Carrying groceries on your bike

[st nick]

I know this probably has been discussed before.

If you use your bike for such errands what is your method of transporting groceries or other items?

I have one bike with a rack and a large Wald basket that can handle a couple bags of groceries but sometimes as I rotate through my bikes I use the method pictured below of tying cloth sacks around the handlebar balancing the load.

I think this can be a risky method.

I need to find some decent grocery panniers.

Today I weighed these 2 sacks in bathroom scales.

Dang...36.2 pounds. Glad it was only 2 miles return trip .

Paul in Dallas

[Christian B-H]

Respect, Paul! That’s genius. I bought these durable ortlieb panniers to match my wife’s old bike in pre-pandemic commuting times once she’d gotten tired of the sweaty back pack commute in the summer humidity and while boring, they do a great job! Also a Soma Champs Elyse rack up front with Wald 137 and a SimWorks RAL tote have been awesome!  

[Ahmed Elgasseir]

Nice work Paul! I used to do the exact same thing in middle school when I had a paper route for the Contra Costa Times. 150 papers balanced on my handlebars every morning. 😊

Ahmed in Redwood City 

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[Alex K]

A recent Costco run! Pass And Stow rack, Wald 139 and a few RokStraps and we're golden...

Alex in SF

[Brian Witt]

so, this is my Giant commuter bike....a series of health 'issues' brought me to a place in my life where a 'step thru' was necessary..(.I am getting back on  the Quickbeam slowly and gratefully).... the front basket is a Wald 157, and  'Kitty Litter' buckets  with fittings that 'snap' onto the rear rack....The clips are by Klickfix, a german company, and I got them through velofred.com.  he carries a variety of mounting fixtures and accessories for bike bags, racks and panniers etc.   I have a 2 leg kickstand which makes loading the groceries much easier.   the clips are nice... when i get home i can lift the buckets off the bike and carry the groceries into the house...yeah, i know i could paint the litter buckets, but i kinda like the look!  

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[lucky...@gmail.com]

When it’s more than one bag of groceries I take my Emory Workhorse cargo bike with the enormous world-swallowing waxed canvas grocery bag (open, below, rolls down like a paper bag) I had made by local bagmaker Brandon of CycleCats. Fits A Lot.

On Oct 5, 2023, at 22:06, Brian Witt <brian...@gmail.com> wrote:



<E31FE92C-676F-4B06-886F-F0F438D26D0D_1_105_c.jpeg>

so, this is my Giant commuter bike....a series of health 'issues' brought me to a place in my life where a 'step thru' was necessary..(.I am getting back on  the Quickbeam slowly and gratefully).... the front basket is a Wald 157, and  'Kitty Litter' buckets  with fittings that 'snap' onto the rear rack....The clips are by Klickfix, a german company, and I got them through velofred.com.  he carries a variety of mounting fixtures and accessories for bike bags, racks and panniers etc.   I have a 2 leg kickstand which makes loading the groceries much easier.   the clips are nice... when i get home i can lift the buckets off the bike and carry the groceries into the house...yeah, i know i could paint the litter buckets, but i kinda like the look!  

On Thu, Oct 5, 2023 at 11:52 PM Alex K <ack...@gmail.com> wrote:

A recent Costco run! Pass And Stow rack, Wald 139 and a few RokStraps and we're golden...

Alex in SF

<0-1.jpg>

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[Luke Hendrickson]

Just got a B.O.B.!

[Eric Marth]

Hi Paul — If you're regularly hauling loads like in your picture it would be worthwhile to get set up with some good racks and panniers. A handlebar load of 36 lbs sounds dicey! I'm impressed you got a photo of the bars loaded up while in motion. 

I've had a few setups over the years. The one that allowed me the most volume was a LHT with front and rear Surly racks (they're very stout). I had a Wald 137 up front with a Sackville shop sack and I'd run two of the Jandd grocery panniers in the back. The Jandd bags are the size of a standard brown paper grocery bag. I could haul some serious weight! Sometimes I'd strap a 12-pack of seltzer to the flat part of the rack between two fully loaded panniers. These days I do much more frequent and smaller grocery runs with my Appaloosa or Hillborne. There's a nice grocery store that's 3/4 mile from my house and I go there frequently, sometimes every day. 

