(another post inspired by another blogger… vegan activist asked about my other bike trailer, which i mentioned in a recent post where i showed off the new one we got for taking the puppy on road trips, so here’s way more than anyone ever really wanted to know about it!)
this is my bike trailer, full of groceries and resting on its lower edge:
here’s another view, now resting on its hitch:
(as an aside, i must say that the hardest part of this post is showing y’all pics of my groceries, cuz i’m the sort of asshole who judges people based on what food they buy so i tend to expect the same from others… actually, that would be a really good sort of behavioural-modification exercise for me, if i posted photos of all my groceries… not so exciting for the viewer, but a chance for me to get the fuck over my issues)
i bought this trailer for $50 at a consignment shop seven years ago. the guy was asking $65, i asked if they had a student discount, and he said he’d give it to me for the lower price if i paid cash. done! since then, it has been used for countless food not bombs servings, dumpster diving missions, and house moves. it has carried individual large humans in a completely sketchy sort of way, and on several occasions, one or two small ones, nicely secured and contained.
i love this trailer because it is rugged: as you can probably tell, i almost always store it outdoors, but the only damage is some superficial rust. though it does not fold up like other trailers, it has a narrow profile when sitting upright (see first photo) and can be leaned against a wall. the wheels are quite large, allowing it to easily ascend bumps and curves. i added the metal hooks around the sides and bottom edge, so that multiple bungee cords (or old inner tubes!) can be used to strap in a big load. like all two-wheeled trailers, it has a tendency to flip if one wheel hits a bump, particularly at high speeds when there’s little weight in the trailer, but this can be avoided by careful riding.
the hitch goes around the bike’s seat post. originally, there were just two carriage bolts held on by wing nuts, in front and behind the seat post, but this rattled quite a bit and damaged the metal. i found the kevlar hitch in a random bin at the community bike shop, and replaced the front carriage bolt with the linchpin, simultaneously securing the metal outer ring and the kevlar inner band. i like it because there’s so few parts that there’s very little that can go wrong. also, the long shafts make the trailer very convenient to use as a wheelbarrow or hand cart, because seat post level is around hand level so it’s comfortable to pull/push the trailer to the grocery store like we did this morning.
i don’t like the fact that a child (or dog!) riding in this trailer faces backwards, but at least the solid plastic offers more protection than the tent-style trailers… better for a kid than a puppy. however, there’s nothing to shelter a passenger from wind or rain! with mo being so bloody cold all the time anyway, i think any attempt to get him to ride in this open-style cart would have him hating all bike trailers, which is why we’re happy to have gotten the other one for him.
luckily, he was happy to act as a model for this last pic: as shown above, the molded seats are quite good for holding boxes.
i don’t know if i’d ever take this trailer on a trip, though i’ve seen photos of the same one in the road trip section of a bike book… the cyclist had even strapped a whole extra wheel across the underside of the trailer’s hull! it’s not particularly aerodynamic, and must be packed carefully to avoid having too much weight resting at the lower edge, which causes the hitch to slam up against the bottom of the bike seat. also, it collects water, and requires a cover that can pull tight around the edges and some drainage holes.
however! as an all-purpose, haul-everything, so-worthwhile-it’s-practically-paying-ME-every-time-i-use-it sort of a tool, this is pretty much the best $50 i’ve ever spent.
aside from the fact that he was unbearable cute, one of the reasons why mo was such an appealing puppy for oats and i was the fact that he’s not likely to grow to be much larger than 30 lbs. that, combined with his young malleable mind, made him an ideal candidate to be groomed for our lifestyle: we needed a dog who could be trained to enjoy life as seen from a bike trailer on long journeys, because we have planned many of them for the upcoming years and would hate to leave him behind. besides which, it’d make our grocery runs a lot easier.
i have a big bike trailer made of hard plastic that is quite good for hauling stuff, but not so excellent for small puppies. luckily, oats found a metal-framed tent-style one for only $35 on cr@igslist, and it even folds away for easy storage. this afternoon was the first bit of mo-meet-trailer training: we got him an especially yummy/revolting bone, parked the trailer in the corner of the kitchen, propped it up to that it would be sturdy, and tucked inside his favourite blanket. as you can see from the photo, the experiment was a success… not only did the bone keep mo quietly playing for upwards of an hour, but after that he decided that the trailer would be an excellent spot for a nap.
a few more days of this, and we’ll try it outside… and then on the road, biking off into the sunset on crazy adventures together.
when you have a bunch of bikes on hand, something starts to happen: even when you know how to fix the ones that break down, you just don’t bother, because you can so easily grab another bike and keep riding. in fact, it’s a nice little system, because that way you end up riding all the bikes at one point or another, instead of letting them languish unridden.
