grocery bikes

[Mr. SR500]

I like the grocery bag panniers from REI. A paper grocery bag fits perfectly, they're fairly easy to take on and off, and they fold up nicely if you want to leave them on the bike.

The front basket is nice for breakable things or overflow.

Here they are on my pink mixte, but I use them on the Glorius also.

I use the same for picking up the kids and their backpacks get dumped in the panniers, but for more serious hauling a trailer is the way to go. Good trailers tow wonderfully, and you'll be able to haul most anything you would like.

[Zen]

Designed to carry 440 pounds

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I'm not going to haul 440 pounds!
I'm not going to tow a trailer up my hill!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Designed to carry 440 pounds

unfortunately, the bike itself weighs 300 of the 440 pounds.


Seriously though, the Kona Ute looks similar, and it weighs 40 pounds.
Besides, those gears would NEVER get me up my hill in a million years.

[xeney]

On the baby trailer issue: my kid does not weigh that much and the trailer is pretty smooth to pull. But yeah, it cuts a full 2 mph out of my average speed. Oddly I don't find it to be too bad on hills (not that I ride many hills) -- I usually go about 2-3 gears lower than I would without the trailer, which is not as much as I'd expected.

It's wind that kills you with the trailer. You really feel the headwinds and the tailwinds aren't as nice as they are without a trailer.

[wildhawk]

Both DH and I have rear racks on our hybrids and panniers on both bikes alongwith a front bag. We also purchased a used baby trailer. We looked at several bike trailers and the baby trailer is designed to haul 100 lbs and was less expensive. Of course we are not dealing with a hill either. Good plan to haul the extra heavy stuff in the car and pick up lighter stuff with your bike. We do that. Since we are used to hauling extra water in our panniers for our rides, we do not notice much difference when we are bringing other things. The key for us is to stay stocked up on our canned goods and heavier items - that way we do not have to haul so much at one time. We can easily take our weekly grocery items in the panniers and the top of the rear rack can take a small cooler for perishable stuff like yogurt and milk. We also have backpacks that hold quite a bit as well. Post a pic when you get your bike set up. We are always looking for new ideas, but so far our panniers have been wonderful additions to our bikes.

[Biciclista]

Then there's our new trailer. Raleighdon loves it. He owns a Croozer. he said it's easier to lug 25 lbs on the Croozer than the same amount evenly distributed in his panniers.

[Triskeliongirl]

I used to live car free in woods hole every summer. I tried 3 approaches, grocery panniers, touring panniers and a kiddie trailer.

I didn't like grocery panniers, they just don't hold that much. Touring panniers work just fine, you just need to repack your groceries, and of course you are limited by their volume, but it sounds like you don't want to carry that much per trip (and you could use both front and rear ones). I got mine at LLbean and they were fine. I think this is the best option for you, and you can also use them on a tour.

I bought the kiddie trailer used, even though my kids were grown, and found this the best to carry lots of stuff (water, laundry detergent, laundry). BUT the one problem is that if the stuff was too heavy it would drag on the bottom. So, if you are gonna go the trailer route, I'd get a trailer designed fro carrying stuff not kids. I know you said you aren't interested in a trailer, but thought I'd post my comparisons for the record in case someone else reads this with a similar question.