Shopping on the bike

[enitharmon]

Not something I'm doing get for a big shop but if I've only got a few things to get and the wind's not in the south-east I'm making the most of the opportunity to get the bike out now my legs and lungs are getting more attuned to it.

The limit is what I can get on the back rack and feel it's secure. Maybe I need panniers or something for more serious shopping. I overdid it the other day and although I got everything home safely I then took my first tumble when I attempted to get off, caught one of the bags with my trailing leg and lost my balance. No great damage done, except to my pride and a box of eggs that had to be written off, but I have a scraped elbow and a big bruise on my thigh as a memento. So I need to work on that.

What I have been noticing is the lack of cycle mooring points at our local big supermarkets. Tesco, while it has more ram-raid bollards than you can wave a bicycle pump at, has nothing at all. I have to moor (look, this is a seafaring town and I can't think of the right word, ok) to one of their "no trolleys beyond this point" signs. At Asda you have to look quite hard to find, round a corner well away from the entrance, just four of the old-fashioned kind with a couple of metal brackets protruding from the wall in a V which you can't chain both wheels to (and which remind me of a sick joke of Billy Connolly's). Only Morrisons provides proper mooring points, and right by the entrance and cashpoints too.

I note, by the way, that at Morrisons several of these posts have been "baggsied", with D-locks and chains ready to take the owner's bike. Is this common practice or just an idiosyncrasy of these isolated parts? Is it wise?

 

[Tigerbiten]

I rarely use the car to go shopping in anymore, around 4x a year.
I've been useing my recumbent trike-trailer combo for the last 2 years .........

I use a trailer because its a lot easier to carry a lot in the trailer vs in panniers on the trike.
I can just dump everything in the trailer, trying to keep the heaviest stuff over the axle.
Plus the 20 mile round trip is good for fitness work, try going uphill fast with 10-20kg of shopping in the back

 

[numbnuts]

I do one big shop by car once a month and all the rest I cycle, one thing to remember don't buy too much or it will be a struggle to get home with just two panniers yes I've done it ....

 

[coffeejo]

It's 7 miles from the nearest supermarket to home and I've found that I can cope with a basket's worth of shopping, no more.

 

[upsidedown]

I do mine with this

Get 6 - 8 big bags of shopping in the pockets with anything big bungeed to the deck on top.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

I live on the 4th floor and there's no lift or safe place to leave the bike down at street level so I end up almost always doing a little bit of fairly local shopping whenever I'm out on the bike. Wandering around the supermarket gives my legs a little rest before I tackle the final climb of the ride - 67 steps with bike and shopping.

If the only time you need to lock up your bike is when you get to the shops or to your workplace, then it makes sense to leave your lock at the destination instead of carrying it around all the time as long as it doesn't get left unused long enough for it to rust up. I mean, nobody's going to steal it, are they?

 

[Arch]

If the only time you need to lock up your bike is when you get to the shops or to your workplace, then it makes sense to leave your lock at the destination instead of carrying it around all the time as long as it doesn't get left unused long enough for it to rust up. I mean, nobody's going to steal it, are they?

I have heard stories of locks left like that being bunged up with superglue - either out of devilment, or in the hope that a cyclist will then chance it and leave their bike unlocked for a moment.... I carry a middling D lock, it goes easily in panniers or saddlebag - and I wouldn't be going shopping without panniers or saddlebag.

If I find I've got to buy a lot, I sometimes jsut wheel the bike home - the supermarket is only 5 mins away. Saves my arms, let the bike carry the load and anything large can be balanced on the rack.

Best load I ever rode with thought was this:



That's my share of a whole food co-op bulk order, and my riding kit. The panniers contain 12 jars of pasta sauce, 6 bags of cous cous, 3 boxes of tea bags, riding boots and crop. The toilet rolls and hard hat are visible.

I certainly got plenty of room from drivers on that ride home!

 

[soulful dog]

One of the very first times I brought some shopping home on the bike (two panniers with a couple of pints of milk each and a few other bits and pieces), I didn't have any problems until I got home. I misjudged just how heavy it made the bike and when I tried to carry it up the stairs at the front door I almost knocked myself out as the handlebars swung upwards my face.....

Now I know to lift the pannier bags off before I carry the bike indoors.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

I have heard stories of locks left like that being bunged up with superglue - either out of devilment, or in the hope that a cyclist will then chance it and leave their bike unlocked for a moment.... I carry a middling D lock, it goes easily in panniers or saddlebag - and I wouldn't be going shopping without panniers or saddlebag.

If I find I've got to buy a lot, I sometimes jsut wheel the bike home - the supermarket is only 5 mins away. Saves my arms, let the bike carry the load and anything large can be balanced on the rack.

Best load I ever rode with thought was this:

[attachment=5991:sumaload.jpg]

That's my share of a whole food co-op bulk order, and my riding kit. The panniers contain 12 jars of pasta sauce, 6 bags of cous cous, 3 boxes of tea bags, riding boots and crop. The toilet rolls and hard hat are visible.

I certainly got plenty of room from drivers on that ride home!

I'm trying to imagine those toilet rolls flapping up and down like wings as you cycled along Is dysentery endemic to your neck of the woods?

Come to think of it, I've heard tell of the superglue ruse but I don't know how much of it is scrote folklore.

 

[DiddlyDodds]

I use the car , its easy and i can get all i want in without worrying , i cycle for pleasure and shopping is so far from pleasure it does not come on the scale, so to combine the two would be awful , like having sprout icecream (one is nneded as some one says you have to greens but is awful and the yjer is a pleasure )

 

[Bicycle]

In my town a lot of people return from the supermarket with a carrier bag grasped in each hand as they cycle.

Progress is faltering; changes of speed and direction are tricky.

The roads are narrow, so drivers often end up holding back and just letting them wobble away home.

I've done this sort of thing myself (student days) but I learned quickly that it can hurt.

I blame the government.

Completely.

 

[snorri]

Maybe I need panniers or something for more serious shopping.

I think you need panniers! It is surprising how much you can pack into a pair of panniers, and any extras can be bungeed on top.
Any more serious load carrying capability, trailer, cargo-bike etc will require considerable expenditure, possibly storage space problems and may not be justified if used purely for shopping trips.
Regarding bike security, why not have a word with the shop management, some of these people are blissfully unaware of the problems faced by cyclists and might be open to your suggestions.

 

[snailracer]

I have a DIY pannier sack cable-tied onto the (non-drive) side of my rear basket. When I don't need the extra space, I roll it up and use it as a cushion or cover in the rear basket.