bike move organization

[Joseph Ford]

I'm trying to get the ball rolling for some more pedal powered moves. When there’s an actual event planned it will go out on the TW calendar. Until then, I’ll be using this discussion as
a means to organize folks and to post related information. If you have an interest,
let me know, or just follow this discussion.

 

If you’re not sure what a bike move is all about, here’s some links to check out: 

• youtube video of a Portland bike move - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fq3oSyvXLiY 
• pics of local bike move http://www.flickr.com/photos/11715101@N04/sets/72157619442070801/ there’s also more pics of the same bike move here on the TW site in the photos section (they’re currently on page 21 but I think that will change as people add more photos)

 

The biggest difficulty I’ve had in past efforts to organize bike moves is finding someone moving who wants to have their stuff moved by bike, has a move that is
appropriate for pedal power and wants to turn their move into a community event. So what is a move appropriate for pedal power? A
relatively flat distance of less than 7 miles is probably ideal. What’s
relatively flat? Well, I’d say any grades of significant distance should be
less than 8% and any short hills less than 12%. More extreme situations are definitely
possible but I’d like to keep the first few moves accessible to riders of
varying abilities. That way we can turn them into festive events where a broad
range of folks can participate and come together to demonstrate how the power of community can accomplish things that most folks believe is impossible without the use of fossil fuels... and have fun while doing it.

 

If any of you want to put the word out to potential movees please do so. You now know what an appropriate move is, soon I’ll be posting some follow up info on what is needed
to make a bike move happen, various options for hauling cargo on a bike, some
ideas I have for bike move events, and some other related info. Meanwhile feel
free to ask questions if you have any.

[Rick Dubrow]

I'd like to at least inform realtors I know about this service. They are right there when folks start thinking about moving, so green-leaning realtors may be great 'sales people' for this idea. Is it ok, Joseph, to give out your email address for people to contact?

[Joseph Ford]

yes.
Rick Dubrow said:

I'd like to at least inform realtors I know about this service. They are right there when folks start thinking about moving, so green-leaning realtors may be great 'sales people' for this idea. Is it ok, Joseph, to give out your email address for people to contact?

[Joseph Ford]

Here’s the critical pieces to make a bike move work.
• Riders, the more the better
• equipment for carrying cargo (I’ll get more specific about that later.)
• lots of moving blankets, lots of tie downs, i.e. bungees, cam straps, old bike tubes etc.
• organization – like any other activity where a lot of people are jumping in to help, things need to
be well staged beforehand to maximize the ability of the group to work efficiently – everything that’s
going to be moved by bike should be completely packed up and ready to go out the door, or better
yet, be in the driveway, on the curb, etc.
• coffee and snacks provided by movee to get things going
• food and drinks for the after party provided by the movee – this is a small price to pay compared to
the costs of a conventional move – it need not be elaborate, pizza and beer works

Just to give you and idea of how it can look - at our june bike move we had about 9 or 10 riders, most of them not very well equipped. We moved a relatively sparse 2 bedroom house in 2.5 loads. Although there wasn’t an abundance of stuff to move there were plenty of large bulky things including 2 couches, tables and chairs, bookshelves, 2 full size beds etc. It was fairly easy and went pretty smoothly. It was a short distance and was over quicker than anyone anticipated. We had a slow start at about 10 am, moved everything from the inside of the first house to inside the destination house and were eating and drinking shortly after noon.

I would like to require that anyone we move commit to try living car free for one week. If they feel that is not possible then they can commit to reducing car trips by 25% for one month. They would be on the honor system and could complete their experiment anytime before October 2010. This way we continue to promote the idea that, at least as far as getting ourselves and our things around, living without a fossil fuel subsidy is pretty easy. I think that this is a reasonable request and could be accomplished by anyone who chose to give it a go. I’ve been told before that I’m unrealistic about such things so I’ll leave it up to y’all to give me a reality check if needed.

[Rob Olason]

Joseph, what sort of bike trailer "strength" (for lack of a better word) would one need in order to haul a couch or something else heavy, like a stove? The bike trailer equipment I've seen is usually very light weight and could possibly buckle under too much weight. I'm thinking that the stronger the trailer, the heavier it is and more weight to move, just in the trailer. Are there heavier trailers that can be pulled by two bikes at once?

[Joseph Ford]

Here's the short answer for now. You need a heavy duty trailer. Tony's Trailers or Bikes at Work both make serious trailers. I have a friend who owns a Bikes at Work trailer who was gracious enough to lend it out at the last bike move. Trailers like that really make a bike move work.

