cargo bikes

You Can’t Do That On a Bike

Why is it that people’s first reaction to a lot of my riding or any suggestions about riding is “you can’t do that”. There are unspoken preconceptions of what you can and cannot do on a bike, and even what is “normal” to do on a bike.

In general, riding more than 5km is not “normal” on a bike, riding fast is not “normal” on a bike, riding for more than like and hour is not “normal”, folding a bike and taking it on the bus is not “normal”. The list goes on and on, but I will spare you the rambling.

So this comes down to a problem of how we define “normal”.

For most people, this is how it comes out. They don’t do those things like that, so why would anyone else.

Well, here are some of the things that people do on bikes that are slightly out of the ordinary.

Endurance

http://picasaweb.google.com/hellotopeter/Mobile#5471033951220163890

A recent post on Taiwan in Cycles talked out Jure Robic, a Slovene who is considered to possibly be the world’s greatest endurance athlete. The picture above is him after 2,530 miles and 7 days, 9 hours and twenty minutes on the bike. In that time he only got 9 hours sleep and consumed a mind boggling 100,000 calories. At a different time he set a 24 hours riding record of 834.7 km.

The article in the New York Times outlines the metal breakdown he goes through in his attempts at RAAM, a non-stop race across the USA.

Definitely not “normal”

Speed & Distance

http://picasaweb.google.com/hellotopeter/Mobile#5471035309137834018

Bicycles are usually considered fairly slow, but here are some figures…

200m flying start record (HPV): 132 km/h
downhill speed record (on snow): 210 km/h
24 hour distance record (HPV): 1041.25 km

These are all records that were set on human power alone. The reality is that these were all achieved with very specialized bicycles and in perfect conditions, which might lead you to discredit them.

But not so fast, because the entire Human Powered Vehicle crowd are basically University students and people who do it as a hobby. There are no big sponsorships and to use a computing metaphor is closer to the open source crowd than to the battles of the big names.

Big Stuff Transport

http://picasaweb.google.com/hellotopeter/Mobile#5471033954412823490

Let’s get a little more practical. Moving big stuff is often a reason for cars, but just like trucks are specialized motorized vehicles more moving lots of stuff, so there are also bike for doing the same thing.

Introducing the Long John. Nope, not a pair of underwear to keep your precious bits warm in the winter, but a bike for hauling big things, typically up to 120 kg or so.

Not for long distances probably, but definitely convenient for errands.

Kid Transport

http://picasaweb.google.com/hellotopeter/Mobile#5468000275273485762

As a parent of two, one of my main struggles is with just how to take the kids along on rides. Oftentimes it is just me by myself, so I need to be able to get both on one bike.

My solution is to take a very standard production bike, put a kid seat on the back and another one between the seat and handlebars. It works, but does lack a bit of comfort for longer rides, which is where my other favorite kind of bike kicks in.

The cargo bike is designed with a very long tail, which adds stability when putting lots of weight over the rear end of the bike.

Take Them Anywhere

http://picasaweb.google.com/hellotopeter/Mobile#5470327669696775330

And finally, if you really need to take a bike with you and are short of space, something like the little guy below fold really tiny and can take you short distances.

Taipei Bike Show 2010

This years show was pretty awesome with a wide scattering of bike and bike parts from big name brands down to much lesser unknown brands, and those without brands.

Although my primary focus is bikes, what I was aiming at with this show is to see just how well local companies manage to represent themselves to a worldwide audience. Not just to see what the big guys like Merida, Giant and Dahon are doing, but smaller guys who have carved out good niches for themselves.

Here’s the lowdown.

Amoeba Bikes

Amoeba make a whole host of bike stuff including handlebars, stems, bar ends, frames and other bits and pieces.

Amoeba are an example of a parts company that have really poured their efforts into their brand. I recognize this brand from years ago and even here at the show, the use of the manufacturing company’s name only appeared in some small places.

This emphasis on brand has, I think, given them a decent and permanent spot on the parts choice list of many riders.

This is their road bike model.

Bear’s Bikes

Bear’s Bikes is a local company making single speed bikes. These guys were sharing a portion of a booth with another company, but Bear’s were getting the vast majority of the attention.

Their stand was really well done. In a tiny space they managed to pack in just the right amount of bikes. They also have videos on the go of them and their buddies riding these bikes and doing all kinds of tricks and stuff. And the two guys manning the stand had intimate knowledge of their products, how they work and what they are good for.

This is a shining example of what can be done with a few contacts, enthusiasm and hard work. I’m not sure how well these bikes are selling, but they are riding on the wave of fixies and single speeds that seem to be doing the rounds at the moment. The main guy is also involved with Giant in some way, I can’t quite remember how.

They also have a bunch of videos on the Bear’s Bikes YouTube channel. Here’s my favorite one of the main dude doing some stuff that I would assume would break the bike.

Dodsun Bikes

The Dodson shown above features a Shimano Nexus hub and some pretty good looking, but probably extremely non-functional fenders. The more interesting bike was the one below.