I use my bicycle as a grocery cart inside the store. Both of the grocery stores I frequent have bike racks outside but I've found that wheeling my bike inside saves me time and effort. I go in the store with the bike, fill the bag, check out, reload the bag, go home, take the groceries inside. On my Appaloosa I'll attach a Wald 139 to my Nitto M1 with Voile straps and then set a medium Sackville shopsack inside. My Hillborne has a Ron's Bikes Fab's Abs which holds enough for a small trip (avocados, chocolate, fermented beets, some carrots). Both bikes have a Widefoot liter cage which is good for managing a little extra volume like a quart of yogurt or certain bottles of sparkling water. There are a few items that fit a standard bottle cage as well. 

With the Appaloosa/Sackville combo I really appreciate being able to grab the bag out of the basket and walk inside. I've run Ron's Bikes Fab's Chest bags and used them for groceries. They hold a lot of stuff but when I get home I have to unload the bag into a box or something then carry everything inside and that's a pain. 

For a brief and shining moment one of the grocery stores offered a scanning app that allowed customers to scan barcodes with their phone. I only had to load up once, then scan my phone at the self-checkout. I loved that I didn't have to unload everything to scan it at checkout. That was great, I was so fast. Another note on expedience: locking up the bike outside adds two walks across the parking lot, plus unlocking, plus loading the bike with my bag of groceries. So I've settled on the bike-as-cart method. Works better for small and frequent trips rather than big hauls up to 40 pounds. 

I realize it's certainly not for everyone. I try to go at off times when the stores aren't very busy. It also attracts attention and some people find it odd or bothersome (because it's unexpected and different). Kids stare in wonder. 

Let us know what you end up doing!

[MisterMo]

^^This looks great, cool bike! But why use a B.O.B. when you have an open front basket and rear rack with no panniers?

On Friday, October 6, 2023 at 2:06:43 AM UTC-4 Luke Hendrickson wrote:

[Patrick Moore]

I've used baskets front and rear, saddlebags of various sizes and makes, and panniers on racks, and I always end up back with good panniers on a stout racks, either Tubus or custom. IME, stiff racks allow you to carry heavyish loads even on bikes with flexible frames -- I like my errand bikes to ride nicely unloaded; although I've used beaters my last few have been customs or nice Rivendell stock road models. My current Chauncey Matthews errand road bike is made of light, standard gauge tubing with custom front and rear racks and I've carried up to 50 lbs for short (<20 miles) distances without undue wobble. Sure, an Atlantis would be better for heavy loads but I would not find it as pleasant to ride unladen. (Funny, my best rear load carrier of all time was a very lightweight 531 1973 Motobecane with 11 oz Tubus Fly rack.

I've used various panniers but now favor Ortlieb backrollers, though I have to admit that the best grocery panniers of all time were made from 10 gallon kitchen trash cans bought on sale at Target for $5 and strapped to a Tubus Fly using dowels.

I'd be very wary of riding too far with loads slung from your handlebar as (1) the inertia makes steering far more ponderous and (2) the swinging actively throws steering off. I do confess to using this method myself occasionally after impromptu stops at the store while riding my gofast bike and the items won't fit in the musette I keep folded up in my seat pack, but then it's only 1/4 mile home.

46 lb load pictured, but I've carried 50 lb on this bike.

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Patrick Moore

Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum

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[Patrick Moore]

I've strapped saddlebags directly to the frame rails of my Flites. Here, with Barley, but I've also used the gofast with a medium Sackville to carry 30lb+ grocery loads. With the Saddlesack I use a Nitto wire guard to keep the bag off the stays.

[Mark Schneider]

I use my old Litespeed MTN Bike. A demi-porteur rack supports a large Fabio's Chest, I load it up, often fully extended. A small Sackville saddle sack in the rear holding my lock and maybe some light items. Works okay, the bike handles the weight fine. I've also used my Suzie, the rear rack supports a large Wald Rack, and some cheap panniers, I'm going to mount the chest on the front and see how it works. I was kicking myself for selling my old medium Saddlesack, but the chest is a good replacement.

I've seen people do the bags tied to the handlebars, seemed sketchy, but I'm old and have enough trouble staying upright.

