Show Us What You Are Hauling On Your Bike

The "tread Lightly" service today and our bamboo trailer.

I like and use very much those plastic boxes, as shown in this thread on bikes/trailers. Especially those with a little hole in the corners, as they are better stackable. They are usually used for vegetables and alike in stores and on markets, many are just thrown away so one can be have them for free.

Nice for firewood, I tend to have a few filled near the oven, so no need to walk outside in the middle of the night or while raining to grab some more firewood.

Though I have a bicycle, I don't use it much. It is simply to hilly here to make much fun.

J Grouwstra wrote:In most European countries wild camping is not allowed, I believe Britain and Ireland are among the few countries where you can.
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It depends, in many countries, if not most of European you are allowed to rest one night by law, to restore your capability to drive. Of course none can prove from where you really came. ;-)

This shouldn't matter if you arrive by bicycle, motorbike, car, camper or whatever. Though with some not so big camper (VW Bus or alike) you have generally very little problems to find a nice spot for one night. Though I wouldn't suggest to set up at places in the nature some barbecue and alike camping activities.

nice thread!
all heroes here!
big hug

I will make a picture when harvesting starts.
Have a Dutch bike made here in the Netherlands. The bike has 2 back bike bags on the luggage carrier and I carry an old 80-ies frame 35 liter Rucksack (Sweden LK35) on my bacj. A bike for me is somthing from my age of 5. Unseperable :)
Bikerides, 4 miles up and downhill,  to my garden is a weekly ritual.

We have two types of bike trailers.
The black one shown is about 25 years old. This same same model is still sold and costs around $60 on sale.  The great thing about this one is that the attachment bar is the right height for it to be comfortably pulled by hand so it's often used by itself for moving material around the garden or on the beach when we collect seaweed. The wheels finally rusted out last year so I've now replaced them with wheels from a kids bicycle.

My favorite trailer was made by mounting a wooden flat bed to a child carrier trailer chassis.  It has the original child carrier "hitch" that is secure and easy to connect. It is the main one I use now because it is very stable and can carry longer material.  I have a Sketchup drawing of it if anyone is interested. The long roll I'm carrying in the photo is a swimming pool cover I bought at the used material store, it will be the thermal curtain in my greenhouse.

As far as free camping, you can find 100's of free camp spots in Denmark on the website udinaturen.dk or with the app shelterapp.dk. Many of the places have a small shelter that you can sleep in and some even have water and an outhouse.

I've been hauling stuff on bike for a long time (haven't had a car in 10 years), but after moving to Portland and getting a bike trailer, we've really upped our bike-hauling game. The trailer is 2 feet wide and 4 feet long, made by a Portland guy who builds bamboo trailers and bikes.

We also got a Bakfiets-type bike for carrying around new baby, which works well so far. Strap the baby into a car seat strapped into the cargo box, and he's pretty happy about it.

I love to find free things by the road and take them home on bike. I have attached photos of a few of the larger items I have hauled: A door, three bikes in boxes, a stack of 12 foot boards, trees in 10 gallon pots, large plywood boxes, a greenhouse, wood scraps.

I don't have a picture of it, but I recently found a pile of 57 firebricks (which I estimate to weigh ~400 lbs) and carried them home in the cargo bike. Lucky the cargo bike has e-assist or I wouldn't have been able to get it moving with all the bricks in it (and was barely able to keep it upright)
I carry 4x8 sheets of drywall on the trailer (with a crate under them to keep them off the wheels).
Once I built wire mesh high-sides for the trailer and filled it up with goat manure.
Numerous times I have moved futons and furniture. I think the guy who built my trailer advertises by picking up people's free pianos that they're getting rid of.

I have a bikes at work trailer had it for years it has 2 other leaves so I can make it 8ft long but I generally runaround with it short. It was interesting learning my hualing abilities. Like with my new bike I can pull 250lbs up my hill. With a cheap mountain bike 200 is my max. But I can say I have had about 400lbs on it for 75miles this summer. I will load that picture later.

Surly bill n ted

6 8ft freegan ranch posts

Does a kid, a bike and a ballon count? :D

Inge Leonora-den Ouden wrote:

Tom Gauthier wrote:...

