The Bakfiets front box bikes are great if you have smaller children as you can see and interact with them easily. The weight and 8 speed hub gearing means I wouldn’t want to go any distance with significant hills. The step through is great for stop start journeys, the stand is stable for loading.

The Xtracyle kit works great for an 8 year old + shopping and is light enough to be realistic for commuting / general use. I found adding a second child made it too flexy for me, many just get on with and don’t worry about it. There’s all sorts of add ons for different loads, now including a sidecar that folds up.

I’m just building up a Yuba as a replacement for my previous Xtracycle to cure the wobbles. The Yuba has a good range of accessories too. I’ve got the Xtracycle freeloader bags for mine as they’re really flexible for loading different size and shape things.

Approx weights before adding cargo;
Bakfiets 90lb
Xtracycle 45-50lb
Big Dummy 50lb
Yuba Mundo 60lb.

There’s a new Yuba Boda Boda which might be worth checking out.

We have a couple of Bakfiets trikes at work. They have their benefits, but I prefer 2 wheels once moving.

If you’re anywhere near Perthshire (Crieff) you’re welcome to try my Yuba once built in a couple of weeks.

Practical Cycles at Lytham near Blackpool have a great range of cargo bikes and it’s really worth a visit to try a few to see what might suit.

If you’re not interested in carrying living loads then it’s worth considering trailer options.

Might be worth checking out the Circe Helios. They don’t fold, but the 20″ wheels makes them shorter than standard. There’s a few reviews online.

Singular Hummingbird 26er / 69er was designed to be run with 120mm sus fork and 26″ wheel or Hummingbird rigid fork, (450mm A2C with 55mm offset) and 29er wheel. I think the same fork is now used in the Singular Gryphon.

I’ve decided to go 26″ wheels across 3 bikes, so I can chop and change between road, off road and winter tyres easily across 3 bikes, so I’m about to sell mine along with a Hope / Mavic 719 29er wheel. (email in profile if you’re interested)

For those that have ridden both does the disc Pompetamine feel any different to the standard Pompino?

How do you find it compared to your Karate Monkey if you were running the same tyres? (if that makes sense!)

26″ Cromoto very good too.

If you go for the Fargo fork you probably want to make sure it’s a V2. I had a V1 and the tyre clearance was significantly less than the Cromoto and the offset comes in at 50mm or 55mm instead of the Cromoto 29er and V2 45mm.

You could try adding a half link to see if that corrects the chain tension.

Stabiliser bikes aren’t very stable, most of the time old style trikes would be better as they are more stable more of the time. The balance bikes generally make for a reasonably smooth transition.

Our daughters’ progression was Like-a-bike to Puky LR1 (balance bike with footboard) to Isla Cnoc 16. I was amazed at how well the balance bikes had prepared her for the pedal bike.

Does the P7 have rack mounts at the dropout?

Might be worth looking at Thorn Raven frame, designed for Rolhoff, but with EBB would take Alfine.

My older Inbred geared frame has chainstay bridge and rack / mudguard mounts on dropout and chainstay, might be worth seeking out an earlier SS track end one for use with Alfine. My sliding dropout Inbred doesn’t have chainstay bridge or dropout rack mounts. If you could get around the lack of chainstay bridge current slot dropout inbred would work do what you’re asking.

If you could live with a tensioner a lot more options open up eg Surly Long Haul Trucker for 26″ wheels.

Probably worth getting a ride on a Troll as they’re designed for just what you want. I think the 1×1 has the same geometry and might be easier to find someone with one to try.

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crimsonKing[/url] by andyh22[/url], on Flickr

King Crimson’s In The Court of The Crimson King

My earlier geared Inbred frame has a chainstay bridge and will run disc or V rear. I’m running V and have fitted a rack with minimal faff.

What you get with a touring frame (eg LHT or Thorn Sherpa) should be plenty of braze ons and long chainstays (460mm on LHT vs 425mm on Inbred). This means that more of the rear luggage weight can be forward of the rear axle and still have heel / pannier clearance. Having the weight within the wheelbase helps with stability and reduces ‘tail wagging dog’ effect. The tubing is also chosen to be better with a load. People, especially lighter ones, sometimes find touring frames ‘unresponsive’ and better with a load than without.

You could try moving wheels as far back as they’ll go in Roadrat dropout to lengthen chainstay and see if that helps. I suspect though that what makes it a nice responsive ride unladen is what makes it noodly laden.

Have you had a chance to try your roadrat with the luggage aboard, but without the followme attached. I’ve not tried one myself, but I don’t like the feel of a trailer bike attached unless it’s a 2 wheeled one. It might be worth considering a childback tandem as that will feel much better than any attachment arrangement. There was one on ebay recently which went for £360 with S&S couplings. Tandems are much more difficult to transport by train than solos if you need to do that though.

