Carrying bikes with the Mundo - Update!

There has been a lot of interest in the posting about carrying bikes on the back of my Mundo, so I've decided to put up some more details and a "how to" on the process.

The original inspiration for trying this out was that the Fort Collins Bike Library needed to move about 65 bikes from their storage location to the downtown library kiosk.  New Belgium Brewery was hosting a meeting of folks from around the country to plan this summers' Tour de Fat festivities, and all the visitors needed bikes.  The plan was to ride the bikes from storage to the library, and then walk back to the storage to pick up another bike.  Repeat until done.  I volunteered to help move the bikes, but not being a fan of walking I figured there had to be a better method, and thus the Mundo Multiple Bike Loading System was born.

Carrying 2 bikes at a time.

 The basic idea was pretty easy: get a couple of v-shaped bike trays, such as those made by Thule/ Yakima/ Rocky Mounts, mount them to the Mundo's outriggers, and start moving bikes!  Sounds easy, and as it turned out, it really was.  A few technical details needed to be worked out, as I will show you, but it didn't take long to figure out.

Here are the things you'll need:
(2) full length bike trays
(4) 1" hex-head stainless steel machine screws with the same diameter and thread pitch as the ones that come mounted in the Mundo's outriggers.  (The stock screws might not be long enough to go through the bike tray into the fitting).
A drill
A measuring tape (to measure exactly where to drill the holes in the trays).
Some old carpet or other material to protect the frames where they contact the Mundo in transit.
(2) Yuba 3 meter Cargo Straps (or similar).
(1) hour of time to do the first installation. (Note: once everything is measured and drilled, the process of removing or installing the racks takes less than 5 minutes).

Here's what the final installation looked like.  The trays are different styles only because they were the only 2 available at the time.

The most expensive part of this project were the 4 stainless steel machine screws, as the used bike trays were donated by the Fort Collins Bike Co-op.  Getting a tray or 2 for a project like this could be a bit of a stumbling block, but if you keep your eyes open you can probably find one on craigslist, your local community bike shop, or even at a metal recycling center.

Although the original inspiration for the project was a short-term job, my long-term objective was to have a way to easily carry one or more bikes with the Mundo.  I have tried towing bikes, and it is not an ideal way to transport more than one bike, or even one bike over longer distances.  This setup with the trays allows me to, for instance, carry my mountain bike to the trailhead (about 10 miles) using the Mundo instead of a car.  It's a great way to get to and from the trails without having to ride my mountain bike on the street for a fairly long distance.  The Mundo's electric assist makes it super-easy to get up to the foothills quickly where I can then enjoy the amazing Colorado singletrack.

carrying the mountain bike to the mountains.

Here are some more detailed pictures of the installation process for the trays, and for those of you who might need to transport 3 bikes, I think there is a way of mounting a 3rd, short tray on the top of the cargo rack.  You'd have to have the kind where you remove the front wheel, otherwise the bike would stick out too far and you might have a problem with too much weight hanging off the back of the rack.

The outrigger with one screw removed in the front and rear to allow the rack to be installed.

Detail showing the extra-long machine screw needed due to the extra thickness of the rack.

Lining up the hole drilled in the rack with the outriggers' screw hole.  Note the slot in my wood deck for the Go-Getter bags' strap to go through.

Here is the tray on the other side showing the holes drilled to match up with the existing screw holes in the outrigger.

A view from the top, the rear screw is in, the front has not been attached yet.  Also note the piece of old carpet around the top rack to protect the bike being carried from rubbing against the steel of the Mundo.

As long as the tray is mounted at the correct angle you should have plenty of room to pedal.  The exact placement of the tray, and where to drill the holes was the most critical measurement during the installation.

Here's the mountain bike mounted on the Mundo for transport to the trailhead.

Here's a closeup of how to strap the upper part of the bike to the rack of the Mundo.

Another view of the strap holding the bike up.

Using the wheel straps that come with the bike tray to hold the wheels in place.

And hey, I'm off to the mountains!

