grocery bikes

[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.

[mary9761]

I'm still lusting after a trailer myself also, but this is what I use for errands and groceries. They are made from empty kitty litter buckets. I got the basice instructions at http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/Buckets . I have added an aluminum brace inside the bucket to give the material more stability with heavier items. These have lids so I've added velcro to hold the lids on/shut even if they are a bit overstuffed. I painted them black with Krylon fusion spraypaint that is made for use on plastic, I mainly painted them since I had litter buckets with writing on them. I bought multiple large reflectors and placed them on the back, front and outer side edges. The hooks are rope cleats purchased at a hardware store. The panniers themselves are hooked to the top of the rack and then bungees hold them into place at the bottom of the rack bracket.
The materials total cost to me (not including the buckets) was somewhere around $25 or so. I take these on the bus with me when I use public transport for my bike. Another nice thing about these is that with the lids and the fact that the buckets are level with my rack, it basically can extend the top surface. I haven't tried it yet, but I intended to see if I can tie items to the top of the rack with strapping or rope if necessary.

I can't get the slide show to post, but here is the link and some photos
http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...t=3e0c0ec1.pbw

[emily_in_nc]

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.

Yes, I know Lisa is not interested in touring panniers since she plans to primarily use what she gets for shopping, but for anyone who might be reading this thread who already has touring panniers, my DH and I found that they worked great for trips to our local food co-op as well. We used sturdy front and rear panniers (Arkel) that we'd bought for touring, as well as small trunk packs (Arkel Tailrider). We distributed the groceries among all these packs, the heavier items in DH's and lighter ones in mine. We could haul a LOT in all these bags, though a hilly ride home proved a practical limitation -- we wouldn't get all the canned goods in one trip, for instance; we'd buy some light things each trip (cereal, wheat bran, etc) to keep the loads reasonable. We must have looked a bit curious unpacking our grocery bags and repacking everything carefully into our panniers outside of the co-op, but we didn't care. Worked out well!

It's fun to see everyone else's creative solution to this issue. Love your Halloween decorations, Mary!

[mary9761]

Thanks Emily,
I had a skull on the front of the bike for the Hilly Hundred as well.





The panniers themselves will nicely fit one of the reusable cloth grocery bags that you can get at most stores now. I often will take everything and repack depending on what I have by the time I'm heading home. I've used them quite a bit. Do watch your leg when dismounting with any pannier system, I've hit my right knee multiple times and bruised the inner edge of my knee.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Mary, thanks for the very cool pictures of your great project!...amazing and professional job. I especially love the purple streamer 'broomstick' sticking straight out the back!

This is a great thread with all kinds of different solutions that people have found for hauling groceries and shopping bike setup. I'm sure many people will get good ideas from it in addition to myself.

I came to realize while looking at panniers that touring panniers are somewhat different than grocery style panniers- something I never thought about before.
I did like those metal folding panniers, but considering my intense aversion to extraneous rattling noises on my bike (and even my DH's single well-secured wire Wald basket rattles on the front of his errand bike), I think I'm going to order the REI folding Novara panniers that Divingbiker pointed out:
http://www.rei.com/product/733820
My DH is researching various rear racks now.

If I eventually get strong enough to get up my hill with both panniers full, there is also my roomy Carradice Nelson saddlebag that I can put on top of the rack. And theres' always the front of the bike too (though I doubt I'll ever be at that level of strength).
I'll start out by using the panniers with my medium sized Little Joe bag in back though- I suspect it'll take a while to build up strength. I already need to be in my lowest low gear just to get up my big home hill even without any pannier load or rack. And my bike has quite low mtn bike gearing.