rearwards. The agricultural tractor hitch would work here. A ring on the trailer end inserts between two plates and a pin drops down through the top plate, the ring and then the bottom plate. the pin could then be drilled through to take a padlock. Alternatively you could bolt or weld an upright pin to the rear rack and have a ring on the trailer end.
This blue trailer found at Zedomax is made of wood. It clips onto a custom wooden box on the back rack. Seems a bit lightweight to me though. An advance on this idea is to use horticultural grade hosepipe between the bike and trailer as a universal joint then put a brass quick release hose coupling in the middle. Simples!
This idea is illustrated here complete with .PDF plans to download.

And finally, Paul Elkins built a camping trailer from bits of scrap to go camping in style. I don't know much about it but you can find it here.

Let me know about your homebuilts soon.

The best laid plans ...

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Reeves) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 11:02:00 +0000

In this third instalment on self build trailers I'll be simply listing all the links I can find with some thumbnail pictures thrown in to make it look pretty. Most plans seem to be for flatbeds so you'll have to use your imagination if you want something like a box trailer or a vending trailer.
The charity Practical Action raise funds to build trailers for Nepalese villagers to carry produce to market and have more recently built bicycle towed ambulance trailers to take the sick to hospitals which are remote from the villages. The plans for the trailers and some pictures are here. Please donate to this charity. An ambulance bike & trailer costs just £150.

Inspired by the BOB Yak, Jon Marshall at bugnut@cybersol.com designed and built this one wheeled trailer and has placed his comprehensive computer models and plans, along with photo's here. Though the skills needed to build this are beyond me. Jon says, on the website, that he is happy to answer queries via email.

http://www.instructables.com/id/bicycle-trailer./ is a great place to find plans and video's to help you DIY, but this boat trailer (pictured) is about the most whacky (and I thought a canoe trailer was nut's!).
Carry Freedom who build and sell the excellent Y frame trailers pictured in my previous post also have available free plans for the "Bamboo trailer". Once again this design was originally meant to fill a need in Nepal but the remit went further, the trailer had to be buildable and repairable by locals using locally understood tools and materials. Though you could make one in PVC pipe or even aluminium tube.

Talking of Ally-Tube,
http://www.appropedia.org/Backpack_frame_bike_trailer is a page that does exactly what the name suggests. The site is a US one so the costings aren't really valid in the UK but it provides some good ideas for a lightweight trailer.
The International Bicycle Fund Cargo Trailer is designed for Africa and written instructions are on the site. To get the photos and plans you'll have to send a donation (suggested $5) to the IBF.

I hope you've enjoyed the penultimate part of my self-build mini-series. In the final instalment I'll be looking at connections from bikes to trailers. I'd particularly like your solutions to the vexed question of strength, stability security and light-weight . The perfect solution does not seem to exist. Your comments and emails please.

My final offering for this post is the electric push trailer, a monowheel trailer which powers your bike along at up to 30MPH or 20 miles range, though probably not both. Plans for this one are here and I've embedded the YouTube video below.

...Do it yourself

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Reeves) — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 14:00:00 +0000

Click the Pictures to visit the relevant sites.

So you've had a good look around all the trailers and you think you could build something to better suit your needs. At the simple end of the scale you could make something like the Traileron (pictured top) which is sadly out of production now since the tragic Hurricanes & flooding in it's home town of New Orleans. It's a bit of PVC pipe drilled through to slide onto your saddle stem and semi drilled to provide a notch for the handle of your golf or shopping cart to sit in. It will even fit a four wheel garden truck if the truck has a ] shaped handle. Both ends have heavy duty rubber bands fitted for security and stiffness.

For a simple cart you could just cut out a piece of marine ply and mail order a parts pack from Bicycle R Evolution in the States. Stub axles and a hitch to fit to the rear axle of your bike are included as are the (rather small and rather plastic) wheels.

In my opinion the best axles for bike-trailers are wheel chair stub axles as these are durable and are designed to be mounted outboard of the vehicles frame for a stable, wide track, (track= measurement between wheels). A variation on this arrangement is used on the Carry Freedom Y frame trailer which uses wheelchair wheels but Carry freedom machine their own axle ends to fit.