I tried to add hyperlinks to the sites but it's not working. Just google either one if you want to see more about them

Rob Olason said:

Joseph, what sort of bike trailer "strength" (for lack of a better word) would one need in order to haul a couch or something else heavy, like a stove? The bike trailer equipment I've seen is usually very light weight and could possibly buckle under too much weight. I'm thinking that the stronger the trailer, the heavier it is and more weight to move, just in the trailer. Are there heavier trailers that can be pulled by two bikes at once?

[Joseph Ford]

Options for carrying cargo on a bike:
Rack & panniers or basket – the most simple, works for day to day commuting etc. but not so much help for a bike move.
Trailers – there’s a ton of trailer options. Here’s a breakdown of the general types, listed in order of their helpfulness in a bike move, with some links to examples.
• single wheel trailers – great for touring, riding off road with loads - load limit is about 70 pounds
http://www.bobgear.com/trailers/trailer.php?product_id=10
http://www.extrawheel.com/
• kid haulers – probably the most abundant type out there, easy to find used for relatively cheap sometimes free, just about everyone knows someone who has one of these, most of them sitting in a garage gathering dust, perhaps able to be lent out? – weight limit is about 100 lbs., load size and shape is limited by enclosure
• small cargo trailers – similar to kid haulers without the enclosure, quite a bit more versatile in the type of loads that can be carried, usually has a limit of about 100 lbs. – 150 lbs., these can also be found used although not as easily as the kid haulers
http://www.burley.com/products/adventure/flatbed.cfm
http://www.blackdogbicycles.com/trailers.html - (made on Lopez)
http://www.croozerdesigns.com/cargo.html
http://www.wicycle.com/cargo_large_bicycle_trailer.php
• heavy duty trailers – these types of trailers can carry large heavy loads with ease. Like I previously mentioned Bikes at Work and Tony’s Trailers both make some serious load haulers. These are what make hauling large pieces of furniture and appliances possible. Load limit on some is up to 800 lbs.
http://www.tonystrailers.com/
http://www.bikesatwork.com/bike-trailers/
• Dedicated cargo bikes – this deserves a whole other post as there are many options.

carrying large loads on a bike is not as hard as some people think. The weight you can haul depends on a few factors – rider’s output, bikes gear ratio, and steepness of terrain. For more information including a human power load calculator see http://www.bikesatwork.com/hauling-cargo-by-bike/hpv-cargo-capacity...

another trailer option is diy trailers - The web is loaded with plans for building your own trailer on the cheap. I’d like to get a group together to build some trailers. Anybody have access to a good workspace in town? Any welders? Anyone have a conduit bender? Anyone have any metal fabrication skills?

[Rob Olason]

Joseph, do you have any diy trailer construction sites you would recommend? I found a company on selling cargo trailers on ebay. They claim a carrying capacity of around 300 lbs. the cost is around $120.

[Joseph Ford]

Heres a site where someone has consolidated just about every diy trailer site:

http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~armb/cycling/trailer.html

These are the ones that look to me like they are worth exploring:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Bicycle-cargo-trailer--200-lb-capac...

http://bikecart.pedalpeople.com/flatsy-seq.pdf

http://www.re-cycle.org/trailer/

http://moz.geek.nz/mozbike/build/shoptrailer/index.html



The only thing I found on ebay was the Aosom cargo trailer. The load limit I saw listed for that was 180 lbs. and it sold for around $120. Is that the one you were refering to? It looks like a good value to me. I checked out some reviews and they were all positive.

[Rob Olason]

Joseph,
I think that bike trailer was the one I was looking at also.

In response to your question about building trailers, would "the Hub" be a possibility? Is there anyone on this list who has had experience with the Hub? I know you can work on your own bike there, although I haven't done it myself. Looking at the DIY projects, I'm thinking they may have a number of parts, such as wheels/tires and possibly some of the specialized equipment you mentioned.

[Joseph Ford]

I was thinking about the Hub also as a place to source parts. I've used their space to work on bikes before. I don't think that space would be a possibility during their regular business hours. Maybe after hours? I think it's worth looking in to.

[Rob Olason]

Joseph, I found this bike trailer manufacturing business on craigslist. http://bellingham.craigslist.org/bik/1665642772.html
Could it be the way to bring bike trailers to B-ham?

[Joseph Ford]

I just saw that myself. It looks like an interesting opportunity.