[rlti...@gmail.com]

I started with a BOB trailer. Then went with a Bike Rev trailer made by the guy who does trailers for Bike Friday:

Then I went to a Big Dummy:

And then to a Tern Cargo Node to save garage real estate:

Now I’m using a Tern GSD e-cargo bike since it is small and the assist saves me a decent amount of time so I get to ride more and drive less:

I still want a Big Fat Dummy for some reason…

Robert Tilley

San Diego, CA

Sent from my iPhone

On Oct 5, 2023, at 6:28 PM, st nick <trueg...@att.net> wrote:



<IMG_20231005_161345625.jpg>

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<IMG_20231005_161345625.jpg>

[Wesley]

Include me in the pannier party. Once I felt I had reached the limit of safe riding with a Costco run (low-speed shimmies, though everything was smooth and stable at "speed".) Got home and weighed the load, it was 55 pounds. Rear rack only, Ortlieb "city" panniers.

-Wes

[Bernard Duhon]

 

 

47 year old REI panniers

I can put a medium size watermelon in em.

However nothing angular in the bottom which is reinforced with ducttape 😊

They just  might giveway.

Before anyone ask, those are upside down albatros bars.

 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Bernard F. Duhon

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[Luke Hendrickson]

@MisterMo: bc why not? :)

[Ted Fay]

I’ve been very happy with my Burly Nomad, and generally leave the hitch mounted on the bike most of the time. I’m not certain why trailers are not used by more people. I find it safer and easier to manage loads. Takes up a bit more space where ever you may be locking up, but that’s a small price.

[Caroline Golum]

I have a pretty simple setup: rear rack with a basket. Here's the configuration in action on my way to a DJ gig.

For bigger hauls I just throw panniers on either side of the rack

 

[Eric Floden]

It's been a few years since I was the grocery-getter in this household, but I used to use rear panniers and a very large backpack. The heavy stuff went in the panniers or low in the backpack.

I favour backpacks as a heavy guy (95 kg), as they enable me to use my legs as shock absorbers. (I also used one for my work commute.)

I tried a front basket but did not like it for any kind of load.

It worked for me as I lived down a hill from my grocery stores and could mostly coast home... 

EricF

[Dorothy C]

I have a Burley Nomad and a Burley Travoy (seat post mount). I have found that the axle hitch on the Nomad doesn’t fit on my little 26” Appaloosa as the curved drop out protector comes in too tight to allow the Nomad hitch to sit flat, so I leave the Nomad hitch on the Clem, and the Travoy hitch on the Appa.  I bought the extra shopping bags for the Travoy so loading it works better than the big soft sided bag it comes with.  I also have the choice of Backabike bags and a Nitto basket rack and Wald racer basket on the Clem if I am not shopping for as much stuff. The Clem is nice and stable with panniers - it is a 26” wheel 2019 45cm. 

[DavidP]

I came across this Kickstarter campaign for a rack mounted device designed to securely hold shopping bags and was reminded of this thread. It's interesting if you mostly use these types of reusable grocery bags.

-Dave

[maxcr]

An old Xtracycle FreeRadical works great but might be hard to get. Apologies for the bad photo but here you go:

(I'm trying to figure out how to swap my rear wheel from 700C to 650b to be able to fit a wider tire, but it doesn't seem to be possible with this early model)

 

Max

[Patrick Moore]

I carried a longboard to the Post Office just now in a single leftside Ortlieb Backroller to mail on behalf of my daughter to her boyfriend, and on the way home carried 22.5 lb (including bag) from Sprout's in the same single pannier. I could certainly feel the load pulling me to the left, but it wasn't horrible, even negotiating the very tight, sub-walking speed turns from street to bike-approved sidewalk and thence across a busy, fast 4-lane.

I had to be careful dismounting while carrying the longboard; the secret was to tilt the bike at a 45* angle to the right so I could swing my leg, knee bent and foot first, between package and saddle.

[Pam Bikes]

If you sometimes carry a lot and only infrequently, I'd definitely recommend the Travoy trailer.  It's so easy to put on/take off w/the hitch.  Max load is 50-60 lbs.  I repack everything outside for maximum efficiency.

[Jonathan Poor]

Trailer all the way!

Old Burley trailer, used to carry my two kids (now in their twenties), now carries a week's worth of groceries. 

That's a '98 Riv Road, (double-Joe) with wooden rims and tubulars. I need the 28x24 to get up the hill.