Wheelchair wheels have push button centres which release the wheels from the axles to facilitate easy tyre changing or transportation of the trailer in a bag.

Obviously bike or pram wheels can be used. I means that just like your bicycle front wheel it needs supporting from both sides. I have seen scrapped front forks used horizontally for this. Otherwise you need to design your frame something like the camcart chassis. The Camcart frame is all steel and attaches to the bike via a high hitch. The hitch in itself is novel. It's a half size version of the 50mm ball hitch that every caravanner is familiar with. It bolts via two flat plates through the A formed at the top of the saddle stays of your bike. The Burley Flatbed also uses this double tube approach to mounting the wheels and it's Burley's picture which shows the best detail. Many approaches and materials have been used including steel, aluminium, pvc pipe, wood and bamboo. I'll leave you for now with some pictures and a video to give you some designs to think about and will return with some more sources of plans, parts and "How to" videos in the next blog. Please email or comment if you have any queries, information and or photo's for inclusion in this series.

If you want something doing...

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Reeves) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 21:57:00 +0000

So you have, of course, been avidly following OLV posts since 2007 but you you haven't seen just what you need for the task that you have in mind. Seek no further.

Home-building trailers for bikes is fairly straightforward and you can use bought in components to make the job easier or the finished product more professional looking.

In my next post I'll be looking at trailer / chassis styles and readily available plans for them. Wheels tyres and tow-hitches will also come under scrutiny. While OLV doesn't usually dwell on kit not readily available in the UK, as it is very expensive to import whole trailers from the USA or Australia, these countries have a very developed self build culture and excellent small components can be mail ordered.
If you've already constructed your own trailer then I'd love you to email or comment with any advice and or pictures.
To wet your appetite, and until next time, I've included here some images of home-built trailers. Clicking an image will take you to it's home webpage.

Mission, Kentex & Cycles UK

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Reeves) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 17:16:00 +0000

Shopping in Norwich with my wife yesterday I photographed this trike chained to a sign post in London Street. (The trike was chained up, not me!). It seems a waste that such a great advertising medium is not touring the city, but instead being kept in captivity.

It's advertising the location of the Norwich branch of CyclesUK which is inside the Pilch sports shop a few yards down the Street and is a joint enterprise between Pilch and the nearby Jarrold's department store.

I noticed a Kentex.com.tw transfer on the the frame but all that I gleaned from this site was a Taiwan email address and a picture which struck me as identical to a trike sold by Mission which I wrote up in a piece entitled "Dog On A Mission" on 18th December '08. Sadly Mission no longer have this on their website but at the time I found it carried 45KG and had Sturmey Archer 3 speed hub gears. A search through The CyclesUK website revealed that they do not sell this make of trike. If any OLV reader knows of a current Kentex dealer in the UK then I would be very grateful to hear about it.

As this is my first post in 2010 I wish a happy and prosperous year to all OLV readers and contributors. My new Year's resolution was to not make any new year's resolutions but I promise to be a bit more productive in postings than during the last six months!

Croozer News

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Reeves) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:09:00 +0000

Croozer Designs of Koln, Germany have an addition to their range in the form of the Croozer Travel which is available from their many UK dealers,
one of whom SJS Cycles in Somerset who have it on their website at £200.
The Travel is a lightweight flatbed much in the manner of the Burley Flatbed. It weighs in at just 8Kg and has a payload capacity of 45Kg. Interestingly, Croozer Design's documentation even includes a recommended nose-weight such as you might find in a caravan manual. In the Travel's case it's between 1Kg and 6Kg. This is a serious point, I've had a badly loaded trailers "snake" behind me on steep hills and taint funny. You don't know if your about to end up in a ditch or under an oncoming car! And braking is the worst thing you can do. Anyway, the wooden cargo deck measures 76 x87x44cm and rolls on 16 inch wheels of the side fixing "wheelchair" type. The Croozer Travel folds flat for storage.

Budget baggage

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Reeves) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:29:00 +0000

I was having a look on ebay for something completely unrelated to OLV when I digressed, as is my wont, into looking at the bike trailers.
This one from http://shop.ebay.co.uk/merchant/mimitoyshop caught my eye as I love anything that's cheap, sorry, inexpensive.
It apparently has 20 inch wheels, an axle hitch and.carries 100Kg It's on buy it now for £59.99 plus £9.95 delivery. The seller has 10 available so don't hang about now it's appeared here!