but then eventually a point is reached, when there are not enough functioning bicycles remaining, and something has got to give.
at my house, it finally happened this weekend. we’ve only got four bicycles between two people (which is a fairly sane ratio compared to my former life in which i had six bikes all on my own) but only one of them was working. of the others, one has an undiagnosed puncture, the other has a ruptured rear tire sidewall (again), and the third has a pedal with seized inner bearings that i can’t access. of course it would be easiest to deal with the puncture, but that’s the bike i’ve been riding most recently, and as much as i love it, i’m wanting a little change. plus, i miss carrying things, and the bike with the fucked-up pedal is a sweet old italian cruiser with a solid rack that can take my pannier buckets.
that’s when i dug out my collection of cherry parts, and discovered that bike pedals come with two different sizes of pedal axles… who knew? well, not this bike geek.
that sweet old italian cruiser? yeah, it takes a size smaller axle than any of the nice pedals in my collection. fucking hell.
i forgot to tell you: while i was still in australia, i blogged about how upon my return to canada, my former volunteer mechanic gig at the local community bike shop was going to turn into a paid position, but this didn’t happen. in fact, not long after i got back, a bunch of changes resulted in the shop no longer even being open for the women-and-trans-only shifts that i used to cover. i’m not upset about this, because it really does make sense given the situation, but it has meant that i don’t have regular schedules access to tools or parts or impromptu mid-wrenching dance parties.
however! i still have friends, which is what really matters. one quick phone call, and i’ve made my plan: after school tomorrow, me and mo are walking over to a friend’s house to exchange some of my pickles for a chance dig through his pedal collection, which is much larger than mine. it won’t cost either of us a cent, and his dog may even teach mine a thing or two while i’m there.
this is why, even though i’ve left this city many times, i always come back.
Gender, oppression, critical analysis, AND my most beloved of sports, bicycling! You can get it all on Part III of Monday’s edition of CBC’s The Current, when host Anna Maria Tremonti interviewed elite competitive cyclist and MTF trans person Kristen Worley.
I generally listen to the radio while cooking (canning…), and this piece was just excellent: Good commentary on the horrid treatment of Caster Semenya, and an articulate look at the bigger picture of how gender is constructed as a binary despite the natural diversity of sexes and sexual expressions.
The piece could have been improved by a look at the racial undertones of the conflict, but at this point I’m simply thrilled that there was some trans content on mainstream radio. Yay for intersectionality!
i started school on tuesday and thus far, it’s great, though VERY time consuming. between that and the canning, plus the fact that i have amazing friends and a new bike… well, yeah: the writing is not happening.
but that’s what summer is for!
my bike and oats' on the ferry to vesuvius, loaded down with gear during last weekend's bike trip
Filed under: Bike Geek, Co-operator, Homebody, Music Lover, Romantic, Scavenger, Traveler
oats gave me an early birthday present!
it’s a reproduction antique compass in a brass pocket-watch-style case, and i LOVE it. i didn’t own a compass before this… which is odd, considering how important it is to my mental health for me to know my bearings. now i’ll always know what direction i’m heading, and have a something beautiful to look at whenever i’m fretting.
last night we went for a long stroll after dinner, down through the side streets to the ocean. right after we turned homewards, we came across an absolutely incredible piece of furniture at the curb. a quick discussion ensued, made urgent by the encroaching darkness and another passerby eager to check it out if we decided to pass.
the thing is, oats and i are suckers for anything made from solid wood, and we both love the lines of (most) old furniture. aside from that, we’ve been talking about diversifying our income by turning our scavenging into a more lucrative hobby, by selling the pieces that we refinish.
so, i stayed behind to guard our new treasure, and oats took off to find a co-op car. hooray for the car share: the closest vehicle was available, and it just happened to be a minivan! i’ll skip the drama of us trying to load, and simply tell you that i couldn’t even lift one side of this thing. we got it up to our 2nd story apartment by taking advantage of the kindness of burly macho men from downstairs who seemed pleased to work for a 12-pack of sleem@n’s.
and now! behold!
it’s true: we don’t actually need an RCA Victor Magic Voice combination phonograph and radio cabinet from around the 1940s. but it’s so gorgeous, and we got it for the price of some beer and a car booking (totalling ~$31, in case you were wondering). my original thought was that we’d gut it, refinish the wood, and use it as a sideboard with storage underneath… perhaps making the speaker section into a glass-doored display shelf lit from above. however, at the urging of the burly macho men downstairs, that thought is on hold as we try to suss out some more information about the piece. maybe it’d be smarter of us to restore it to working condition? we already have a functional and sexy record/radio cabinet, though very different from this one: it’s more 1960s, but still solid wood, with a low profile, modern lines, and metal legs. personally, i’d rather turn the Magic Voice into something that suits my more immediate need for attractive storage space.
or… sell it? the old sticker on the back says $445 (8th photo from top of series), but who knows what the value is these days. of course, any real value is dependent on what a person might actually pay, which is conditional on a few other factors that aren’t really in our favour: the economy’s crappy, we live on an island, and this thing weighs a ton so is hell to move. also, i like it, and i’m not desperate for cash at the moment. i think my minimum selling price would be $500, because that’d pay for oats and i to each put together a touring bike (using my stash of cherry components, a couple 2nd hand frames, and some new parts too). otherwise, i think i’d rather keep it.
all round, my birthday’s looking pretty great.
