Shopwarming Party at Our New HQ in Petaluma
Featured
Reply
Men’s Journal: Best Bikes to Haul Stuff: Yuba Boda Boda
Shorter and lighter than full-blown cargo bikes, the Boda Boda feels (and looks) more like a casual beach cruiser with its laid-back personality, a stylishly swoopy frame, cushy saddle, and sweptback handlebars that encourage you to take in the scenery.
Tacked on to the back end is a generously sized cargo platform, though, which can be customized with Yuba’s own broad range of accessories, including baby seats, panniers, and a variety of decks. There’s also an available bolt-on front basket that just happens to perfectly fit two cases of beer and, yes, if you’re a little creative, you can even strap a surfboard to the back.
As with the Transport, the Boda Boda’s aluminum frame cuts down on weight but also stiffness. Yuba rates the total cargo capacity at 22 pounds, but doing so will also cause the tail end to wag a bit, so exercise care when loading.
Read more: http://www.mensjournal.com/gear/outdoor/best-cargo-bikes-yuba-boda-boda-20130522#ixzz2U4AnRd2g
Men’s Journal: Best Bikes For Hauling Stuff: Yuba Mundo
The Yuba Mundo is the pickup truck of the cargo bike universe, just an absolute workhorse of a machine, that rides as smoothly as any commuter bike. With 21 speeds and a carrying capacity of over 400 pounds, this is the perfect choice for schlepping the kids – you could fit two on the back cushions, plus maybe even another adult if you had to, as well as whatever else you need to haul.
For our test ride, we zipped a seven-year-old son to school through NYC traffic with no problem at all – at one point, we almost forgot the kid was back there. After work, we filled one 20-gallon pannier with groceries, including a small fig tree and a hydrangea plant for Mother’s Day and made our way home, hardly noticing the extra weight at all. The super-sturdy kickstand reduces the danger of tipping over and makes loading the bike a cinch.
Riding on the relatively flat NYC streets was no problem, but Yuba also offers an electric version for someone living in, say, San Francisco or a hilly rural area; a powered boost comes in handy, especially with any extra baggage. If there’s a downside, it’s that, at 53 pounds, the Mundo is heavy to maneuver when you’re not cruising, and it’s also massively long at 6 feet, 9 inches. And since it makes such an impression, locking it up outside, especially overnight, gives one pause. But these are minor quibbles for a machine that was made for carrying serious weight – kids, produce, a load of rocks, whatever, the Yuba Mundo is built to haul. [$1,250; yubabikes.com]
Read more: http://www.mensjournal.com/gear/outdoor/a-bike-built-to-haul-20130522#ixzz2U4ATpOIh
Join us for the elMundo BionX launch at Practical Cycle on 6/9
Carry a SUP board by Bike
One of our favorite way to use the Boda Boda or the Mundo here at Yuba is to carry a SUP (stand-up paddleboard). We have carried wave boards (8.5″ long) and race boards (14″ long). We have also hauled whitewater kayaks, and even sea kayaks. It is easy and simple to use the Boda Boda and the Mundo to transport long loads. Both bikes feature side loading platform. The board or craft is positioned lengthwise on the bike. In general it is best to position the board on the right side of the bicycle. A couple of pieces of high-density foam positioned along side the rack create the necessary clearance for the biker’s feet. With some crafts such as a whitewater kayaks it doesn’t even require to use a block of foam. Yuba Bicycles will be releasing a SUP/ Surf/ Kayak pad system during the summer. In the meantime below are some instructions to help you make your own.
To carry your board on Yuba Bicycle you will need:
A block of high density foam.
Pipe insulation foam.
A pair of Yuba Utility Straps.
1) Select and cut the high-density foam.
• We do recommend using high-density foam. Such foam can be found at a kayak or surf shop. You will need a piece the size of about 16″x7″.
• Cut one piece of about 16″ tall and 5″ thick. This is the piece that will push the board away from the carrier.
• Cut a second piece of about 16″ tall and 1″ thick. This piece will be positioned towards the end of the carrier, it gives the board a bit of cushioning.
-
- high density foam preparation
-
- 5″ wide
-
- the thick piece is for the front, thin piece for the rear
-
- groove in the foam for the Boda Boda rack
-
- blocks of foam on Mundo
-
- foam blocks on Boda Boda
2) Install on the bike.