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Reeves) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 09:36:00 +0000

Once again, just when I thought I'd seen it all and that there was nothing left to report on a reader comes to my rescue.

Zaynan Lythgoe of http://www.practicalcycles.com/ emailled to let me know about themselves in general and the Madsen Cargo Bikes from the USA . Practical cycles are the sole UK dealer for these cargo bikes which are similar in layout to Mike Burrow's 8 freight but with a number or detail differences.

Constructed from oversize steel tubing the Bucket and rack versions can both carry 271Kg (Yes 271!) and are equipped with SRAM X5 8 speed gears with trigger shift levers. Braking is by means of discs front and rear.

The bucket version is equpped with a removable seat and seatbelts for children but it could equally be used for goods.

Practical cycles are near Preston, Lancs, and chaqrge £1099 for the bucket version and £999 for the rack model. They can deliver in the UK for £25

Three colours are available, Black, Cream & pale blue. Hard tops for the bucket version and bags for the rack version are under development. Speaking as a short-arse I particularly like the fact that the Madsen allows adjustment for riders from five-foot-nothing to six-feet-six. Shame my Mrs is four foot ten!

Thanks to Zaynan for letting me know about these. Practical offer test rides so if you partake of one then please let me have your thoughts.

The Fifth Wheel

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Reeves) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 23:23:00 +0000

Just occassionally I get around to checking out websites that I have previously scoured in case of something new or just to check on a fact or dimension or WHY.

So it was that I was perusing the site of Mission Cycles when I realised that had added this new trailer specifically designed to increase the carrying ability of their tricycles. The trailer is pretty big, with a load area of 31x24x13 inches. The Chicago Trailer costs £175 plus a modest £10 delivery and runs on 16 inch wheels. The extra long tow arm is designed, as you can see in the picture, to reach over the rear basket of missions tricycles. Which led me to speculate that it could be ideal behind a Kona Ute, a Yuba Mundo or an Extracycle conversion when the need to carry that bit more arises. If anyone wants to test my theory than please let me know the result. I don't have the necessary measurements to be certain of a fit. The trailer comes in any colour you like....

8 and Outspoken!

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Reeves) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 20:13:00 +0000

My Cambridge odyssey continued today with an unannounced visit to Outspoken delivery of Ronald Rolph Court, A rather smart little group of industrial units to the East of the town centre.

I wanted to see the operation behind the customised Burrows 8 Freights which I had seen speeding around the city.

I was greeted most warmly by Rob King who runs the business with his brother Pete. Hot on the heels of the offer of tea came the offer of a test ride on one of the 6 bikes that Outspoken operate. Each is fitted with a bespoke aluminium box (made locally for about £500 each) which enables the firm to carry anything from an envelope to six A4 Boxes without changing bike, and is easily wrappable to carry sponsorship or Outspoken's own graphics.

Needless to say I jumped at the chance and found the "8" very easy to ride. It's low centre of gravity making it very stable and the 8 Speed twist grip SRAM gears were very precise. I never really liked twist grip gears but these seemed perfectly set up and changed right on the click.

The steering though precise takes a little getting used to. You simply cannot turn an 8 foot bike on a sixpence. I was glad of the very effective drum brakes as a wall loomed and I could not turn tightly enough to avoid it! I'd hate to write off £1250 of someone elses work bike!

As my brief ride ended Rob pointed out that the stand has to put down AFTER you get off and AFTER you have put on the park brake on your left hand. Then I really embarrassed myself by trying to throw my leg over the back, CLONK. With a step through frame and a big ally box behind you, you must STEP THROUGH.

Rob was critical of work bikes in general and seemed to feel that the 8 Freight is the best of a bad lot. "They're all crap but this is about the best" is what he actually said. I wonder where the company name came from :-). Admittedly Outspoken's bikes are worked hard. They regularly cover 70 miles each day carrrying upto 100Kg. The aluminium frames have often cracked (and outspoken have added their own bracing plates in problem areas) and the rear tyres (Schwalbe big apple) wear astonishingly quickly. Rob would like to see the former problem resolved by making the whole thing in titanium. (How Much????)

