Now I Can Carry Stuff!

One of the biggest problems I've had in the early days of riding this bike is the total lack of cargo capacity. You can't wear a backpack like a normal bike, stuff falls out of your pockets when you sit down, and it didn't have a rack or anything. I solved the pocket problem by putting a little underseat pouch for keys and pocket items. That was great but what about bigger stuff? Last night I hacked together a rear cargo rack that will carry the Jandd grocery bag panniers I use on my Trek mountain bike.

First I took a generic rack off of one of my other bikes:

From Recumbent Bike Project

I was hampered a bit by my rear seat support but I discovered that if the front attaching part of this rack were removed, it ought to fit the recombent. I'd just have to find a way to attach it. So I cut off the front part so it looked like this:

From Recumbent Bike Project

I drilled new holes in the rear seat support down by the other holes, then mounted with cut-off skateboard mounting bolts & locknuts, securing the front of it with zip-ties for the moment:

From Recumbent Bike Project

Here's what it looks like with the Jandd bag stuck on there. Love it!

From Recumbent Bike Project

Today I stopped by Guidry Hardware and got a small hose clamp to replace the zip ties. Now it's very secure and I can carry stuff!