Longtail for the heavy user...

We've been using our Yuba full force now for a couple months, and figured were overdue for a follow up.

Yuba Mundos are in a word surprising. I remember first reading about the homely Yuba Mundo. It weighed in at a portly 60lbs without any bags or accoutrements. It came with intro level componentry, and wasn't even made of cro-moly steel, just hi-tensile steel. To top this all off, its sticker price is right at $1,000 which just screams of cheap when you're expecting to pay at least that much for a decent single bike let alone a serious cargo bike.

The frame looks reasonably well thought through regarding triangulation and seat tube angle, but really its just seemed like the Huffy of cargo bikes.

This is precisely why I titled my initial review of the Yuba Mundo, Yuba Mundo - wow....

A couple months later, after daily use and a bike move involving thousands of pounds of stuff, it all comes back to "surprising". My friend Randy and I intentionally TRIED to induce torsional flex on these rigs, going so far as the load you see below in our attempt to do so. Even at that point, the only real squirm was coming from inadequate tire pressure for the load, not frame flex.



Another surprising thing about this rig in the experience of Nickie and myself as well as Randy and his SO all of whom have thousands of miles logs on xtracycles, is how smooth this thing is. That seems so contradictory considering how little that frame flexes under any load we've dared to try. After much pontification on the matter we've finally (I think) hit the nail on the head. Its like a car with good shocks vs. bad. When you hit a road irregularity with bad shocks the reverberations live on for a time after. With good shocks, you take the hit and its done. The Yuba is not unsettled by road irregularities loaded or not. So when you hit a bump, thats all there is. With our Big Dummy, you hit the bump and if you're loaded much at all, it lives on for just a few moments longer in various reverberations.

One other nice thing about this bike and this one is a bit telling, is that it comes with horizontal dropouts. We run an IGH on it (Nuvinci), and its just nice not having to run a chain tensioner. When I said this is telling, I mean that they are able to do this at all BECAUSE this frame does not flex. adjusting chain tension absolutely is only possible because of it. It really does make for a smoother more efficient drivetrain.

I've sung a lot of praises of this bike, and I think those are rightly deserved. Does that mean it does not come with its downfalls, of course not. I still stand by the comment about cheap componentry. At this point the only component on the bike that is stock is the seatpost. If you are picky about the parts you use, do yourself a favor and just buy the frameset and build from there.

Also the welds seriously look like they were done with a buzz box. I don't have any concerns about them holding up, but its worth pointing out to a crowd whose used to the beautiful little tig beads prevalent on most bikes these days.

Lastly, and this is a biggie for many, at present it is still really more for the DIY or tie down strap kinda person. Its quickly getting better in this area, but has a ways to go compared to the likes of Xtracycle who has spent over a decade now fleshing out the accessories to make their kit do A LOT of things.

My main gripe on the accessories front is the lack of a useful centerstand. Once again I rolled my own. which you can faintly see in the photo above. It still needs a little tweaking, but its at least as good as the stand I made for the Big Dummy. I've seen little tidbits that hint at a heavy duty centerstand which is coming out this year, but at present it does not yet exist. They should not sell a bike without one in my opinion.

Thus far my list of modifications is as follows:

Brazed in spacers to reduce the rear dropouts from 14mm to 10mm
Added Nuvinci drive train after modifying dropouts
Swapped out front fork for Surly Instigator fork
Went threadless with FSA DH Pro pig headset
Added front disc brake (Avid BB7)
swapped out front wheel for disc compatible build
added albatross bars
added Velo Orange leather saddle (which btw, we both like as much or more than brooks)
Added Ergon Grips
Added Berthoud 60mm stainless fenders
Homemade bags
EDIT: forgot to list custom centerstand

I should make a little comment about our bags. First off I'll give credit where credit is due (thank you Xtracycle!!!). We shamelessly took a few cues from your design. We love the idea of the xtracycle freeloaders, but often find they just dont go as big as we'd like. I'd rather not have to carry tie down straps unless I'm gonna carry a washer and dryer. Consequently we decided to use a very similar sling design as the freeloaders, but made the sling about 8" longer, made the straps total length about 6-7" longer, and lastly, made the two end pouches out of a solid fabric (silnylon) and made them a couple inches taller.

They work "like a charm" We have not needed tie down straps yet.

Successful Bike Move, thanks to many!!!

We've spent the last two weeks simultaneously remodeling the house we just bought and moving a bit everyday and capping it all off with a large group move yesterday.

I owe thanks to many people all along the way and on the day of the official bike move. One that stands out is my good friend Randy Burgess, who took several days of his two week break from classes to load up our respective rigs and tote thousands of pounds of stuff between places, the most memorable load being a washer AND dryer both on one Yuba (these are intense bikes). He was also a tremendous help on move day on many levels.

