The complete blog series on this tour:
Bike Tour Preperation: Part 1 Destination, Part 2 Training, Part 3 Pack Up!
PCH Tour: There, Biking Back with Burley, The Good, The Bad and The Burley
After 3 days of rest, relaxation, and Christmas gluttony after having ridden north on the PCH, we were ready to hit the road again for our ride back to LA. We began in Napa Valley (after we had a chance to do some tastings) and were headed back to Monterrey. We had 3 days and 200 miles, so we really took our time and enjoyed the scenery.
The first night, we ended in San Francisco. 
Here’s me on the Golden Gate Bridge. The bridge was fairly crowded, and I believe there is a curfew for when people are allowed to cross the bridge by foot. The view of the city is unbelievable from the bridge at night. We had decided to stay the night in a hotel in San Francisco to prevent thievery. We did not take bike locks; and in a big city, I would not necessarily feel safe if it was locked.
Continue Reading »
Since we posted about our available Sales Associate position at the Bike Trailer Shop last week, we’ve decided to add another position to our staff. We’ve decided to look for a PHP/OSCommerce programmer. Read more about the position at the About Us section of Bike Trailer Shop.
Bringing on a full-time programmer should be good news for both our growing network of niche bike shops and our growing network of bicycling community sites including this blog. We’re looking for a programmer that is ready to apply thier skills to our strategies for making great information and products for utility cycling and bike touring available.
Our search for the sales associate position is going well with quite a few promising resumes flowing into our inbox. I wanted to thank all of our the bike bloggers out there who posted up links about our first available position. Have a look what all our friends had to say about our new position: Commute by Bike, Bike Hacks, How To Fix Bikes. Drunk Cyclist, HandleBar Sandwich, Cascade Couriers, Melanie Meyers, Womens Bike Talk, David Hembrow, Cyclelicio.us, Family On Bikes, Bike Blog NYC and Tucson Bike Lawyer.
Weve decided to update and further organize our previous post The Bike Trailer List into complete list of available and discontinued bike trailers. We are breaking down the list into categories such as Bike Child Trailers, Bike Cargo Trailers and Bike Pet Trailers.
Note that this list is a work in progress. We will be updating it as weve got the time and information. We plan on inputting as much information about models and company details for all of these trailers. Please be aware that with many of the less available trailers, it is very difficult to find any information at all. As this list is a work in progress, please let us know if there are any trailers that weve left of, miss-categorized, etc.
Bike Cargo Trailers:
Single Wheeled Bike Cargo Trailers-
When choosing a bike cargo trailer its important to know exactly what you are getting into. At first glance a single wheeled trailer might look strange and difficult to manage, but I assure you that once you pull one, you’llenjoy it’s many great handling characteristics. BOB and Extrawheel are great examples of single wheeled trailers that are as equally as effective off road as they are on road. Because you cant flip a single wheeled trailer while the bike is upright you can rest assured that as long as you dont tip, it wont either.
Continue Reading »
The complete blog series on this tour:
Bike Tour Preperation: Part 1 Destination, Part 2 Training, Part 3 Pack Up!
PCH Tour: There, Biking Back with Burley, The Good, The Bad and The Burley
After months of training, buying gear, and preparation; the day finally came when James and I were ready to embark on a jaunt up the Pacific Coast.
The trip started out very rocky, or sloshy to be exact. We arrived at the train station in L.A. at 9 a.m. on December 17, 2008. We wheeled our Burley Nomad around like luggage and went into a secret back room (with voice activation and a pin pad) to pick up our bikes. It was drizzling, but nothing of a deterrent really; we were ready to ride. Now, we had to get from the LAX train station to Route 1. The light rain had turned into heavy rain accompanied by strong winds. Headed north in 40 mph winds and vertical rain pelting you in the face like small pebbles, this was definitely a first day to remember. We were lucky enough to eventually find the Malibu RV/campsite, and were crossing our fingers that the Nomad stood up better than we did being tethered for hours on end with hurricane-like, elemental fury. To our surprise, most everything was dry. Some things got wet from the water that splashed up from underneath the trailer, but the washer/dryer set up at the RV park was nothing short of a miracle, and ultimately saved my toes from frostbite, and both of us from hypothermia.
