I am fortunate to live in a development adjacent to one of the trail heads to an expansive area of preserved grass and woodlands (much of it former farmland) with a growing network of multiuse paths. That particular location in the photo is not necessarily along my usual route, but a short detour onto one of the unmaintained alternate trails. A large part of the main trail has been paved with many others now packed gravel and stone dust but this is still a good example of the scenery I do get to experience whenever I do get out on the bike.
These trails now account for a significant % of my total mileage and I do certainly get to turn most bike errand runs into a pleasant outing. Unfortunately, my actual frequency of bike based errands or grocery runs has greatly decreased lately so the majority of my recent rides have become a variety of quick out and back loops or weekend family biking. With a trout stocked brook and a decent size lake on the opposite side of the park system just a few miles away we can arrange some extended bike based family outings so I've continued to experiment with various gear and kid hauling combinations the past few years, whenever time permits or when our growing child warranted adjustments with seating arrangements. Kid hauling has since been simplified to a second hand seat post mounted tag-a-long tandem type attachment now that he's outgrown the rear mounted child seats and started riding on his own. The tandem attachment is only fitted right now to my old 90's rigid MTB which lacks a front rack or basket and could use some revisiting for gear hauling solutions but I was otherwise happy to find a new use for the frame that had been at risk of offloading for sometime. The Schwinn does make a very nice beater grocery bike but I've honestly been tempted on a few occasions to strip it down and give it a spray.bike repaint. It's paint is in the worst condition of all my current bikes and after having it serviced and aligned at a local shop after some initial handling issues with the first build, I've since enjoyed it enough to think a fresh coat of paint and re-build could be entirely worthwhile. On the other hand, I continue to appreciate it's current state and a complete lack of concern for it's cosmetics so I eventually reconsider and leave it alone. It was an unexpected and opportunistic acquisition from a co-op that was a short ride from my former office. I would occasionally drop in there to bring donated boxes of no longer needed parts and/or spend time digging through the bins for occasional needed items for other projects when I happened to see the huge frame in the rafters. Brought it home that day and it's served me well ever since so I may just end up giving it a full makeover one of these days if I find the time. Brian Cole On Wednesday, October 18, 2023 at 9:01:52 PM UTC-4 Patrick Moore wrote: > Thanks for the background, Brian. The Schwinn looks like the idea beater > grocery bike and if your shopping route includes that background you > certainly make a chore into a pleasant outing. > > I tried big front baskets on a couple of bikes but failed to reinforce the > very inadequate Wald hardware and so got poor results. I did try a big and > stiff and heavy porteur rack on the front of a 1958 low trail Herse (far > from being a collectors' item this was an orphan rejected by 2 previous > owners including Jan Heine who brought it in from France; tubing too thick > or something. More below*) with a big custom bag for the rack, but with the > sorts of grocery weights I often carry -- 30 or 35 lb is common, I've > carried up to 50 lb -- even the Herse complained. I went back to rear loads > which my Rivendell road bikes and various old road/racing frames handled > with decorum and even aplomb. But if I were riding just a couple of miles > to the store and had to lock a bike up outside (I wheel mine inside to use > as shopping carts) I'd want a beater like that Schwinn. > > *For me, very much the contrary. I don't know if it was planing, but it > was one of the rare bikes that made me cruise in a cog 1 tooth smaller. But > while it pedaled very well, it didn't handle my kind of loads well, *and* the > damning factor was that I didn't particularly like the handling, loaded or > unloaded. It wasn't horrible, it just felt rather vague and uninteresting > compared to so many other bikes available to me; so I sold it to someone > who really was glad to get it. > > On Wed, Oct 18, 2023 at 6:43 PM Coal Bee Rye Anne <lionsrug...@gmail.com> > wrote: > >> It’s been a long time since I’ve actually front loaded the Clem. Not >> because I felt it handled so poorly or anything, more because I just >> decided to put baskets on other bikes to fulfill hauling and errand running >> needs and was more or less at a peak for parts swapping among various >> projects at the time. I ended up trading away not only the rack but also >> the Bosco bars and stem pictured so just never circled back to front >> loading the Clem once I parted ways with the Surly rack. The Clem also >> later evolved into a front child seat dad bike with rear rack added for >> those small OYB panniers. My Clem currently has a Nitto mini 32f Campee >> with just a battery light attached up front and still debating whether to >> go with a small bag or basket on top. >> >> To properly answer your question, however, I do want to say it seemed ok >> at speed but definitely cumbersome during turns and low speed maneuvers. >> Even unloaded the Surly rack and crate combo had a noticeable feel with >> steering. Not in a bad way but certainly more noticeable than with a 2yr >> old in a stem mounted front seat where the added weight in line with the >> steering column seemed to more or less cancel itself out in use. >> >> I honestly think the wheel flop (when parked and loading/unloading) >> bothered me a bit more than the impact on steering when in motion. Once I >> acquired that XL Raleigh frame with locking fork crown I quickly made that >> a