Bicycle trailers:

In article et,
says...

....

The problem is that a milk crate on top of your rack puts your center of
gravity kind of high. Hang a milk crate off of each side of the rack
doubles the cargo space and keep the center of gravity low. Makes the
bike kind of wide though. Or you can use plastic buckets to make
panniers. See http://home.thegrid.net/~lllove/9Nov2002-04.JPG for some
rainproof panniers I made from cat litter buckets and a few dollars of
hardware.

That looks like a pretty good setup; do you have some kind of quick
release so you can take off the buckets and carry them around by the
handle?

.....

--
Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts in the
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Lorenzo L. Love wrote:

Lorenzo L. Love
http://home.thegrid.net/~lllove

hey, the grid! do you live on the central coast, Lorenzo?

On Fri, 25 Jun 2004 02:19:55 GMT, Leo Lichtman wrote:

Can anyone comment on the effect on handling of the high center of gravity
of a rack-mounted crate vs. the lower center of panniers? Seems to me the
panniers would be less leable to "wag the bike."

My experience has been that a back pack (loaded) feels like it's less
stable than when i used my panniers. Also if the panniers aren't
secure they as likely to 'wag the bike'. Though the trailer changes
the bike's handling I prefer the trailer as I find it easier to load
and go. But if given the choice between the panniers, crate or
backpack. I'd go with the panniers as they are much more stable. I
don't know how anyone can say that a higher CG is more stable.

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David Kerber wrote:
In article et,
says...

...


The problem is that a milk crate on top of your rack puts your center of
gravity kind of high. Hang a milk crate off of each side of the rack
doubles the cargo space and keep the center of gravity low. Makes the
bike kind of wide though. Or you can use plastic buckets to make
panniers. See http://home.thegrid.net/~lllove/9Nov2002-04.JPG for some
rainproof panniers I made from cat litter buckets and a few dollars of
hardware.


That looks like a pretty good setup; do you have some kind of quick
release so you can take off the buckets and carry them around by the
handle?

....


It hooks on to the rack like any other pannier. See
http://home.thegrid.net/~lllove/cargo1.jpg and
http://home.thegrid.net/~lllove/9Nov2002-07.JPG
Aluminum flat stock is attached with double stick tape on the inside and
out and the hooks bolted to that, otherwise the plastic wouldn't stand
up to the strain. The little cleat at the bottom is used with a
mini-bungee cord to hold the bottom down to the chainstays. You can get
the hooks and the other parts at any hardware store. It was maybe $8 for
all the stuff to make a pair of panniers. I used Tidy Cat brand cat
litter buckets which are rectangular and have an attached hinged lid,
but standard square four gallon buckets with separate lids will work
fine too. It's easy and cheap to make your own, but Cobbworks makes
bucket panniers ready to go. See http://www.cobbworks.com/ Costs about 6
or 7 times as much as making your own.

Lorenzo L. Love
http://home.thegrid.net/~lllove

"The more I think about our US domestic transportation problems... the
more I see an increased role for the bicycle in American life. I am
convinced after riding bikes here in China, that it is a sensible,
economical and clean form of transportation that makes enormous good sense."
George H. W. Bush, as US ambassador to China

The Queen of Cans and Jars wrote:

Lorenzo L. Love wrote:


Lorenzo L. Love
http://home.thegrid.net/~lllove


hey, the grid! do you live on the central coast, Lorenzo?


Yreka, CA, but TheGrid hasn't existed for years. It was an excellent ISP
which got bought out by One Main which was pretty good, and then OneMain
got bought out by EarthLink which really sucks as an ISP. Now an
thegrid.net address is just an alias for an earthlink.com address.
Earthlink has swallowed up scores of previously fine local ISPs.

Lorenzo L. Love
http://home.thegrid.net/~lllove

"640K ought to be enough for anybody."
Bill Gates 1981

Lorenzo L. Love wrote:

The Queen of Cans and Jars wrote:

Lorenzo L. Love wrote:


Lorenzo L. Love
http://home.thegrid.net/~lllove


hey, the grid! do you live on the central coast, Lorenzo?


Yreka, CA, but TheGrid hasn't existed for years. It was an excellent ISP
which got bought out by One Main which was pretty good, and then OneMain
got bought out by EarthLink which really sucks as an ISP. Now an
thegrid.net address is just an alias for an earthlink.com address.
Earthlink has swallowed up scores of previously fine local ISPs.

yes, i know the history ... i still have an " email address
for some reason i thought it had been fairly local; i didn't realize
they were all the way up in Yreka.

"Leo Lichtman" wrote in message
...

"The Queen of Cans and Jars" wrote: (clip) i think that it's
aesthetically
and functionally inferior (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^
Can anyone comment on the effect on handling of the high center of gravity
of a rack-mounted crate vs. the lower center of panniers? Seems to me the
panniers would be less leable to "wag the bike."

I never did any controlled tests, but:
1. If you hang stuff off the crate, which is an easy temptation when you are
bringing home groceries, the stuff will swing, and that can be a control
problem. But that's high weight swinging, not high weight stable. Swinging
weight is bad anywhere. It's less likely you will be tempted to have
swinging weight with panniers, because of their design. (Note Ron Hardin's
instructions clearly emphasize stability.)

2. I'm a big guy (200 lb), and did not have any big handling problems not
related to #1. The most I ever carried on the milk crate was 61 pounds
(crate and backpack together) for about 15 miles. That was a lot. While
commuting, I often ride with one pannier, which doesn't seem to cause me any
balance problems even if there's a bunch of papers in the pannier; maybe I'm
not very sensitive to this sort of thing.

3. In general, simple physics suggest that low weight is easier than high
weight, and that's my subjective opinion as well. But stability doesn't
override everything else, or we'd all be on trikes.

4. There is one remaining problem, and that's getting on and off the bike.
Ordinarily I would swing my leg around the back, but that's hard with the
rack in the way. It made me wish for a mixte frame that would be easier to
step through.

"The Queen of Cans and Jars" wrote in message
. ..
Claire Petersky wrote:

"The Queen of Cans and Jars" wrote in message
.. .

i don't ride in the rain.

!!

Why not?

because i don't have to any more.

!!

What's wrong with riding in the rain?


--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
Please replace earthlink for mouse-potato and .net for .com
Home of the meditative cyclist:
http://home.earthlink.net/~cpetersky/Welcome.htm
See the books I've set free at: http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky

Mike Kruger wrote:

4. There is one remaining problem, and that's getting on and off the bike.
Ordinarily I would swing my leg around the back, but that's hard with the
rack in the way. It made me wish for a mixte frame that would be easier to
step through.

i'm already in the habit of swinging my leg to the front because i used
to ride a tandem.

but i'm still not putting a milk crate on my rear rack.

Claire Petersky wrote:

"The Queen of Cans and Jars" wrote in message
. ..
Claire Petersky wrote:

"The Queen of Cans and Jars" wrote in message
.. .

i don't ride in the rain.

!!

Why not?

because i don't have to any more.

!!

What's wrong with riding in the rain?

nothing at all, if it's what you want to do. i've done it voluntarily
many times. i choose not to do it any longer.