"Cambridge's only specialist courier" can be contacted on 01223 719594 or at team@outspkendelivery.co.uk. Their courier prices range from £2.80 +VAT for a small local next day delivery to £64+VAT for Cambridge to London via bike-train-bike. My thanks to Rob for his hospitality at zero notice and for this, the first ever OLV road test.

Trailer Trash

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Reeves) — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 19:51:00 +0000

A serendipitous meeting occurred today. I've been hanging around in Cambridge and through a new friend of a new friend met Andy at Trailers from trash at workshop54 at Newmarket Rd in the City.

As the name suggests, the business builds custom trailers from scrap bikes, metal parts from office furniture & what have you.

Trailers from trash is a worker's cooperative and has been going for a very short time, (Andy only learned to weld a year ago!), but they have already built trailers to carry furniture, trailers to carry 2 more bicycles (pictured) and lately they have received a request from Cambridge council to build a recycled trailer to carry literature about recycling!

I've asked Andy if he cound work up a price for the frame of my long considered A0 size poster advertising trailer. Watch this space. Trailers from trash can be contacted at hellotrailertrash@gmail.com

The best in the west?

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Reeves) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 07:22:00 +0000

I was really pleased to receive this email from Rob Bushill of really useful bikes, it's the kind of extra dealer and product information that I felt was a bit lacking on OLV. Here it is as sent:

Hi Mike,I thought I would introduce us to you. We are 'really useful bikes'(.co.uk) we have been around for a while now (used to be called the longbike centre) and we specialise in cargo and bikes that carry you + stuff. We hope to have bikes that appeal to cyclists and non cyclists alike, with practicality at the top of the agenda. I have seen your comment about the Kona Ute, It's a very interesting bike and good that kona have seen past the need to carry very heavy loads and made a bike for carrying volume…like shopping, not too heavy but bulky. The 08 bike is a good one, the changes for 09 are sensible detail changes that 08 owners can easily do if they deem it necessary (although there will only be 50 of them, the amount kona brought in to the UK). We have a small stock here, the only ones to have stock actually available I suspect and more to the point we have a demo bike here so try before you buy.If you every wanted to pop down and see the place, it's a un assuming space, 'designed' to be unlike a cycle shop and thus be inviting to 'non cyclists', which if you think about it are the right people to be aiming these products. Many of our visitors are aiming to replace the second car, perhaps there should be an offshoot of your site named 'one less second car'….it doesn't quite have that ring to it does it……..If you ever want to come down to Bristol/Bath and maybe have a ride out with a few bikes, yuba mundo, kona ute and Africa bike, xtracycle, workcycles FR8, Bakfiets and others, give us a ring we would make you very welcome. It would be good to chat and meet the man behind one less van.

All the bestRob Bushill

Mark Forster

07801 150727

Really useful bikes .co.uk

Thankyou for all that Rob, and your kind invitation. I will try to get to see you soon but time and money for travel are a bit lacking just at the moment. I hope you don't mind my "lifting" a couple of pictures (Workcycle top, Bakfiets bottom) from your site. Call it advertising :-).

A Beaut' Ute

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Reeves) — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 21:43:00 +0000

I found a nice alternative cargo bike blog http://bikehugger.com/2008/01/kona_ute_rock_solid_cargo_bike.htm the other day and on it details of the Kona Ute. The write up on the blog is linked above and far superior to my efforts (the guy has actually ridden one!) so I'll just mention that the Ute has a low (17.5") frame but with tall 700c wheels with 16 speed Shimano Deore gears and is available at wiggle for around £635, Tredz at £589.99 and Cyclestore for £539.91 in their January sale. Other dealers, as they say, are available. Worth pointing out that some 2008 models are out there at very keen prices.

The point of the Ute is that it carries four standard panniers. I can't see why it couldn't also be fitted with a front rack and a trailer for a real "road train" of a bike.

Finally I found a nice little american critique of the Ute here and Kona's (UK) web-site is here.

To the BatBike...

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Reeves) — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 11:47:00 +0000

I came across the web page of Littlehampton Dutch Bike Shop this morning and amongst their range of stylish Dutch bikes for general use I found this, the Batavus Personal Delivery bike. The word personal in the name refers to the factory addition of a personal numbers in big letters on the frame which has, apparently, proved popular with hire fleet operators such as Centre Parcs and commercial fleet users like TNT in Holland. Users can easily spot "their" bike.

