Show Us What You Are Hauling On Your Bike

I'd love to see photos of what you are hauling with your bicycles.

Did you install or build any racks or saddle bags? How about posting photos?

Have you hooked up a trailer? Or built one? I'd love to see photos.

Even if you are just carrying cargo in plastic bags or backpacks those would be nice photos to see as well.

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I'll get things started.

I got this mountain bike for about $15. It's missing the front brake cable, and the pedals wobble. Nevertheless, I put 500 miles on it last summer. The cargo basket was purchased, and then outfitted with steel angle iron, so that I can put one of my common black crates on it. It hauled a lot of squash, beans, and corn this fall.

Squash Farmer. I really like wearing kilts while biking.


I used a wagon last fall, but it didn't have a proper hitch, so I didn't like it much. It sure moved a lot of squash though.


Yesterday I finished building a trailer that is sized to hold two of my larger crates. They are stackable, so I could add more.


My new trailer hooks onto the back of a kid trailer, so it's a bike train! I'm still missing a hitch to connect the kid-trailer to the bike. It's a common model. I keep watching the thrift stores. If one doesn't show up before it's needed, perhaps one of my welder buddies will make something.

Joseph, that's greeeeat! Wish I could safely use a bike where I am, but my road dumps out onto the main road that circles the island. It's the only road to get to town. The tourists drive way too erratically for it to be safe for a bike & trailer. Wow, I'd be dead within the month. Many a cycler has been sideswiped, run into, or run off the road. I envy your ability to use a bicycle.

I really would prefer to use a pony and cart, but again, it's far to dangerous here for that.

This is Binky, my electric bike, helping me fetch drinking water from the village font.

Today I built a trailer hitch for my bike. Then I loaded it up with plants to plant in the garden tomorrow: Favas, peas, onions, and garlic. I'm also intending to plant seeds of other cold weather crops like bok choi, garbanzos, cilantro, spinach, etc.

Favas, peas, and garlic:


Closeup of hitch mount.


Closeup of the hitch.


All put together and ready to go to the farm.

Joseph no pictures to show, I'll keep an eye out though. Just wanted to say I love the ingenuity of your trailer hitch and design of the trailer. Great job.

P.S. I plan on getting a bike soon, sitting in a truck for 600 miles a day, eating wrong, sweet tooth... Makes me fat.

I was tweaking my six bikes in the early part of the winter. Most of them had one or two things wrong with them that kept them from being ridable. (two trailers as well. recycled breeder trash) Now, each is rolling and been set up to carry cargo. 2 are cheap bikes. 1 is midrange...but this one is my pride and joy

I made a pair of panniers out of 15 liter square buckets - the kind that have a lip a few centimeters down from the top to stick your fingertips in when pouring. I heated and bent two short pieces of aluminium over a nail approximately the same diameter as the metal on my bike rack into a "J" shape and used stainless #8 hardware to bolt the aluminum through the aforementioned lip, so I didn't have to put a hole in the bucket itself (The short part of the J hooks over the bike rack. The long part has a small hole for the #8 machine screw and a larger hole further down to fasten bungee cord through at the bottom.) . I made a paper pattern of the outside of the bucket ~2/3 of the way down from the top and used scrap nylon fabric to make a cuff that slides up over the bottom of the bucket - it has reflective tape sewn to it for visibility and a little loop for the bungee to go through. So the bungee goes from one aluminum J through the fabric loop, around the hook to the bottom of the bike rack, and back up to the second J. This adds positive pressure to decrease the risk that the bucket will jump off the rack if you go over a little bump and the loop in the fabric stops the bucket from swinging out as you go around a corner. My goal was not to put any holes in the bucket itself in case I want/need to transport something messy or stinky. The buckets are *very* easy to clean. The nylon cuff can slide off (it's just a pressure fit due to the tapered shape of the bucket) but it can't get lost because of the bungee going through it. To remove the pannier, I lift up on the bucket until the J clips are released, then lower the bucket until the bungee comes off the hook at the bottom of the rack. They stick out further than a purchased pannier would, but I've carried plants, dirt, compost and other things that I would hesitate to put in a fabric pannier! The bucket handle makes these panniers much easier to carry than any pannier I've ever used.

