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Post by kris on Apr 13, 2020 11:04:26 GMT
I think you will be surprised how much you can get on a bicycle, well if you have panniers. I regularly carry more than 25kg on my bike. It carries it right to the boat as well. As strictly speaking you would have to push your motorbike and shopping when once on the towpath.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2020 11:07:32 GMT
I bought a Bob bike trailer years ago quite a nice device actually. Well thought out. Quite expensive and it did eventually get stolen but it was a pretty good load carrier. A bit mental if overloaded as it tended to take over the steering of the bike making it weave along. One of these but when I bought it it was closer to £200. That was about 15 years ago though. It comes with custom quick release skewers with machined flanges to clip the arms over. So it becomes vertically rigid to the bike. One of the good things is it tracks the bike so unlike a 2 wheel trailer it won't be at risk of catching on kerbs. Also improves visibility of bike from behind.. It says 70kg load capacity but once you get towards 50kg it makes a big difference to the handling of the bike.
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Post by kris on Apr 13, 2020 11:13:37 GMT
I bought a Bob bike trailer years ago quite a nice device actually. Well thought out. Quite expensive and it did eventually get stolen but it was a pretty good load carrier. A bit mental if overloaded as it tended to take over the steering of the bike making it weave along. is that a single wheel trailer? I’ve got one of those not attached to a bike atm. But it’s a great thing and I can happily get 50kg on it. Although how far I could pedal that nowadays I don’t know, hence thinking about the e bike thing. You added the photo while I was typing. Yes that’s the kinda of thing, I think mine is called a yak. I’ve had mine for probably 15 years. Did quite a bit of cycle touring with it. But as I say it’s not currently got a bike for it. I’ve never found the steering a problem, balancing the weight whilst getting on and off the bike is an issue if you have a really heavy load. I’ve kept meaning to add a kick stand to help with this.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2020 11:14:19 GMT
Yes post edited with picture
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2020 11:16:09 GMT
Thinking about ebikes I wonder if anyone has made a cargo carrying electric recumbent bicycle. Using the low centre of gravity and perhaps two front wheels you should be able to get quite a bit of gear onto a front mounted basket. A bit like the old butchers bikes which used the small front wheel to get the CoG down..
I had one of those butchers bikes once as well. Now stationed outside a restaurant in Kew.
That was a good bike, early one with the balloon tyres for extra weight carrying.
Bloody heavy thing though. I kept it in the engine room of my narrow boat. The basket frame was designed to fold up over the handlebars which was good.
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Post by naughtyfox on Apr 13, 2020 11:24:43 GMT
Personally I wouldn't bother with a car if I was continuously cruising unless there was some particular reason I needed one, such as having to drive a substantial distance daily for work. When I'm out cruising I take the little Honda with me and this is more than sufficient for shopping trips and visits to attractions etc. No CBT or L-plates required, nor MOT, and the tax is free so all it costs is £70 a year for insurance. Mr Stabby, can I ask- how do you get the bike over the bow? I can see you have a plank to get it onto the towpath Drives it on, over the plank.
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Post by Clinton Cool on Apr 13, 2020 11:39:46 GMT
Buy a trad boat with a flat tug deck, a disabled loading ramp off ebay and a tuned BMW S1000RR motorbike...Job jobbed! 👍 This is the ultimate solution. I found that boat last year, bargain it was too, I dithered and someone else beat me to it. Still gutted now.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2020 11:44:19 GMT
Buy a trad boat with a flat tug deck, a disabled loading ramp off ebay and a tuned BMW S1000RR motorbike...Job jobbed! 👍 Tbh Andy, I would love a bigger bike for occasional trips to relatives etc, but foolishly I never took my bike test back in the day, and after a bit of looking around it looks as if it'll cost the thick end of a grand to do some CBT training, then the advanced training, and then do the test using a borrowed bike. That I thought was all pretty doable, but then I was horrified to see that because my car door was dented in a car park last year and I then had the outrageous cheek to actually claim something back for it from the insurance company, the cheapest quote I can now get (online) to insure an A2 type bike for one year (kept in a locked yard with a high-security chain) was more than the cost of the bike itself. So yeah, that went out of the window. I need to build up some 'no-claims' years on a smaller bike before the insurance on a bigger machine will be remotely affordable. But to be honest, I would also worry about manhandling a 200kg bike for several hundred yards down a muddy towpath, and then getting it up a muddy slope to the road. As Ricco said, there seem to be no shortage of do-gooders waiting to complain loudly about your reckless and insane behaviour if you might ever be tempted to use the engine power to help you get it the last 20 yards up the slope- despite the fact that no-one is within half a mile of you, and no-one can possibly