And find spring. It's all over town. Rays of sunshine at 7 pm. Yay.
What's the strangest thing you've ever carried on your bike?
22 April 2008
Carry Go Bring Come
Copenhagen Cycle Chic goes quizzing: Spot the two pizzas, the 8 rolls of toilet paper, the dog Victor and the bottle of Jack D. Shouldn't be that difficult.
And find spring. It's all over town. Rays of sunshine at 7 pm. Yay.
What's the strangest thing you've ever carried on your bike?
And find spring. It's all over town. Rays of sunshine at 7 pm. Yay.
What's the strangest thing you've ever carried on your bike?
oh, its great to go shopping with the bike!
ReplyDeleteLast May I carried two 50-lb bags of landscaping sand home from the garden center, approximately 3/4 mile.
ReplyDeleteDidn't go well: I had a pair of Wald rear baskets and placed one bag in each side. The 100-lbs of sand being mostly behind and all-above the rear axle, the center-og-gravity of the bike was rather high and far aft and causing the bike to be very top-heavy and light steering. About a third into the ride home my rear tire blew out and my quick decision was to continue riding rather than try to walk the top-heavy bike for a half-mile.
I did manage to get home without further incident but a good lesson was learned about the results of overloading a bike.
alf
I once moved flat with my bike. I had an old US Army duffel bag that I filled up and rode 2 km down the road to my new gaff.
ReplyDeleteIt took me about 30 trips to move all the things that could be moved with the duffel bag.
Then all the big stuff I carried on the back rack and handlebars, walking alongside the bike.
The mattress to my bed was the biggest challenge.
Aw...love that picture of Victor.
ReplyDeleteI used to regularly move a week's worth of groceries, most of it in pannier bags, and I got a new juicer home from work by strapping it onto the back (although the forsight to bring bungee cords really helped there. It just makes things so much easier.
a lawnmower and a mountain bike for me :)
ReplyDeleteMany years ago, when I was on holiday in the Caribbean I saw someone carrying a goat...
ReplyDeleteI have carried up to two bikes at a time, and might be able to manage three. Possibly the most visually impressive item was a reclining chair, though the four drawer filing cabinet is close. I have also been known to make house calls to work on bikes, taking a full tool kit, spare parts, and a Park professional bike stand (the one with the 60 lb. base). XtraCycles rule. Val
ReplyDeleteAs Raquel says, it's great to go Shopping by bike!. You get to park right by the supermarket entrance, too!
ReplyDeleteLast December, I bought my girlfriend a sewing machine and had to ride it back to her home - but I didn't have any racks, baskets or bags, just had to hold the ~20 lb. box under my arm. The weight wasn't too bad, but the box was so large it was just awkward to hold - especially on a bike.
ReplyDeleteXtracycles are cheating, Val... :-)
ReplyDeleteMy strangest was an 8'x10' living room oriental carpet. Folded in half and rolled it draped nicely over my rear rack and had a nice low center of gravity, but it was super heavy! My brakes were inadequate, we had to go at a snail's pace, my husband on his Brompton running interference for me.
ReplyDeleteThis fun conversation brings to mind a photo in a furniture catalog of some thirty years ago, either ETHAN ALLEN or PENNSYLVANIA HOUSE, doesn't matter which. Photo showed a young couple on a bike with a Colonial/Georgian-esque looking table rope-tied onto the back of the bike, and they were wending their way down one of the older streets somewhere in one of our thirteen original States.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the idea the furniture company wanted to market was something warm and fuzzy about a newly married couple's first quality furniture purchase or somesuch.
alf
Thanks for all the stories!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a young and naive art student, I once tried to bring home a large bucket of white paint in a bike basket.. After 300 metres it fell off and spilled a giant white pool onto the road. I tried to limit the damage with my food by directing the flood towards a nearby sewer - with the only result that my blue suede shoes (yes, they were in fact blue suede) turned all white and sticky.
Another more successful story:
When I lived in Cuba 7 years ago, I once accompagnied Emilio, an old Guajiro (= Cuban peasant complete with machete, straw hat and cigar) from the corn field back to a small village in the Guantanamo province. On the back rack of his rusty chinese bike, he was transporting a sack with a live pig inside. Every time the dirt road had a bump, the pig would squeal and wail. Upon arrival, a Gandhi look-a-like Cuban named Jesus killed the pig and his mom roasted it for us. Deliciousness! But poor pig...