I'd post pictures, but the last time I tried it insisted I needed a URL or something, which my pictures don't have. I tried looking for an instructional manual for the forums, but couldn't even seem to find that this morning. Dinosaurs unite!!

I live in the Netherlands and we do everything by bike. We need a trailer for our urban community garden, so this is really inspiring.

I came across these instructions for building a bamboo bicycle trailer from Transition Amherst, which I found really really cool. The instructions are pretty detailed, so check it out if you're interested.

I live in the Netherlands too. This country is 'made for bicycles' Being born here, as all Dutch children, I learned how to ride when I was a toddler.
At the moment my own bicycle is away for repairs. When it will be back, it's ready for my first bicycle-camping-holiday since many years. Of course I will show some photos then.
Here you see the bicycle with front-luggage-box with painting I made on it (publicity for me as a decoration-artist).

Inge I have almost the same bike bags as you! Although I don't put a box on the front of mine because it makes it really difficult to park the bike at the train station in those tiny bike parking spaces... Though that box makes me a tad jealous!

PS. Beautiful nasturtium bed!

Shaz Jameson wrote:... Though that box makes me a tad jealous!

PS. Beautiful nasturtium bed!

Do you want to have this box Shaz? It's easy to take of and carry (in the train too ). I can't use it anymore now, because of a new front luggage-carrier.
Those lovely nasturtiums were last summer, but new seedlings are already appearing now.

Nothing special here, but a couple years back I'd routinely pass my parents house, which had a stack of firewood they weren't going to use. So every time I passed, I'd load up the basket and pannier bags to carry what wood I could. Slow and sure, I got it all home.

Today 'Permacultuur Meppel' started! Permaculture community project in my neighbourhood.
This morning about 9:00 I left here, and this is how my bicycle looked:

Looks like I'm having a bike-trailer built for me!

Last week I had a 'mini-vacation' my doggie and the bicycle (no vacation, but work for the bike!)... I'll show some photos here so you see what I mean. More photos on my Facebook (search my name).

Doggie Toetie waiting in her basket on the back, while I make a photo to show the landscape with cows I'm riding along.


My tent on the (legal!) 'free camping spot' hidden in the forest.


Toetie waiting again, some days later, while I photographed an old mansion.

I have ideas (fantasies?) for a bike-trailer which has a foldable tent and bed (stretcher) in it ... But I am not a technician who can build it

The Crate Wagon is finished!

We tested it today by collecting pine cones from the forest, for use as kindling for the winter.  When I get a chance, I'll do a thread with photos of the building process if anyone's interested.  No welding, just drills and bolts.  And a lick of paint.

Joseph Lofthouse and court, just saw this  sweepstakes for a Haul a Bike, thought you all might like to win a cool bike. http://www.motherearthnews.com/bike-friday.aspx

It's a pity, I can't win that cool bike . I do not live in the USA or Canada.

Great thread! So much can be transported by bicycle. This picture of me was taken some years ago at the Quiet Valley Ranch, home of the Kerrville (Texas, USA) Folk Music Festival. The trailer was a Bikes At Work trailer, capacity 300lb. In this pic I'm hauling a compost bin that I had just made out of salvaged scrap wood. I often also used this trailer to haul a permaculture info booth setup to the Sunset Valley Farmers Market in Austin. The booth setup included an E-Z up canopy (of course) and permaculture library, plus chair and table and solar oven with cookware and whatever I was planning to cook in the oven.

I gave up that trailer because it was more than I needed after I moved to Florida. At the moment I have a bicycle with panniers. That is plenty for my current needs. (Carrying food home from the farmer's market, etc.)

And, for Earth Day 2013 in Ormond Beach, Florida, I created this special exhibit of a mini garden bed, and towed it a few blocks (from the nursery owned by my friend who lent me the plants, to the City Hall where the Earth Day event takes place).

I hauled lots of loads of squash last week. This is the only one I photographed. I'm almost startled at how much squash I can move by such small and simple means. This load was right at the limits of my strength, considering I had to move it uphill.  The two acre field in the second photo is a new field that I've just added to my farm.

Same bike and trailer. New cargo...

Here we have bicycle taxis, called bodaboda.  Basically it puts a very sturdy steel seat behind the main seat.  Its a great way for young men to make a little coin, and the price is such that its affordable for the foot weary.  Usually about 20 cents for "town service".  