Might be worth swapping and seeing how MrM’s Inbred feels with the followme attached and also your Roadrat with the child trailer. You’d get some idea of whether swapping to an Inbred frame would be much better for you.

I think if you ride a 54cm or smaller frame a 26″ LHT will come up sometime. It will take longer if you want a larger frame as they’ve only recently started doing them with 26″ wheels.

Happy with my Paramo Quito jacket. ‘Pit’ zips are elbow to waist so plenty of scope for ventilation along with front zip. Material is same weight as the adventure light smock so light in Paramo terms, though still 600g for an XL. Still very breathable when it’s all zipped up.

Indeed I do.

Must admit my other half has been happy with her BB. Perhaps I should listen to her more :)

Is there any reference to wheel size in relation to ratios recommended? 1:1.9 ratio on a 20″ wheel would be significantly lower gear ratio than with a 26″ wheel.

700 wheel with 700x37mm CX tyre just fits in my sliding dropout Inbred with dropouts at 1/2 way point of adjustment. Would probably take a 700x32mm with mudguard clearance if adjustment.taken as far back as it can go.

Singular Gryphon/Hummingbird fork? 450mm AtoC with 55mm offset. I don’t know if that would match a TD1. Very happy with mine, but that’s on a standard 26″ Inbred.

Looks like I’ll be better off converting my bar end shifters with Paul or VO mounts then

They seem to show all the Microshift shifters except the thumbies. I’ll drop them an email as they should be able to get them.

Thanks for signposting.

I’ve got an on-one SS cassette disc hub about to go in for sale section. It has enough space to adjust chainline, I can check if it would take to Surly SS cassette cogs.

Experimenting with a Hummingbird fork on a 26″ Inbred at the moment. I’m assuming that the Inbred and Hummingbird frame geometry is reasonably close as both are happy with 120mm fork.

The std fork with 29er wheel was less harsh than with 26″ wheel, but it didn’t feel right. So far the 29er front definitely feels better with the Hummingbird fork than the Inbred std 440mm fork. How much is down to the offset differences (55mm vs 43mm) and how much is the HB fork being more compliant I’m not sure. The HB fork weighs 150g less than the IB fork.

Next stage is to try it in the twisty woodsy tracks.

ADH -the calc I saw was in this paper here;
http://www.ebikes.ca/sustainability/Ebike_Energy.pdf

Needless to say I’ve not seen any peer review of the approach to confirm or dispute the findings.

I guess the point for me is that often an e-bike is seen as some sort of cheating as opposed to another transport option. And let’s face it we’re on STW where driving a car to take a bike somewhere to ride is normal behaviour.

I’ve got an electric bike. I like using it for commuting. Some days I use elec, some days non-elec. Probably not cheaper to run than a moped, but I prefer it. It’s a bit quicker than non-elec, but the difference could swing the other way if I got fitter. It’s definitely less work than non-elec.

There’s been some calculations done that for most people the additional food required to ride a non-elec bike has a greater environmental footprint than the resources required to power an e-bike. Unless you eat a locally grown vegetarian diet.

For me the e-bike regularly makes the difference between riding or using the car, especially on wet and windy days.

Can you stretch to 2 wheelsets?

My 26″ Inbred works fine with 700 x 37 CX tyres for mixed road / off road rides. Then the 26″ wheelset with off road tyres goes on for messing about in the woods with little or no road riding. I’m sure there will be plenty of 26″ bikes with similar clearance.

I’ve enjoyed rigid 29ers for landrover track type rides, but prefer 26″ for the woods, so it’s a good compromise for me.

I try drops every year or so, but never really get on with them. I don’t like standard relatively straight bars either and always feel better on on-one Mary bars or the Titec version of the jones H-bars. Much nicer for my wrists.

How about an Xperia Mini Pro with a spare battery. I’ve got a similar list to yours and have one on the way. It’ll be a bit of a change from my current Nokia 3110! (It only needed a charge every week mind, though it’s down to 5 days now)

29er wheels use the same 622mm rim diameter that has been the 700c road and cyclocross standard for decades. All that’s happened is that wider rims and fatter off road tyres are now available for that diameter rim.

It’s definitely worth trying a few different bikes on the trails you like to ride to see which makes you grin most.

Pjay, how are those orange f8s compared to on-one chromo rigids?

After a nasty crank call we got the BT service added which blocks any calls from callers who don’t allow their caller id to show up. Costs about £4 a month I think.

This cuts out a lot of cold calling as well as they mostly withold their number.

Also stops my Dad getting through as he always forgets and has his number withheld when he calls, but that’s an unfortunate side effect!

Thanks, Koolstop it is then.

