Pret-A-Porteur

A play on words - you might be familiar with the French phrase "pret-a-porter" which means "ready to wear" which makes this bike "ready to carry", not to be confused with "portage" which is a term for carrying the bike itself. Sadly I'm not the first to use "pret-a-porteur", TCB Racks out of Portland has a front rack called the "Pret a Porteur". Pretty sweet rack. But on to the bike! I built this at the request of my best man Ryan for his girl Jenny. It's an Italian Benotto frame (Italian BB with a heart cut out of the bottom) that I blindly threw a bunch of components at and this is what turned out:


The basket is removable for walking around the farmers market or grocery store.


The Velo Orange Milano handlebars give a nice sweep back to put you in a comfortable upright position.


It's a six speed so that should make things a bit easy on the legs.

Jenny gets back into town in a few weeks so we'll have to wait and see how she likes it.

How Much Can You Transport?

The Trek Transport is the kind of bike that most people see and say, "What kind of bike is that!?" My response: "Awesome. That is an awesome kind of bike." And then I go on to list all of the places where I would use the Transport: the grocery store/farmers market, hardware store, barbecues... Heck, I could even put my girl on the back and go have a picnic! Just look at this thing:


So even though I can imagine myself using this bike I don't think other people can, so this is where you get to help. I'm going to let you ride the Transport so you can help me show everyone what this bike is capable of.

Now I don't want you to go out and and try to test the limits because if you break the bike, you buy it. But don't be scared. The Transport is rated to carry 300 lbs of rider weight plus 220 lbs of cargo weight. The cargo weight breaks down like this: 20 lbs on the front rack, 100 on the back and 50 on each side load rack. And that doesn't mean that if you weigh less than 300 lbs you can use the difference in cargo. But I know you wouldn't try that anyhow.

To reserve the Transport send an email to cort@peddlerbikeshop.com. You'll be able to use the bike for one day. You will of course have to fill out a Rental Agreement but there won't be a rental charge.

You will also have to take a picture of your cargo and send it to me at the above email address. I'll post the picture on the blog and each month the person with the most awkward haul will be rewarded. As if using the Transport for free isn't enough of a reward. Sheesh! You guys and gals sure ask a lot!

Fresh Food by Fresh Bikes

I hope that in my absence you all have been following Taco and Gorman's endeavors over at Community Powered Cycling. They've been putting up some great posts about the recent activity among City Council, City Engineers and The Mayor. Check it out and get up to date.

A little while ago they also made a post about Farmers Markets and described ways to make them more accomadating towards bicycles. I have a confession to make: I've never been to a Farmers Market. At least, not in the sense of a 'weekly gathering of local farmers who sell their product to the public' type of Farmers Market. I've been to a food co-op in Knoxville and I've been to the Trolley Stop Market on Madison but my weekends are usually devoted to work.

Em and I have considered a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture - one purchases a "subscription" from a local farm early in the season which will guarantee a weekly supply on seasonal fresh veggies delivered to a drop-off location) but we're hesitant because of our schedules. What if we can't make it to the drop-off?

A gentleman in Minneapolis has solved this problem for his city. (Ah, Minneapolis, with your bike lanes and light rail...) Randall has started VeloVeggies. The idea is simple:

"1. We go the farm's drop site.

2. We put your share on our bicycle trailer.

3. We pedal your veggies to your home."


This genius idea combines several of my favorite things: bicycles, hauling stuff by bicycles, and food. Maybe for an extra couple of bucks he'll stop at the beer store, too.

Cargo Bike Conversion

Take it to the next level! You can now convert your bike into a cargo bike and haul 100+ lbs of goodies! The Zaftig from Jacobs Green Solutions is an adjustable steertube length fork that uses a 20" wheel to convert your regular bike into a truck bike!

From the pic it looks like the best brake option is disc. It looks like V's would come up through the rack area and a canti cable would come down through, not to mention you would need a headset cable guide to run the cantis. I suppose all of that would be fine if you planned on leaving the fork on all the time, but what would be better than a quick conversion? All you need is a hinged clamp front brake lever and then you can rock down to cargo avenue!

The fork retails at $200 plus $25 for whichever brake mount you choose. I really do recommend running brakes. If you're hauling 100 lbs of stuff you don't want to have to rely on your rear brake or your legs!

You're probably asking yourself, "Where do I get a 20" front disc brake wheel?" Recumbents! Or you can just get a disc hub and build it on a BMX rim. You know those jams come in all kinds of colors. Colored spokes, too!

Imagine how much beer you can carry!

Giving new meaning to the pub crawl

There's nothing like being cooped up in a tiny apartment to get my creative juices flowing. And as you saw in the previous post I'm super in the mood to build something. First the inspiration, then the idea.

The Hopworksfiets is feat of design genius.



Two Kegs, a pizza rack, and a sound system. See more photos at Elly Blue's flickr. Seriously, check them out. The Chris King and Shimano XTR taps make me light-headed.

So here's the idea. I have this pedal car:



(That's my friend Brian from Columbus, OH!) Seeing as how it's just kind of sitting around and is in need of a serious overhaul I think you all should help me turn it into something spectacular involving beer and barbecue (because I've been talking about making a grill bike AND this is Memphis, y'all!). Some of you have seen it in person and know that the gear system looks like a nightmare, so I'm all for taking this all apart and putting in a new shifting system and even new wheels. This will hopefully lighten the load tremendously. We might even put two wheels on the front. Really this thing has so much potential, I'm interested to hear what ideas you all conjure.