Bicycles For Humanity

No time to post lately.....what little extra time I have seems to get consumed by Bicycle For Humanity. "(b4h) Pushing hard with a few events. Quite a few bikes being donated and a bit of cash. Very close to our film evening at the Star Cinema in Sidney, B.C. Remember the motion picture Breaking Away? Check out B4H Victoria.

Xtracycle Freeloader Repair

Picked up a couple of used Xtracycle Bags the other day. Thanks North Park Bike shop!

Seems that any of these big bags can be prone to catching a strap somewhere and breaking a buckle. Fortunately they are easy to repair. I previously posted about repairing Kona Ute Bags here. I have since found an even easier way. The trick with these bags is the tail or running end of the strap is looped back onto the strap itself- a handy feature to keep the loose tail in check and to keep it from getting too long. I repaired the Freeloaders without stitching or loosing any length. Here is how:

Unthread the webbing from the buckle and slide a standard ladder fastener onto the webbing to replace your broken slider. Thread the buckle (or a new buckle) back on. It should look like this:

In the same vein as a "quick attach" buckle, saw a slot into the unused end of the ladder strap.

Work the stitched loop end into the slot you have cut in the slide. While this may not be as strong as original- it works really well and keeps your loose ends in check! Your finished product should look like this.

Using this trick it is very easy to replace all of the plastic buckles and slides on your Freeloaders in the field. I love things that are field repairable!

Bike to School

This is amazing!

Front Racks

In a previous post here I went over the Gamoh front rack instalation on the Mundo. The rack worked flawlessly and was very convenient. (including the bottle opener) Long and short- It made the steering feel "heavy" and took away from one of the Mundo's strong points. The Mundo IS a heavy bike, but doesn't feel that way. Perhaps I will try the Dutch style like Yuba reccomends here.

Level Ground

I took the Yuba Mundo over to Level Ground Trading (the fair trade coffee folks) and let them take it for a spin. We loaded it up with 2-60kg sacks of Tanzanian coffee beans. So that is likely a total load of at least 122 kg. Approaching 270 pounds! Here is a short video- amazing how easy it is to roll up and dismount! One can see why a bike is such a great alternative to walking for a farmer working a small plot in Africa.

Another Longtail

Taking form in the shop.