Thanks for taking a look, and feel free to contact me if you have any questions about carrying bikes on your Mundo.  Once the system is in place it's easy to put on or take off as needed, and as you might expect, it gets a lot of comments as you ride through town.  And if you want to see a short video of the bike carrying a bike, go to my vine page.  If you need to carry even more bikes, you could always build a custom trailer such as this one I recently saw at the Bike Library, built to carry 5 bikes!

Seen at the Fort Collins Bike Library - a great design for carrying 5 bikes using any bike equipped for towing a trailer.

Spontaneous Cargo

Arriving home with the free shelf unit found alongside the road.

File this under "What a Bike can Do": Today I was at the grocery store getting some things for the next few days, and on my way home I saw this cool shelf unit sitting by the side of the road.  It was a freebie, and it just so happened we were looking for something to put in the garden for the squash to climb on.  Perfect!  Had I not been on the Mundo I would have had to come back for it, but with the amazing capacity of the longtail design and some of the cargo straps that I always have with me, I was able to strap the shelf unit to the bike and bring it on home.

My quick release cargo straps from Home Depot

I always carry 3 or 4 cargo straps that I got from Home Depot.  They are about 1" wide and 8' long, and have a very easy to use, secure, spring-loaded buckle.  Very useful!

Here is the shelf unit put back together, ready for the garden:

A perfect find for our rapidly growing squash plants.

Bike Lust and the Black Forest Classic 100K

On the Tommasini X-Fire demo bike with Pike's Peak in the background

June 23, 2013 will go down in infamy as the day I started lusting after a new bike.  I rode the Black Forest Classic 100K out of Elizabeth, Colorado to support the Children's Advocacy Center of Denver.  I was able to ride a demo bike from Creekside Bicycles in Parker, and now I know why all those guys are faster than me on the group rides!  It is the bike, dammit!  I have done plenty of 100K rides before on my classic 1967 Raleigh Pro, the Cosmos Mariner, but this is the first time I've ridden one in Colorado where the elevation added to the challenge.  (I think the max elevation on the ride was 7300 ft).

The venerable Cosmos Mariner at Arches National Park in March 2013

Despite the elevation and the hills, I found myself flying like the wind on the Tommasini X-Fire (Columbus XCR stainless steel frame), cranking in the big ring like it was nothing.  I kept on looking down at the gears to see if I was dreaming, but no, it was true, I had become a beast!  Well, at least it felt like that, and I finished the ride in the amazing (for me) time of 4 hours and 15 minutes, including stops.  Much faster than my previous best time by far.  Wow.  Now I know why some bikes really are worth the big bucks, so I'll be saving my pennies and dimes and lottery tickets in hopes of being able to get my very own super-bike ASAP.

Modifying the Mundo to carry 2 bikes

This weekend in Fort Collins there is a big meeting at New Belgium Brewery, sponsors of the Tour de Fat.  Most of the attendees are bicyclists (I wonder how many of them are doing the 30 Days of Biking challenge?) and New Belgium, in cooperation with the Fort Collins Bike Library, is providing them with bikes to use for the weekend.

The Mundo with 2 bikes for the Bike Library

 Volunteers were needed to move the bikes from a storage building to the Bike Library Kiosk where people could pick them up.  The plan was: ride a bike from the storage to the kiosk, then walk back for another one.  Total bikes to be moved was about 65!  Well, ya know, I hate to walk, so I figured out a way to carry 2 bikes at a time on the Mundo.

2 Bikes on the old roof rack trays that I mounted to the lower rack.  Very easy to ride with.

I had an idea that if I could find some old roof rack trays, I could probably mount them on the rear carrier somehow.  Luckily, I found some old trays nobody wanted at the Fort Collins Bike Co-op, attached them to the lower part of the rear rack, and I was good to go!

Here's how I did it:

I had to put them at an angle so that I would have room to pedal, and the trays would not stick out too far in back.

I could only find 2 full-length trays, and they don't match.  But hey, they do the job.

I drilled holes in the tray, used some longer bolts than the ones that came with the rack.  With the longer bolts the tray could be attached using 2 of the existing bolt holes.

The right-side tray was an older style, but was even easier to attach.  I had to remove the clamp assembly that was designed to hold the downtube, and I had to drill through one of the tubes to get my bolts in, but it is very secure.