Its a little surreal and at the same time perfectly natural to be on the trailing end of doing this process by bike. Its strange to watch a video like the one below (courtesy of my friend Del) of our very own bike move, yet at the same it feels so perfectly natural to have done this process exactly how we do everything else, as well as very rewarding.

It was a bit odd to have the local paper for our town of 80k people, show up, interview us and many others, photograph the whole shebang and post it as a front page story on the Sunday paper. We're flattered but at the same time, wish it was a bit less newsworthy...

Anyway, it was a blast and would definitely do it all over again.

Thanks Del for putting the video together down below.

The Stout Family Bike Move from Happy Thursday on Vimeo.

Bike Move!!!!

Photo courtesy of www.streetfilms.org

Well its looking like we're actually going to close on that house, only 2 months later than we initially planned. I guess the news was accurate in stating that the pendulum had gone the other way and that banks are slow and SUPER cautious about lending money...

Anyway, on to the point, at this point we're leaning strongly towards a bike move. I know we've got some Longmont and Boulder readership, so if any of you local folk would be interested in doing a bike move across town with us (around 5 miles) on a weekend about 3 weeks out, please either comment here or email us.

If you don't have a bike that can carry stuff, we do have at least a couple friends with either trailers or cargo bikes that are at our disposal for this move.

Of course yummy food will be provided, likely some kind of breakfast treats, and pizza round lunchtime.

The good news is that most of the route we'll be taking is a very very gradual downhill, AND about 1/2 to 2/3rds of the route will be along path (st.vrain greenway).

Thanks!!!!!
Anthony

A Chariot For All Seasons

This post is a little overdue, but perhaps it will be of use to someone for next year... After using the Chariot kid trailer last winter, we decided it needed a little modification for winter use. The main issues we had with it were the lack on insulation for cold weather. The really cold wet rain would saturate the fabric on the bottom of the trailer and then saturate Samuel's pants, making for a very cold little boy. Also, he would kick it open and then cold air would flow right threw and we'd have to stop, velcro it closed and keep going, then repeat all over. In the snow, when there wasn't precipitation to wet the bottom of the chariot, the cold would get through the fabric and chill the kiddos. This isn't really a design flaw in the Chariot, I understand that it's not designed for the kind of use we put it through. We needed to modify. I was shocked at how inexpensive (free) it was to modify it! We had all the necessary materials laying around and even if we hadn't, the materials were not too bad. :)

For insulating the bottom of the Chariot, we took 3 double thick strips of closed cell foam and encased them inside a double thick layer of polar fleece. Construction is simple. It's essentially a giant rectangle of fleece with the foam inside. The closed cell foam is unique in that it is really stiff and doesn't compress flat and so it makes a really good insulator. We put a nylon panel across the bottom so we could easily wipe off boot grunge. We then encased a double layer of 6 oz Primaloft in down-proof nylon to make a super warm quilt and attached this too the bottom of the insulated fleece/foam panel. this way you can flip the blanket forward, insert kiddos without dropping the blanket on the dirty floor and then flip the blanket back. We made this blanket extra wide so as to tuck in around the sides of their hips where there is no insulation. To block the draft through the netting at the back, we just stuffed a down jacket in the back pocket. Finally, we attached a hook to the velcro and tied some shock cord around the front wheel attachment place to secure the Chariot closed, so no more kicking it open. :) In reality, we only had to use this a few times until the little guy gave up. It's nice to have that secure closure as an option though, in case there is cold weather and a child gets into a "kick the door open" mood.

We've used this set-up all winter in Colorado. The coldest rides were about 4 degrees Fahrenheit for extended periods of time (1.5 hrs +) and the kids are so warm, they are taking off their mittens! Yay! One nice thing about the trailer in the winter is that it can't fall over if I do. This makes me more relaxed in the ice, even though it's highly unlikely that I'll fall with all the studs on the tires and the slow speeds I carry. The down-side is that it can be very slow in deep snow. With the motor working again I don't worry about it as much though!

Happy modifying!

Nickie

Yuba Mundo - wow...

Nickie and I swung over by a friend's place this last weekend who's starting up a local Yuba distribution channel. He's another avid bike lifestyle advocate with kids and all.

He's been using an xtracycle for awhile now as his primary car replacement, but was considering a big dummy to upgrade the capacity and handling characteristics, but not long after he decided not only to go for a Yuba Mundo instead, but also to give it a go at starting up a side business to help folks get over the car habit by selling relatively inexpensive car replacement cargo bikes and an e-assist as an option.

