Costco runs on bicycle (Was:Front rack w/ basket and panniers)

[Patrick Moore]

Reed: please post a photo of one of those 50 lb loads when you get a chance.

Question about Costco runs on a bike. I've used my bike (not a Rivendell, old Motobecane racing bike with panniers good for 40 lb) for one or two Costco trips, but approach to both Costcos on the Westside of ABQ, where I live, is by 4 or 6 lane, 50 mph arteries, and involve at least half a mile and, in the case of the easternmost one, a couple of miles, of very busy multi-lane boulevards with high side traffic: not something I care to do with a heavily loaded bike. All Costcos I've seen are similarly situated. How do you who bike-shop at Costco handle this?

And what sort of bike and rack system do you (= all y'all) use? My purchases, put off as long as I can because I hate shopping at big box stores, usually include cases of beer, 50 lb bags of dog food, 60-count flats of eggs, and so forth.

My next door neighbor would probably sell his Extracycle setup cheap; that with a hub motor would be a nice carrier if I in fact give my car to my daughter in the fall. Just thinking out loud ...

On Thu, Mar 9, 2017 at 9:52 AM, Reed Kennedy <re...@notfine.com> wrote:

I run a Nitto Campee front rack with removable low-rider pannier mount on my Hunq, with a Wald basket up top. It all works great.

Some folks (BQ, for instance) worry about stiffening a fork by attaching a rack at the top and bottom, reenforcing it. I try to avoid it on my lighter-tubed BQ-style bikes. But the Hunq uses fairy thick, heavy, rigid tubes of its fork. There isn't much flex to lose, so I don't worry about it on Riv-style bikes.

As for damaging the fork? Unless you do something you obviously shouldn't, I can't imagine how you'd damage it. I do 50lb Costco runs with my front basket and pannier setup (the Nitto is rated for 35lbs) and while it isn't fun, nothing seems anywhere near breaking.


Reed

On Thu, Mar 9, 2017 at 8:31 AM Timothy Orr <timothyc...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hey! I'm about to acquire my first Riv😁. I was planning to run the Surly front rack 2.0 with a Wald 139 and front panniers, but I've heard that running a basket with panniers on the same rack will really stiffen the front fork and could potentially cause some damage to the fork. I've seen lots of folks who run a separate rack for the basket and use lowriders for front panniers, so I'm wondering if there something I'm missing. The Surly rack, like the Nitto 34f, mounts to the dropouts and the mid-blade braze-ons. I'd consider carrying some weight in the rear, but that's where I put the seat for my son to ride along around town. Any feedback or personal experiences?

Thanks!

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Alburquerque, Nouvelle Mexique,  Vereinigte Staaten

****************************************************************************************

The point which is the pivot of the norm is the motionless center of a circumference on the contours of which all conditions, distinctions, and individualities revolve. Chuang Tzu

Stat crux dum volvitur orbis. (The cross stands motionless while the world revolves.) Carthusian motto

It is we who change; He remains the same. Eckhart

Kinei hos eromenon. (It moves [all things] as the beloved.) Aristotle

Le sacre est la projection du Centre celeste dans la peripherie cosmique, ou du "Moteur immobile" dans le flux des choses. F Schuon, Le Sens du Sacre, Etudes Traditionnelles, 1r q 1979

[Brian Campbell]

I use a 2006 Honda Accord for Costco. If your personal safety is in question, might be best to use the correct tool for the job.

On Thursday, March 9, 2017 at 12:05:37 PM UTC-5, Patrick Moore wrote:

Reed: please post a photo of one of those 50 lb loads when you get a chance.

Question about Costco runs on a bike. I've used my bike (not a Rivendell, old Motobecane racing bike with panniers good for 40 lb) for one or two Costco trips, but approach to both Costcos on the Westside of ABQ, where I live, is by 4 or 6 lane, 50 mph arteries, and involve at least half a mile and, in the case of the easternmost one, a couple of miles, of very busy multi-lane boulevards with high side traffic: not something I care to do with a heavily loaded bike. All Costcos I've seen are similarly situated. How do you who bike-shop at Costco handle this?

And what sort of bike and rack system do you (= all y'all) use? My purchases, put off as long as I can because I hate shopping at big box stores, usually include cases of beer, 50 lb bags of dog food, 60-count flats of eggs, and so forth.

