Between reading about Kent P's $20 "do everything" bike, Mike B's new business venture selling utility/commuter bikes and the MN Bike Commuter Blog's sweet Xtracycle project I was finally motivated to finish a mod to my LHT that has been on my radar for a year. I had picked up a milk crate that I wanted to add to the front rack of my LHT last year, but never actually made it happen. Reading about all these cool practical bikes I finally decided to get it done. Ten minutes and a handful of zipties later my LHT had a nice front basket and I was asking myself why I waited so long to do that.I took the opportunity to run down south to Planet Organic and pick up some essentials: beans, rice, soap and curry paste. I put about 70% of the weight in the back and 30% in the milk crate. You definitely knew you were carrying something up front, but the LHT handled the load without a problem. When it started to rain I could just grab my jacket out of the crate and put it on without wasting a lot of time getting into my panniers. I think the crate will be a real winner for those short trips where panniers are overkill.
My LHT is really a truck now and a more useful city bike than ever.
My one complaint with the crate is that it is a bit noisy. I'll cut some foam to sit on the bottom that will keep items inside from bouncing around and when I take it off next time I'll put some foam underneath between the rack and the crate to buffer that interface.
3 comments:
bikes as trucks. the original sport utility vehicle... (is that xtracycle's tag line?)
love the crate mod. i'm working on a marine grade plywood prototype box, as well as a marine plywood and aluminum trailer...
looks like fun times at burning man.
-mike
That's cool man. I've been toying with slapping a crate on one of my bike too.
If the milk crate doesn't work out, remember another tip from Kent P, there's always coroplast!
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