Tom, your photo reminds me on the man with the (dead) iguanas he hunted, hanging all over the bicycle steer (at the Caribbean island of Curaçao). He came by and I did not have the time to get a picture.

I do have a picture here of my short holiday trip a month ago. Everything needed for a few days and nights camping was on my bicycle. My doggie too.

While riding my bicycle through the nice Dutch province Overijssel, I was thinking about how to make a 'camper trailer' to hang behind the bicycle. With a tent folding out quickly at arrival at the camping place, and everything in it I need for myself. So I could make longer trips, further away ...

The Japanese have something called capsule/pod hotels. If you add wheels and tow one behind, you don't need a folding tent.

Heh there, new to this posting thing... hopefully I've managed to attach the picture ok? Grocery trip.

I don't have pictures anymore of it but I too have carried a deer from of the woods on my handle bars. There were a couple steep parts where I just pushed it but but mostly rode the whole way.

Also, I use to bring my 2 garbage cans to the dump on a big trailer.I

Now this thread is 'in' again I'll [post a new photo. Of my most recent bicycle camping trip. This one trip was without doggie.
I get more used to packing my stuff (and I got a smaller tent). Imagining a folding camper for the bike was fun, but I decided I don't need one, everything fits on the bike itself.


Do you see that tiny ferry boat there, at the other side of the small river? It's a solar powered self-service ferry. It's big enough for about 4 bicycles and bicyclists.

A rocket mass heater being moved by bicycles ...  (starting at 8:10)

I am so impressed by you all with your ingenuity with your bikes and what you can haul. I brought my Oma’s bike from Holland 30 years ago. Still use it to this day. I love my bike! My Oma got it just after the war.  So this is bike is already around 70 + years old!  I haul wood with it from my walks in the woods. Sticks, rocks you name it.  Berry picking, wild foraging, it’s carried many mushrooms. I just imagine that I’m spreading all those spores throughout the countryside on my bike ride home. I hope this bike outlasts me. I don’t really want another. It is getting harder to find parts for it here. Of course there is always the mail.
Keep all those photos coming.
I love it!

I would really like a bike trailer- reckon I could just about get my 10kg mower to the allotment up the big hill! But the crazy big and heavy things you guys are hauling, wow! I could never manage that!

The area I live in is not called the 'peak district' for nothing!

Charli Wilson wrote:

I would really like a bike trailer- reckon I could just about get my 10kg mower to the allotment up the big hill! But the crazy big and heavy things you guys are hauling, wow! I could never manage that!  

Yes, electric assist is in my dreams... but it's amazing what "Granny gears" can accomplish. Too many bikes are designed with gearing which seems more appropriate for racing than "business" with lots of gears in a very narrow range. When we got my last bike, it has a 7 speed internal hub gear set, but we replaced the large sprocket at the pedals for something that significantly increased my ability to do hills, but that significantly decreased my top speed. Since I mostly bike alone, I can live with that. It's not a terribly efficient bike, but I can pull a trailer, and put lots of interesting stuff in my panniers. Yesterday that was fresh figs in one and frozen beef from a local farmer in the other!

Inge, You`re camping photos reminded me of taking my sisters dog (rip) for a ride in the canoe trailer


the trailer helped me to get things into the property before the road was driveable like these rainbarrels, bamboo stakes and the canoe itself


i did not tow this behind the bike... but using my canoe trailer axle and a wheelbarrow i was able to transport 4 culverts this size down the undriveable road and to
the location where they were required and installed them by hand


in another thread we discussed various towable pop up trailers for camping
i would love to get one someday... possibly with battery assist!

Later I'll add the photos. But I want to tell you: yesterday I made a bicycle day-trip and I got a free sheeps fleece (of a black-and-white sheep, which has no commercial value nowadays). The farmer helped me by pushing all of that (dirty) wool in one of my panniers! Then I rode all the way back (about two hours) with that 'stuffed' pannier.

Charli, I am glad I live in a country that's almost totally flat. Ideal for the bicycle. And there are lots of bicycle paths here in the Netherlands.

Some of my bike loads:

A few sticks:


My other bike:

Gotta say I just found this thread and loving it!  I use my bike to do real work so I should get some pics to post at some point.  Right now I just wanted to post to express my appreciation for others who are putting their bikes to great functional uses hauling stuff!

