Moving Cargo By Bike

Fixing and making things, what tools to get and what skills to learn, ...
Post Reply
NYC ERE
Posts: 433
Joined: Mon Aug 02, 2010 8:03 pm

Post by NYC ERE »

So I posted in another thread about my plan to move house via bicycle. I wrote that I was going to build my own bicycle cargo trailer, and was excited about learning how and doing it. But since I'm moving in 10 days and haven't started packing, and work 40+ hours a week, I'm going to do the easier thing of buying a trailer.
Rather than drop $300-600 on a heavy-duty one, I'm buying one off eBay in hopes that it will be of good quality. It's kinda cheap compared to its competitors, so I may regret it. It's actually rated to 180 pounds of cargo, though, so that should work fine, and the bed is quite spacious: 31"x24". The price was right: $105 shipped.
I will post a post-mortem of the move.


S
Posts: 288
Joined: Thu Jul 22, 2010 8:02 pm

Post by S »

When I was living car-free, I found ZipCar useful for this sort of situation. There was a pickup truck 1 mile from my house I could rent for $10/hour. Also, you may have friends that are willing to help out if you make them some food and "owe them one". That's not to bash the bike trailer idea, but just to suggest some alternatives. I had a friend that transported her tuba to gigs regularly by bike trailer with much success.


jacob
Site Admin
Posts: 15907
Joined: Fri Jun 28, 2013 8:38 pm
Location: USA, Zone 5b, Koppen Dfa, Elev. 620ft, Walkscore 77
Contact:

Post by jacob »

Bike moves are popular in NYC. I've seen several blog posts of doing it.
There is also the $20/hour uhaul truck. Typically, you'd only need it for an hour to move intracity.
For another creative use of uhaul trucks, I saw someone launching a boat with one. I was embarrassed to learn that I had implicitly assumed that to own a trailorable boat, I would _need_ to own an SUV/truck as well.


NYC ERE
Posts: 433
Joined: Mon Aug 02, 2010 8:03 pm

Post by NYC ERE »

@S @Jacob Thanks for the Zipcar idea. I used to be a member, but I used it so seldom that it wasn't worth the annual membership fee. There are favors I can call in/owe, but it seems excessive to use a car/truck at all when I'm only moving 17 blocks. Mostly, though, I'm just into the stunt of doing it all by bike and handtruck. :)


Post Reply