• To secure the foam on the bike, duck tape, zip-ties or small short straps like rok straps can be used.
3) How to load the SUP on the Boda Boda or Mundo.
Once the foam blocks are installed it is time to load the the board. We would recommend that you follow these steps:
• loop the Utility Straps around the sideloader bars first!
• postion the board on the bicycle, with the board/craft between you and the bicycle. This way you will be able to control the board, the straps.
• pull both strap ends towards the top of the rack and loop around a solid anchor point on the bicycle rack. Tighten one side then the other.
• once the board is securely on, loosen the strap and insert the paddle so it sits on the top edge of the board. Cinch straps again.
• wiggle cargo (the board and paddle) to make sure it is attached properly.
• take a test ride on an empty parking lot or quiet street.
• test the safety of the load one more time.
• ride and have fun at the beach, river, lake….
-
- straps go around the sideloaders before the board
-
- board or craft between you and the bike
-
- tighten securely
-
- strap loops around the carrier
-
- board securely attached
-
- rear view with paddle
Bicycle Retailer: Dealer Tour: The Final Four
In Chicago’s working-class neighborhoods, bikes are tools for getting around town.
CHICAGO, IL (BRAIN) — On the final day of the Dealer Tour, our group made its way into Chicago’s South Side and Lower West Side, working-class neighborhoods where two modest but friendly shops are satisfying a growing demand for bicycle repairs and low-cost transportation. They fix big-box bikes with a smile—all in the name of putting more people on bikes.
We also dropped in at a business that opened less than a month ago but offers up a model for retail merchandising done right, and we finished our 13-store tour at a high-volume shop that sells as many bikes and accessories out of a single location as many multi-store operations.
After two sunny and warm days, the weatherman forecasted afternoon showers. But luckily our group pedaled through 29 flat and dry miles.
A special thanks to our ride guides from Active Transportation Alliance and SRAM. Below is a recap of stores visited on Day 3. Additional coverage and photos will be featured in our upcoming June 15 print edition.
iurban: The Yuba Boda Boda Cargo Cruiser จักรยานที่เป็นมิตรกับสิ่งแวดล้อม เหมาะกับไลฟ์สไตล์คนเมือง
7/20 Join us at SF Disaster Bike
Gear Review: TiGr Lock
The TiGr Lock, billed as “elegant bike security” delivers on its promise of strength combined with lightness. The locks are made out of titanium, so despite their length size and strength, they are lighter than the U-Locks we normally use to secure our bikes. Although, it was designed to fit around the top tube of a road bike, we found the lock easily fits in a Go-Getter. It’s relatively long length made it easy to secure multiple bikes to a Mundo and then to a bike rack, compared to the long shackle U-Locks we normally use. With other locks, the width of the Sideloaders can interfere with aligning more than one bike next to a Mundo for locking up.
The TiGr lock is a a great lock for people who have custom cargo bikes with high end components, or people who are responsible for locking up a pack of bikes at once regularly (lookin’ at you car-free parents!).
Here’s the beauty shot of the lock in action.
Bike Portland: National Bike to School Day not that a big a deal in Portland
Today is National Walk and Bike to School Day. According to the National Center for Safe Routes to School, over 1,400 schools nationwide registered for the event and there was even a story about it on US Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood’s blog.
I rolled out to two schools in north Portland this morning to check out the action (more photos below). When I got back to my office and went online, I searched for press releases, Twitter updates, and so on from the Portland Bureau of Transportation and the Bicycle Transportation Alliance; but there were none to be found.
Turns out that in Portland, National Walk and Bike to School Day isn’t a big deal. Biking and walking to school certainly is, but this particular national holiday doesn’t register. And you can’t blame PBOT and the BTA. They oversee some of the largest, most comprehensive, and most successful walking and biking to school programs in the country.
This collective yawn from local advocates and our transportation bureau reminds me of other national bike events that don’t really make much noise here. I’m thinking of critical mass, the New Belgium Tour de Fat, the Bicycle Film Festival, and so on. Each one of those still happen in other cities, but they’ve come and gone in Portland due to lack of interest and a local preference for home-grown versions and other pursuits.
Even so, there were still special celebrations at some local schools and, like everyday, there were tons of kids walking and biking to school in Portland today! Below are a few photos from Trillium Charter School and Beach School in North Portland…