All kinds of luggage gets piled on that same place.  90 kg sacks of charcoal, sweet potatoes, crates of tree saplings, firewood, jerricans of water (or illegally brewed alcohol), cages of live chickens.

Last week I passed a guy with a full grown pig trussed up on the back of the bike.  He was having a helluva time pushing the bike up our steep hills.  I bet it was quite a trip going down!  I didn't think to stop and take a picture, because I see that kind of weirdness every day.

I even remember a couple years ago seeing a guy transporting a coffin with his bicycle!

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Sharon Kallis from Vancouver is an artist using local natural materials for her creations. She is busy with a new 'means of transportation' for her workshops, fitting very well in this topic. Read more (and see the pictures) here: https://sharonkallis.com/2017/04/12/weaving-wagon-coming-soon/

Not my heaviest load, but one of the longest.

I'm just now realizing I could have posted a picture when we went gathering grape vines for baskets last week.

My youngest niece has a broken wrist and is banned from bike riding right now. The cast they put her in looks more like a wrist brace you'd pick up at the drug store, and we're not trusting it to protect her if she fell on it. However, I ride one of those nearly impossible to tip tricycles. I felt pretty secure with her in the basket, even when she was balanced on coils of vines.

This is pretty low key compared to some of your stuff, but here it is.  I go on a regular route in my town/neighborhood to get organic food, Asian food, library stuff, hardware, and Trader Joe Items.  This set up is perfect for that.  I also went to acupuncture today, but I didn't have to haul anything. I also go to work frequently (I 'm a substitute teacher).
John S
PDX OR

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 ...

Bicycle-camping-trip again this summer. Three weeks now, visiting five of the twelve 'provinces' of the Netherlands, and a very small corner of Germany too. During my trip I bought some 'new' things at second-hand shops, like a warm sweater (after two weeks of very hot weather temperatures dropped) and a pair of sandals (flip-flops are not the best footwear on the bicycle). And a new basket (a metal supermarket basket, while I started with a freezer-basket) for my doggie. First things I bought were this nice 'African' shirt and the colourful backpack.

One of the great things about bicycle camping, is that you can camp anywhere.  I live in a very forested part of the US, and instead of paying to camp, we used to just bring our bikes into the forest for free. No one knows that you're there.  With these set ups, you can haul everything you need.  
John S
PDX OR

Sorry John, but in the Netherlands that isn't possible. It isn't allowed to camp in the woods. You risk a high fine if you do (and there are forest guards who control regularely). This is a densely populated country, you can't hide in the woods ...
There are only a few dedicated 'free camping sites', which have room for three tents. One of those is near by where I live; I went there for trying out 'camping with the dog', and I'll go there to try out my new tent.

If you know a friendly farmer, maybe you can put your tent on his field for free. I did this for a few nights, in exchange for doing some odd jobs.

Well, don't try this in the Netherlands, kids, but.....
If you're in Canada, The US, or a lot of other forested countries, it is a very cheap and convenient way to camp.

John S
PDX OR

In most European countries wild camping is not allowed, I believe Britain and Ireland are among the few countries where you can.
But I've done it in The Netherlands and Italy, just looking for spots out of the way, where I wouldn't easily be seen. I wouldn't do it in the tourist season in tourist areas, then I would expect there to be more tourist control.
Once, when I was with other people, camping in The Netherlands next to a school, so quite in the open, but in the middle of winter, we were approached by police who were asking questions, "Err... we're on a trip and we didn't find any camp sites still open. We'll pack up again first thing in the morning." They left us alone, they were probably satisfied with us not being a nuisance.

Mooring and camping is allowed in places in The Netherlands, but it's not easy to get info on where you can and where you cannot. And what if you don't travel by boat; are you allowed to camp at those places where people can freely set up tent next to their boat? Authorities are vague about things like this, they often haven't thought about it themselves, or they deliberately leave things in a grey area, so they can act when there's a problem, but don't need to act when there's no problem.

Anyway, a few spare oars are always handy when you're doing a lot of rowing, and a bicycle is fine for transporting long things. Strange; a racing bike works better than a transport bike for this, because a front carrier gets in the way. It's a January picture, by the way, I've had these oars for a while now. There's no impediment on steering like this:

Will start building my own soon!

Tony Nash wrote:Will start building my own soon!

Please show us this project, Tony (or maybe in a new thread)

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