**********
i’m having a bday bbq this upcoming tuesday! it’s at oats’ place (now mine as well), above the square! 5 pm onwards! there’ll be sangria and mojitos and sausages! also, veggie stuff! also, cake! please come!
by the time i left back in april, i’d found loving homes for three of my bicycles, leaving only my fixie, duncan (who is too dear to my heart for me to give away).
i’ve been home for 8 days now, and already the cycle (ha!) has begun again: i found this raleigh frame on the side of the road during a brief walk to the store for dish soap. the paint job’s crap, but the metal appears to be sound… and really, i couldn’t just leave it there.
random pic... amazing little lizard at a local wildlife sanctuary, stuck to the glass of the enclosure.
it’s thursday and my roommates have gone out of town for a few days, so i have the house to myself. i’m celebrating with some cheap wine and an evening working on a web contract, cuz that’s the sort of classy dame i am. i am wearing lipstick, if that helps.
also, i ran 5.4 km today.
in other news, my beloved will be here in 17 days. we’ll be hanging out in melbourne for a couple of days, and then flying off to the city of brisbane (on the northern part of the east coast of australia). inspired by the desert adventures of the intrepid mae callen, as well as our desire to avoid the hassle that the binary-gendered dorms and washrooms of hostels could present to our non-binary-gendered selves, we’ve elected to rent a camper van for 12 days of coastal exploration.
oh fuck, i need to find out the rules for driving on the left.
after oats returns to canada, i’m here for one more week… during which i’ll be taking a course downtown, on pattern making! sewing patterns, that is. it’s a skill i’ve always wanted to learn, and what better way of spending this odd break i’ve taken from my regular life than pursuing such things? after that, i’m flying home, and will be staying with oats in her tiny apartment above the square. have no steady work lined up yet, except that my old volunteer job of working at the bike shop on sundays is turning into a paid gig… hurrah!
i’ll figure out the rest, i’m sure. really, i need to take a grant-writing workshop, because i actually have a *lot* of work… it just doesn’t come with any wages at the moment. that needs to change.
***UPDATE***
yes! i have help! oats, if you’re reading this, you’d better study up too!
this is why it’s hard to leave: your friends will turn the bike shop into a dancefloor, your lover will supply an amazing sound system, you’ll set up your computer with an eclectic collection of indie electronica and hits from the 1990s, and your community will devote a saturday night/sunday morning to laughing, talking, drinking, and yes: dancing.
5 days left. i’m going to miss y’all.
i used to be the kind of asshole who’d take any mention of fixed gear bicycles as an opportunity to rant about hipsters in skinny jeans with courier bags and no brakes on their converted retro road bike fixies. i used to say that fixies were for kids with too much time and/or money on their hands, who see a bike as another cool accessory, like an ipod.
then i became one of those people.
once i saw the light, i realized how wrong i was: the point of the fixed gear bike isn’t to be cool, it’s to experience riding in a very different way. i love my fixie more than i ever thought possible. his name is duncan and he is amazing.
having said that, i gave him up this past fall, when the carpal tunnel syndrome made it hard to maintain a crouched riding position and operate the (single) brake.
also, there was a problem: the sidewall of the rear tire was giving way, to the point that there was an actual bulge where the tube was ballooning out. since the wheel is directly linked to the chain ring, and thus the cranks and the pedals, by a tightly-stretched chain with no ability to coast, there’s a lot riding on the integrity of the tire. if it blew while i was riding, i’d probably lose complete control and things could get ugly. having a lot of other stuff going on, i hung duncan up on the wall. every once in a while, i’d stroke his frame and make him promises of future adventures.
this week, after months of hauling my super-heavy single speed cruiser all over the city, i decided that i needed to get fixed again… fixed-gear that is.
before... can you see the way the tire is bulging??? (it's okay if you can't, just trust me: it was bad)
before... fibrous tires are good, except when they're like this. i could actually see the inner tube on this part.
after! new tire, shiny chrome, and the hipster's requisite spoke cards
this is what i feel like when i ride my fixie... maybe i should sew myself a cape. (poster from my mom... she says that's how she thinks of me!)