(gives my '92 240 Wagon a rest!)

(

[Bernard Duhon]

 

 

 

I have that Burley trailer which I purchased on eBay 19 years ago.

 

Used it for the grandchildren and heavy-duty groceries.

 

When they grew up I Gave it to a friend of my sons so he could take his children for a ride

 

Took it back from my son's friend when the last unexpected grandchild came along.

 

And it's back calling groceries!

 

I got my money's worth!!

 

From: 'Jonathan Poor' via RBW Owners Bunch <rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 17, 2023 10:20 AM
To: RBW Owners Bunch <rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com>

Subject: Re: [RBW] Re: Carrying groceries on your bike

 

Trailer all the way!

Old Burley trailer, used to carry my two kids (now in their twenties), now carries a week's worth of groceries. 

That's a '98 Riv Road, (double-Joe) with wooden rims and tubulars. I need the 28x24 to get up the hill.

(gives my '92 240 Wagon a rest!)

(

On Tuesday, October 17, 2023 at 8:40:01 AM UTC-4 Pam Bikes wrote:

If you sometimes carry a lot and only infrequently, I'd definitely recommend the Travoy trailer.  It's so easy to put on/take off w/the hitch.  Max load is 50-60 lbs.  I repack everything outside for maximum efficiency.

On Friday, October 13, 2023 at 4:32:02 PM UTC-4 Patrick Moore wrote:

I carried a longboard to the Post Office just now in a single leftside Ortlieb Backroller to mail on behalf of my daughter to her boyfriend, and on the way home carried 22.5 lb (including bag) from Sprout's in the same single pannier. I could certainly feel the load pulling me to the left, but it wasn't horrible, even negotiating the very tight, sub-walking speed turns from street to bike-approved sidewalk and thence across a busy, fast 4-lane.

 

I had to be careful dismounting while carrying the longboard; the secret was to tilt the bike at a 45* angle to the right so I could swing my leg, knee bent and foot first, between package and saddle.

 

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Patrick Moore

Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum

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A thing most brutish, I endowed thy purposes

With words that made them known.

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[Kaveh Askari]

Strapping technique for when you go to the junk shop to pick up a couple of buckets, and you find a working rowing machine for cheap. 

[Matthew Williams]

Not a Rivendell or even a bike, but here’s a guy who got creative:

<IMG_20231005_161345625.jpg>

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<IMG_8886.jpeg><IMG_20231005_161345625.jpg>

[Coal Bee Rye Anne]

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

[Patrick Moore]

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.

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[Coal Bee Rye Anne]

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

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Patrick Moore

Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum

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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.

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[Patrick Moore]

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

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[Coal Bee Rye Anne]

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

[Roberta]

I don't do too many grocery runs by bike anymore, since I can go to a selection of stores within 1/2 mile, so a walk with backpack is fine.  Still,  I'm set up like Carolyn, with basket on rack and panniers if I need more space.  I found that I don't like to be too unequal with weight when hauling.

However, when I did use my bike for rides to the co-op, I had collapsible Wald rear panniers and loved them.  Not in the way when not needed, there when I do!  No one was going to steal them off my bike either, so I was always prepared.  I think I still have them, so if anyone wants them, let me know and I'll check my stash.

Roberta

[Patrick Moore]

I often shop by bike at an Albertson's precisely 1/4 mile door to door by bike, not merely because the rt is perhaps 3 minutes shorter (it's only .15 mile by foot if I cut across the fitness center parking lot) but because it's easier to carry 30 lbs home in panniers than by hand, even for .15 mile, especially when your load includes bulky and heavy items. But I do try to walk just because walking is healthy. (My other "main" grocery stores are 2 Sprouts, 1 North at least 5.5 miles away through I often use detours, and 1 South 8/10 mile away, though I usually turn that into an at least 10-mile rt by riding a loop Northward and then doubling back on the RG recreational trail.)

BTW, for a capacious pannier that folds up discretely, the Brooks Brick Lane pannier pair that I recently acquired works very well, tho' you need to stiffen the inside bottoms if your rack does not have wide-spaced legs on each side to keep the bag from the spokes. I installed ~5" corroplast stiffeners which of course prevent the bags from rolling up, but I may replace the coroplast with 1" aluminum strip.