My next door neighbor would probably sell his Extracycle setup cheap; that with a hub motor would be a nice carrier if I in fact give my car to my daughter in the fall. Just thinking out loud ...

On Thu, Mar 9, 2017 at 9:52 AM, Reed Kennedy <re...@notfine.com> wrote:

I run a Nitto Campee front rack with removable low-rider pannier mount on my Hunq, with a Wald basket up top. It all works great.

Some folks (BQ, for instance) worry about stiffening a fork by attaching a rack at the top and bottom, reenforcing it. I try to avoid it on my lighter-tubed BQ-style bikes. But the Hunq uses fairy thick, heavy, rigid tubes of its fork. There isn't much flex to lose, so I don't worry about it on Riv-style bikes.

As for damaging the fork? Unless you do something you obviously shouldn't, I can't imagine how you'd damage it. I do 50lb Costco runs with my front basket and pannier setup (the Nitto is rated for 35lbs) and while it isn't fun, nothing seems anywhere near breaking.


Reed

On Thu, Mar 9, 2017 at 8:31 AM Timothy Orr <timothyc...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hey! I'm about to acquire my first Riv😁. I was planning to run the Surly front rack 2.0 with a Wald 139 and front panniers, but I've heard that running a basket with panniers on the same rack will really stiffen the front fork and could potentially cause some damage to the fork. I've seen lots of folks who run a separate rack for the basket and use lowriders for front panniers, so I'm wondering if there something I'm missing. The Surly rack, like the Nitto 34f, mounts to the dropouts and the mid-blade braze-ons. I'd consider carrying some weight in the rear, but that's where I put the seat for my son to ride along around town. Any feedback or personal experiences?

Thanks!

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[Austin ^]

On the infrequent occasions I need to do a costco run I bring a flatbed trailer, haulin colin trailer pulled by my hillborne. I have one big tub with a lid that takes up ~75% of the deck for "smaller" items and leave bulky things like tp out in the open. I keep a variety of straps and bungees in the tub for whatever configurations are needed. It easily handles loads of around 150 lbs but is rated for much higher, and while my local costco isn't freeway adjacent there is a bit of traffic riding and hills are unavoidable. I can load the trailer with way more stuff than I would normally get with racks/bags/basket and the low center of gravity makes the weight surprisingly not as difficult as expected. Two taillights and a big hi vis triangle in back make the otherwise large red trailer more conspicuous. The only thing like a problem I encounter are the racks at the store - While covered, they're not what I would think of as racks that would accommodate a bike anyone would actually take to shop at costco, requiring some creativity in parking. 

[Patrick Moore]

Austin: thanks. And yes, parking might be a problem. Can you describe your "creativity"?

On Thu, Mar 9, 2017 at 11:22 AM, Austin ^ <orangec...@gmail.com> wrote:

On the infrequent occasions I need to do a costco run I bring a flatbed trailer, haulin colin trailer pulled by my hillborne. I have one big tub with a lid that takes up ~75% of the deck for "smaller" items and leave bulky things like tp out in the open. I keep a variety of straps and bungees in the tub for whatever configurations are needed. It easily handles loads of around 150 lbs but is rated for much higher, and while my local costco isn't freeway adjacent there is a bit of traffic riding and hills are unavoidable. I can load the trailer with way more stuff than I would normally get with racks/bags/basket and the low center of gravity makes the weight surprisingly not as difficult as expected. Two taillights and a big hi vis triangle in back make the otherwise large red trailer more conspicuous. The only thing like a problem I encounter are the racks at the store - While covered, they're not what I would think of as racks that would accommodate a bike anyone would actually take to shop at costco, requiring some creativity in parking. 

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[franklyn]

Though I have a Costco card, I don't shop there regularly, if at all. But it just so happens that the Costco nearest to me is in Richmond, CA and is just off the Bay Trail and adjacent to a very popular public dog park. Tons of bike/pedestrian traffic goes by Costco all the time.

Every 2-3 months I will purchase a 20-lb bag of California-grown brown rice from the local farmers' market, along with whatever grocery haul I have at the time. My Kogswell with a porteur rack and bag handles this 3--40lbs load splendidly. This picture shows the P/R with Swift Industries Polaris porteur bag. Currently I am using a slightly smaller and more compressible ILE Porteur bag that works really well. 

What my setup is not great for is bulky odd-shaped stuff. In that instance, I tend to take off the porteur bag and use just the bare rack and bungee chords.

