Woody goes shopping.

[zap]

[floatingdog]

Awesome! Where are the motor and batteries?

Us Texas boys like the sound track too. (BTW, "Us Texas boys" is correct grammer in Texas.)

[zap]

Awesome! Where are the motor and batteries?

Thanks floatingdog!


More pictures and such in my signature.
↓↓↓↓↓

[floatingdog]

Very cool. I read your earlier posting. Quite a stealth rig. I saw it shifting in your video, but figured it was a cable. Surely its been done, but I hadn't seen electric shifting until this. The speed you are able to get with a push rig is remarkable and it looks like it handles well too. Looks like a great child hauler.

[buzzfirst]

Hey, great video. How far was the store? I never thought of locking my bike to a bunch of grocery carts, effective and funny at the same time. I may build a new trailer to use my heinzman geared hub (noisy) and yours looks like a good design to copy. Plenty of room for the controller/batts and would get the motor farther from me. Might even put fairings/skirts on the wheels. Hmmmm.

[DervAtl]

This is a great video!!! Probably the best I've seen on this site.

I love this trailer. This has got to be the creme da la creme of shopping carts ---- ever. You've done a bad thing Zap. Now I've got to build one.

[amberwolf]

I'm tempted, too, since I have that two-kid Bell trailer from Freecycle now, which is gonna need a deck and stuff anyway.

I just wish I could actually use mine as a shopping cart like that--many places around here get snooty about using anything other than *their* shopping carts inside the store. Some even get mad at people on powerchairs for not switching over to the in-store units and just using their own! It's not consistent, and appears to be whichever manager is on duty, at most of the problem places (like Safeway and Fry's), so I'd never know until I am already inside shopping if they'd have a problem with it.

I may still try, though, once I get some of the other bajillion things done I need to do.


Hmm...I could fit all 32V of the Thundersky 60Ah under that deck...42lbs of ballast to keep it from flipping and keep traction on the wheels. That'd be some range, and easier than doing it on the bike itself.

[zap]

Hey, great video. How far was the store? I never thought of locking my bike to a bunch of grocery carts, effective and funny at the same time. I may build a new trailer to use my heinzman geared hub (noisy) and yours looks like a good design to copy. Plenty of room for the controller/batts and would get the motor farther from me. Might even put fairings/skirts on the wheels. Hmmmm.

Thanks buzzfirst. The trip is almost exactly 1.5 miles each way, 200 ft. elevation change, all uphill going, all down hill coming home.

There are a lot of bikes around here but even new stores they build hardly ever have any bike racks That Safeway is maybe 6 or 7 years old at the most and the closest bike rack is about 100 ft. away. A Walmart another mile away is only about 4 or 5 years old and there isn't one single bike rack! I lock the bike up to anything I think is going to be hard to move.

[zap]

This is a great video!!! Probably the best I've seen on this site.

I love this trailer. This has got to be the creme da la creme of shopping carts ---- ever. You've done a bad thing Zap. Now I've got to build one.

Thanks very much DervAtl

I don't think building one is such a bad thing... I think Woody's a touch sad without any kin folk around

[zap]

I just wish I could actually use mine as a shopping cart like that--many places around here get snooty about using anything other than *their* shopping carts inside the store. Some even get mad at people on powerchairs for not switching over to the in-store units and just using their own! It's not consistent, and appears to be whichever manager is on duty, at most of the problem places (like Safeway and Fry's), so I'd never know until I am already inside shopping if they'd have a problem with it.

I've never had anyone say anything yet and I don't live in the greatest of neighborhoods so I'm sure some of them suspect I may be stuffing the inside with 5 finger discounts. The self-check-out at the Walmart lasted all of about 2 months after they built it because of theft from people not scanning all of their items.

I'm sure if anyone ever asks me to open it up to check for stolen items... they'll probably immediately call 911 to report an IED

[amberwolf]

Safeway used to allow me to wheel my whole bike in the store, back when I just had DayGlo Avenger as a "normal" bike but with basket-racks on front and rear. But one day I was shopping and was told to take the bike outside, not allowed inside, and they weren't all that nice about it. I forget the reasons they did that, but problaby had kids riding their bikes around inside or something. Since that day they've had a sign on the entrance "no bikes in store". Oddly enough they still haven't banned kids on skates or skate-shoes, who speed thru aisles crashing into people and merchandise, causing all sorts of mayhem every time I've ever been there. (if someone complains, they usually just say "but they're just kids" )

The Kmart around the corner from me here used to have a shopping-cart corral at the building face that doubled as a bike rack. I went by the other day and noticed it is gone, and now the only place to lock bikes to is the pipes runnng down the wall from the roof and the lighting. Many are 3-4" diameter and appear to be metal (cast iron?), and all have a gap behind them large enough to pass at least a thick cable between them and the wall, so they would at least work. Some are right next to the entrance. But no actual bike rack.

Safeway in the other direction from me has a bike rack, but conveniently it is on the side of the building that gets it's doors locked up after 8pm, and where there is little foot traffic to keep meddlers away. Most often I lock mine up to the no-parking signs nearer the door that does stay open. The only other place to lock them to (other than the cart corrals in the parking lot, or the light posts out there) is the columns that hold up the awnings--they're too big around for me to even touch fingers between hands if I put my arms around them, so longer than your average cable (although I have one I made that will do this length).

Fry's a couple miles north has a good one near the bank night drop and where the employees take their smoke breaks. I don't appreciate the smoke, but since there are people there every few minutes, I'll live with it for the bit of security it provides.

So many places around here that do have racks have them out of sight of any windows or doors, so they're worse than useless; one restaurant (no longer around) used to have one IN the garbage bin enclosure wall. I guess since that door stays closed, if you didn't know it was there it would be a good deterrent to the casual thief wandering upon bikes to do harm, but since I suspect many of them "stake out" particular places, they'd know about it, and since it's enclosed no one would even know they were doing stuff to the bikes in there unless they went in. Plus you could go in there to lock up or retrieve a bike, and get assaulted by someone waiting behind or in the garbage bins, and again no one would know it was happening unless they heard you (unlikely where it was at, behind the building).

But a lot of places do have useful lockups. Just not enough. Oddly enough, some of the places that over the years have promoted bikes and riding to eliminate car use the most not only don't have racks, they dont' have anything else nearby that could be used to lock one up! (Computer City, who provided a very small paycheck incentive for riding instead of driving, never had a rack, and officially didn't allow bikes to be brought into the store or put in the breakroom/etc. Fortunately the managers never had a problem with it in reality, but I was the only one that rode--everyone else either walked/bused in or had to park behind the complex (where theft and vandalism was rampant)).

[kentlim26]

very impressive vedio. thank you! woody.
I must think to build one like yours. i really like the vedio alot

cheers
kentlim

[zap]

Thanks kentlim

[dingoEsride]

I really like the design, especially using wood or ply wood and the trim really made it, well done!
mark

[spinningmagnets]

As I'm sure you know, I've always liked push-trailers as an option. I have added this thread link to Woody's post in the 'revisiting a push trailer' thread.
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=9855

I never thought about using the trailer as a shopping cart! VERY clever! Thanks for posting this. A video is worth a Kilo-word for explaining something...

[liveforphysics]

Very cool! Nice job!

[zap]

Thanks dingo, spin, lfp.

The video was fun to make... a bit frustrating at times.
I wanted to do it all in one take (for the first half anyway, the camera will only do about 16 minutes at a time) but I'd forget something every time.
On one take I forgot to raise the caster wheel, on another I forgot to lock the house door, forgot my keys, forgot to turn the trailer on, etc.
And then to have the camera mount fail ...still fun though.