Dive Bikes

[Jon]

With gas over $4 a gallon around here and half the streets ripped up for repair, driving to some of the local dive spots has been getting to be a bigger hassle everyday.

I decided to convert one of my mountain bikes to an Xtracycle two years ago to haul stuff around and this year Ted (unirdna) bought a cargo trailer to join me- which is great because it means I don't have to haul his gear around with me.


This way we can bike to locations that cars can't drive- like the end of Picnic Point to dive the old underwater Habitat. It also means we can spend more money on important things, like spear guns, and less on gas and parking.

To keep our personal stuff safe while diving Ted has decided to use a kayak dry bag to put his stuff in while diving- he drags it behind his float. I went a different route and permanently mounted an old Pelican drybox on my bike- complete with padlocks to keep everything safe and dry.

He has room on his trailer for a standard cooler and I found a specific one that will fit into one of my panniers- which can fit an entire day's limit of panfish.

Locks to keep everything in place while we dive, and inflatable floats that pack away small while we're biking round things out.

Here's a few shots of the, fully loaded, rigs. First two photos are of my bike loaded with two, complete, sets of gear and two boxes of crappie- on ice! Next two pics are of Ted's Cyclocross bike and his new trailer- also fully loaded. Last one is my first buildup- complete with room for monofin.

Jon

[Jon]

Here's a little more detail of the "lock box" that I put on the back. It's attached with hose clamps that are wrap around the frame and are secured inside the box itself- a sheet of foam keeps them from cutting up anything inside the box.

In front of the box it the kayak seat I have strapped on for my 5 year old to ride on- we try and bike everywhere around town.

Here's also a close-up of the cooler and how well it fits onto the bike. I'm thinking of buying a second one for picnics with the family- my wife's not crazy about eating food out of a cooler that has had dead fish in it.

Jon

[Jon]

The bike gets used on almost a daily basis for other kinds of errands.

We are pretty lucky to have such an extensive bike path system in Madison so we can, and do, bike almost anywhere: Preschool, library, zoo, museums, grocery store, beach, fishing, YMCA, parks, farmer's market, shopping, play dates, etc.

Here's a few shots in normal use along with a pic i pulled off of another website. I've been thinking about picking up a Long Loader for the bike so I could carry around one of my kayaks. For now, I'll stick to shore diving.

Jon

[fleshy]

Wow, nice mod Jon! I wish I could say that I was doing this, but Im not. At least Im driving a '94 honda civic. 35 MPG. Not at all bad. It would be a pain in the arse though to have to lug that around for the kind of distances we need to do up here, not to mention, my bike is the kind of dirt bike that is closer to being a dirt tank. The tires are HUGE, and I actually am more efficient going over rocks, through water and mud ect, than on the road sad to say.

[Marwan]

jon that is supercool, i hope that it wont be too heavy for the cycling though, especially with the kayak..

[Jon]

I've carried well over 100 pounds on it so far and its rated for 250 pounds. Low gears, and strong legs, make short work of the hills- but I'm not breaking any speed records.

Jon

[salibandy]

Woah, way cool.