Franklyn

[Jim Bronson]

The Costco in SW Austin has a freeway in the front of it, but on the backside there is green space and gravel walking paths that are smooth enough for riding.  Additionally, the roads that abut to the backside of the store and green space are bicycle friendly.

That being said I've never tried to make a bike run, but would be interested in doing so now that I read that other people have taken bike runs to Costco.

-Jim

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[Ben Van Dyke]

I've owned a Big Dummy for a number of years and it works exceedingly well for these types of trips. Can fit four large grocery bags in the back no problem, I do this almost every week. On occasion, I've found myself carrying five cases of beer, a Weber grill and cooler, a live adult human, a complete bicycle and other assorted heavy loads. I don't have a front rack on it either, you could increase the capacity substantially with a big touring or porteur rack.

I find the bike handles fine with a big load, although the steering can get a little squirrelly (a front load might help here). Overall its an incredibly fun and useful bike, I even enjoy riding it unloaded and find kind of a perverse joy in seeing how much junk I can carry with it. 

[Joe Bunik]

maybe they'd let you wheel something like this through the aisles:
http://www.dinosaursandrobots.com/2009/08/david-mahans-ingenuous-grocery-getter.html

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> Resumes, LinkedIn profiles, bios, and letters that get interviews.
> By-the-hour resume and LinkedIn coaching.
> Other professional writing services.
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> Patrick Moore
> Alburquerque, Nouvelle Mexique, Vereinigte Staaten
> **************************************************************************
> **************

> *The point which is the pivot of the norm is the motionless center of a

> circumference on the contours of which all conditions, distinctions, and

> individualities revolve. *Chuang Tzu
>
> *Stat crux dum volvitur orbis.* *(The cross stands motionless while the
> world revolves.) *Carthusian motto
>
> *It is *we *who change; *He* remains the same.* Eckhart
>
> *Kinei hos eromenon.* (*It moves [all things] as the beloved.) *Aristotle
>
> *Le sacre est la projection du Centre celeste dans la peripherie cosmique,
> ou du "Moteur immobile" dans le flux des choses. *F Schuon, *Le Sens du
> Sacre, *Etudes Traditionnelles, 1r q 1979

>
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[Austin ^]

Nothing too crafty, the racks in question are basically a few of these - http://www.parkitbikeracks.com/br-04-traditional-galvanized-bike-racks - chained together right outside the exit portal. If there are only one or two other bikes I can park parallel to the rack, taking up a large amount of the intended capacity. If there are a few other folks using the racks I've had to park my bike on top of the rack (awkward) with the trailer sort of where the designer originally intended bikes to go. It's really more of a solution for costco employees who ride to work than taking a bike on a costco run. It's a notable contrast to the staple racks that are making up the current bike corral designs. 

[Patrick Moore]

Now that's cute! I'd buy one, though I don't know if there is any particular merit for this role in the small wheels. I think I'd find it rather long to wheel through the aisles, though I happily do that with my own regular length bikes.

Austin: Gotcha. My west-most-side Costco has a cemented in "undulating Us" rack down the wall from the exit, which is never used by anyone that I've seen except, once or twice, by myself. So lockup is no problem. 

It's just getting through the car-afflicted bottlenecks and dealing with the car choked bottlenecks. At my age and speed, I think I'd want power assist to speed me through those areas, involving hills, on any bike big enough to carry a Costco-sized load.

[Christopher Murray]

If I were in that situation I'd buy a trailer designed for kids. You can find cheap ones for sale used. It is easy to put a bunch of large reflectors on it. It's sealed from the weather. It is easy to detach/attach. Drivers seem to be super cautious when they see one (no one wants to run over a bunch of little kids). IF someone were to hit you from behind they'd hit the trailer first-- hopefully increasing your chances of escaping unscathed. They can also hold a ton of weight and are very stable.

It is wide but it is also bright and large. I'm much less afraid of getting hit by someone who sees me than someone who doesn't.

I have a decent one you can have for free if you want to pick it up in North Dakota!

Cheers!
Chris

[John Stowe]

"Our" Costco in Arlington, VA is about as well situated as one can hope for, with bike lanes all the way there and proximity to a major trail. There's a bike rack near the entrance, though it seems to be used mainly by employees. I've convinced the staff to let me wheel the bike through the store a couple of times when my son was sleeping in his seat.

