HGV. Heavy Goods Velo

I was reading a very interesting feature in one of the daily papers about the increasing use of bicycles in the UK as a means to transport heavy goods. These are the Cargo Bikes.

The principle is already well established in Europe with, a high proportion of Dutch families in particular having a custom made pedal powered vehicle instead of a second car. These are used for the big weekly shopping trip, taking the camping gear for a holiday, general removals, the school run and all errands in between.

The machines are large and durable usually comprising a voluminous box formed carrier up front and propelled by a conventional drive train. Their presence on the road is very noticeable because of their size and the handling is compromised compared to a tandem or trike but there are the manifold benefits of being eco-friendly, non polluting and helping to keep an equivalent loaded mainstream car or van inactive. A few commercial courier companies in London are pioneering the use of bikes in order to expand their services over and above letters and small packages. It is unclear if such an application would prevent cycle paths and routes from being adopted as technically the bikes could be classified as business rather than commuting, leisure and recreational.

I would be the first to seriously consider acquiring and using one of these bikes on a regular basis.

This is borne out of a few dodgy moments of overloading my old road bike in the past.

The worst example was when I tied a fishing rod to my crossbar. It was ready assembled for a swift dismount and immediate angling and so extended some three feet in front and behind the saddle and handlebars. I felt pretty clever about the whole arrangement. I left home and cycled down a couple of straight roads towards the river. My theory was found to be seriously flawed when it came to the first bend in the road. The rod acted as a rigid reinforcement of the frame and the bike was not capable of being steered. A thick hedge acted as an emergency brake and allowed me to rearrange. I continued with the fishing rod upright like an aerial but forgot about the low boughs of the trees on the river bank. It was not altogether a successful trip.I can certainly see the advantages of a purpose built bike.

Not far behind in terms of incompetence was my showing off in France of my schoolboy knowledge of the language. On a long bike ride from Dieppe to Rambouillet near Paris I was hungry. A roadside fruit vendor was advertising peaches which would certainly help restore energy levels and assuage thirst. In all of my secondary education french language text books the hapless character would always ask for a kilogram of the fruit or veg in a shop scenario. I did so from astride my loaded up touring bike but the seller seemed aghast at the quantity ordered. I gave hand signals to supplement my actual poor grasp of his native tongue at which he handed me a large wooden crate full to the brim with bright orange peaches.

By now I just wanted to be out of there. With what I tried to convey as nonchalance and an everyday action I wedged the box between the brake levers and rode on. Steering and indeed braking were difficult and for the following days I did suffer the consequences of overdosing on that type of fruit.