Batavus produce this bike in black or orange and in single speed or three speed versions and steering and attachment locks, stand, lighting and a saddle bag with repair kit are included in the price. I feel that a single speed bike is a bit to much like hard work in the UK and notice that Littlehampton are only advertising the Shimano Nexus 3 speeder. Price is £678. A wicker basket for the front of the bike can be had for an additional £55. The bike is quite heavy at 25.3Kg and it seems a shame that it cannot be bought with the Nexus 7 speed gears available on the other models in the range. The attention to detail seems good though with niceties such as straps for the rear rack being included. I've only noticed this on the Giant Expression LX before. The Hi Ten steel frame looks chunky and should be durable.

Bullitt point

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Reeves) — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 00:42:00 +0000

Florian very kindly emailled me with details of this cargo bike from http://www.larryvsharry.com/english/BullittTNT.html. This is the Bullitt TNT which is the lightest and apparently fastest model of a range of Bullitt cargo bikes manufactured in Denmark. The TNT costs €2680 and weighs in at 22KG. The range starts at €1800 and 24KG but I was unable to find any dimensions or payload details. I have asked the Danish suppliers for more info. I just hope the product is more user friendly than the website!

Powacyle Salisbury...It's Electric!

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Reeves) — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 12:53:00 +0000

I haven't really said much about electric bikes for work and i've been inspired to start investigating them by this video in youtube.

The Powacycle Salisbury is powered from a Lithium polymer (Li Pol) battery and 200W hub motor which gives it a range of up to 37 miles.

Gearing is a 6 speed Shimano derailleur and the wheels are 26 inch mountain bike. The bike comes complete with front suspension, a stand and rear rack for about £700.

The battery (at £250 for a spare) is good for 500 recharge-discharge cycles and therefore represents quite and annual cost compared with plain pedalling.

As illustrated the bike weighs 22KG (including the 2.6KG battery) which sounded really good to me, I've owned 19KG pedal only cycles before now.

Looking closely at the pictures it appears that the rear end should take most trailers and the front end most racks so this could be a really solid base for a work bike project especially considering powacycles 2 year guarantee.

The Salisbury can be pedalled, pedalled with motor assistance, or used just with electric power.

Big Black Rack Attack

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Reeves) — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 11:49:00 +0000

Most front racks available in the UK are, lets face it, a bit naff.
They attach to the bars and provide a shopping basket with barely enough room for a week's Merlot and then you add two front pannier racks for the less important shopping, presuming you don't have suspension forks.

David Henbrow of Assen, Netherlands, has been in touch to let me know that his "Sturdy Front Rack" is now available to customers in the UK. The rack fits to the frame of the bike rather than the handlebars so that the steering isn't badly affected by the load and the rack, it appears to me, will fit bikes with front suspension.

To the frame you can add one of David's elegant baskets (I featured his basket for the Yak trailer in December of last year) or any other sort of bag or box. David's Website has a really snappy video to illustrate this.

The rack costs €70 plus €20 postage to the UK.

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Reeves) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 18:31:00 +0000

Jakob Nordin wrote to me on 19th September and only now do I get around to mentioning his email. Sorry Jakob. The text of his email was thus:

"Hi and thanks for a great homepage. You´ve sadly forgot the mother of all transport-bikes, the Long John! http://www.longjohn.org/ will fill you in on all the details. WBR Jakob Ps. I´m in the process of creating a Transport-Hybrid by crossing a bike trailer and a Long John. Ds."

Well, below is the Long John with it's load between the saddle and the front wheel. This next bit is from the long john .org website (except that I've omitted the german & Danish language sites).

"The manufacturer of the "original" Long John, Everton Smith in Denmark (owner of the brand S.C.O.), perished in 1997. Long John production shifted to Monark Exercise in Sweden, who stopped building these bikes in 2003, then restarted in 2007. The current Monark model is quite similar to Long Johns built by Everton Smith in the mid-nineties. In Germany, Monark Long Johns are currently being sold by USED, Quakenbrück. See their website for more information:used-hq.com (English)Velorbis in Copenhagen imports Monark Long Johns to Denmark and other countries under their own label:velorbis.co.uk (English)velorbis.com (English) ".

