I took the pictures at the park so you could see a grassy scene instead of dirt.
Here's my whole system:
Below is just the bike. Years ago I bought it for $10 at a yard sale. It was red, and I painted it black. I added a rack over the rear wheel and screwed on a small ammo box for hauling small stuff that needs to stay dry or to not blow away. It carries mail a lot of the time. You can see my rear-view mirrors (one of which has broken off a few times after the bike has been blown over by the wind), water bottle holder, black painted ammo box (with cunning stickers), and the leather pouch (an old purse with no strap) on the side. You can see that the seat is one of those hornless seats that is MUCH more comfortable:
The trailer, which cost me around $100 (4 or 5 years ago, and has probably paid for itself in saved gas several times over) is pretty handy for hauling a kid or even groceries or a big box from the post office. I replaced the orange "safety flag" on the trailer with a Time's Up flag. I don't always haul the trailer along since it acts like a sail and catches our excessive winds to give me lots more drag. But when I don't have it along, I often wish I did for one reason or another:
Next, see the bike from other side. The can beside/below the ammo box is an old coffee can (painted black and lined with foam rubber) for holding those big 44oz fountain Dr Peppers:
From the rear. You can see the red reflector I attached to the back of the ammo box:
This is my folding "grabber" attached to the fork. I use it to pick up litter at the park, or wherever I find it.
I also have a headlight. Yeah, it uses a candle:
Here's a better view of the pouch. It holds tools for bike repairs, and plastic grocery bags for the trash I pick up. I need to replace the Gadsden stickers on the ammo can:
Here's a close-up of the coffee can. I also use it for hauling little odds and ends, since I don't actually get drinks that often. Today it held some cedar bark tinder I collected at the park:
Both trailer tires and my bike's front tire have "No Mor Flats" innertubes. The rear bike tire has one of those horrible innertubes filled with air, that leaks at the worst time (thanks to "goat head stickers"!).
I'm not a sports person, or a "serious" rider. It's just another way to get from here to there and back again. If you see me, don't run me down, please.
UPDATE 7-11-2016:
The bike trailer's canvas has been weathering badly for a couple of years, and my daughter is too big to ride in it anyway, so I turned the trailer into a cargo carrier.
The bike trailer's canvas has been weathering badly for a couple of years, and my daughter is too big to ride in it anyway, so I turned the trailer into a cargo carrier.
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Very nice!
ReplyDeleteThanks. And to think I went 20-something years without riding a bike after an "unfortunate incident" when I was 12. I started again because there was a paved bike trail that went from my house in Colorado right into town, and the ride was extremely nice- so I couldn't resist.
ReplyDeleteNice pics! And I can tell you, Hawk, if you'll just keep on biking and leave the driving to the Greyhound folks you'll be the healthiest 77 year-old in your part of the world some day. You'll agonize over peers who more and more can't get around, have to get hip and knee replacements, heart by-pass ops, etc etc.
ReplyDeleteIt's been almost 4 years that I sat down to write out the check for registration of my old car that I had kept in the driveway to transport my dad (who lived to 100 and had just died). I thought, "...why am I keeping a car? Insurance alone -- bare minimum liability mandated under threat of violence through the incestuous relationship between predators of state and parasites of the insurance cartel -- cost 25 frn's or more per month. And my old car logged less than 3,000 miles per year the past several years..."
So I sold the car to my next door neighbor and have been car-free ever since.
Medical cost savings alone would pay for a new and expensive bike every year or so. I see no doctors (other than my girlfriend, and the kind of treatment I get from her I won't mention), take no meds.
Can the car and upgrade the bike, I say.
Sam
Maybe it's just me but I've been hassled by cops more while riding my bicycle than on a motorcycle or a car.
ReplyDeleteMust be that the Registered Liberty Offenders in your area are more anti-bicycle than most. I've never had one molest me while I was on the bike- not anywhere I've lived. I won't say it couldn't happen- just that it hasn't yet.
ReplyDelete