Riese und Mueller Load Bakfiets & Transporter longbike

[sk8norcal]

[youtube]9eES2kqmnKk[/youtube]

 

[Chalo]

While that is a nice-looking and well though out bike in some regards, it's really stupid to use mechanical suspension on a bike whose gross weight varies by 2:1 or more in the course of its intended duty.

 

[dogman dan]

That would suck horribly, to have it ride exactly link a non suspension bike when it was not loaded heavy. :wink:

It would be even more horrible, to take about 30 seconds to adjust the preload. That would be just intolerable.

 

[sk8norcal]

giant pic here,
http://www.practicalcycles.com/USERIMAGES/13_LOAD_HYBRID_TOURING_LIMETTE.JPG

their longbike looks nice too,
http://www.practicalcycles.com/USERIMAGES/13_BLUELABEL_TRANSPORTER_FREISTELLER.JPG

 

[Chalo]

That would suck horribly, to have it ride exactly link a non suspension bike when it was not loaded heavy. :wink:

I guess it is a joy to pay a lot of money for something, and have to carry it around, even if it's not really doing anything for me. Maybe I could use the the load bed to carry a satellite phone that doesn't have an uplink. Then I could pretend to be a Third World dictator with the phone while pretending to be a champion motorcycle racer with the suspension! Oh, and I should also install a safe I don't know the combination for, so I can pretend to be rich, too. That will be fun to pay for and carry around all the time. Good thing I have an e-motor so I can haul all the pretense uphill.

It would be even more horrible, to take about 30 seconds to adjust the preload. That would be just intolerable.

Preload is not a substitute for spring rate. It just gives you the illusion that it's working OK until you encounter a bump you might actually want suspension for, and it bottoms out just the way it would have without added preload. That was my usual experience riding motorcycles with stock shocks, and I was only adding about 25% over the design weight.

Long front loaders don't benefit from front suspension anyway, unless you're hauling eggs or china tea sets or something. Between frame flex and the fact that the handlebars are in the middle of the wheelbase, there's no sting in the grips even with a rigid fork and hard tires. My friend Jeremy builds his with 12" front wheels, and even though that would be pretty horrible on a normal bike, they provide a comfortable ride on a front loader.

 

[sk8norcal]

just saw this monter FS cargo emopedbike

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=35151&start=50#p704782

 

[Chalo]

Now that is awesome. Literally.