Shopping by bike

A lot of the self service tills in my tesco have the ‘i’m using my own bag’ function – put bag on, THEN it starts to weigh..

*** Has visions of Mrs PP plonking our EBC trailer on the self service checkout…. ***

😆

I’d quite like to get a trailer and give this a go, but I only really get the time at the weekends and try to get out with the kids then. My hack bike has a LOCT seat for the youngest to ride with me and a trailerbike for the eldest, with panniers for shopping (it’s better for family rides if I have all the weight!).

Now if I could just attach a trailer to the trailerbike we could get a full weeks shopping…..

There’s a chap I see in my local town occasionally with a hardtail/tagalong/2wheel trailer with 2 children in it combo, looks about 20ft long but seems to work ok.

Has to take a very wide swing at corners though…..

Yes,older bike with panniers. Just make sure you balance the weight in large panniers or you’ll end up leaning to the right (or left) obviously – depending on which is heavier! much more interesting than going in the car.

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Someone above mentioned they did not fancy the trade off in speed compared to their normal commuter. I sold my Pompetamine Alfine 8 to get this. Weights are not dissimilar surprisingly (not including bags), tyres are bigger on the Ute, but it rolls very well. Test ride one if you can, I use it for local deliveries, bit of shopping, collecting small stuff for the farm… We’ll see ifit manages 2 25kg bags of feed next winter! I expect it will!

Can’t fit the big shop on?
Tsk tsk….

I regularly shop by bike but tend just to go more often and carry it by rucksack. One of those cargo bikes would be great though.

Living for the last ten years in Holland and Denmark, this thread just seems weird. Things like this are everywhere – not just being ridden, but also left outside overnight without being stolen. That last thing is the oddest, to British eyes.

His forks were straight bladed when he started…

All my groceries by bike or on foot, Turkish grocery store round the corner for exciting fuit vegetables and olives and way cheaper than Tesco, everything else I carry in a courier bag, picking up bits at lunch time or on the way home.

It happens that the usual Tesco’s I use is opposite one of the best beer pubs and micro breweries in London so it’s never a chore.

I think the key is just making it a habit and part of life and totally usual.

I’ve found I’m actually going out for fewer rides than I did but nearly all of my chores include a bicycle.

I love it!

have been shopping by bike for the last five or so years…. pretty much since i came to germany.

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much easier than parking a car in town.

used to do all my shopping by bike at uni, just using a huge rucksack.
Still get local stuff and food, go into town and do errands by bike.Much less faff than parking, traffic and walking miles.

Big dummy. Your photo set is great. I can see you have quite a deep relationship with your Surly. It is woven into your life in a positive way. I’m well impressed. Does it have a name?

Leader price do compact toilet rolls. Happily both Leader Price and Lidl on on our route to the pool. We usually shop on the tandem at 2:00 in the vid on this page

I was doing it when first child was born and I was on paternity leave, the snow made the roads sh1tty so I used to blam the mountain bike across heaton park and load a rucksac, but as others have said, you end up going most days

it’s organisation that is the key, you need to keep on top of the meal planning and always be topping up the staples

Shopping…

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School run…

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General haulage…

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Best bike I’ve ever bought, by a mile.
Was £600 from Charliethebikemonger. Reckon I’ve easily saved that in car use.
Plus, what price the fun factor. 🙂

neilc1881…I’ve had 4x25kg bags of Cotswold chippings on the back, from Wickes. It rode fine. 🙂

Big dummy, some cracking pics of your ute-love in there! I think this may be my next cycle scheme bike. Roll on August….

They’re a life changer mate.

(Big dummy’s is a big dummy by the way, not a Ute.) 🙂
(They get a bit protective them Surly folks)…

Oops! Like the idea of the school run on it too btw. Would be perfect for my needs – 1 mile from aldi, 1/2 mile from school and just under a mile from work. I get all my basics from aldi, and I’m fortunate enough to live right in a proper town centre, so use the butcher, fruit shop etc most days.

Ute looks like a winner price wise over the surly. Any other contenders.

Test shop yesterday. Dropped son off at his footy and took the bike & trailer to Tescos.
Met a new friend on the way 🙂

Only slight issue was riding trough the car park, some woman driving straight at me. But it was me going the wrong way… just not designed for bikes to ride through, these car park things.
No other problems, trailer was great down the hill.

Saw a bloke cycling with a Flymo in his hand yesterday! Stupid more than impressive really 🙂

I fall into the “no room in the flat ” camp on this. As soon as I have enough space I’ll get a town bike.
Near me, all the bike racks on the High Street and at the tube are battered and plundered daily so it would have to be an ugly one.
Fair play to those who do.

As mentioned on the ‘utility cycling’ thread. I’m still looking for volunteers to take part in a shopping by bike trial for an EU funded project.

It’s nowt too onerous, shop by bike once a week for about 4 weeks, and return a questionnaire. I’ve just kicked off 150 volunteers this week but will be launching another at the end of July (http://blog.wiggle.com/2013/05/28/shopping-by-bike/)

If anyone has any earth shattering ideas as to how to recruit more volunteers, let me know please.

Ta 🙂