New Website Coming Soon

Hey everyone! I've taken quite the break here, but I'm going to be posting on a regular basis again coming up soon. (I've been on some pretty great rides since the last post)

Also, I've created a new website. I'm adding things slowly, but check it out in the coming months.

http://www.3jbikes.com

See you soon!

Horses Love Cargo Bikes

This week, I took a ride with my sis to the barn to drop off some wood shavings for her horse to pee on. It looked nasty out and there was some lightning to the north of us, but luckily we stayed dry the whole time.


These bags of shavings are really heavy, but like everything else, they fit perfectly on the Dummy.

On the way back, we took the long way through the Danada-Herrick Lake Trail, which was a really nice little ride.

Route From the Party House

All of that stuff was at my sister's house because my graduation party was a few days before. As with IKEA and many other trips I take, the way there was poorly planned and streets were bad, but the way back was way better.

Here's how I got back.



-All of my riding was done off the road until Modaff

-Once I hit Ogden, the bike path along 75th street starts

-There are a couple areas where the path zig-zags off the street so maybe closer to 11 miles

Today's Every Day Adventure

I finally got to fully utilize my two wideloaders and longloader. As with everything else Xtracycle, they're so easy to use.


Here's the load

With the longloader, This table was no problem. Didn't get in the way of pedaling, but I did take out a cone on the street.


There was uneaten salad, some cans and two liters of pop in the cooler, and of course the table.

My Future Company's Business Card

If I had my own freelance bicycle delivery service, this would definitely be my business card:

What Cargo Bike?

I am in the process of making my bikes nice and shiny looking again, so I decided not to put the v-racks back on today when I went to the bike shop to get a spoke wrench.


Although it felt weird wearing a back pack while riding this bike, she did handle like a race car.

Fun Fun Fun

The Ride HomeGoing to Artisan Bicycle Company

The Special Treatment

A Big Dummy's Best Friend

As you already know, I have a strong belief that bicycles are great tools to be used for a wide variety of utility purposes. I've never been into bicycle racing or fast carbon road bikes. I think that half the fun of a bike ride can be in going slowly and enjoying the sights you would always miss if you were in a car. This is why I want my next bicycle to be a folding one. I think it's the best compliment to a longtail bicycle. With an Xtracycle and a folding bike in my garage, there are few scenarios that a bike wouldn't be preferred.

I'm doing a sales presentation for class this Friday, and I chose to sell my professor the folding bike that I see myself getting somewhere down the road. The BikeFriday Tikit. I'll have some pictures of it later this week. I'm positive you can fit at least 3 of them on a Big Dummy.

Check out this short video of the "Tikit 2 Ride" in action. So Sweet!

Pizza Bike in the News

The Naperville Sun ran an article on my pizza delivery adventures.


Check it out here!

Real Rockstars Tour on Bikes

As a kid, there were countless times when video game controllers were swapped around the neighborhood. With the Dummy, even the whole RockBand set is doable without even taking it apart. This time I was just taking the drums to UPS because they're broken and I needed to ship them somewhere, so I decided to haul it the safer way.


This made me think of how I should go on an Xtracycle RockBand tour, but decided that I would be far less cool than one of my early inspirations, Ginger Ninjas, who did it way better.

3J Delivery "(insert slogan here)"

DLK created my new logo! Version 2 coming soon...
Can you say Pizza-Chinese Food-Sandwiches-More Pizza-Catering-Furniture-Moon Jump-Freelance Delivery Services?

Thoughts?

2 Weeks Down

After being in the pizza delivery by bicycle business for a couple of weeks now, here are my thoughts:

The whole operation works surprisingly well. Pizzas stay hot, they don't slide around at all and depending on how many pizzas the car driver has to deliver at any given time, there's a good chance some people will actually get their food faster by bike. I had my initial doubts that it would be a failed test after a few days of doing it, and I'm happy that it can work.

The vast majority of people totally dig it. Now that the weather is starting to look hopeful, I can tell that people are generally in more pleasant moods and much more willing to chit chat about that crazy looking bike with a pizza on the back. I've even gotten a few "Hey that's an Xtracycle!" shout outs.

There have been a couple of anti-bike delivery folks. Not sure if they're just skeptical of it, but one guy really confused me. On the day I started doing this, he came into the shop to pick up his pizza and asked us something along the lines of "Who is being forced to ride the bike today?" We tried explaining that it was actually my choice and I enjoy doing this, and that it is supposed to be helping the environment. Oh well, he didn't seem to get it and just hopped in his humongous car and drove off. I just hoped that everyone wasn't going to be like that, and I'm glad they're not.