David Huang wrote:Gotta say I just found this thread and loving it!  I use my bike to do real work so I should get some pics to post at some point.  Right now I just wanted to post to express my appreciation for others who are putting their bikes to great functional uses hauling stuff!

David, thanks for reminding me that this thread exists! See a picture of my bike hauling ~150kg/~330lbs of compost :)

Tomorrow there is potential snowfall accumulation by me so I decided to make a run to the grocery store this evening with my bike while the trail is still clear of the white stuff.  On the way home from a bike trip I normally stop and strap on a log from somewhere along the trail side.  (As trees fall across the trail in strong winds they get cut and tossed to the side by the maintenance crew)  Today was no different.  It seems there were high winds lately bringing down some more of the dead ash trees nearer to my home.  Yay, that I'm not hauling it many miles, but rather only about 1.5 miles.  However, they also cut these trees into long sections so balance was extra challenging.  I'll note that in addition to the logs on the bike in the photo below the packs are also stuffed with groceries.  :)  

🤯 David, I thought I am doing crazy stuff but this looks crazy! Good job, good muscle work also hehe. I am super worried about your front basket.
As I got recently worried about overloading my bike, I checked and weakest link are tires and then spokes.

I think you are still doing crazier loads than me Ben, at least in terms of overall weight.  My load might have weighed an extra 150lbs by my guesstimate.  My front basket is a solidly built thing, as is my back rack.  Still I don't usually have logs in it.  This time I happened to notice a couple smaller ones that were also lighter in weight than they look.  Those pieces were from an old well dried tree that had fallen.  The log on the back was another matter!

I will say that this spring I did have a spoke break.  That may have been due to many trips with excess weight.

David Huang wrote:I think you are still doing crazier loads than me Ben, at least in terms of overall weight.  My load might have weighed an extra 150lbs by my guesstimate.  My front basket is a solidly built thing, as is my back rack.  Still I don't usually have logs in it.  This time I happened to notice a couple smaller ones that were also lighter in weight than they look.  Those pieces were from an old well dried tree that had fallen.  The log on the back was another matter!

I will say that this spring I did have a spoke break.  That may have been due to many trips with excess weight.

It's not the absolute number of load, it is the load / cargobikyness ratio which counts :)
As far as I know, you cannot really harm your bike badly with overloading once in a while, so all is good. Keep up the good work!

The Second Annual Autumn Leaf Bag Haul.

Last year I connected with some neighbors about half a mile away who have numerous large trees (maple and a couple of walnuts). They don't want the leaves, and they are willing to rake the leaves and put them in the large paper leaf bags. I pick up the bags and haul them home, keeping the nutrients at least somewhat local and saving them from the municipal waste collection. My neighbor doesn't have to pay the municipal waste collection $5 per bag to take them. And if it hasn't rained on the bags, I can empty them out into my leaf-mold-making-pile and give them back to my neighbors to reuse so they don't have to buy more paper bags.

Aside from rolling my eyes about the fact that someone would rake, bag, and dispose of their leaves, this has been a very beneficial situation for me. Last year, I hauled home some 38 bags of leaves. This year, I have scored over 25 bags. I can haul 4 bags at a time, and each round-trip takes 10-15 minutes including loading the trailer and strapping down the bags.

Awesome Timothy!  Just a thought, I wonder if with some fancy strapping you could stack those bags "Chicago Style" and get two or three layers of height with them?  It could save you some trips and make quite the visual spectacle!

I often tell people: you can get mulch for free, but you can't dictate when you get it.
I also collect leaves, particularly of plants that aren't closely related to my fruit trees, such as sweet gum and ash.
John S
PDX OR

My haul is not as impressive as some pictures here, but both the bike and I were groaning when we came back from the supermarket. I even had to push it part of the way (luckily the supermarket is only a few minutes away). I suspect that I tend to overload my bike because both this e-bike and my old bike tend to get flat back tyres (the air pressure was very low so one more reason to push).

Tomorrow we will have another "lockdown light" here in Bavaria due to high Covid infection rates and I want to avoid the rush to the stores beginning tomorrow. If it were for me, I could do without any shopping for weeks (there is a farm who sells raw milk and eggs within walking distance), but knowing my teenage kids - and my husband - there will pop up super-urgent needs. I guess I will send them shopping if there is anything missing in their eyes!

