burley mount

I got my new mount so that I'm able to use a Burley trailer with the Transport. On normal bikes, as well as my old Xtracycle (and Big Dummys), one is able to mount the Burley trailer hitch to the rear axle or rear triangle of the bike. On the Transport, the rear wheel is further in from the rear of the bike, not allowing the arm of the trailer to reach into the bike enough to but the trailer. And the old school rear triangle mount doesn't have anywhere to attach to also. So Travis Saeler had a proto-type mount made, and then got some more made up for the rest of us who ride Transports and need a mount to carry their Burleys.

This thing is one heavy piece of steel (you won't notice it at all - this cargobike isn't a race bike). The smaller holes are for mounting the plate on the back of the rack frame. There are four bolts that hold the side folding mounts in place, and these holes match up with the ones on the plate. The big hole is for the Burley mount to attach to - more on that in a little bit.

The two plates welded on the back, is for the plate to have more support on the frame. These holes mount up to holes where the little rubber bumpers bolt onto. Remove the bumpers, bolt on the plate.

And ta-da!

Now for the Burley mount. I was going to get a specific bolt for this, but a destroyed BMX wheel from the shop gave up its bent ass axle and:

The axle nuts, a spacer, and a "locking" nut on a too long part of the axle will do the job.



Crooked, but it'll work. The Burley arm attaches like this, not the recommended two wraps, but I think that the safety strap will do its job if ever needed.

More pictures to come when it is dry enough to hook the thing up and take some good pictures. Travis says it is much smoother to pull the trailer on his Transport than on his regular bike. I'll report soon.

no news is...

Not much to report, haven't felt much like blog posting. Nothing really exciting going on, getting in a few extra miles here and there, but nothing really long or even remotely close to increasing my fitness.

Family leaving next Saturday for 9 days, bacheloring it up, going to do some riding. Not the long week I had planned, but hopefully an overnighter and a long day in the saddle. Rumor around the e-mails is that the mc might be here in time for said week, I hope, so some of my plans will come true. If not, the overnighter might be spinning ass crazy on a 33x18 fixie with 38's or plushing it on an upright geared biked. Or just some mountain biking and beer drinking. One cool thing would be a combination of it all.

More soon.....

late edit: Best bike related blog post ever: HERE

504!

I'm over 500 views of my blog! 504 as of this morning! WOW! Thank you everybody!

transportin' things

The Transport is looking to be a very versatile bike, the large green bags of course carry a weeks worth of groceries for a family of four, with room left over. I could do the same with my Xtracycle, but having the fold down side racks on the Transport (I could have bought Wideloaders for the Xtracycle, but they aren't cheap), I found that I can carry other stuff also.


Bringing the wheels off of my Novarro Arriba S - also known as the Stubby - and the donor bike for the Xtracycle, to the shop for some spoke repair and cleaning. The Stubby will be coming back as my do-everything geared beater bike when these get done. It was pretty easy to do, just strapped the bottoms and tops to the fold down racks, and run a lashing strap around the tops for security. I used my old beat up (and to be replaced) Ortleibs in front to carry my clothes for the week and my lunch. Worked dandy.

Carrying Owen's bike to school for Pet Day. Just lashed the front wheel to the top and the fold out racks, and the fork leg also around the top rack. This allowed it to pivot into the turns just like the rest of the bike, and caused no issues for the 2.5 mile ride to Owen's school. Squirt the Box Turtle and Owen's helmet are in the giant pannier on the other side.

Crappy small picture showing a box being taken to FedEx. I forgot my long straps, so I had to use my belt to help keep in on with a shorter strap.

Front carrying duties are taken care of with this Wald basket. The bottom and top supports were removed from the basket, and it was simply zip-tied to the integrated Transport front rack. Works perfectly. A bungie net makes sure that stuff doesn't bounce out, and I use a stuff sack or a hip belt to carry small items like my phone, keys and wallet up where I can get to them easily. I put a reflective leg strap on the front so I always have one available (and makes me a slight little bit more visible), and you can see my front commuter light on the rack also.

Other things in the works for this bike - a nifty trailer mount for my Burley, new panniers for less "epic" items, and a new rechargeable light for the front. And of course, a write up of the changes I've made so far.

More soon.....

stumpy off road

Got to ride Reagan Park in Medina last night with the guys from the shop. Even with all the rain and nasty weather from the crappiest Spring in a long time, the trail was awesome. Parts of the trail almost needed some water to keep the dust down, but it was a great time. Not that fast of a ride for me, and I don't think for most of us, except Gartman. I could definitely tell that I'm out of shape. For never have ridden the Stumpy Comp Carbon 29er off road, I felt really comfortable on it right off the bat. Maybe it was from riding the Rockhopper SL 29er for the good last half of last year, but the bike never felt bad under me. I do have to do a better set up on the fork, it felt "weird".

Took a bit of a spill, of course almost at the end. Feeling comfortable, sucking on Jason's line, coming through some rollers, and I'm thinking "damn, I'm going too fast - I need to slow down". Still hung on to the speed though, like an idiot, and start a fast steep downhill section too hot. Left bar end hits a sapling, bike gets yanked out from underneath me and I hit the ground hard. Hit so hard that the bike went in the underbrush to the left and I go flying right down the trail, right were my bike should have been. Hit on my right side, abrade my back from shoulder to ass cheek, cut on my right knee and elbow, and my left shoulder has a nice little strawberry from rolling on it. A little sore but all is good.

Felt great to be back on the trails, its been a long time. Now I just need to do that a lot more....