i thought this would be about the unhappy grimace i see on the poor riders as they trundle up oxford st

does it have a specific weight capacity? do you exceed it?

fair play, i fully understand the advantages of them and it's no bad thing that there are more ways to earn a living pedalling round town. i heard (rumour?) that the riders could only do a small number of days a week because it leaves them too fucked.

what's the rack made of? i'd want to look at a ply construction, tough as old boots.

The rack (onto which we have bolted that box) is aluminium.

i'd be interested to have a look at it if that's okay?

does the manufacturer warranty them? i'd be interested to see if i could build something better

"Mike Burrows has been a complete twat,"

he is one *those* little wheel men isn't he? a strange bunch if ever there were any.

i might drop round to have a look at 6ish before the foundry if that's cool?

.

Oh bollocks. Serves me right for trying to do two things at the same time.

oh, and you don't know shit about recumbents...

Putting the box on in absolutely essential, weather-proofing, security etc. I know heaps of people don't use lockable stuff on cargo bikes, I know that lots of mb riders leave stuff on the bike while they are picking or dropping, but there is NO WAY we could supply a cargo bike as a service to our customers and not have lockable water-proof box. And once you have got one on there, you might as well go for the biggest one you can.

I am quite happy to accept that the bike was not designed to be used hard by working couriers - if it is basically designed to be a very expensive shopping bike, fair enough. Perhaps that ought to be made more explicit in the literature, or by the man himself?

I also think that we would have been prepared to pay for repairs etc but Mike wasn't prepared to enter into dialogue - he waited until I was in Norwich and then threw a massive hissy fit, of the type one expects from disorganised fashion harpies with hangovers, and flounced. That doesn't make him eccentric, that makes him rude, unhelpful and not the type of person I ever want to speak to again.

THe batteries for electric assist weigh a hell of a lot - so not really worth it, in my view.

For what it's worth, we had 1 guy on it all this week, and at the end of the week, not only had he had his best week at Creative, but he was also free of any sign of terminal fatigue.

One of Velorution's cargo bikes has an electric assist on it, I haven't ridden it, but it's not that much heavier than the other bikes, just pushing it in and out of the shop.

I know you lot want it to be two wheeled and speedier, but I rate the christiannas, if for no other reason than the couple who invented them are really sweet and helpfull. You can get a locking box for them as well.

Another two wheeled option is the bakfiets, but I'm not sure that you can get a locking box on it that would be any good.

My biggest complaint about this thing wasn't that it kept breaking, it was the use of a rear derailleur. If any machine has ever cried out for a rohloff, it is a cargo bike. The freight 8 needed to have a long cage mech for a wide enough range of gears, but the mech was constantly hitting or hanging on shit and the hanger was bent a diferent way every time I looked at it. With the narrow streets, high curbs, and constant road works in London I think it ought to have an internal hub. when squeezing by stopped traffic near the right curb or walking the fucker over curbs, it was really easy to hit the mech. I don't know if there is a way to make an internally geared hub work with a mono-stay, if there is not, fuck the mono stay. The only advantage that I could discern was it being slightly easier to change flats. I have gone months without taking a wheel off my bike, just flip the bike upside-down and patch the fucker. I also found the front end a little punishing. I accept a steep front end is required for the small turning radius, but maybe a more compliant ride could be had with a dual blade fork instead of a massive aluminum tube mono-blade fork. On the other hand, maybe a slacker head angle would result in less stress to the frame.

I think that this thing was not made for 60 mile days of courier work. Maybe it would be great for gently carrying kids or delivering flowers or bagguettes, but this thing is not made for what we do. Some guy was riding a yellow freight 8 around clerkenwell last Friday, worked for AV2hire, also had a crack on the back of the rack/basket structure. Word is the boys in Manchester broke a few as well.

Burrows getting angry reminds me of a story of another great British eccentric getting pissed about people wrecking his shit. Way back in the day David Moulton (no relation to the little wheel freak) was building top class racing bikes for the British elite, went to California, built for Masi, started his own line, made great bikes. When the whole mountain bike thing kicked off he decided to get a piece of the action, after all he had built some top class cyclocross bikes in his day. He knew loads about bicycles, was a master frame builder, etc. He built some lightweight, beautiful mountain bikes that many riders destroyed. His first thought was that these guys didn't know how to ride and were abusing his creations. Fisher, Joe Breeze, Gary Klein, Keith Bontrager, etc. all decided to build bikes for the way people were riding. Mr. Moulton now writes Sci-fi novels.

Moral: look at how your product is used in the real world and design it for that level of abuse or get out of that segment of the market.

or maybe explicitly tell potential customers that this machine needs to be treated gently. very gently. and is best suited to areas with wide, smooth roads and no curbs, potholes, or anything to menace the delicate frame and low hanging mech. I think Mr. Burrows has a nifty design, but would not recommend it to London couriers.

-Janky

ps riding a shift on the cargo bike isn't very hard, I just felt like I could never get my position right and didn't like riding in street shoes.. never was very tiring, but my knees hurt so I gave it up. oh yeah.. and the prop stand was crap.

BTW, Jenky, what are the video equipment dudes doing about their crack?

"what are the video equipment dudes doing about their crack?"

s'okay, i hooked em up. please don't go stealing my customers.

check out www.bullittbikes.co.uk new player on the market, you might of seen floating about copenhagen. They claim to hold up to 160kg! They fit boxes too apparently, wooden or aluminium which are lockable.

Really - the Bullits look great: I wanna try 'em out.

You can try 'em out in the UK. Theres this guy that offers test rides, go on www.bullittbikes.co.uk and give him a shout, they seem pretty sweet!

Cycles Maximus are fantastic - but a trike in traffic just can't get through like a bike, power assist or not (which by the way is an abortion, and should be shot on sight!). Great as a pedicab, though.