Bicycles on Deck??

[Lynx]

I have found that the stores are often a mile or more away and I wanted to get a bicycle. A few questions arose -

Are the small folding bikes faster than walking?

How do they dinghy?

How do you store on deck?

Are the non-folding 26 inch wheel bikes better?
dinghy problems?
Storage on Deck?

Any thoughts?

[CharlieJ]

Take a look at this one- called a Strida. Nothing on it that will rust- all either plastic, aluminum, stainless or rubber. In the third pic, note that I'm holding the bike with two fingers.

Have to post two posts here due to pic size.

[CharlieJ]

folded and me holding it

[Manannan]

the Strida loooks great if nothing rust, because that is the main problem. Though riding it makes you look like a circus bear riding a bicycle  ;D I had  a folding Montague mountain bike on the last boat.. takes a lot of room even folded, quite heavy too though it was great to ride. Took it on the plane to France and on trains and rode the trails along a canal in Brittany, camping along the way. Went to Spain on the train with it, took the ferry to the Balearic islands.  That's would be quite limited with the Strida, but can take you to the next store I guess. You can take a regular bike and leave it on the deck, won't last long, but can be helpful for a while...

[CharlieJ]

wouldn't be able to PUT a regular bike on our decks- boat is too small. That Strida would fit in a cockpit locker if needed, OR in the quarter berth.

And actually, it rode quite nicely. I wouldn't want to do a 50 miler on it for sure, but to a grocery store, it sure beats walking. ;D

[Lynx]

The Strida is a great  bike at 22 pounds but at $ 800 I can get 4 Schwinn at twice the weight or 4 Kent at the same weight but less speed.

How long does it take to rust a Bike out on Salt Water

[CharlieJ]

Well my step son bought a cheapie, rode it on the beach, parked it under the lean to shed on the side of my shop, 1/4 mile across the marsh from the bay-

3 months later the chain was almost frozen up and the deraileur has a hard time moving.

[Lynx]

West has a China lookalike for $ 300 and a 3 speed for $ 200. I may get it.

[Delezynski]

Lynx,

A note from Mexico. We HAD folding bikes. When we were in the USA we would sometimes take them with us. Most of the time we left them in our van.

What we found once we headed out of local waters was that they could not go with us on our small boat. Just no room. They took up way to much deck space to make sailing safe.

We have also decided that for the most part, we are happy not to have them with us. If a place has a marina, we normally stay in it and local transportation is available and low cost (say about US$0.50 for a 12 mile trip. Or something like US$3.00 to 4.00 for a ride back to the boat with a BIG  load of food from the store.

Places that we love to anchor (no marina) have large sandy beaches and NO roads. So the bikes would not be usable at all.

We do see some bikes at the local marinas, but most belong to people who have stopped cruising and are just staying in one place on the boat. And in other places we have seen bikes for rent by the day. We have also seen some cruisers selling there bikes along the way.

During the last 4 years (outside of the USA) we could have used them maybe 2 or 3 places. But we like to walk, so that may slant our view.


Greg

[CharlieJ]

Thank you Greg, for words from "out there"

Now that I think about it, I carried a full sized bike on the trimaran when we crused. I had room for it in an ama. And as I think back, we used it exactly twice in 2 1/2 years along the east coast.

Of course when you are walking, and people tell you how far away something is, you soon find out the difference between a "mile" and a "Mexican Mile"
;D ;D

[Captain Smollett]

I'm wondering if one of those foldable hand carts would be a good, or better, investment.

Though I've been giving some thought to bikes, we generally don't mind walking.  A good sized backpack can hold a lot of groceries.  My big one is 6700 cubic inches.

But I can see a cart being quite handy.

Any thoughts on those?

[CharlieJ]

We ALWAYS carry one of the plastic folding carts. They are great for lugging gear down the dock and also for groceries and or ice. Stow in about the same space as a brief case and won't rust.

[Lynx]

Carts - I have seen people promote the cart with 2 wheels as a blessing.

Bicycles - I plan on staying in the USA for the next 1 1/2 years and would like to tour the towns. the first part will be the Erie Canal, Fresh water for 2 to 3 months and then a dash to Fl. At which point I could trash the cheep rusty bike. I have about 1 month to think about it.

Thanks for the tips so far. Keep them comming. I contacted Dahon and they only have one bike for Marine use and it is recommended to be kept below. Not enough space for that.

[Delezynski]

All,

We think a small cart is very nice to have. We had one, but had to offload it as we didn't have the room. I think a fold-up metal one with BIG wheels. One that will carry 2, 6 gallon diesel or water jugs.

To add a bit of info.......

We do have and use backpacks a lot!

We have 2 small (SMALL) onces that fold up into it's own pocket and fits nicely in a pocket. They go with us for that impulse purchase.

We have another one that was made by Henry Loyd. They don't make them any more. We are very sad as the style we have is GREAT! The top has a draw string to close it and then it also has a flap that covers the top with 2 plastic snap buckles. That double closure payed for itself in Chili. A friend lost a camera and jacket out of his backpack that only had a zipper top.

What we are looking for is a GOOD insulated backpack! We have seen a number of them, but not a good one yet. In the tropics, getting home from the store can take a half hour or more, even by cab! And if something is already frozen, it helps out the power usage a LOT!

Greg

[Captain Smollett]

That double closure payed for itself in Chili.

Greg, ya'll must REALLY like chili!

;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

(Sorry, I couldn't resist).

[Delezynski]

Captain Smollett,

Opps, sorry......

Yea, we got 10 pound of chili in that 5 pound backpack. :D  :D

It was Chile, NOT chili ;D

Greg

[ChrisandVero]

Greg,
Try a space blanket. I use one to keep food cold/frozen when hiking. The 'survival blankets' are very lightweight, or the tarp (heavier, but more durable). They also make a good cover when you get caught in a shower with dry goods.

[newt]

Greg,
Have you seen those isulated bags from Sam's Club or Costco. My wife uses them for frozen/refreg. foods. Keeps them frozen for about 1-2 hours while we do our chores. You would have to have a big backpack for them to fit in. They are kinda like insulated grocery bags. If you cannot get them close by, send me the address and I can buy a couple for you.