Keep commenting!
Cheers, Marie
I can't compete with these tales - my strangest thing was a bottle of champagne in my backpack ... cycling very carefully over the pot holes and wondering what the damage to me would be if I fell off and broke it.
ReplyDeletefriggen love the blog.
ReplyDeleteyep.
I wash my chihuahua in the bicycle basket.
ReplyDeleteThe most fun thing I carried was two 12 packs of bottles (in the grocery panniers) and a 24 pack of coke. We were on vacation and throwing a family party. I was bring part of the drinks.
ReplyDeleteI have done the grocery thing many a time. The heaviest load was 2 40 pound bags of water softener salt. I put them in the trailer. Probably cheating, but you should have seen the guy at the store. Funny.
I carried a clothes washing machine home from the store on my xtracycle, but maybe it doesn't count, because it was so unbalanced I had to walk the bike.
ReplyDeleteHamish
Empty 16 Gallon (US) Beer Keg. On a standard size rear rack. Awesome.
ReplyDeleteI once carried some groceries, a small carpet and six sizable pillows (light but taking up much space) in my rearbags and dangling off my steering wheel. My bags are fabulous, and I usually stuff them with groceries so no real problem there (unless I have to cross the train bridge and carry the bike up 3 stories! I try to avoid that).
ReplyDeleteAt the same time my sweetheart balanced a rolled up livingroom size carpet on the steeringwheel of his spikkeled pink 80s racingbike. Quite the sight, but it was not even that difficult!
As long as your tires have enough air and the weight is well balanced you can bring lots.
I have a question: how much does the bicycle in second picture costs? Thanks.
ReplyDeletean order of a large pizza! its much harder than it sounds. imagine trying to balance that flat box without messing up the pizza inside with one hand and manuevering the bike with the other hand!!!
ReplyDeletethanks for all the great comments!
ReplyDeleteregarding the price of the bike, no idea. it might be an old bike. if it's new, it'll probably cost about 3000 kroner.
2 cases of red wine
ReplyDeleteMost of you have better stories, but I broke my rear axle. This was before I learned to fix my own bike; the mechanic I went to said he'd never seen anyone do that before.
-Lilia
http://velovogue.blogspot.com/
Why just today I had a flat of flowers strapped to the rear rack (My bike never looked so good / Wish I had a picture).
ReplyDeleteLater, after planting the flowers, I got a pizza and strapped that on the back too!
Two weeks ago I hauled 12 large bottles of beer to a friends party which happened to included a 2 hour train ride to Philadelphia and beyond, plus 15 miles of riding after I reached my destination station. All the beer arrived perfectly safe and unspoiled.
40 Lb. car battery in a backpack to the parts store, two mile round trip, three times.
ReplyDelete5 year old son on my back--no seat for him at the time.
Periodically, laptop computer--always nervously.
Imagine two 16 year old boys, 1 bike and 3 crates of beer( 24 bottles per crate). We were preparing for a party and we had to bike it to a friends house about 1KM from the store.
ReplyDeleteMy friend was biking while holding one crate on the steering bar. Two crates on top of each other on the rear rack and me sitting on top of the two crates. Got some weird looking faces on the way.
Cheating I guess, but I've brought home a vacuum cleaner in my bike trailer. Mmm, Dyson. And I blogged it. I do all our shopping with the bike trailer.
ReplyDeleteOn the bike? A Very Hungry Caterpillar quilt/comforter/doona that had a "Full" sticker on it. Sort of appropriate as it was wide if very light.
a de rosa bicycle frame and fork around my shoulders, up a seriously steep and neverending hill in the rain, at night. oh yeah stopped at a bar on the way to celebrate.
ReplyDeleteThe heavest thing I,ve carried on my bike was about 50kg a Czech girl with spiky blonde hair and the most amazing green eyes, a cross bar home. I didnt ask her how heavy she was I thought it might be a little rude. There is something romantic about two on a bicycle
ReplyDeleteAndy Irl. The best thing I carried home on a bike was a Czech girl with the most amazing green eyes. on the crossbar.
ReplyDeleteI'd say about 50kg but thats a guess as its to rude to ask. There is something very romantic about two on a bike going through city streets on a lovely night.