BTW, the groceries shown cost 77 Euro, roughly 93 USD.
If I had shopped at a discounter (which I do maybe twice a year) it would have cost half, if I had shopped at the organic market, probably twice that amount (there is a portion of organic and also fairtrade produce among the groceries I have bought today but unfortunately more packaging than I like, I have to compromise a lot especially regarding my family).

Anita Martin wrote:My haul is not as impressive as some pictures here, but both the bike and I were groaning when we came back from the supermarket. I even had to push it part of the way (luckily the supermarket is only a few minutes away). I suspect that I tend to overload my bike because both this e-bike and my old bike tend to get flat back tyres (the air pressure was very low so one more reason to push).

Tomorrow we will have another "lockdown light" here in Bavaria due to high Covid infection rates and I want to avoid the rush to the stores beginning tomorrow. If it were for me, I could do without any shopping for weeks (there is a farm who sells raw milk and eggs within walking distance), but knowing my teenage kids - and my husband - there will pop up super-urgent needs. I guess I will send them shopping if there is anything missing in their eyes!

BTW, the groceries shown cost 77 Euro, roughly 93 USD.
If I had shopped at a discounter (which I do maybe twice a year) it would have cost half, if I had shopped at the organic market, probably twice that amount (there is a portion of organic and also fairtrade produce among the groceries I have bought today but unfortunately more packaging than I like, I have to compromise a lot especially regarding my family).

Great haul but we definitely need a picture of the bike too!

Ben Knofe wrote:

Great haul but we definitely need a picture of the bike too!

OK, just a quickie, second-hand ebike, currently not very clean ;-)

Anita Martin wrote:

Ben Knofe wrote:

Great haul but we definitely need a picture of the bike too!

OK, just a quickie, second-hand ebike, currently not very clean ;-)

Haha great one! As I said above already: It's not about the size of the haul but the ratio of haul size and cargobikyness! :) Greetings from Berlin

Hi Anita. Good you remind me of the flat tires. So I'll give my tires some air right no, because tomorrow morning early I'll ride to the organic farm shop (selling vegetables, dairy, bread and meat). My panniers will be full when I return from there. I only go there once a week, it's over half an hour ride in one direction ...

Hi Inge, yesterday I also went to a farm but it is only about 7 minutes from here (to buy raw milk and eggs).
If I want organic raw milk I also have to ride about half an hour and I don't do it often in winter. The bike path goes through the woods and snow/ice keep there a long time, I don't want to take any risks (apart from the fact that I hate the cold).

So in winter I reduce bike riding to days without snow or ice and on the other days I just walk to the supermarket/farm. I have to go more often because I cannot carry as much as the bike would!

Anita Martin wrote:Hi Inge, yesterday I also went to a farm but it is only about 7 minutes from here (to buy raw milk and eggs).
If I want organic raw milk I also have to ride about half an hour and I don't do it often in winter. The bike path goes through the woods and snow/ice keep there a long time, I don't want to take any risks (apart from the fact that I hate the cold).

So in winter I reduce bike riding to days without snow or ice and on the other days I just walk to the supermarket/farm. I have to go more often because I cannot carry as much as the bike would!

Anita, if there's snow or ice I won't go. But 'winter' here in the Netherlands mostly mean 'cold rain', not below freezing. I have the right clothing for cold and rain and riding my bicycle. An old saying: "there's no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing." (probably from Norway)

@Anita - a clean bike is an un-loved bike. If you love a bike you take it outside to play and get fresh air and like a child (and some adults I know), it comes home dirty!

Speaking of flat tires, I'll offer up a tip recently learned the hard way.  If you are going to be hauling heavy weights you want to make sure the valve stems come straight out of the rim and are properly seated.  I imagine this is always a good idea, but I'd never had any trouble if one was slightly crooked.  The other day I was hauling two heavy logs on the back rack, which was probably one log too many.  I got a half mile from home and suddenly the tire went flat.  Turns out the weight had caused the crooked valve to get sliced open by the rim.  ( I did still walk the bike with logs home the rest of the way!)