On Friday, February 1, 2019 at 7:13:00 PM UTC-5, John B. Slocomb wrote:
On Fri, 1 Feb 2019 23:28:24 -0000 (UTC), bob prohaska
wrote:

patrick wrote:
Since I've been contemplating a fetch bike, I thought that perhaps an electra townie type so called flat foot bikes as a grocery getter in that the rear rack (which is mentioned by a couple of the posters) wouldn't have the interference while pedaling like a more conventional bike. I get that the mechanics (ie-standing to pedal) might not be good but at my age the standing isn't really used that much anyway! Regards, Pat

You're almost certainly right in that a feed-forward design will cure the
feet-to-pannier-basket clearance problem. The real problem is that all
pannier setups tend to put heavy loads too far aft, past the rear axle.
Having the CG too close to the rear axle is what causes instability and a
tendency to wheelie.

A better solution is to move the rider forward, away from the rear wheel,
but then the whole bike gets longer and heavier. The extreme would be a
tandem, with the panniers where the stoker would sit. One sees cargo
bikes like that around my neighborhood, usually with a kid seat above
the panniers. It's a huge bus of a bike. Ideal for its purpose, but only
one purpose and expernsive to boot.

A standard upright bike with ordinary folding baskets carries most shopping
loads easily. For heavier loads a trailer is an easy incremental improvement.
Of course, if you happen to have an old tandem lying around, so much the
better...

My $.02,

bob prohaska


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0SEpVo33AM

:-)

--
Cheers,
John B.

I see that a lot of people including whomever gave the video its title don't know the difference between a bicycle and a tricycle. Hint, a BIcycle has TWO wheels and A TRIcycle has THREE wheels. LOL VBEG ;) Other than the 2-wheel Bullitts in that video almost all of the Cargo Bikes are actually Cargo Trikes.

Cheers