The bike shown above is their classic road bike frame. This was mated to what the sales guy called the Campagnolo ’59 commerative groupset, made in the likeness of their 1959 groupset.

It had a really retro feel to it, especially with those downtube shifters.

Pictured above is a flat handlebar road bike from Dodson.

Favor Bikes

Favor Bikes are a local frame and fork manufacturer, the bike pictured above is based around their Spun single speed frameset.

HydraKnight

HydraKnight make bags, hydration kits and panniers. Although I don’t use a drinking bladder much anymore I used to use them all the time.

One of the primary things I like about local stuff is the price. I know the Camelbak was always a big investment of money, so I ended up using it for way longer than it was intended to be. My current Camelbak is over 10 years old.

The bladders are very solid and they incorporate some interesting designs. There is a bladder with two compartments inside so you can store an energy drink in one and water in the other, or any combination you can think of. The tubes from the two compartments are fed to a switch that selects which bladder to get liquid from, then goes to the section of pipe with the drinking thingy on the end.

The other cool thing was a range of very waterproof bags for commuting and touring. They come in different sizes and also include a handlebar bag that’s also waterproof.

Nankon Bikes

This long tailed cargo bike from Nankon was one of the highlights for me.

I have had my eyes on this style of bike for a long time now. With two kids it’s a bit of a mission to do any riding with them and I don’t have a bike setup quite right to take them both at the moment. Also the pricing on these is pretty expensive, with the well-known Surley Big Dummy cargo bike going for over US$2,495 as a full bike. This one would appear to be in a better price range and it’s made with aluminum rather than chromoly.

I’m hoping to get to try this one out sometime after I get in contact with them again.

The cyclocross offering from Nankon.

Girly Single Speed

This was propped up against a wall, I have no idea what company makes it but it looks pretty flash. The mix of the red aerospoke on the front, deep section white rim on the rear and gold cranks and handlebars are really stylish.

Free Parable

“Smart Low-Tech” is the moto of the folks at Free Parable. Based in Kaohsiung they design stuff for bikes.

Pictured above is the T1, which is a suitcase/trailer. When the wheels are folded up they are just like the little wheels on a normal suitcase. When they’re folded down they are read to act as a trailer that easily clips to an attachment on the quick release.

They also have what I’d like to call an inverted waterbottle holder. Instead of putting the bottle into a cage, you put an attachment onto the bottle itself, that attachment then clips to the parts on the bike. This allows any standard bottle to be clipped onto the bike.

Lastly was the Monkii, which is a folding tool carrier.

Polar

Sorry, couldn’t help myself.

Of course no show in Taiwan is complete without the scantily clad girls. Unlike Computex though, they were few and far between, and most of them were for slightly less heard of local or Chinese brands (it’s a local thing).

The lady above was a bit surprising as she was modelling for Polar, but it looks like all their stuff is made here. Polar are best known for their range of hear rate monitors.

Lian Hang New Product

These two were dressed just like the computex ladies, those shiny, plastic skirts and tops. Okay, okay these are my only pics of girls.

A Great Show Overall

After seven hours at the show I still only managed to get a good look at and talk to about 20% of the exhibitors, another 15% were just quick looks without talking to anyone.

Next time I hope to get more time to check everything out better. I was really impressed with the whole layout of the show and was amazed at how great it is go on a trade day as opposed to the weekend where it’s just a madhouse.

While stumbling around the Internet, looking for interesting cycling stuff I stumbled upon this blog here.

The blog is about a family in the US who completely gave up their car and attempted to live with bicycles as their sole form of transport. A pretty lofty goal in a country which is not particularly designed for that lifestyle, unlike Amsterdam and other such European countries.

One of their big helpers was the cargo bike.

What is a cargo bike?

A cargo bike is designed to carry a whole lot of stuff. It is designed from the start to support very heavy and very big loads.

The Yuba Mundo shown above is designed to carry up to 200kgs. The whole rear triangle is stretched backward to provide greater stability with increased load. The large rack is a part of the frame and it comes with a double-kickstand, perfect for loading on a few bags of cement. The folks from the blog mentioned above moved a washing machine and drier on one bike so it can take a fair bit of strain.

The other kind of load when dealing with a family is kids.

The bike featured above is strong enough and long enough to take two bike seats, so you can drag two little mites with. With Christina and Christopher I have my eye on this bike. Christopher at only 6 months is probably still a little young to go for a ride, but this makes a nice getaway vehicle for when he gets a little older.

Great for shopping and carting

I am very impressed with this bike. The model shown above costs USD$1,100 which is still expensive but much cheaper than any other bike in the same category. The kid seats are USD$150 each.

The utility of this bike makes a lot of sense. Here in Taiwan, long distances are never an issue, with most things being within a few kilometers of home. The only issues is the extreme summer heat and making sure a unique bike like this stays locked up.

If I had enough money to spare I might actually go for one of these. I would have to admit I’d put the money into my own bike stuff first, but this would make a great extra bike and perhaps when the kids are a year older it will look that much more appealing.