08 May, 2012

A new "boot" on my bike

Today it is easy to find something to write about. I've been out on my bike doing groceries and other bits and pieces. My bike's been upgraded with a new "boot" and it is great.


This is what I used to cart all my groceries in:
It looks a bit strange, that is because it is a child seat as well as a basket.
However it is a very long time since it was used as a child seat! You cannot
see, but it is metal covered in plastic, except that in many places the plastic
has deteriorated and fallen off, leaving metal exposed that rusted.
And this is what I've got now:


Showing the rear wheel stand
that lifts the whole back
of the bike off the ground.
 It gives a lot more stability
when loading a child or
heavy groceries onto the bike.
I can hardly believe I waited so long to change. This new basket holds more than the previous one. It is awesome. I no longer have to worry that something might fall out the side. (I recently had to ride back over my route from the shop to retrieve a milk bottle that dropped out onto the road.) I fetch groceries home on my bike three or more days a week, so this is a significant improvement. 


Where I park my bike. It is the easiest to
access of all the places we squeeze our
bikes into at home. I get the privilege
because I'm the primary hunter and
gatherer!
The only thing I miss is the handle on the front of the old basket, which helped me get the back wheel up when putting the stand down (you can just see the stand at the bottom of the photo). When there is 8+ kilos on the back of the bike it isn't easy to lift up, especially when I get home and park it in the little space beside our car.


Here's an older post where I also talk about shopping on bikes.

at

3 comments:

  1. Karen08 May, 2012 18:15

    Not at all related to the bike, but I'm in awe of your carparking skills in the bottom photo. That's so close to the wall! If it was me I'd be scraping it every time I parked...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Gary and Barbara09 May, 2012 11:53

    I don't know about Australia, but I hate parking in the USA, where the side mirrors are flat rather than convex as they are in Japan.

    After driving so many years now in Japan, I always feel that I am blind when trying to park or change lanes in the country I spent the first 35 years of my life in.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wendy09 May, 2012 14:43

    I have no trouble parking in Australia, but I think that is because there is a whole lot more space there than there is here. I have no idea about mirrors, flat or convex.

    Karen, the bigger difficulty isn't that I have to park close to the wall, it is that I have to allow a certain amount of room so that the sliding door will open. Sometimes I get that right and sometimes I get it wrong. The other difficulty about this parking spot is that the road isn't quiet. Usually one or more cars, pedestrians, bikes etc. are waiting for me to get the car positioned correctly and I always perform far worse under pressure like that. Thankfully, though, the road is wider than our previous road and it is easier to turn in. However, I'm glad I don't have to go out in the car very often, it is far easier to just take a bike (or walk to the train) in most cases.

    ReplyDelete