Here's another view of the right side, you can see that there is room to pedal.  That thing that looks like it has a bow on it is the old ammo box that holds my 15Ah 36V Ping LiFePO4 battery.

You may think that this is a lot of work to go through to move some bikes a few blocks.  It took me about an hour and a half to figure out and install the trays, but it only took half an hour to move all the bikes (there were lots of other volunteers).  The setup will come in handy again on Sunday when we have to move all the bikes from New Belgium back to the storage building, but the real reason I did it was so I would have a secure way to carry my mountain bike up to the trail-heads in the foothills.  It has always bothered me that people drive their cars to go ride their bikes.  Well no more!  This proof of concept shows that the electric-assist Mundo can easily carry a mountain bike to a trail-head that is a good 10 miles out of town (or more), and it avoids the drudgery of riding a fat tire bike on the road.  Now to get the mountain bike tuned up and ready to ride.  Hmmm, maybe some new tires for it this year?

"Epic" Spring Snowstorm Slows 30 Days of Biking Challenge

Winter Storm Warning!

Well, if this is what 4 - 7 inches of overnight snow looks like, I guess the 30 Days of Biking Challenge is not in danger of faltering.  The reality this morning is I don't really feel like riding anywhere, not because of snow, but because it was only 19 degrees F when I got up.  Being a weather wimp, I'm going to wait until later today before venturing out.

So hey, until today the weather has been fine, and the 30 Days of Biking has been a breeze.  Yesterday I rode downtown to meet with my tutoree.  (I work part-time for Larimer County as a GED tutor).  The view from the 5th floor of the County building was beautiful - you could see the clouds and snow and wind approaching from behind the mountains, but there in downtown Fort Collins it was still rather warm.  Stopped at the coffee shop on the way home, and saw a couple of cool bikes out on the town:

A fellow cargo-biker with rad seat cushion

A sweet errandonuering bike

A beauty of a town bike with well-placed Odell Brewing sticker

30 Days of Biking Bliss

Today I rode my bike.  I have ridden it every day (almost) since last April 2012 when the 30 days of Biking challenge found me.

One of the spoke cards I made for the 30 Days of Biking Challenge

 There have been some days when I haven't: too lazy, too cold, too busy, whatever!  But last year, when I heard about the 30 Days of Biking challenge, I just felt compelled to do it.  I needed to make a real commitment to biking as my main form of transportation, and stop burning carbon just because I want to go get a burrito (or a coffee.  Usually a coffee...).  Having the electric-assist Yuba Mundo has really helped me keep my commitment - I was able to do my 38 mile round-trip commute between Worcester and Marlborough without a problem.

Mundo with trailer = massive hauling capability

Now that I've retired from teaching and live in Fort Collins, aka Bicycle Paradise, I only use the Mundo for grocery shopping, hauling, and long distance trips that have to be accomplished quickly (The electric-assist Mundo moves through time and space at an average speed of about 18 mph).  However, whether I'm riding the Mundo or my trusty old Cannondale road bike, or doing a long touring ride with my beautiful old 1967 Raleigh Pro, the Cosmos Mariner, the bliss of bicycling has truly taken hold.  I felt it today very strongly, the warm air, the beautiful clouds, the foothills off to the west; weaving through the streets, no hurry, just enjoyment of the movement.  In the moment.  Bliss.  Yes, I will bike every day this April, and the 30 days of biking will continue to be an inspiration as Spring turns to Summer and the silent, perfect wheels of the most efficient machine on Earth keep spinning.

Here's a quick update - It's April, and I'm participating in the 30 Days of Biking, a challenge to start the warm weather riding season off right by riding your bike every day in April.  Last year, this was my inspiration to make a solid commitment to riding to work everyday, and with the help of the electric-assisted Mundo I was able to make the 38 mile round-trip almost every work day of the month.  This year I'm in a different city and state, and no longer have a M-F type job, so no commuting needed.  However, me and the Mundo are busy errandoneurring around Fort Collins, and trying to get this bicycle paradise up to the next level of bliss.  So hey, I've made some bike spoke cards, and I'm putting them around town.  If you get one, let me know, go to the 30 days of biking website and make the pledge, and then, if you want, give the card to another bicycle you see.  OK, off to the store for groceries, something a bike can do.