be hurt except yourself. I bet many of these same people probably drive their own cars like d**ks, but hey ho. On the tug deck thing, the problem if I limit myself to tugs is that there are fewer of them. Once the cash is burning a hole in my bank account in August, I want to get a boated sorted asap. I have a criteria that I want an open plan layout with a long lounge/dinette area, so I'm already ruling out lots of boats just because of that. So I cant afford to limit myself to tugs, or I might still be looking a 3 years time. If one pops up for sale then why not, but I haven't seen many with the interior layout I'm looking for. They tend to be preferred by the trad/lister loving guys, and thats not my thing at all. I know its heresy but I think those lister's sounds like a bag of hammers being rattled, and I'm just not a fan of roses and castles stuff. I totally respect the history, I just don't want to live in it.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2020 11:52:02 GMT
If I was going back on narrow boats and wanted a real motorbike on board I would be very tempted to arrange large modifications to the boat by chopping out a small section of cabin between engine room and main cabin then decking over with steel. Then put side doors on back of accomodation cabin for extra exits. Yes it's a lot of agro and would have an impact of saleability of the boat but it would be very practical and tidy if you wanted to have a nice motorcycle as an integral part of your vessel. This sort of arrangement but the gap would need to be wider and further back on a modern trad. I dislike the idea of interfering with the front door access by plonking a large bike there and also the rear mounted rack is a nuisance in locks. If you did do this then it also introduces the option of having a cross-bed against the back of the cabin with the side doors as emergency exit. A cross bed is good on a narrow boat. Takes up so much less room than a lengthways bed and it is a comfortable arrangement. I did a cross bed setup (not the cabin cut) on the 55 NB I lived on because it made sense and saved space.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2020 11:54:38 GMT
Just when I thought my mind was made up.... Thanks Kris and Magnetman, I hadnt even thought about a trailer for the ebike. That solves any questions about how much weight can go on the bike, and it also allows for bulkier objects when needed. In theory, if I carry an extra battery, I would have a range of about 30 miles, and loads of carrying capacity. Plus the ebike is only about 30kgs, so can be lifted on and off without too mush risk of injury or whatever. Plus I already have the ebike anyway, so it would save a lot of cash if I can make that work... Back to the drawing board I think....
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Post by Mr Stabby on Apr 13, 2020 12:17:24 GMT
Personally I wouldn't bother with a car if I was continuously cruising unless there was some particular reason I needed one, such as having to drive a substantial distance daily for work. When I'm out cruising I take the little Honda with me and this is more than sufficient for shopping trips and visits to attractions etc. No CBT or L-plates required, nor MOT, and the tax is free so all it costs is £70 a year for insurance. Mr Stabby, can I ask- how do you get the bike over the bow? I can see you have a plank to get it onto the towpath, but those bikes are around 60-80kg, and that seems a lot to be manhandling out of the well deck in one lift- and back in again of course. Its not so much that you couldnt lift the weight, but I'd be worried about knackering my back to be honest. I knew someone who had a fall at work and ruptured a disc a few years ago, and suffered agony for ages, and seeing the poor guy's suffering at close quarters has made a bit cautious about it. It weighs 48kg, probably about 30kg of that is at the rear. To get it off from that position I just grip the luggage rack and snatch lift the whole bike upwards, place the rear wheel on the plank and start rolling it down the plank. Eventually the bottom of the footrests come to rest on the plank. I change position slightly and lift the front wheel onto the plank, then roll it off. I'm reasonably fit but not massively muscular but I don't have any trouble lifting it on and off.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2020 12:36:36 GMT
I saw a narrow boat years ago which had one of those little Fiat cars in the front. The old 500 I think it was. There was a platform with screw-jacks so you could drive onto a foredeck arrangement then drop it down into the well deck. There must have been a turntable as well. Like a scaled down version of those car lifts exhaust places use.
Quite a nice solution actually.
Not that having a car on a UK boat is a lot of use but it was in East Anglia where there are generally more canalside roads than on most of the UK canals.
10ft x 4ft4 apparently! I didn't realise they were so narrow.
I recently helped someone remove the power train from a G-Wiz electric car for use in an electric boat project. That was quite a good little car actually, you could probably fit one of them in the front of a narrow boat in a similar fashion but it is heavy on account of Trojan lead acid batteries. About 650kg overall I think it was.
The road access is the problem.
In France you often see cars on barges sometimes more than one but canalside public roads are more or less universal there. No so here.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2020 12:49:41 GMT
Just to put a spanner in the works (are we up to episode 2 yet BTW?).
