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rebeccmeisterLast Saturday wound up being a bit frustrating, because I had a bit of time and a bit of energy to work on various Stuff and Things-related tasks, but I got bogged down in actual decision-making around much of the Stuff and Things.
To wit, I'm trying to figure out what to do about the bike basket on Frodo. I think I got the current bike basket in ~2016, and it's the third of its type. Shortly after I got it, I brought my bike of the time, the Jolly Roger, up to Seattle so we could Ride from Seattle to Vancouver and Party. The plan that year was for S and I to trade off riding the Odious IV with my dad, alternating with riding the Jolly Roger to rest and recover. We made it all of around 1/2 a mile at the very beginning, with me on the Odius, S on the Jolly Roger, before reaching a traffic light where S discovered that the front brake on the Jolly Roger is far more grabby than what he was accustomed to, and he endo'd with a loud crashing sound that was the snapping of some of the wood on this basket.
So, all things considered, it has held up pretty well over the years, with various applications of zip ties and whatnot. But I can now see daylight through more parts of it than ever before, and I'm getting tired of random people rummaging through my basket when I park my bike out on the street, so it's time for a change.
The thing is, I'm not convinced that I want to try and obtain a Basket #4, which would involve exchanging a series of letters with the Amish farmer who made the prior 3, to even start finding out whether he'd be willing to make another one (by now he might be old and tired? Who knows!). I did find that there's a company that sells all sorts of different Amish-made baskets online, on the behalf of the Amish families, but none of the existing ones have quite the same dimensions, and I'm not sure that I'm ready for the project of modifying some other style of picnic/storage basket to fit on and work with this rack. So, I stalled out.
But then, I've also been having a second bike luggage dilemma. The last time I rode the Paris-Brest-Paris (photo album link), I cobbled together an accessory bike pannier out of a cosmetics bag and some spare reflective ankle straps:
It wound up being really helpful to have just this little bit more cargo space than my luggage bag afforded, so I could carry along a nice, warm wool sweater to put on at night. But a cobbled-together setup is risky; the cosmetics bag was pretty cheap and flimsy, and so now is the time to think about and test out better alternatives.
The net result of all these things is, I think I'm going to obtain a larger trunk bag, but one that can also double as a front rack bag on my commuter bike, Frodo. One of the best parts is the trunk bag I'm considering has a specialized compartment for my Ulock, so it won't rattle around and make such a huge ruckus in my front basket anymore. That will allow me to pull off the picnic basket, and then I will have time to think about and make repairs to the basket, rather than trying to get a whole new basket going. I can then also give away this older, smaller trunk bag.
I'm still in a bit of a holding pattern at the moment, however, because the company that makes the new trunk bags also sells an accessory shoulder strap, but the shoulder straps are currently out of stock.
But, soon.
To wit, I'm trying to figure out what to do about the bike basket on Frodo. I think I got the current bike basket in ~2016, and it's the third of its type. Shortly after I got it, I brought my bike of the time, the Jolly Roger, up to Seattle so we could Ride from Seattle to Vancouver and Party. The plan that year was for S and I to trade off riding the Odious IV with my dad, alternating with riding the Jolly Roger to rest and recover. We made it all of around 1/2 a mile at the very beginning, with me on the Odius, S on the Jolly Roger, before reaching a traffic light where S discovered that the front brake on the Jolly Roger is far more grabby than what he was accustomed to, and he endo'd with a loud crashing sound that was the snapping of some of the wood on this basket.
So, all things considered, it has held up pretty well over the years, with various applications of zip ties and whatnot. But I can now see daylight through more parts of it than ever before, and I'm getting tired of random people rummaging through my basket when I park my bike out on the street, so it's time for a change.
The thing is, I'm not convinced that I want to try and obtain a Basket #4, which would involve exchanging a series of letters with the Amish farmer who made the prior 3, to even start finding out whether he'd be willing to make another one (by now he might be old and tired? Who knows!). I did find that there's a company that sells all sorts of different Amish-made baskets online, on the behalf of the Amish families, but none of the existing ones have quite the same dimensions, and I'm not sure that I'm ready for the project of modifying some other style of picnic/storage basket to fit on and work with this rack. So, I stalled out.
But then, I've also been having a second bike luggage dilemma. The last time I rode the Paris-Brest-Paris (photo album link), I cobbled together an accessory bike pannier out of a cosmetics bag and some spare reflective ankle straps:
It wound up being really helpful to have just this little bit more cargo space than my luggage bag afforded, so I could carry along a nice, warm wool sweater to put on at night. But a cobbled-together setup is risky; the cosmetics bag was pretty cheap and flimsy, and so now is the time to think about and test out better alternatives.
The net result of all these things is, I think I'm going to obtain a larger trunk bag, but one that can also double as a front rack bag on my commuter bike, Frodo. One of the best parts is the trunk bag I'm considering has a specialized compartment for my Ulock, so it won't rattle around and make such a huge ruckus in my front basket anymore. That will allow me to pull off the picnic basket, and then I will have time to think about and make repairs to the basket, rather than trying to get a whole new basket going. I can then also give away this older, smaller trunk bag.
I'm still in a bit of a holding pattern at the moment, however, because the company that makes the new trunk bags also sells an accessory shoulder strap, but the shoulder straps are currently out of stock.
But, soon.
