Surly Big Dummy Cargo Bike - Load it up and Ride!

Welcome to the wonderful world of hauling stuff on your bike.

Here at Warm Planet Bikes, we love to see people ditching their car and loading up their cargo bike. If you come in to the store, we can help you find the best option for you.

For tons more information see Surly's page: Getting the Most From Your Big Dummy

Looking for something with a little more juice? Check out the Yuba elMundo (Electric Bike)

 "Like all our frames, it’s made of steel and sports lots of little touches that you’ve come to love in a Surly, like clearance for bigger tires and common component sizing. Figure on being able to carry about 200 pounds (90kg) of cargo. The load weight, and how it’s loaded, will affect the handling somewhat. Also, plan on using gears, especially as cargo weight increases. This may seem obvious, but as you get comfy with it you’ll use your full range of gears as never before.

The parts kit is good quality, and suitable to loaded as well as unloaded riding. It’s got a 3x9 drivetrain, Avid BB7 mechanical disc brakes, Shimano Deore hubs, derailleurs and shifters and 26 x 2.1˝ Continental Town & Country tires. We’ve outfitted it with our own Surly bags, deck and rails kit…everything you need for the majority of stuff you might carry, like groceries, shovels, bags of charcoal or mulch, guitars, lamps, mannequins, whatever. Bags, deck and rails are all designed to improve on previous offerings and work together to make sure your stuff is transported with safety and stability.


The beauty of the Longtail standard is that it is an open design, meaning you can find other stuff to fit the system. Xtracycle in particular makes a lot of great stuff to expand what you can haul and how you can haul it, and many people have manufactured their own plug-in pieces when their needs outstripped what was available. Get creative, and get hauling." — Surlybikes.com

Warm Planet Bicycles
1098A Market St.
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 974-6440
www.warmplanetbikes.com
info@warmplanetbikes.com

Maybe It's Time For A New Saddle

Do You Feel Pain When You Ride? Your Saddle Could Be The Problem

How comfortable a seat feels has a lot to do with where your sit bones (those bones you feel when sitting on a curb or bench) rest on the seat. Ideally, those bones will rest on the saddle's padding. If you've been using a seat for a while you can usually see indentations formed by the bones, which allows gauging whether or not the seat is appropriate for your anatomy.

It's hard to predict which seat will be right for a given rider. Sometimes a wider seat solves pain and other times the narrow ones do the trick. It's all a matter of which seat suits your body shape. For starters, the wider your pelvic anatomy, typically the wider you want the seat to be.

Modern Seats Offer Improved Comfort
Over the years, more amazing seats have been designed than probably any other bicycle component. And today, there's still a wide array of models to select from, some with fairly wild shapes. One feature shared by many of these seats is a cutaway in the saddle top designed to relieve pressure on sensitive tissues in the genital area. Our customers have found these saddle types to be particularly helpful for eliminating problems with numbness. There are also models that have softer sections in the center of the seat designed to work the same as the cutaway.

Another pressure-point eliminator is gel. Some seat makers use this in the sensitive areas to prevent pressure that causes pain and numbness.



Wear Cycling Clothing

When trying seats, be sure to do so wearing your cycling clothing because if you're wearing pants with seams in the crotch area, you'll feel the seams and won't be able to judge the seat comfort. Also, after putting on a new seat, it's best to re-check saddle height because the shape of the new one may be a little taller than the one you've been using. If a seat is too high or too low, you'll feel discomfort from the incorrect seat position and won't be able to feel whether the seat is an improvement or not. The easiest way to match seat height is to measure it before you remove your original seat. You'll then have the exact height to place the new seat and you won't have to experiment to find your optimum position.

Electric Cargo Bicycle: Yuba elMundo is the Future

Fun, Powerful, Green, Electric — Yuba's elMundo is the True Alternative To Gas Powered Vehicles.

When it comes to the regular Mundo, Yuba keeps it simple. It's an excellent cargo bike with a strong frame that can carry lots of weight with many of cargo and child-carrying options. This is a great option for people that enjoy getting that extra workout from their daily commute or when picking up the kids means only riding up a few hills. For many others, though, getting up steep hills (even with a lot of gears) or traveling long distances would make it impractical and inconvenient.

The elMundo is an answer to that problem. The elMundo's powerful Bionx electric assist system offers four levels of assist - 25%, 50%, 100%, and 300% to get you there faster and drier. The system's regenerative breaking system makes it possible to go up to 45 miles per charge, with a top speed of 20 mph.