A Mother's Day Ride

I'm way overdue to put a picture up here with someone riding on the back. As you can see, it's a pretty roomy ride. Here's my mom and my sister taking a little test ride.

I've been delivering pizzas on the bike for a week and a day, and so far I'm pretty happy with it. The main concern of it just not working at all because of a number of issues like time, cold pizzas and shifty-ness have pretty much been answered. It actually works really well. People are for the most part into it, although a few are kind of weird about it... More pictures and stories coming this week.

I also took the bike into the shop on Friday because one of the wideloaders wasn't snapping in. They drilled some of the paint off and now it snaps in really easily. A little issue, but I'm really glad I can use both wideloaders now with no problem.

Tell Your Friends

There's going to be a lot more dummy sightings starting Friday...

Thanks for a great design Dad!

My New Timbuk2

I watched the totally awesome movie Quicksilver the other day. It changed my life.

No, but it is about bike messengers and I just got a new messenger bag for my birthday hooray!

(This is actually way better)

Actually, I got a lot of goodies for my birthday this year. Not only did my special someone get me tickets to a most wonderful Andrew Bird show, she also got me a sweet new bag. At first, I didn't think I needed one. My orange Adidas backpack, although not so attractive, has gotten a lot of use lately, and I could usually cram a decent amount of stuff in it. But now I can take so much more crap, and I just love that option.

This Timbuk2 size large bag is perfect for the person who rides an Xtracycle and a road bike. When I take the Trek on the Metra I always have it with me, and it usually has a few changes of clothes, bike tools and lights, a few notebooks and textbooks and anything else I want to throw in it at the last minute. It's a messenger bag so it's designed to be used on a bike, which makes riding in the city with it on pretty convenient. But the real purpose was to have a good, large waterproof bag for my Big Dummy. Backpacks fit nicely in one of the four spots in the back, but nobody is going to carry two backpacks around because they have a ton of stuff. The messenger bag is wider and as you can see, it looks like it was made to plop right into the xtracycle bag.

So far I have used it to carry anything from only two books to filling it up almost completely, and it has worked out great. I had it out in some heavy rain last weekend and everything was dry like it should be. They're also built to last, and I don't expect to buy a new one. Ever.

oh it is on !

I fiiiiinally got the pizzaloader set up after going on a screw rampage. It's nice and snug with the countersinking/longer screw combo. Tomorrow I'll be testing her out in the real world.

Whatever would I do without DK's great artistic abilities?? This puppy is one of a kind.

I bet you the goomba gets it

Back From Tennessee

I'm back after seeing the tallest man ever, St. Louis Arch, Elvis' Graceland, Sun Studio and bears at the Great Smoky Mountains.

Unfortunately Dollywood didn't open until this weekend :'(

'09 Golf Rule Change

"If one wishes to play golf with me, he/she must throw his/her clubs on my Big Dummy and ride his/her bicycle with me to the course of choice."


I was going to wait until I actually went golfing, but some recent comments warranted these pictures. As you can see, golf clubs are one of the many items that can be easily transported with an Xtracycle. I don't see any problem carrying up to 4 bags back there. I'd like to have a pair of WideLoaders and possibly a LongLoader to make them more secure, but just the freeloader bags will have to do for now.

IKEA Route Maps

Here is my route to IKEA. As you can see, I did what any car might do, take 3 direct streets. It sucked.



This is the way back. Janes is pretty good so I stayed on there for a little while. I wanted to avoid 75th completely. Hobson is good because there is a path on either side of the road, one being paved. After that, neighborhoods are always fun to ride through.

Riding the Metra

On Friday, I decided to take my bike on the train to go to the city. I don't know why I've never done this before, but I've always been a little nervous about the Metra people bugging me and more importantly, riding in the loop during rush hour. I had a great time, saved lots of potential CTA money and got to my destination in 15 minutes instead of 50. Riding downtown is so much more exciting than the suburbs. The whole time, I was really focused on not getting doored, hit by a bus or flung from my bike after hitting a nasty pothole. Then I saw a bike messenger fly by while looking down and texting on his cell phone. Maybe after years of riding down there I'll have the same confidence and level of nonchalance as those guys.


I didn't want to try to bring the Big Dummy, althought I have a feeling that about 15% of the Metra staff would let me on with it. The rules say that there is a 70 inch limit, which is a good 15" shorter than the bike, but there's tons of room in the handicap section, especially when you have the entire car to yourself! I guess getting it on in the first place might be the biggest hassle.


