This section of our blog focuses on what we are up to here at the shop. Along with announcements of new products and sales, we talk about the daily grind... errr I mean the 24 hour party here at Bike Shop Hub. We discuss various aspects of being involved in the bicycle industry and talk about the cycling community here in Flagstaff, Arizona.
Here at the Bike Shop Hub we are big fans of collecting photos of the cycling products that we love in use. The Bike Shop Hub Blog is really driven by your photos and stories of your cycling experiences. We specifically are after user photos to publish in the 4 sections of the Bike Shop Hub blog: Bike Trailer Blog, Epic Bike Tours, Bike Tech Blog and Family Cycling Blog. Join us in creating a great resource for cyclists.
BikeTrailerShop.com has just started a Burley Trailer sale. Get setup with a Burley Child Trailer, Burley Cargo Trailer or a Burley Pet Trailer.
Call us Bike Trailer Shop at 1-800-717-2596 or email info@biketrailershop.com if you have any questions. Sale runs thru August 19th.
Bike Trailer Shop just launched their final Burley Trailer sale for 2009. This is a great opportunity to get an excellent deal on a Burley Child Trailer, Burley Cargo Trailer or a Burley Pet Trailer. Sale ends Wednesday, August 19th.
That brings to mind a picture I wanted to post of the winner of the FlagstaffBiking.org Bike-To-Work week bike commuter photo contest. This happy Flagstaff cyclist was picking up a 2008 Burley Flatbed Bike Cargo Trailer from BikeTrailerShop.com for winning the photo contest.
We’ve just launched our new blog, focused on looking at the bicycle for things beyond recreation. While we love having fun on our bikes, this is the perfect time to start encouraging cyclists and non-cyclists alike to look at the bicycle as a tool for a large variety of transportation needs.
With this in mind, we’ve launched our new blog, UtilityCycling.org. We are starting out by focusing on creating a working definition of “utility cycling”. From their we will branch out into a large variety of Utility Cycling related topics including bike mapping, bicycle commuting laws, bike co-ops, bicycle infrastructure and much more.
A frequent question we get at the Bike Trailer Shop is comparing the advantages to owning an Xtracycle to a bike trailer. The main topics to consider in comparing these two methods for carrying cargo and passenger on bikes are versatility; carrying cargo, passengers and specialty uses; and handling characteristics.
Versatility:
The first thing to consider when choosing to go with an Xtracycle over a bike trailer, is that you are choosing to turn a standard bicycle into a longtail cargo bike. While it is possible to take the Xtracycle on and off the bike, it is not very convenient and I am not aware of very many Xtracycle owners that use their Xtracycle in this capacity on a regular basis.
For cyclist that don’t want to dedicate a bicycle to being used with an Xtracycle, bike cargo trailers offer much more flexibility. Bike cargo trailers can be installed and removed from a bicycle in seconds. This offers versatility for cyclists that prefer using their bicycle in multiple capacities. For bike touring, bike trailers are very nice in that within a few seconds, you can remove your load from your bike for a quick ride in the area you are visiting.
As the Bike Trailer Shop has been growing, we’ve been dabbling in some manufacturing. Our business started with manufacturing roots with the development of the Wandertec CELLO Bike Case for BOB Trailers. The evolution of this product lead us into the realization of the potential for a Bike Trailer specific webstore.
Our continue involvement with manufacturing has mainly been in the direction of small specific use accessories for BOB Trailer. We’ve manufactured a variety of small custom kits to do things like allow a Greenspeed Rack to mount on a BOB Trailer, to mount a fender light to the BOB Ibex and to ship a BOB Trailer in a Ortlieb Big Zip. We’ve also manufactured 2 other BOB Trailer specific products, the Wandertec SAX – BOB Cargo Liner and the Wandertec Cargo Net which is excellent for BOB Trailers and many other bike cargo trailers.
Please take a moment to visit our new website: www.utilitycycling.org, as we are moving our blogging efforts into a large range of topics beyond bike trailers and bags. Utility Cycling is dedicated to defining the movement of utility cycling, which encompasses the bicycle as a means of transportation, function, service, mobility, fun, and much, much more.
Although our focus here at the Bike Trailer Blog is to discuss all things related to bicycle trailers and bags, as well as bicycle community and advocacy, we are excited about the prospect for Utility Cycling.org to expand our focus to all things related to using the bicycle for a vast range of purposes. Utility Cycling will seek to bring clarity to the emerging category of utility cycling, which has gained a great deal of momentum of late.
We will continue to blog about bicycle trailers and bags here at the Bike Trailer Blog, but we encourage you to begin visiting Utility Cycling as well. And if you have a utility cycling story, photo, video, manifesto, what-have-you, we would love to hear from you, so please post a comment over at Utility Cycling.org.
Until next time, use your bike!