The integrated rear rack is welded to the frame, resulting in unsurpassed cargo hauling ability, stiffness, and strength. Simple braze-ons allow for easy configuration and installation of Yuba accessories.

Driving this e-bike is a 350 watt gearless direct drive motor mounted to the rear wheel. The motor is designed for high torque applications and climbs well, and if you join in pedal assist mode it works even better. The real powerhouse on this bike is the battery pack which offers 48 volts of power and 8.8 amp hours of capacity. The pack locks into the frame, is removable and can be charged on or off the bike.

From Yuba Bikes: "On top of the bicycle's innate green design, the El Mundo will get you to almost any place a car will with a lot less pollution, carbon, and zero fuel. It's rechargeable battery lasts 20-37 miles — depending on usage and terrain — and costs 3-5 cents per charge.


It's the future: Electric bikes provide exercise, a relationship with the great outdoors, they save money, they're safe, they perform a bit like a car and a lot like a bicycle, they allow you to circumvent clogged arteries, and park almost anywhere. Oh, and there's no driver's license required"

Warm Planet Bicycles
1098A Market St.
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 974-6440
www.warmplanetbikes.com
info@warmplanetbikes.com

"Simply Put, This Bike is A Blast!" New Tern Eclipse X20

The Ninja Pirate— The 2014 Tern Eclipse X20.

This would be the bicycle I gravitate toward the most. The wheels, the simplest way to dramatically improve the performance of any bike are in my opinion, flawless.  American Classic hubs are top notch, have been around for years and spin as if friction free.  Laced into them are .....  With forged bladed spokes these wheels are super light, super strong, and super easy to get rolling in a hurry!




The cockpit of the Eclipse X20 is simple and comfortable.  Perched atop the Physis handlepost, which is 3D forged making it practically bomb proof, is a flat Kinetic doulbe butted handlebar Ergon GS2 grips which are as comfortable as they are handsome.





Riding this bike really brings to mind "The joy is in the journey, regardless of destination".  For me, riding a bike is a mix of life's pleasures and the Eclipse taps into the part of me that is still 12 years old riding around the farm on my trusty BMX bike.  This bike takes me there and more.  As it's just as much fun but decidedly lighter and as cutting edge as a ceramic knife.  I promise you, if you ride this bike, you will love it.  If not, then you might be crazy.

Warm Planet Bicycles
1098A Market St.
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 974-6440
www.warmplanetbikes.com
info@warmplanetbikes.com

3 Items That Will Improve Your Ride In SF

Photo Credit: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

 

All Bikes in San Francisco Need A Few Items That Aren't Part of the Bicycle.

 

1. Knog Blinder Road Headlight

I use this light for it's dual beam design which can be used with one light blinking and the other static. As a daily commuter it's paramount to have a blinking light. It's my belief that static lights are less noticeable than a bright blinking one. The blinder allows for this and also has a program for bright static beams for those few parts of town that are lowly lit such as Townsend St. or Golden Gate Park. Another great feature of this light is that it's USB rechargeable




2. Axiom Streamliner Rear Rack

After trying many racks over the course of my cycling life I have found the Streamliner to be the best for my uses. Rather than stack items on top of a rack or a basket, I am more inclined to use side mounted paniers and the Streamliner accommodates this method of carry best. It has a very narrow top, so narrow in fact that stacking anything on top of it is nearly impossible. It uses less material, making it lighter and keeps it within the lines of my bicycle. I love this rack!




3. Ortlieb Vario Backpack Pannier

Waterproof and with the ability to be converted into a pannier, it is simply the finest and most useful pack I've owned. It's strong and incredibly durable, making it a great value. It's design is based on functionality. For example, the structure allowing the bag to be used solely as a backpack is completely removable. There are no shoulder straps to tuck in anywhere, you simply detach the unit with it's quick release system, hang, the now pannier, on your rack and off you go! It's designed very deep. In fact, when stuffed full of "stuff" you may not even need to close the top. I discovered this design feature by accident after overloading it on a trip to the farmers market and being forced to ride home with bunches of kale and red chard sticking out the top of the bag like a bouquet of roses. Since first trying it on, I've used nothing else.




Warm Planet Bikes

1098A Market St.
San Francisco, CA 94102

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