18 March 2012

This bicycle thing is addicitive.

It was somewhat foggy on Saturday, and the forecast's notion that this would burn off by mid-morning turned out not to be the case; it was gloomy and atmospheric at True North. (That's a stonking great crow, not a raven, but you would have had to have been there to hear it calling to be sure of that from this picture.)

The Experiment, down to a frame and delivered for  a combination of fork upgrades to allow SON SL dynohubs to work and re-painting.  (Re-painting being about the only way to get the car scuff from last May off it.)  I continue to be astonished by how much the frame doesn't weigh, all by itself like that.

 The front platform rack for the town bike. I'm referring to this bike as the rickshaw, since much of the goal in having it is to be able to take Aoife for bike rides.  (She appears to really like this, and it makes her much less determined to bolt outside, which I consider a net win.  Cats smart enough to figure out you can't reach through parked cars and to sit there contentedly while you try to entice them out with treats can be very bad for getting to work on time.)
So I'll need to make a deck and a lid for the rack; the deck should be pretty easy, and the lid may well be lamentably like a challenge.

Complete pictures forthcoming when I've got some.

2 comments:

Janice in GA said...

That's an amazing front rack!

If you're not set on building your own carrier, there are some baskets available for purchase. Some have little domed wire lids to keep pets secured. Many, however, appear to cater to women with cutesy little frou-frou dogs. Alas.

This reminds me that I need to see if I can make the $10 kid stroller I got work as a dog trailer, since my dog is neither small nor frou-frou. Hmm.

Graydon said...

I have a great stonking wicker-and-wire thing that would work in principle -- Aoife approves of it -- but which I was never able to satisfactorily attach to a bicycle.

While I could in principle just bungee the thing on top of that rack, it seems like it would not be a net win.

I think it will be relatively straightforward to put a deck -- which I need anyway -- on that rack, and then get a wire object of some kind (window baskets for moss beds exist commercially in about the right size) and put a bottom edge on it.

Hopefully these are not famous last words!

I have seen single-wheel trailers being used for successfully for dogs; I've seen only very few strollers with wheel bearings that I'd expect to not disintegrate at bicycle speeds. (Most of which were Chariot bike trailers with stroller adapters applied.)