One for BigDummy – utility bike content

Is Really Useful Bikes the same as “good things in the dairy” and formerly “loadsbetter”?

Captain, we are grateful to you for convening this meeting of the longbike niche. Can we designate you an honourary niche member? 🙂

Loads Better is a different story 🙁

Over 200! Whoop.

BigDummy, have you built your shed yet?

I haven’t Adam. I’m planning…

StonerDummy is happily tucked up in his shed now.

Just got a child seat for it to do the shopping/nursery run with Stoner Jr now (he’s still too young to go on the snapdeck)

Just got a child seat for it

Pics? This is one of the things I will be doing in future and am always interested to see what option people have chosen and (more importantly) how they have attached the seat.

Jon, let me know if you want some help building the shed… 🙂

hang on then. Let me pop out to the shed…

el cheapo (£28) halfords seat.
Normal fitting to seat tube clamp.
The leg channels splay from vertical around the free radical frame/snapdeck – about 1.5″ each side. The cheap plastic is flimsy enough to do this without any buggering around.

I have moved the front pair of strap clips down the free radical frame a little bit so that they are not caught up under the seat.

PS – Im going to get a silly-long stem and move my saddle forwards to give Jr a bit more space

Yes, the fitting of this doesn’t use the advantage of the length, to give the passenger a riding experience not wholly dominated by your arse. 🙂

He’ll never reach the bars from back there, he’s got really short arms…

why would anyone not want to be dominated by my arse?

anyway, as soon as Jr isnt prone to falling off under the wheels of a bus and creating no end of annoying paper work, then he will be promoted to a back rest mounted on the snapdeck, some short stoker bars and feet in the bags as standard.

He’ll never reach the bars from back there, he’s got really short arms…

I’m not letting the bugger steer. He cant even drive a car safely yet.

Practical Cycles are getting in child seats that will fit to a Mundo; they might work on an xtracycle a well.

mike – how do they attach do you know?

No idea as yet; I just got this in am email from Zaynan at Practical cycles:

we hope to have some Yuba-specific child seats in soon. Two of these can be mounted together on the new 2009 model rear rack.

What does an Xtracycle look like under the deck? Here’s what a Mundo rack looks like:

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with the snap deck off (and it really does just clip off in a blink) you just see the two side tubes running from fore to aft. They have no cross members joining them. The tube diameter is c. 2cm. They are held vertical by the lower frame section.

Might work if the seat clips onto the side rails of the Mundo…

What about cutting the ‘legs’ off that existing kiddy seat and bolting it to the snap deck directly (although you’d probably want to properly bolt the snap deck to the V-racks as well, rather than the Xtracycle clips). Then already use the ‘legs in bags’ approach that will be used later on anyway.

BigDummy – Member

Captain, we are grateful to you for convening this meeting of the longbike niche. Can we designate you an honourary niche member?

It would be an honour.

I, however, think I am on the verge of joining the newest and finest urban transport niche out there….

Singlespeed – Check
Made of pig iron – Check
Back pedal braking – Check
Mudguards – Check
Kickstand – Check
Rack – Check
Dynamo – Check
Chainguard – Check
Women’s frame – Check
Cool as **** – Check

Adam – that was going to be my first appraoch, but for Jr (27m) it would still be an uncomfortable sitting position. The snap deck widens towards the front so I would have to remove the whole leg support and in order for him to be able to drop his diddy legs over the side probably attack the side pieces of the seat too.

Also it would be tricky to adapt it to somethig with quick release removal that I was confortable with its robustness in a crash/braking/leaning over etc. I need QR because of the “garage” height.

Its on a quick release so its easy to pull on and off. I will keep it for 6 months and as soon as he’s grown some more will make a custom wooden seat for the snapdeck.

CFH, I borrowed a bike like that for a month, they’re absolutely brilliant. Mine was made by an anarchist workers’ collective, so maybe not your style 🙂

How on earth did it decide which way to steer then? 😉

Bikes as transport, not as fashion items! (Speaks the man just back from the shops on a women’s framed Marin hybrid! )

How on earth did it decide which way to steer then?

generally to the left I should think… 🙂

A Marin! You bought an American Dutch bike?

No, the Marin is current town hack, am thinking of an ex-hire MacBike Batavus as a replacement

I just gaffer taped a bit of Karrimat onto the board of the Ute and Greta sits on that, with a foot in each pannier.

I just gaffer taped a bit of Karrimat onto the board of the Ute and Greta sits on that, with a foot in each pannier.

Sounds like Greta’s built of sturdier stuff than Stoner Jr…. 😉 *

Oh, and thanks for the updated review stuff on the Ute that you posted aaaages ago in response to my inane questioning. 🙂

*Disclaimer: other than having been one, I know nothing about children…

did someone mention really useful bikes? Rob here from really useful…good to see stuff written about the Mundo,we have some version ones here with a different spec if your interested…if you want £5 off just ask to claim the voucher mentioned previously….it would be interesting to see a v1 dairy spec mundo and a v2 tested back to back..

bob – how will the mundo seats attach to the rack?

With the version one mundo its difficult to attach child seats to the rack, lots of improvised stuff going on, eventually yuba responded to critism and made the rack slimer for seat to slip right on (apparently), Zaynan from practical is the man for version 2’s..
Version 1’s is more suited to older kids, loads and general stuff.
This is just my opinion, riding them is what it is all about…..Mundos open up a new way of using a bike thats for sure.

Maiden voyage with Jr today – down to the recycling, then the shops, dropping him off at the nursery after, then on to the Post Office to post three parcels and back via the bookshop. Fully laden out, fully laden back.

He loved it. I think it’s fantastic. He even liked his new Thomas the Tank Engine helmet. Sunny day up here too.

Best comment so far while riding the Mundo today; a drunk called me a “stupid f***ing stupid man”.

Been looking at tricycles all week, but my head has been turned by the yuba……