Cargo Bikes

Brian recently got a larger battery for his e-assist commuter xtracycle and is just about finished with the battery storage box. He's really been wanting an electric cargo bike and actually started building it today. Once the bike is built his new battery and hub motor will be transferred from the xtracycle to the new cargo bike. We'll post pictures of the progress soon.


One goal we are working towards is to, one day, be as car free as possible. We are hoping to each have an e-assist bike as a car replacement. Not just regular sized bikes, but some sort of load carrying or cargo bike. Here are just of few of the bikes Brian has found while spending countless hours searching the internet. Enjoy!

This is a Bullitt and can be found here http://www.larryvsharry.com/english/index.html

Another great cargo bike site can be found here http://cetmacargo.com/CETMAcargoindex.htm

These cool bikes pictured below can be found at http://www.metrofiets.com/

We have been seeing more and more long bikes, xtracycles, but don't see cargo bikes here in Sacramento. Are there any cargo bikes roaming the streets where you live?

Happy Anniversary!

July 13 was our anniversary. I drafted a post on the 14th but never completed it. Better late than never, right?

We usually make a nice dinner at home for our anniversary but this year I wanted to pack a picnic dinner and ride our bikes to a park along the river. So we did just that. It was a week day and we did this after work. Wanting to be home before dark we didn't have much time to spare once we reached our destination and ate.

Dinner consisted of turkey, cheese, baguette.....oh no wait, that's right.... we FORGOT the baguette. Kale salad, potato salad, a nectarine, chips and root beer. Chocolate for dessert. The best anniversary dinner to date.

A Carsick Designs bag serving us well

Guy West Bridge across the American River

The American River

Looking West

The American River

Looking East

Yesterday we went to the Bicycle swap meet in Downtown Sacramento.  We hauled a big box of parts, Monica's road bike and some panniers.  We met a lot of people, handed out a bunch of business cards,  talked cargo bikes and sewing all day.  We left with only a couple of parts and my panniers.  

The cargo bike was a hit, lots of people interested in buying it from me,  and lots of requests to build more.

I installed a yakima fork mount to the rear of the xtracycle and Monica used it to haul her road bike.

Bike trailer update

I didn't go to work today so I worked on the bike trailer. Its mostly finished, It just needs some final welding and paint.

Once it was all together I could not help but hook it to the electric bike and take it for a spin. I had it up to about 22mph and could barely tell it was there, just a little rattling on bumps. It handled a lot better than I thought it would. I was doing full speed u turns on our street with no problems.

I cobbled the hitch together with some stuff I had laying around ( some kind of spherical joint/pillow block/ brass bushing thing- a model A ford shock mount bolt and a piece of pipe for the tongue.)

Very happy with the results. I can't wait to start hauling stuff.

bike trailer

My dad was the kind of guy that saved everything, knowing that someday he would need it for something. He had a couple of wheelchairs torn apart in his stash of stuff. He gave me the wheels a couple years back. He thought I could use them to build a bike trailer.

I never really needed a trailer with the xtracycle, but last year we hauled a bunch of bags of compost and potting soil from our local nursery. Plus we get straw bales for mulch from our feed store. Since we don't have a pick up truck we haul it in Monica's car and this leaves a big mess that I end up cleaning. I could get the compost in the xtracycle but the straw bales were to big.

My work is really slow right now so I decided to go for it. I'm trying to use only material I have on hand, It looks like I will only need to buy one short stick of tubing for the tongue and some bolts to hold down the floor. Its pretty heavy but I will be towing it with my electric assist xtracycle. Hopefully next week it will be completely welded, painted and getting put to work.

On a roll

We've ridden our bikes two out of three days this year! Today was just coffee and groceries but it was fun.

Monica is still rocking the new pannier with no problems.

I rode the xtracycle so I could test out the new bag.

Cappuccino at Temple.

xtracycle bag part 2

I left work at noon today and decided to finish up the xtracycle bag.

floating liner pinned in place

Attaching liner to outer bag with binding tape and swing away binder

Back of bag, I need to transfer hooks and backing from old bag still

side pocket big enough for a u lock

front of bag

I installed grommets in the rear for mounting the hooks

Floating liner, black binding is on edge of pocket used for backing board and hardware.

Bright yellow will be good for seeing small items that are in bottom of bag.

xtracycle bags

I designed my own bags for my xtracycle a couple years ago when I first bought it. My mom did the sewing on them. About a year ago I modified them so they were removable more like a pannier. Now seems like the right time to sew up a new set of bags. I started on one a couple nights ago. Here are some progress pics. The outer bag is espresso cordura.

Marking the first pieces.

I need a bigger cutting table.

The sides sewn on.

Adding the topstitch to the rear panel.

The outer bag is finished.

The floating liner is going to be spectre yellow. All the pieces are cut and ready to sew.

Brian's new commuter

I want to ride my bike to work, and I did for a while. But its a 24 mile one way commute. By the time I got home, and got my stuff ready for the next day I would be exhausted. A few days in a row would kick my butt. I know the right thing to do would be get a job closer to home, but until we make some major lifestyle changes this job works out well for me. So after a lot of thought I purchased an ezee electric assist kit with a 48 volt battery upgrade, and another xtracycle base kit. I combined it with some extra parts I had laying around and built this urban assault vehicle.
This thing is bad ass! I've been riding it for a few weeks now. I average 24 miles an hour. With time for stop lights it takes me about 1 hour and 10 minutes to get to work. In the car it would take me 35 minutes to an hour depending on traffic. I charge the battery at night and recharge when I get to work. Now instead of sitting on my ass on the freeway, I get a couple of hours exercise a day. Plus we spend a lot less at the pump.

Chico bicycle music festival