Hence his new business. He got his first Yuba in last week and consequently we stopped by to check it out. All my wife and I could both say was "wow...". First I took it for a real brief spin around the block and was thoroughly impressed with how smooth and efficient the ride was. I was actually say it was better than the Big Dummy. Then I had my friend hop on the back and took another spin. Absolutely no flex at all. I stopped back by his driveway and asked my wife to hop on as well. Even at this point there was no flex at all!!! As soon as I was above 5 mph they might as well not have been there. We love our Big Dummy and are truly grateful for how it has facilitated this lifestyle, but I must say after that test ride and me riding passenger for my wife to get a sense, plus a couple hours looking over the bike, this thing is in a whole nother league when it comes to carrying consistantly larger loads.

Our base weight with the llama is around 85-90lbs when you include the two kids, kid seat and diaper bag. with that load, the big dummy is certainly better than the xtracycle kits I've ridden, but its not hard at all to induce flex on the frame. With the Yuba, I had over 300lbs of payload and there was still no perceptable flex. Despite this bomber rigidity, the real suprise was just how smooth it is to ride. I was truly the silkiest ride I've ever felt on a bike, yet not slow at all for a cargo bike.

This may come as shock to many, but we are now plotting our move to a Yuba from the Big Dummy. The way that it handles the heavier weight, plus the larger cargo area in the rear, thoroughly won us over. I must admit that I also love that it comes with a proper seat tube angle for a cargo bike right out of the box.

Cheers,
Anthony

Whole Wheat No Knead Bread

I was looking for an easy way to make bread and came across this article and this video from the NY Times.  It's easy, but didn't work well with whole wheat flour.  After a little research and tinkering (thanks Anthony) we've come up with a recipe that works for whole wheat flour.  I now use this as our primary bread.  It's good for sandwiches and takes very little time.

Whole wheat flour, as I discovered, absorbs more water than white flour because of the bran.  So if you use the online recipes for white flour, the dough doesn't rise properly.  The yeast needs room in the dough to move around, so if the bran absorbs all the water, the yeast doesn't propagate well.  So the biggest difference between my recipe and the white bread ones is an increase in water.  I also don't let this dough rise as long as the white flour recipe as it yields a more fermented taste which I don't think fits the sweetness of the whole wheat too well.  I'll include the recipe and the link for the method.

You'll need a cast iron pot with a lid (Dutch oven).  Mine measures 9" wide by 3.5" deep.

470 grams whole wheat flour, the one I like is quite fine but not as fine as pastry flour.  The fineness of the flour will effect the amount of water needed.

585 grams water (about 2 2/3 cups) at about room temp.

1/4 tsp yeast

1/2 tsp salt

1 T honey or sweetener of choice.  (I've used molasses successfully too).  I dissolve this in the water.

 

Lots of flour for folding the dough.

Ground flax or cornmeal for dusting.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and cover except the folding and dusting flours.  The consistency of the dough should be like wet cement.  You just stir it all up with a spoon.  Stir it really well. Allow the dough to rise at room temperature for 7-12 hours.  When the dough fills the bowl, spread a thick layer (about 1/4 inch) of flour on a clean surface.  You'll want to start your oven preheating to 450 F with the Dutch oven in the oven.  Pour the dough out onto the flour.  Sprinkle the dough with flour and spread it out into a circle about 12-14" wide and about 1.5" thick.  Fold the dough in thirds like a business letter.  You'll now have dough that is long and skinny.  Fold the long ends in toward the middle so that you have a square or round ball.  Lift the ball into a bowl that is lined with a clean cloth napkin or dishtowel that has been heavily dusted with cornmeal or ground flax seed.  The dough will be super super soft and wet and you'll have to move it really fast or it will slip through your fingers.  At this point you can either bake it right away or wait an hour.  I think it's better if you wait, but you don't have to if you're in a hurry.  Lift the napkin out of the bowl and gently roll the dough into the pot. Put the lid back on and set the timer for 40 minutes.  Take it out and let it cool.  It needs to cool before bagging.  The bread doesn't cut too well when it's hot, although who can resist a taste?!  I refrigerate my loaf to slice it and then leave it out in a bag on the counter.  It stays good for about 3-4 days.  If I'm waiting longer than that I'll refrigerate it until we're ready to eat it or it will get a fermented taste.

The Dutch oven creates a humid atmosphere while baking that creates a superb crust and nice texture to the loaf.  Happy baking!

More Yurt Pictures

Here's two pictures, one from the front and one from the back of the completed bike yurt.  Thanks to everyone who's checked it out :) Happy Holidays. 

The things on the bars are poggies.  Anthony was sewing them late into the night for a surprise Christmas gift for me!  I call them "hot chocolate" because they keep my hands so warm, it's like holding a warm cup of hot chocolate on a cold night!  More on the poggies latter.