We signed up primarily for diapers and baby formula, and in the diaper days I would often stop on my way home and load up my Pass & Stow porteur rack, with other small items in my rear pannier or even piled up in front:

https://flic.kr/p/igxQLd

I don't buy 40 lb. bags of mulch or dog food, though. For that I would want a longtail or box bike (bakfiets).

[Patrick Moore]

Chris, that's probably the most practical solution for a trip I'd make at most once a month (because I hate big box stores, I generally put Costco off even more). I could put a big "Baby On Board!!!" sign on the back for additional safety, and perhaps play amplified noise of toddlers screaming and fighting, with a device to toss rattles, sippy cups and bottles out on the driver side along particularly difficult parts of the route.

Seriously, the best solution for my purposes yet, though I've always wanted one of these:

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Patrick Moore

Alburquerque, Nouvelle Mexique,  Vereinigte Staaten

****************************************************************************************

[Jon BALER]

I made a bike run to our local wholesale club, BJ's, in Columbia, MD today.

Jon

Ellicott City, MD

On Friday, March 10, 2017 at 2:58:45 PM UTC-5, Patrick Moore wrote:

Chris, that's probably the most practical solution for a trip I'd make at most once a month (because I hate big box stores, I generally put Costco off even more). I could put a big "Baby On Board!!!" sign on the back for additional safety, and perhaps play amplified noise of toddlers screaming and fighting, with a device to toss rattles, sippy cups and bottles out on the driver side along particularly difficult parts of the route.

Seriously, the best solution for my purposes yet, though I've always wanted one of these:

On Thu, Mar 9, 2017 at 8:34 PM, Christopher Murray <chrispm...@gmail.com> wrote:

If I were in that situation I'd buy a trailer designed for kids. You can find cheap ones for sale used. It is easy to put a bunch of large reflectors on it. It's sealed from the weather. It is easy to detach/attach. Drivers seem to be super cautious when they see one (no one wants to run over a bunch of little kids). IF someone were to hit you from behind they'd hit the trailer first-- hopefully increasing your chances of escaping unscathed. They can also hold a ton of weight and are very stable.

It is wide but it is also bright and large. I'm much less afraid of getting hit by someone who sees me than someone who doesn't.

I have a decent one you can have for free if you want to pick it up in North Dakota!

Cheers!
Chris

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[Christopher Murray]

Who doesn't love cargo bikes! I just bought one of these (arrived in North Dakota today after a trip from California). Of course it needs some Rivification.

Cheers!
Chris

On Friday, March 10, 2017 at 1:58:45 PM UTC-6, Patrick Moore wrote:
> Chris, that's probably the most practical solution for a trip I'd make at most once a month (because I hate big box stores, I generally put Costco off even more). I could put a big "Baby On Board!!!" sign on the back for additional safety, and perhaps play amplified noise of toddlers screaming and fighting, with a device to toss rattles, sippy cups and bottles out on the driver side along particularly difficult parts of the route.
>
>
> Seriously, the best solution for my purposes yet, though I've always wanted one of these:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

> On Thu, Mar 9, 2017 at 8:34 PM, Christopher Murray <chrispm...@gmail.com> wrote:
> If I were in that situation I'd buy a trailer designed for kids. You can find cheap ones for sale used. It is easy to put a bunch of large reflectors on it. It's sealed from the weather. It is easy to detach/attach. Drivers seem to be super cautious when they see one (no one wants to run over a bunch of little kids). IF someone were to hit you from behind they'd hit the trailer first-- hopefully increasing your chances of escaping unscathed. They can also hold a ton of weight and are very stable.
>
>
>
> It is wide but it is also bright and large. I'm much less afraid of getting hit by someone who sees me than someone who doesn't.
>
>
>
> I have a decent one you can have for free if you want to pick it up in North Dakota!
>
>
>
> Cheers!
>
> Chris
>
>
>
> --
>
> 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.
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[Patrick Moore]

You should go work for Uber! Please give us more photos and a ride description when you get a chance.

Is this meant to carry small children?

[Christopher Murray]

It is a Nihola 4.0 from Practical Cycle in Sacramento. Mine is orange which is, of course, the best color. It is meant to transport small children but has a 260 lb cargo capacity (excluding the rider). We've always talked about getting one and decided to just go for it. Initial impressions in terms of build quality, component selection, and ride quality are very good. We are very excited about it.

Ride report to follow.

Cheers!
Chris