front loader basket bike with a large Wald to take advantage of the fork >> lock and fully eliminate those sudden, loaded wheel flops. >> >> I’ve since moved that same Wald 139 basket to this Schwinn (finally >> snapped a pic of this current build earlier today when sneaking out for a >> quick loop.) This setup certainly begs to be lowered/centered more and >> better reinforced due to a somewhat flimsy bar attachment because of how I >> adapted the original bar brackets to fit offset brackets and increase bar >> to basket drop on the Raleigh. Basically there’s extra play in the >> extended drop causing some basket wobble, so I haven’t really loaded this >> up with too much weight since changing bikes. >> >> To clarify what I mean by adapting the brackets; I bought this basket >> locally at a discount as it was missing some of the hardware that would >> usually be included. I first installed it on a bike for my wife but she >> determined she no longer wanted or needed such a large basket so to the >> parts box it went. I wanted to use it on the taller Raleigh pictured >> earlier but the stock brackets made the basket sit both too high from the >> wheel and too close to the bars than desired (plus I had cut down the >> original struts for my wife’s installation so needed longer struts as >> well.) I ended up buying a mounting kit for a Wald giant delivery basket >> to get new adjustable struts plus the offset L brackets. Then I hammered >> out and flattened the stock U shaped bar brackets and bolted these at full >> length to the L brackets to get the bar drop and reach needed with the >> short reach but extended quill stem. This worked great on the Raleigh >> shown but on the current Chocomoose & Schwinn build the reach of the >> Chocomoose cancels out the offset of the L brackets but still needed some >> of the extra drop so I flipped and rotated the entire assembly until the >> basket leveled. It’s all the same assembly and hardware placement as on >> the Raleigh but with noticeably more flex this time around so it just >> doesn’t feel as robust and may ultimately find a sturdier rack mounted >> alternative and ditch the bar brackets altogether at some point. >> >> Also just found the pic of the Wald 139 build v1.0 on my wife’s VO! >> >> Brian Cole >> >> >> >> On Wednesday, October 18, 2023, Patrick Moore <bert...@gmail.com> wrote: >> > How did the Clem handle with all that weight in the front, especially so >>> much of it so high? I've never been able to carry more than about 20 lb >>> comfortably (wrt handling) in the Rivendells I've owned. >>> >>> On Wed, Oct 18, 2023 at 1:38 PM Coal Bee Rye Anne <lionsrug...@gmail.com> >>> wrote: >>> >> Many impressive bike (and scooter!) hauling examples here. Going through >>>> some photo archives I’ve dug up some of my own hauling builds. >>>> >>>> One of my early Clem H builds with Surly front rack and crate. >>>> >>>> Raleigh Sports 3-speed preparing for Three-speed October ‘16. >>>> >>>> My ‘upsized’ Raleigh replacement basket bike from two autumns ago. Now >>>> in basket less go-fast mode. >>>> >>>> Brian Cole >>>> >>>> -- >>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>>> Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. >>>> >>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>>> an email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com. >>> >>> >>>> To view this discussion on the web visit >>>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CABp0VCPpd%2B%3D%2BsNZ4mywTiUWjZE%2B7SHu1auKz8uPL5jd4WOrc8w%40mail.gmail.com >>>> >>>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CABp0VCPpd%2B%3D%2BsNZ4mywTiUWjZE%2B7SHu1auKz8uPL5jd4WOrc8w%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >>>> . >>>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> >>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- >>> Patrick Moore >>> Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum >>> >>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >>> >>> Executive resumes, LinkedIn profiles, bios, letters, and other writing >>> services. >>> >>> >>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >>> >>> *When thou didst not, savage,* >>> >>> *Know thine own meaning, but wouldst gabble like* >>> >>> *A thing most brutish, I endowed thy purposes* >>> >>> *With words that made them known.* >>> >>> -- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>> Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. >>> >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >>> email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com. >> >> >>> To view this discussion on the web visit >>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CALuTfgvOQVqBGeTzhpKSN%3DYW1gMEtnC4UJ2kq9O7YwZ_FVB9fw%40mail.gmail.com >>> >>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CALuTfgvOQVqBGeTzhpKSN%3DYW1gMEtnC4UJ2kq9O7YwZ_FVB9fw%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >>> . >>> >> -- >> > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "RBW Owners Bunch" group. >> > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com. >> To view this discussion on the web visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CABp0VCM0NWb_5uQPGnpNq-GaxSS-82zsen2SuG6duEanAhj3mw%40mail.gmail.com >> >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CABp0VCM0NWb_5uQPGnpNq-GaxSS-82zsen2SuG6duEanAhj3mw%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > > > -- > > ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Patrick Moore > Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum > > ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Executive resumes, LinkedIn profiles, bios, letters, and other writing > services. > > > ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > *When thou didst not, savage,* > > *Know thine own meaning, but wouldst gabble like* > > *A thing most brutish, I endowed thy purposes* > > *With words that made them known.* > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. 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