I couldn't find much detail on the used-hq site saving three pictures but the Velorbis site led me to Chopperdrome in the Netherlands who quote €1999. and mention that the bike has three speeds. The "100kg, 120 cm" stencilling in the photo seems to refer to payload and load length. Other than that they are equipped with a british Brookes saddle and Sturmey Archer hub gear there is little more I can tell you.
So here's a thousand words...

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Reeves) — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 09:12:00 +0000

The pickup style trike which I mentioned a while ago under the "Ppp pickup" heading seems to have been deleted from the Triycleweb catalogue. They still have a range of two and three wheeled bakfiatsen though. They've also added a nice little bakfietsen video to the site.

The trailer pictured above is another monowheel this time from Ridgeback and available from Evans Cycles stores around the country and on the web at £159.99.

The following are the details directly from their web site:

"Expedition capability and day-to-day practicality make this a really useful addition to any bike - Folding box-section steel frame for easy storage - Frame and wheel can be carried or stored within its own bag - Waterproof fabric bag has huge storage capacity - Low-profile treaded tyre works on or off-road - Reflector and flag included for added visibility - Simple fitting system works with any bike - Weight approx 8kgs complete."

Again this monowheel is aimed at the adventure camping market but at OLV we see it more as a towable tool bag. From a thread on velovision I gather that this trailer is sold under other trade names and is identical to Mission's offering apart from the bag though I can't find a monowheel on mission's site.

Pret a manger en remorque.

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Reeves) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 18:40:00 +0000

This rather appalling little photo from my appalling camera phone is of the Pashley Euroload trailer as used by Pret a manger branches all around the UK for delivering food to offices and the like.

I snapped this one in St Stephens Street, Norwich.

Lee at Pashley had told me about these but this is the first I had seen. The trunk in which the food is carried appears to be a custom one and I particularly liked the "Toblerone" shaped advertising top which gives a dual role. The towing bike is also a Pashley. Although not the cheapest bikes, trikes and trailers, Pashley do have a reputation for building solid and reliable products. Most (if not all) Royal Mail bikes are from Pashley.

Q: Where's ya bin?

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Reeves) — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 14:26:00 +0000

A: I haven't bin anywhere!
I don't normally cover panniers but they're still the most common way of loading a bike and these are tough. BikeBins are made in the UK from 2.5mm thick, hard polypropylene which should protect your books, laptop, tools or WHY. The panniers have lockable lids and can be secured to the bike with a chain or steel wire lock.

BikeBins are available from the manufacturer's website in various colours , you can even specify differing lid and body colours or have your firm's details emblazoned on the sides.
When your off the bike you can carry the BikeBins by their handles or on shoulder straps (included). A pair of these panniers in black delivered in the UK will cost you a mere £62. Each BikeBin Carries 17 litres of stuff. All the dimensions are on the web site.

Ppp Pickup a ...

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Reeves) — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 08:49:00 +0000

This pedal powered pickup is available from tricycleweb in Holland. Delivery to UK addresses is a rather hefty €405 on top of the not unreasonable €299.95 asking price. The pickup or rather " model 060" has a huge (1000x630x290mm) load box which can carry 150Kg and has an unladen weight of 55Kg. The 060 doesn't appear to have derailleur or hub for gear changing so your stuck with one speed. In my case I suspect this would be stopped!
Indeed stopping might be interesting in itself. The 060 has two brake levers acting on two ordinary looking brake blocks on the 24" front wheel via a rod connector. Additionally there is a parking brake acting on the 26" rear wheels. The frame of the pickup is fully galvanised and you can have it in any colour you like so long as it's black. Coming flat-packed means that you'll have a fair amount of assembley work to do but there are many detailed photos on the web site to guide you through it. Though the 060 doesn't seem to have a load cover and is lacking in the braking and gearing departments it still makes an inexpensive alternative to the "Cargo Trike" from Cycles maximus (pictured bottom) which has a 258Kg payload capacity with 3x8 gears and a £2795 price tag. In fairness though, the CM offering is a much better thought out and engineered vehicle.