I use one of these;
http://www.walky.co.uk/walky-dog-range.html
on the way to the woods / hills. Works well to keep them a safe distance and the sprung loaded bit takes out some of the shock if they see something interesting. I use body harness, rather than neck collar for connection.

Our black lab is very good at keeping alongside without getting in the way. She doesn’t like being attached to the bike downhill though and I have to keep at the same speed as when going uphill! First time I took her out I thought I’d killed her, as JT says they don’t know when to stop. Had to walk a couple of miles at less than 2mph after over doing the time / distance.

Taking my Mums’ less than 1 year old dog as well is more of a challenge as on the outward leg she’s very ‘keen’. And when off the lead she loves to pick up long sticks that I fear are going to get jammed in a wheel!

Still it’s good fun for us all and I’d get out on the bike much less without taking them along.

Another Paramo fan here. I had the older heavier version of the Velez and it was good. Now got the Quito and I prefer the more extensive ventilation options. Ventilation zips go from waist nearly to elbow. If it’s not raining you can take your arms out completely and use as gilet. (looks a bit odd with sleeves behind back I guess but works well). Reproofing is straightforward so can last for years. You do need to remember that whilst they’re great at keeping you dry they’re not actually waterproof. eg if you sit on wet ground in the trews the water comes through. Dry off quick though.

Oh, they’re also quiet compared to most waterproofs.

6′, 34″ inside leg 18″ KM with 110mm stem and titec H bar (hence the longer stem).

Whereabouts are you, maybe you could get a ride on a 20″ and 18″ and then decide. I had an 18″ 1×1 and immediately felt more at home on the KM. Hard to say why as the ETT is the same on both. Probably down to KM bars being set higher which works for me.

SRAM, Sturmey and Shimano hub gear sprockets are generally interchangeable. You can get up to 24t. you might need to check whether dished or not as that would effect chainline.

lots here;
http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/sprockets-hub-gear-dept631_pg1/

Thanks Del

On my hybrid fork there’s a mudguard mount above the brake mount higher up the leg. I just needed to cut down the stays to fit. P clips in the right place would do the same thing.

Ian, you’re welcome to have a play on mine for a w/e or couple of days over the hols. It’s an 18″, which would probably be right for you as I’ve just taken your 18″ Inbred off you! Just need to refit the front caliper for it to be ready for action.

Currently 3 x 8 with Titec H bars. I have 2 sets of wheels, 1 with 2.4″ Ardents and 1 with 32mm or 37mm Paselas or 37mm conti cx tyres. I almost swapped over to a Crosscheck, but decided in the end the KM wins on versatility at the expense of a little bit of extra heft.

Downshep, what are those footpegs for rear most passenger? are they fitted through the front seat stay that would normally be attached to bike frame.

I’ve had a couple and tried a couple more. As ever it’s worth getting clear on intended use, local riding conditions and compromises you’re willing to make……..

Xtracycle add on felt too flexy to me with an adult passenger.

V1 Yuba (originally single speed converted to 18 speed) could carry 2 x 14 stone passengers with no noodliness whatsoever. Weighed 67lbs. Would have been OK in flattish town for short journeys. But not for me in hilly rural location 6 miles from nearest shop. (Current version would be nearer 55lbs with same kit)

Tried a Bakfiets, would be brilliant for kids and again flattish town for short journeys.

Had a spin on a Big Dummy which felt like I’d wanted Xtracycle to feel.

For carrying 1 child up to 6 I got most use out of a Brompton + ITChair, which still had room for some shopping.

The long bikes feel different and it’s worth trying to see if you like that feel.

The Yuba and BD have the foot board / side rail loading capacity absent on the Ute.

I suspect if the Ute was cromo people would like it more, but buy it less. It’s strength seems to be that for the same weight as a fully kitted tourer you can have the added flexibility of carrying more stuff and 1 or 2 kids. And it’s inbetween length means it will ride more ‘normally’ solo. You can always get a trailer for carrying really heavy stuff when required. I’m not sure the Ute would be so good if regularly carrying loads over 100lbs or adult passengers.

If looking to transport 1 or 2 kids (at least 1 under 5) and are not looking for off road capability then the Circe Helios tandem is an option. Ride nice solo and can be either tandem or cargo-bike.

If distance (within UK rather than going the length of South America!) and/or hills are likely to be a regular feature in your cargo biking then it’s worth considering electric assist but that’s a whole other can of worms.

Ton, if the kalkhoff isn’t so good off road, have you looked at the Haibike.

http://www.haibike.de/produkte_detail_en,998,6494,detail.html
There’s a UK dealer here;
http://www.justebikes.co.uk/categories/haibike/

Won’t have the range of the kalkhoff, but looks much more suitable for proper off road with all the heavy bits in the centre of the bike + proper suspension