The Beast of Burden
If the grocery store is many miles away, how are you going to carry one or two weeks of good stuff? Answer: a bike trailer.
Trying to get an e-bike to do full boondocking duty is no small thing. Small errands to the nearest town are usually not a big deal, especially when the bike has a basket or other carrying capability. Early on though, it became apparent that replacing the truck with a bicycle for major grocery runs was going to be an issue. Such runs typically involved considerable weight and space in either the truck’s interior or cargo area.
Looking at oversized baskets, bags and panniers gave me a little concern, both from a weight standpoint and a volume one. And simply the need to carefully organize and repack relatively delicate produce in vertical side bags to avoid damage over a long and often jarring ride would become a frequent nuisance. A normal e-bike might be able to have a fairly decent amount of food strapped on, but even at that, I didn’t like having to add weight onto the front wheel because it affects steering. Things can get dicey when you’re in traffic and trying to swerve the tires precisely between potholes. The Evelo Aurora’s wonky frame design cut the cargo loading options right up front. As noted in my previous articles, it posed big compatibility problems for most cargo accessories. The good news is that this lack also simplified having to sort through scores of different bag and basket models in the hunt for sheer volume. They weren’t cutting it, anyway.
It was plain that in order to preserve the Mighty Furd for future generations, I was going to have to build a system of sorts, one that would allow for both unburdened exploration and errands, small and large. All-out, it would have to be able to Read more…
Strolling Amok 