Working in the online bike world requires that I make a bike delivery trip to UPS or the post office almost everyday. Most of the time I use my BOB Trailer or Xtracycle except when I’ve got just too many boxes and I need to resort to the car. It gives me an excellent opportunity to test out the capacity of what I can load on my rigs.
The Xtracycle is great for piling high with boxes. I can easily carry a boxed up BOB trailer loaded on top of the Xtracycle SnapDeck with even more boxes loaded on the sides on the Xtracycle WideLoader bars. The largest box I carry on a regular basis is the boxed up Burley FlatBed which comes in a rather large (39″ x 32″ x 10″) box.
BOB Trailers can be setup to carry larger boxes. For long boxes, a brace or bike rack needs to setup over the BOB’s Rear Wheel so the box doesn’t drag against the Wheel or fender. Large loads can be a bit unwieldy as BOB’s do best with the weight centered at the front bottom of the cargo bed. I regularly use the BOB to bring boxed up CELLO bike cases to FedEx. The rear bracket of the CELLO works well to hold the box in position.
For larger deliveries, Bikes-At-Work manufactures extra-sturdy, extra-large bike cargo trailers. They have two primary designs, truss frame or spline frame. The truss frame is available in 32″(2 bin compartments), 64″(4 bin compartments) or 96″ (6 bin compartments) configurations. 18 gallon Rubbermaid Roughtote plastic bins fit perfectly in the compartments or larger items can be loaded across the trusses. All 3 sizes of the trailers are rated for hauling up to 300 lbs. The spline frame version of the trailer is available is in 20″, 48″, 68″ and 116″ configurations. The 116″ version is rated for 150lbs. and the three shorter versions can carry up to 250lbs. The spline version’s length can be adjusted by adding or removing sections. The spline version requires a little more fixturing for specific uses and really works nicely for small boats.
Bike Cargo Trailers offer not only an environmental and cost effective form of local transport of goods, it can often be more convenient to use a bike cargo trailer instead of a car. Bike cargo trailers can literally be used from door to door. You can transport items through areas where cars are not allowed such as campuses and city areas.
It was interesting browsing around the Internet at a variety of groups of people who’d moved using only bike cargo trailers. Have a look at all of these groovy people moving with there bikes:
http://michaelbluejay.com/bikemove/
http://www.maxp.net/bike/bikemove/
http://www.metrodigital.com/mass/events/move/
http://vic.gedris.org/pics/2002-11-30/index.html
http://tricolour.net/photos/2003/05/10/hpv.html
http://hpv.tricolour.net/organ-trailer.html
http://gotoes.org/bikestuff/index.htm
(C)2007 Richard Guy Briggs
A variety of businesses have been founded around bike cargo trailer delivery. Pedal People in Northampton, Massachusetts offers delivery as well as waste pick up services. Though often carrying everything on their back or on bike racks, some city bike messenger’s also use bike cargo trailer or cargo bike for larger deliveries.
For those inspired to get started on a bike delivery business, the book Cycling For Profit is available through Amazon.