2 Wheels Maybe

Not much to update, no off-road riding, no progress on the cargo bike, but it's Thursday and I just came off of three straight days of commuting this week, and oh my gosh, it's been good stuff! The sights: I've been feverishly photographing birds in Lubbock parks before the Canadians arrive - lots of egrets, herons, and cormorants with some scattered migrating ducks. (Loving the new camera-phone Moto Mod!) Tuesday after work  Mornings are down in the low 40's this week, and it's been strangely nice to watch the first signs of our 1.5 weeks of fall roll in. Afternoons have been very windy and have made me thankful for the electric bike's pedal assist. Tuesday before work (great blue heron and great egret) The leaves have started turning but not yet falling. Traffic is not yet holiday frantic. Life is good. The winter gear has been dusted off Winter Gear One recommendation I have for winter riding - get a snowboard helmet w...

I finally started, y'all! Long-time readers of MH or 2WM are thinking, Jeez, MH, it took you long enough! To that I say,  Both of you are absolutely right. Our biggest-ever posts on both blogs have been about cargo bikes, and the really big one is about a No-Weld DIY Longtail Cargo Bike . So, here we go, people - it's time to build one. This week, the final piece fell into place: a Giant Simple Single cruiser bike ($35ish). Originally, I planned to pick up a cheap Huffy cruiser for the build, but cheap Huffys (Huffies?) have been rather rare lately, so I ended up with a nicer (but cheaper) bike. The free swingarm donor The other two main components that previously came into place are a nice and very cheap 3-speed Schwinn step-through ($20 and not pictured) and a junky full-suspension mountain bike ($0). So, the goal here is to balance this equation: Giant + Schwinn + Junky MTB = Longtail Cargo Bike < $100 Humble beginnings (I'll also...

Pedaled Every Day this Week! It's been a great week! Lots of things fell into place, and I pulled a 100% bike commute week. Yep, Monday-Friday I have been free to ride to work. (And I ran errands on the bike on Saturday and Sunday.) I've noticed that I've been in a steadily better mood over the last seven days. Yes, the car is  quicker and offers better weather protection, but it dulls the senses. When you spend your days in a windowless office, you don't have many senses left for dulling. I look forward to the ride when it's cold. I look forward to the ride when it's sweltering. I never look forward to the drive. From this morning's ride Okay, I know a 100% bike commute may not sound like much, but 60% is often a struggle. I've reached that point in life where the generation before and the generation after both need a fair amount of help. That means errands and doctor's appointments and stores and pharmacies and...well, the bike is of...

Love the Mongoose logo! This is not a drill, people - it's coming to the US! It's coming in hot! Unfortunately, it's not coming in cheap. (Is this another of those presidential tariff thingies?) Since our first Mongoose Envoy post , I keep swinging back by to check on the status of the first department-store longtail cargo bike. Today my perseverance was rewarded. The Canadian link referred me back to the USA. Man was I excited! So I clicked the link and was rewarded with a little less excitement. What had been $500-Canadian had become $750-US. (Which is still pretty inexpensive for a longtail cargo, but no longer vastly less expensive than the competition.) Check out the US Mongoose Envoy site here. Not much has changed since the our first posting about the Envoy. The bike looks the same. The site still links to the really great Chris Akrigg video . (Even if you're not a cargo-bike dork, it's a lot of fun to watch.)  In case you were wo...

 Admittedly, it's been a while, but it's a bit of a tradition around here to share low-cost DIY cargo bikes that pop up on Craigslist. Most often, they appear in Austin. You've got to appreciate that Keep-Austin-Weird mentality showing up in eco-friendly vehicles!   Lately, the pickings have been rather slim, but this silver beauty recently materialized and I knew I had to share it with you:    This one looks pretty clean and simple for a DIY bike: it's all one color, it looks pretty symmetrical, one gear, one brake, a seat that cradles your bum. Not bad. Here is the text from the ad:   So there you have it, a $125 shopping-cart cargo bike. You know, if you added a 3-speed rear hub, you could take it more places (and climb a few hills). Or...you could add an electric rear hub motor and go lots more places. Or you could just be satisfied with the thing just like it is.   The First 3-Wheeled Shopper Post   The Second 3...

Okay, maybe conquer is a little overboard, but Two Xtracycles Are for Sale and Another One Vacations in New Mexico doesn't have quite the same ring, so let's just focus on the Xtracycles. Xtracycle 1: An Edgerunner for sale in Albuquerque This one is being regretfully re-homed because its family is too. So, why am I including it here? You have to read the ad. There are some Craigslisters who rise above the usual details, price, and pics. This is definitely one of those. Check it out! Superheroes Don't Get Gas! What can you haul with a cargo bike? Apparently two kids and two more bikes - superhero indeed! Xtracycle 2: A Radish with Wheels The Radish is an interesting piece of Xtracycle history. Back when Xtracycle was still offering their original add-on cargo bike kit - the FreeRadical, they also offered the Radish complete bike for those who weren't into the whole DIY approach. Back in the day, they were about $1200, ...