Continue Reading »
The Spring Season is starting to warm up and I though I’d give a few shouts of good luck to a few of my favorite racers.
My sister is recovering from knee surgery last fall and hopefully going to be back in full form in the next few months. Have a look at her Missing Saddle Blog and her team Womens Bike Talk blog. Good Luck Melanie!
And on the other side of the pond I wanted to wish many fast returns for Rachel Fenton and Chris Pedder. Check out there blog at Over The Hill Racing.
Step-by-step – BOB Ibex
Welcome to the Step-by-step guild to assembling the BOB Ibex. The Ibex offers the rider the same towing capacity and maneuverability as the BOB Yak but provides 3 of travel for bombing curbs and pounding your favorite back roads with cargo in tow.
Before starting the assembly of the Ibex you will need a few tools. I used 2 5mm Hex/Allen wrenches, 2 10mm wrenches and a rubber weighted hammer.
The first step is to open the box and pull out the small box inside and remove the contents, you will find the following items inside:
1 Owners Manual
1 BOB Sticker
1 Trailer Wheel Quick Release
1 Extra Pin
1 Bungee Cord
1 Trailer Fork with shock
See picture #1
After you’ve taken inventory on your parts you will notice that the bob trailer fork is attached to the trailer backwards, you need to turn it around. To do this, remove the trailer though bolt that holds the fork and trailer together and attach it again so that the fork is facing the correct direction. Make sure to place the though bolt washers back in place between the bolt/nut and the trailer.
Continue Reading »
Bike Trailer Shop is gearing up for the season ahead and looking to bring another person on board.
From the About Us page of Bike Trailer Shop:
“We are currently hiring. We are looking for someone who is interested in becoming a part of growing our business. The core of our business involves our online shops, Bike Trailer Shop and Bike Bag Shop. In addition we run the sites Bike Trailer Blog and Spoke And Word and are currently in developement of several new projects including another shop, Bike Kid Shop, and 2 cycling commutnity projects, Utility Cycling and Womens Bike Talk. With all of our bike-centric projects, we are looking for someone with a strong knowledge & passion for utility cycling.
Specific duties of our full time Sales Associate postion will include shipping, customer service, accounting & internet product listing. Business and computer experience are preferred.
If interested please email your resume to josh@biketrailershop.com.”
We’re doing a head-to-head Single Wheeled bike trailer sale at BikeTrailerShop.com. Check out the deals we are offering on the BOB Yak & BOB Ibex trailers and the new Extrawheel Voyager through March 22nd. By putting these trailers on special at the same time, we thought it was a great opportunity to compare and contrast these two great trailers.
Cargo Capacity:
The BOB Trailer offers an open cargo area configuration while the Extrawheel Voyager offers mounting for even the largest sized panniers. The Capacity of the BOB out does the Voyager in both volume and weight, but the Extrawheel offers whatever convenience of packing that comes built into your panniers.
On-Road & Off-Road:
Both trailers offer a narrow profile that is appreciated for on-road riding and really shines in Off-Road conditions. While the BOB Yak can be used off-road, the BOB Ibex really performs nicely when the going gets rough with its suspension evening out the bumps. That being said, the Extrawheel is in my opinion the best performing off-road trailer with its full size wheel and close location to the rear wheel of your bike. It rolls over everything that comes in its path with ease.
Continue Reading »
Here’s me on the Golden Gate Bridge. The bridge was fairly crowded, and I believe there is a curfew for when people are allowed to cross the bridge by foot. The view of the city is unbelievable from the bridge at night. We had decided to stay the night in a hotel in San Francisco to prevent thievery. We did not take bike locks; and in a big city, I would not necessarily feel safe if it was locked.
