The Proverbial Question: Bucket in front or back? - part 1

And when I say proverbial, I am of course referring to Isiah 40:15.

Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket;
they are regarded as dust on the scales;
he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.


Well.  Not exactly.  Now, IF I actually lived in the city and used my bike for more errands than I currently do I could see myself getting a utility bike (with a bucket no doubt).  But the question comes, do you push, pull or strap onto the back your gear? 

Currently I have the bicycle trailer that totes my two tots.  I can see that I could easily use it for grocery runs or any other crazy errand in which I could fit objects in its blue and yellow walls.  Although, in a pinch, I could fold the walls down flat and strap something extra large to it if need be.  The great thing about the bicycle trailer is that you can add the trailer component to the rear axle of any bicycle.  I've pulled the kids behind my Cannondale Silk 400 (seen above), my road bike or my mountain bike.  It all depends on what trip is going on.  When we go camping it is the mountain bike.  When it is my and the kids at the playground at Lake Hefner, I'll tow them around the lake behind the road bike once while they eat their lunch.  I think it is really easy to tow a trailer behind you.  And I've loaded mine up with close to 80 lbs of kids and misc.  Your movements do not need to compensate for the extra weight.  You just fight the weight with the extra resistance.  But what about riding with gear strapped directly onto you?

The gent over at Urban Simplicity has a nice Yuba Mundo that he straps all kinds of stuff to.  It has a great deck on the back and the frame compensates for the cargo.  He has kept track of all the different configurations of stuff he has carried.  At last count I saw he bridged 200 recently. 

Continuing the arguement for gear on back is Madsen Cycles.  They have the bucket option that I think is great.  I don't like the women styling of the top tube and the rear tire size looks a bit out of place.  The Mundo uses 26" wheels on front and back.  But if you check their website it looks like you can haul everything from a chair, two kids, or your amp and guitar so you can go rock.  And I think it is very stylish, I would go with either black or tan myself.

But what of Europe?  They are the leaders in all things intellectual, correct?  They are better than we Americans, or least that is what they keep telling us.  What is their view on the cargo bike?  Maarten Van Andel's Bakfiets put the box up front.  Which I think is a great idea.  I have a fear of stuff falling off the back of my bike and me not noticing.  If my kids take a nap in the front box, I get to look at their cute sleeping faces.  Plus you still get the rack on the back for your panniers and whatever bags you want to strap o nas well.  Again, I really want to ride either a Bakfiest or a Mundo.  I want to see the differences in mobility between gear in front or back.

I first saw the Bakfiest on Yehu Moon. 

And there is an extended version of the Bakfiest floating around on the internet.  But if you look at the kids I think it is totally photo shopped.  The contents in the bike all look added.  Also the shadow is all wrong.  It is perfectly nice and symetrical at the woman's back tire, but then it stretches like crazy at the front under the front of her canoe.  Bad photo shop!  BAD, BAD, BAD!