Great info, Russ, thanks! Was tinkering with my bike trailers last night (Burley Nomad and Croozer Dog) and organizing bike stuff and then was inspired to research a bit on the 'net. Found this bike forum below and a highly-praised panniers retailer.

Bicycle touring is a new realm to me and the cargo capacity using front and rear panniers, handlebar bags and seat bags is phenomenal.

http://www.thetouringstore.com/

http://www.bikeforums.net/


Go whole hog with a Surly Big Dummy:

http://surlybikes.com/bikes/big_dummy_complete/

The Big Dummy was a natural. It’s designed to carry a lot of stuff easily, and that’s just what it does. It was designed in conjunction with Xtracycle, whose modular plug-ins make it easy to carry groceries, garden supplies, tools, and just about anything else you’d normally carry with a car. It’s got an upper limit of 400 pounds (180kg) total rider and cargo weight, which is more than you’ll probably need, but not so much it’s impossible to pedal. It does ride a bit different than normal bikes, due in large part to its long wheelbase, but a couple of trips to the store is all it should take to convince you that this bike is not only exceptionally useful, but fun too. We include Xtracycle's V-Rack bags and snapdeck, but you'll find more options for attachments, like Wideloader platforms, on Xtracycle's website, http://www.xtracycle.com.

Colors: Military Green, Black
MSRP:$2450


Had two very happy pups racing on the Mall this past weekend. Four miles alternately sprinting and trotting with a few lengthy breaks.

Do NOT buy one of these folding bikes (like this Dahon Curve). You'll find they are lightweight, strong, carry a lot of weight, go pretty much as fast as a full-sized bike, are more responsive, and fold-up in a few seconds to fit behind your pickup truck seat for use in an emergency, or even just for fun.

My Curve comes with a fitting above the front wheel in this foto that you can use to attach (in about one second) many load carrying accessories from Klickfix. I normally attach their wire basket, but had it off in this pic.

Oh, and the seat post is heavier than necessary because it contains a built-in bicycle pump. Sorry for the convenience.

Ahh.. the folding onces. I used to have one, but i think it is much harder to cycle on and not as comfortable. Besides i would pull and push everything crooked. But than again i'm pretty strong leg wise. I even have problems with the rear end of stationair bikes jumping because i pull to hard...

Small tires are not good either, ride rougher and not very usefull off smooth pavement.

This is my BOBike. I have a detatchable rear shelf that locks on and can carry my 65 lbs. BOB (yes I know that is a heavy BOB). I have riden 20 mile with it and my BOB in 90 minutes. That is a little longer then it takes me to ride that far without the BOB - but lets face it - it was heavy. BUT I covered 20 miles in 90 minutes. I doubt all but a few could walk or even run that distance with our without a BOB but not likely in that time frame. I have the DW's bike set up the same way but she was not carrying nearly as much as I was (50 lbs).

Just my 2 cents

I have two Hummer folding mountain bikes. I really like them. I primarily ride on pavement, but I like how they fold up quickly and are easy to adjust. I keep one stowed away in each vehicle.

http://www.homegymcentral.com/hummer_tactical_mountain_bike.html

Fortunately, they come in black too. I would also suggest upgrading to a gel seat. The stock seat on these is a butt-killer.

An inexpensive city bike Note the comfy seat and upright handlebars;

a city bike

What is up with the chain on that one Teacher?

I tend to fix up about 3 or 4 bikes a year for city riding.
I usually spend less than $20 on them and sometimes give them to friends and relatives to ride.
My biggest problem is finding large enough frames to be comfortable, but there are tons of 20" bikes around and they usually have 26 x 1.5 wheels.
The second biggest problem is getting inexpensive racks for carrying stuff.
The third thing is fenders.

The joy of cheap looking older bikes is they can have the best of parts in them and people(thieves,vandals) still don't mess with them much.

Darn good pace. If you were running at that pace, you would be setting a new world record in the marathon, even without the BOB. This is a perfect illustration of the value of a bike in this situation.