Many CC'ers run a cheap campervan with the boat instead of a car. That opens up many other possibilities.
It's a back up if anything serious on the boat fails.
You can go off and explore somewhere away from the waterways for a few days.
You can sleep in the camper when visiting family and friends rather than put on them.
You can use it as a van and maybe even store a proper motorbike in it.
I mean, two man caves have got to be better than one (if you can afford it, which I can't)
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2020 15:20:38 GMT
Just to put a spanner in the works (are we up to episode 2 yet BTW?). Many CC'ers run a cheap campervan with the boat instead of a car. That opens up many other possibilities. It's a back up if anything serious on the boat fails. You can go off and explore somewhere away from the waterways for a few days. You can sleep in the camper when visiting family and friends rather than put on them. You can use it as a van and maybe even store a proper motorbike in it. I mean, two man caves have got to be better than one (if you can afford it, which I can't) Ah, if only... I must admit that did occur to me, but my DIY/vehicle maintenance skills are very poor, so I'd want to go for a newer van to convert, or a ready-converted vehicle, and also a youngish boat, and I just cant afford both. I reckon without selling my house I'll probably have about £60-65k for boat+car/bike, or boat+campervan. I've looked at what motorhomes you could get for around 30k, and they were usually 7-10 years old and had at least 20k or 30k miles, so I just wasnt that tempted by them. And my impression so far is that the boats you can get for around 30k would be at least 15 years old, often with highish engine miles (so maybe engine bills to pay in the next couple of years), plus ageing and deteriorating fixtures and utilities that would needing replacement or repair within a few years, etc) All in all, my thinking was that splitting the cash that way wasnt going to get me a really nice boat or a nice campervan, and it also wouldnt leave any spare cash for a really major bill for either one. If I had even another 15k I'd be looking harder at that option, but I'm moving away from the idea of a campervan as I'll explain below- so I reckon it makes more sense to spend more on getting a really nice boat, as I'll be spending 90% of my time based in it. Its a very interesting topic this, and I for a few years I ummed and ahhed between a boat and a motorhome to live in after retirement. The freedom of a motorhome is brilliant,it really is. You can visit mountains, sea shores, towns- you name it, you can get there. And if we were still able to travel freely around Europe I might well have gone that way instead of getting a boat. But after 1st jan we'll be limited to a maximum of 3 months out of every 6 anywhere in the EU, and I just dont fancy motorhoming in the Uk that much. The UK is generally more crowded than Europe, and not set up as well for motorhomers, and people are generally more hostile to vans rocking up and taking the best parking places in nice locations for a few days (which I can understand). Plus I think it can be a more lonely lifestyle for a single guy, whereas on a boat you have plenty of opportunities for a chat or whatever waiting in locks, or when you moor up somewhere. My niggling doubts about getting hassle from locals and police living in a van has been borne out during the pandemic- I read a couple of 'wild camping' campervan forums, and still watch the odd youtube video about van living, and apparently the risk of van dwellers bringing coronavirus into rural areas has made the locals suddenly much more hostile towards them. Local vigilantes have descended in gangs on van dwellers, threatening damage or even violence, publishing their location on local facebook groups, and generally forcing them back to their own towns and cities. It will eventually go back to normal I'm sure, and van dwellers will be allowed to park up without threats, but the fear created by the pandemic has revealed and intensified some unpleasant attitudes to motorhome/van travellers, and I'm not as sure about long term van or motorhome living any more, especially with the freedom to explore Europe taken away. The other thing worrying me about motorhomes is that they are almost all diesel, and as we know the government are starting to increasingly punish the use of diesels. I think a big increase in diesel prices is coming for private diesel users in the next few years (maybe not for commercials), and I'm not sure what the long term future is, but I don't think its good. Hopefully boaters, as a small group in National terms, won't be affected by the tougher line on private diesel use.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2020 15:27:46 GMT
I've never lived in a van but I am certain that living in a boat, which I have done for 25 years now, is infinitely more pleasant.
Of course there may be potential for some changes in future about the availability of the cc cruising model and it's a good idea not to sell the house if you don't have to but definitely boats.
Interesting about the vans and the virus. I'm not surprised at all.
It's human nature.
Fortunately so far people living on boats have not been put into the same pigeon hole as people living in road vehicles.
It would be nice if this remained the status quo. With my pessimist hat on and noting a recent increase in the amount of boater rubbish on towpaths I think there is potential for some problems. If people could understand how good they have it it would be okay but it seems some don't.
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