Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Ta-da! Cycle truck pictures!


Behold the Stuff Hauler 80, or the SH-80. (The previous name is not dignified enough and it overstated the official load-carrying capacity by a factor of 10).

I'm nursing a cold here so I don't have the strength to express my normal verbose big fat opinion on every little nuance of everything. But here are the pictures of the built-up cycle truck.

Quick thoughts:
-- I'm going to find a BMX tire for the front. Something cheap (compared to Schwalbe) with a wee tread and a round profile that is about 1.75 inches wide. Once again, I'm stuck wishing that the Panaracer Pasala (non-tourgaurd) was made in a weirdo size.



-- The most I've hauled on this bike was a measly 10 pounds or so. I really honestly couldn't tell there was a load up there. I'm amazed by how well this bike handles. I may have to follow Tarik's lead to determine the Pumpkin Load-Hauling Profile of the SH-80.

-- I like the Origin8 Space Bars for this bike. They feel right. They didn't feel right last time I tried to use them. I may tilt them down ever so slightly.



-- Most of the other bits are from the old Xtracycle. Joe is now the proud owner of said steed.

-- On the way: double kick-stand and a front fender.

-- In other related news: Alex, builder of this bitchin cycle truck, has been independently verified and universally recognized as a cool guy. I've gushed plenty here. So, enough said.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's a useful looking tool. Will there be a production model?

I'd go fat on that front tire. Basically it's a wheelbarrow. I'd spring for the stoutest Schwalbesque tire in this instance--better than blowing a flat while hauling pumpkins up the hill.

I'll bet you'll like it better than the extracycle.

Alex Wetmore said...

A fat front tire is the way to go. I sent John a couple of reasonable looking recommendations. I ran the bike with a 1.75" Avocet up front and a 1.5" Avocet in the rear and that worked out well. A little tread would be helpful if you are riding it off pavement at all.

It looks good with the big basket up front.

There won't be a production model, at least from me. I'm not setup to produce anything in quantity.

Tarik Saleh said...

Yeah! Fat! I recommend one of those high pressure 1.75-2" or bigger bmx flatlander tires, like the tioga FS100 , maxxis hookworms, etc. I am in the forget about supple when hauling crap department. You want fat tires that can handle the higher pressure and don't die from casing overflex error. But your milage may vary.

John Speare said...

Good recommendations Tarik. Maxxis has some good bmx options. http://www.maxxis.com/Bicycle/BMX.aspx. I like the Ringworm and the M-tread.

Not said...

Fatter is better, but if you want something a little cheaper there's a 20x1.5 Kenda Kwest that takes 100 PSI, so it should be able to handle the loads you put up there.
- Ventura