Fully loaded

I just came across this terrific contest on AustinBikeBlog (love the name): they're asking for submissions about the biggest thing you've ever carried on a bike.

Recently, I found myself at the parking lot of a big shopping center with a newly purchased vacuum cleaner, and my bike, equipped with grocery panniers. I had planned on inserting the vacuum cleaner box upright into one of the panniers, but found, to my dismay, that it was just a tad too wide. However, since I am rarely without two bunji cords, I was able to carry the appliance home after all. I laid it across my bike rack and the tops of the panniers, and secured it to the rack with bunji cords. The box wasn't especially heavy, but it extended quite a bit beyond the panniers and my biggest worry was that the load would slide around and slip to one side. To solve this problem, I took my house key and sawed notches in the edges of the cardboard box for the bunji cords to slip into and stay securely in place. Then I pedaled the four miles to my house.

All this prompted me to revive and update a post I did a while ago:

Can't carry it on  bike? Think again!
Things we and some of our customers have carried on a bike.

With trailer:

• All contents of an apartment while moving
• A supply of bicycle wheels & other inventory from a local vendor
• A folding bike delivered to a customer several miles away
• Vice, grinder, plus a box of tools & hardware supplies
• A pit bull
• Three cases of cat food & a 50lb bag of kitty litter
• Six large canvas bags of groceries
• Keg of beer
• A Christmas tree

With trailer, grocery panniers and bunji cords:

Four 10lb bags of cedar chips, two 10lb bags of cocoa mulch, a 20lb pag of sand, two 8x36" wooden planters, three 20 foot lengths of hose, two bleeding hears, three hostas, a flat of pansies, a flat of vinca and a small lilac bush. (What's amazing, is that this gardener still had the energy to plant this stuff after she hauled it all home.)

Without trailer:

• A 12' piece of lumber strapped to a frame
• Four large canvas bags of groceries
• A schnauzer
• A kitten
• Box of Franzia wine
• Case of beer
• Window washing supplies, including bucket & extension poles
• two bags of charcoal
• A vacuum cleaner

Also,
Five children, using a tandem & various attachments.

What have you carried?

With trailer:

• All contents of an apartment while moving
• A supply of bicycle wheels & other inventory from a local vendor
• A folding bike delivered to a customer several miles away
• Vice, grinder, plus a box of tools & hardware supplies
• A pit bull
• Three cases of cat food & a 50lb bag of kitty litter
• Six large canvas bags of groceries
• Keg of beer
• A Christmas tree

With trailer, grocery panniers and bunji cords:

Four 10lb bags of cedar chips, two 10lb bags of cocoa mulch, a 20lb pag of sand, two 8x36" wooden planters, three 20 foot lengths of hose, two bleeding hears, three hostas, a flat of pansies, a flat of vinca and a small lilac bush. (What's amazing, is that this gardener still had the energy to plant this stuff after she hauled it all home.)

Without trailer:

• A 12' piece of lumber strapped to a frame
• Four large canvas bags of groceries
• A schnauzer
• A kitten
• Box of Franzia wine
• Case of beer
• Window washing supplies, including bucket & extension poles
• two bags of charcoal
• A vacuum cleaner

Also,
Five children, using a tandem & various attachments.

What have you carried?

Comments

[Charlotte]

The biggest thing I have ever carried is an 8 foot by 10 foot oriental rug, rolled up and folded in half, then draped over my rear rack.

Next time I pull it up from the living room floor I'll have to weigh it. I do know that my old brakes now work slightly differently having experienced all that weight.

[Chris]

A box fan strapped to my bag with a belt.