Bike Friday Haul a Day: Introducing Big Bird

Two New Additions
Recently we had a new addition to our family – the lovely Kai, now six months old. Since we intended to continue cycle touring as a family, we started searching for a solution that would serve our expanded needs. As plans materialized for a five week cycle touring trip to Greece, we switched into high gear. We decided to buy a Bike Friday Haul a Day, a custom-made cargo bike made in Oregon. Ordering the bike was a new experience for me, since one can customize all the components, and even the colour and the many available add-ons. A few days on the phone and email and we had our “dream bike” plan, but we still had one problem. How would we get the bike from Eugene, Oregon, to us (in Vancouver, BC), in time and cheaply?

A Creative Delivery
After considering various options, I realized that there was a simple but risky solution. We were about to fly to Israel and Greece through San Francisco, and had a five hour gap before our next flight. After a phone call or two, I decided to ship it via FedEx to the nearest depot to the San Francisco airport. Once we got to San Francisco, I headed out of the airport with Neil, got the boxes, and returned. The airline allowed us to check in our additional luggage (we sent the rest through) without too much hassle.

Our flight from San Francisco was with United, and they charge $200 per bike. One of the features I was interested in on the Haul a Day was the option of taking the frame apart, theoretically allowing it to fit in two regular sized suitcases. I asked Bike Friday to pack the bike in two boxes, which they were happy to do. We flew with the two boxes and had no trouble avoiding the bike fee. Just to be safe, we planned to say that the boxes have “bike parts” in them, which was true… An onlooker who opened the boxes would probably not guess that there was a complete bike in there!

We were a bit concerned about entering Israel with two large cardboard boxes containing a new and expensive bicycle. Surely the customs people would think this is suspicious? For all they knew, we might have been smuggling a new bike into Israel. When we passed through customs, the lone agent was busy on this phone and didn’t notice us, so it wasn’t an issue after all.

Assembly
When we got to Israel, I set to work, with my brother and father as assistants, to put the bike together. Packing it in two boxes required more dismantling than usual, so we had our work cut out for us. The manual is pretty good, but some things had changed (the Haul a Day is an evolving product), and certain things required some trial and error, especially the add-ons, not described in the manual. It took us a really long time to put the thing together… Initially I thought: “there’s no way I’m doing this again, every time we take a flight”. After a few days went by, the memory of the pain diminished, and I realized that I wouldn’t have to dismantle it quite as much. Plus, no trial and error should be needed, since I should (theoretically…) know where everything goes.

During our 2.5 weeks in Israel, we had a chance to try out the bike. Riding along the beach in Tel Aviv was definitely a favourite, as was riding in the Yarkon Park. One thing we noticed was that Neil’s hands got cold when he was sitting behind me. This convinced me to install the provided cork tape on the rear bars – initially I had thought it would be better to leave them bare, to allow bungee cords to go directly on the metal. Then it was time to pack up the bike for our trip to Greece. It went back into the two boxes it came in, but I tried to dismantle it a bit less this time. 

Soon after we arrived to Rhodes, I got to work on putting the bike together. This time, it only took a few hours to put back together. I started thinking: “this is somewhat doable, but how will I remember the steps for next time?” At the end of our five week trip, I decided to take photos and document all the steps carefully. The idea being to create a set of instructions, both for myself and for others, I’ll post the instructions as a separate blog post.

Initially, after assembling the bike, I had mixed feeling towards it. In general, I don’t really like the idea of owning something new and shiny (and so expensive), and having to worry about it getting scratched or stolen. It also seemed huge and heavy. After riding it for five weeks in Greece and having a grand time, I started realizing how flexible it could be. I was able to carry our gear, Neil and his bike, and Kai and his trailer, up some large-ish ascents. Neil could switch between riding his bike and riding on mine within 10 seconds. We especially appreciated the fast transition times when Kai was sleeping in the trailer, and stopping for too long would invariable cause him to wake up. Maya was able to ride the bike when that was convenient, and we didn’t have to pay any annoying bike fees when flying with it. It also happens to be a beautiful bike and our choice of Pelican Yellow makes it very visible on the road. 

A Custom Bike
When we ordered the bike, I spent a bunch of time on the phone and email with Bike Friday ironing out details (it’s a custom bike after all!). I also bounced some emails off our friends the Veenstras who have a Haul a Day as well. For those interested, here are some details on what we ordered.

Additions or changes to the standard specs

• Family Package – Young Riders. This adds a wrap around bar for kids to hold on to, footrests, and a cushion to sit on. We asked to have two slots cut in the footrests, so we can tow two bikes.
• Front rack and basket – we didn’t use either of these on our recent tour, but we figure the basket will be great for the city, and the front rack should be good for distributing the load when riding fully loaded.

• 

  Heavy load upgrade. This is a heavier duty frame, increasing the (theoretical) maximum combined weight from 400 to 510lbs.

• Full length fenders front and back – a must for riding in the rain. We live in Vancouver, enough said.
• Schwalbe Marathon 1.75″ tires – wider for increased comfort and better stability on gravel, and better puncture protection than the standard tires provide.
• TRP Spyke disc brakes – better performance since both pads move when the brake lever is pressed, and also easier adjustment since the brake pads can be adjusted separately.
• Shimano Ice Tech SM-RT86 rotors front and back – for better braking with heavy loads via faster cooling of the brake pads.
• Rear Derailleur: Shimano Altus M310 SGS. Apparently the shipped Shimano RD-M3000-SGS leaves only 2cm of clearance, this one leaves a lot more (I still need to measure it).

Some additional notes

• If we didn’t mind spending more money I’d consider getting a dynamo and front and rear lights (adds about $500).
• I’m not crazy about the twist grip shifters that come standard, so I might have switched to brifters. I find them less convenient to use, the marker showing the current gear fell off in no time, and they are not compatible with Mirrycle’s bike mirrors, which we usually ride with. Also, these shifters replace the grips, so one can’t install a different grip. The grips we usually use have a wider section that provides some wrist support, which is appreciated for longer rides.  Finally, when I had to replace a cable, it required taking the whole shifter apart. As documented by others, SRAM claim this isn’t necessary, but in reality, it seems to often be necessary…
• The kickstand doesn’t seem to work well, but I’m not aware of a cheap alternative. An expensive alternative is the Rolling Jackass ($380).
• If you want to be able to replace single chain rings, you should order a different crank – this only occurred to me after we got the bike.
• The bike normally comes without pedals or seat, since Bike Friday figure that those are often a very personal choice. I’m not so particular, so I asked them to throw on some cheap metal pedals and a standard seat. Later I found out that the seat was rather hard and narrow for family touring, so I replaced it.