I got some crap from one of the workers at the station when I was walking towards the train. He kept on saying that I better have a chain to secure it to the rail on the train or else he wouldn't let me on. Some Metra workers are way too power hungry. I was a bit confused because the guy working on the way there didn't bother me at all, so I expected the same coming back. When I told him I have a U-lock, he almost didn't let me on because it wasn't a chain. I think all you really need is a couple of bungee cords or straps that can tie the bike down. Just make sure you've got something and there isn't much else to it.

IKEA

Today was the perfect day to pedal down to IKEA. I needed to pick up two things to turn my BD into a pizza delivering monster.
If you haven't taken my survey yet, please do! It's short I promise.

Here's the link to my pizza/bike survey

IKEA has bike racks! So much for only 15 minutes in the loading zone. One day I am going to count how many steps I take while riding my bike everywhere. It'll be sooo many fewer steps than someone driving their car to the same places.

Lots of people talk about using their Xtracycles to be able to stop at a garage sale or basically any unexpected place on their way home from the commute and not worrying about bringing whatever they bought home. When I saw that the W's down the street were cleaning their garage out, I decided to stop by and say hello, and was pleasantly surprised to find that they found our bocce ball set! I threw it on and got home with my first surprise cargo, no sweat.

Can you see me? Try #2

Was it really that cold tonight? Or have I just tricked myself into thinking that these beautiful sunny March days should bring some heat? Because it was so freaking cold!

I think all the spring break planning and excitement for graduation in 3 months, added onto all the White Sox baseball talk I've been following these days has tricked me into thinking I don't need my thick socks anymore.

Muahaha no more excuses motorists! I have since added 1) a magic carpet for my passengers, which has reflective piping 2) a seat wedge with reflective strip that also holds 3) a third blinky 4) two leg straps (one for each leg) that hold the pants close and either reflect or light up and 5) a roll of 3M reflective tape that I have since put on my helmet and ends of handlebars...

First Grocery Run

A measly $50 worth of groceries is too easy to haul, not even fun.

Next time I'll have to really load it up. I want a challenge!

A Side Note

My Trader Joe's RRP Hummus wins the award for hardest to open.

The old plastic seal could only be opened by cutting a little slit with a knife, which was fine because I knew I would have to do that.

They have since upgraded this seal to include one of those little tabs that you pull and off goes the plastic...

I'm 5/5 for ripping the tab off and getting right back to where we started.

Can you see me? Try #1

It's OK, nothing special. The charitable brother-in-law Dan hooked me up with a pretty nice safety vest, and I've got two planet bike superflash blinkys hooked onto my v-racks. At least I won't be one of the many bike ninja's out there. (that's my favorite online comic) However, sometimes I get the feeling that the more visible I am, the more angry it makes those short tempered dudes driving their Mustangs behind me. Which reminds me of a great video I ran into a few days ago. Check it out. It's sad that people are proud of possessing these qualities.

The First Cargo

When I got to the bike shop to pick her up, the sales guy offered to keep the old orange Trek in there so I could come back and pick it up another time. How easy it is to forget the sole purpose of a utility bike.

Once you get rolling, it only takes a few minutes to forget there's anything back there (just don't forget about the metal poking out to the side when passing parked cars). It's really amazing how I don't have to think twice about bringing anything with me for the whole day when I leave the house. I feel spoiled because I can just throw things in the freeloader bags and go. They really designed those things to easily secure a whole bunch of stuff.

I decided to hit the town the other night and pick up cardboard boxes that were destined for the garbage. Well, I actually just got them from two places I work at. Regardless, boxes are a breeze for the Big Dummy.

I've never had a bike with fenders. Bring it on slushy melty snow.

The adventure begins

It's been my dream to have a bike with an Xtracycle on it for almost two years. Basically what it does is extends your bike's wheel base by connecting an extra piece where the back wheel goes and turns it into a cargo hauling monster. It can carry people, many many groceries and even surf boards, to name just a few things. While I surfed the web and drooled over pictures of this great invention, I learned that the company Surly was designing a new bike called the Big Dummy, which would make the whole system one long frame, making it a better, more sturdy ride.

When I got back from studying in Taiwan, I decided that I would be dreaming about this forever if I didn't finally act, so I decided on the Big Dummy and it's been glorious ever since. My goals are pretty much to do everything I do now on my bike. Biking is great for the environment and your health, and not relying on a car can save you some serious dough. I hope people will see the kid carrying just about everything on his bike and rethink why they needed their luxurious SUV. The suburbs aren't the most convenient place to use a bike as transportation, but it can definitely be done.

Winter biking is fun.