Some of you will remember the trail that the vietcong used to take supplies to the south dueing the 'unpleasantness'.But there was a very valuable lesson for me there,and that has not come to light till now.I am almost 60 [ 2 months ] and in great health,except I had one knee replaced and the other is next.That limits my weight bearing to VERY little,so I took a page from the north vietnamese and went to a bicycle as that will allow me to carry a load of well over 500 pounds,yes you read that right.I could [ past tense ] walk with a full pack of 60 to 100 pounds,now I can load up the bike and carry a load that would kill most men and not even know I have a strain.There maybe some liturature online and that would give you a start on this idea.I am SURE I am not the only one that would like to carry [bike] a real load and not worry about the weight.My 00.02

What kind of bike?

What kind of carrier containers?

Sue

My biggest problem, given the state of my back, would be picking the loaded bike up if I dropped it. Pushing it uphill does not sound like fun either. Hope it works for you...

I think the idea would be to go with a bike cart rather than loading up the bike itself

http://bikecart.pedalpeople.com/

I had the same idea, I've even used it to move my duffel and ruck full of gear across campus, back when I didn't have a car.
Adding a longer pole to the handle bars to help steer and hold on to would have helped me. But the concept works really well for carrying freight as long as you don't mind moving at a walking pace or slightly slower.

Any other tips or ideas you can think of for making this work easier, maybe over rough terrain?

Good idea on the using of a bike to move a heavy load.

Where I live there are many Forest Access Roads that are closed to motorized travel. These are good gravel roads that access terrific remote country and the use of bikes and carts (even horses) are permitted on most of them. A group of my neighbours uses a homemade rickshaw(sp) type cart with 4 tandem bike wheels to move their entire fall hunting tent camp 8 kilometers into a remote forest cutover. The cart is pulled by 2 men on flat ground and 4 men when going uphill. The real work begins after their hunt is successful, carting a bull moose out to the gate where their vehicles are parked.

We also used to access a remote Lake Trout lake beside an abandoned railway line by putting our canoe (with all the camping gear in it) in a homemade wheeled cart. This cart used 2 mountain bike type wheels, mounted in homemade welded forks connected by a crossbar at the axles. Two 3 foot pieces of 2x4 were bolted to the crossbeam and the canoe sat on these. It was hard on fiberglass or kevlar canoes, but aluminum or plastic (Coleman) canoes had no trouble with it.

Mike

A cart would no doubt be better (as long as the trail is wide enough), but all of the photos I saw from the war were simple bikes with huge loads, being walked by a person with both hands on the handlebars and both feet on the ground. Seems to me that a heavily loaded bike is going to fall over a lot, not to mention having to "drop" your bike to help a buddy over a log, etc.

I used to fish a little walk in lake with a friend. There was a dirt road, very steep in places, so he made a frame from an old bedframe, and put two bike wheels on the sides. We would set his flat bottomed jon boat on the frame, load it with our gear, and a fishin' we would go. Only problem was coming out, on the steep part of the road it seemed that we pushed up one step and slid back two. Probably still better than carrying the thing tho...

Sir! That is one fine idea! Those guys had their act together anyway. And we all know the rules of warfare in Asia, the most committed wins!
Good call,

Look at this :

http://www.cyclesmaximus.com/cargotrike.htm

And also look at the "electric assist option" !

http://www.cyclesmaximus.com/electricassist.htm

Not for the Amazon jungle or the Ho Chi Minh trail, but great for paved or unpaved roads.

Well a partial Correction. It was *also* the North Vietnamese, and not only the Viet Cong, -bringing their Supplies and Troops on down the Trail. Probably Pathet Lao and Khmer Rouge too, -as in the Famous Example of our Satellites once snapping a Shot, -of their bringing a Yacht on down, -for Sihanouk!

The Cargo Carrying Capacity of a Bike, -I too think I would find Interesting!

Or when the F-4 Phantoms and Skyraiders started Strafing!, -I think they'd Sure Pretty Quickly Drop their Load!

A Cart would certainly be Better, -if all one is doing is Walking a Wheeled Vehicle!

So they often used Bycycles simply because they had a lot of them! And a comparatively Simple, Cheap Vehicle, besides.

But then too so are Carts, -All of the Above! Knowing the North Viets and such like I do, -I can only suppose that they used a lot of Both.

I finally found a poor pic of some of the NVA bikes hauling goodies. If obviously works, but looks like more than I want to tackle...

It certainly does look tough. But, if you put the load as low as possible and used a pole across the handlebars and replace the seat with a pole as levers to pick it up and to make steering and controlling it easier its a pretty good idea. Even a hundred pound load would be pretty grueling on your back, or even in a simple travois. On a bike like this, you pretty much just need to keep it balanced.

Plus on a narrow trail where a two wheeled trailer would be too wide, or a rough trail that'd make riding difficult I think this would probably be easier.

It's something I've kept in the back of my head for a while; maybe I'll even cut dowels for the purpose.

The bike idea has been one of my backup plans for a while. I would load it down with about 100 lbs.

See Blast's post about the pipeline Right of Ways. They are fairly wide, road like grading and although most have "grown", you will find hiker's, hunter's, and animals have made trails along them about a man and a bike width wide.

They also cut straight across country and thus provide the shortest route between 2 points. The growth along the trail and in the trail provides cover for moving during strange times.

Additional comment: I just purchased a bicycle built for two which brings my "stable" up to 4 cross-country bicycles with 5 seats (and 1 trick bicycle).

If they couldn't be ridden to get out of a bad area then they can be loaded down with supplies to take with me/my family.

I will be getting panniers, saddlebags, seat bags, and handlebar bags after the first of the year so that they can be secondary stage vehicles for people and cargo, efficiently.

I am seriously considering a bike trailer to carry my DD1 (who is handicapped). She could ride in a "feeder seat" mounted into the trailer, facing backward and there would be room for a substantial amount of her personal medical maintenance items, as well. At the present time if such a need arose, I would have to quickly modify a shower chair to mount onto the frame in place of a bike seat.

Wildman, take a look at this site for some designs you might be able to adapt for your handicapped daughter:

http://www.cycletote.com/

Sue

Thank you Susan. These are just what I've had in mind!!!!!!

Bo

After glancing over the article I agree, This is worth printing, reading, & keeping. I have not made a cross-country ride in 33 or 34 years.

I am planning to do a section of the Natchez Trace next summer. I'll need this info for that trip!!!!

Thanks, Bo

Your Presient comments remind me of "The Magic of Leverage"! Something to Keep in Mind in the Outdoors / Survivi-Prep World, -whether Bike Based and Applied, -or NOT!

Though I haven't seen Blast's post, I'm assuming that he's talking about natural gas pipe lines. The same thing - a generally cleared easement - ususally holds true for sewer line outfalls, major overhead power lines and fiber optic cables.

Often when I am bicycle touring, I carry 70 -80 lbs of carefully packed and balanced gear on my bike in panniers. Even with this little amount of weight the bike is more susceptible to fallover and handles like a slug....Any more weight then this, we switch our gear over to the bike trailer.

I have rode/walked my bike and trailer up some moderate, long and steep hills both on and offroad with these types of loads and let me tell you it is no fun even though I am in good shape, bike daily and log a few thousand miles a year. It is hard on the back, arms and the legs.

I could not imagine doing this with 100 - 200 lbs or more. I know I would be in rough condition if I had to do this continously for more then a day or two...

IIRC, the North Vietnamese had small "camps" set up every 10-15 klicks along the trail with very basic facilities prepositioned for travelers.