punia@uvm-gen.UUCP (David T. Punia) (06/27/85)
I've been commuting the 5 miles to work for awhile now, and this father's day I got a nice new briefcase. Problem is, it just doesn't fit well into the milk case type basket I've strapped to my Blackburn rack. Not to mention the extra weight way up high. Has anyone seen a rack specifically for or adaptable to carrying a briefcase? something that mounts down low would be best, I think. Would all the weight on one side of the bike throw me off much? -- ------------------------------------------------------------------ "Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does the work." Mark Twain (1835-1910) ------------------------------------------------------------------ David T. Punia, Dept. of Computer Science & Electrical Engineering The University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405-0156 802-656-3330 USENET --> ....!decvax!dartvax!uvm-gen!punia CSNET ---> punia@uvm punia%uvm@csnet-relay
wmartin@brl-tgr.ARPA (Will Martin ) (06/28/85)
Just thinking off the top of my head -- a decent briefcase rack would have to be: a) solid -- to protect the briefcase from wheel-thrown pebbles and scrap, both from the bike's own wheels and from passing cars. Also, the unit would have to be solid all the way around, because stuff can pass through the many open spaces in a bike and zap the case from the "inside" side, too. Also you want to keep grease and oil spots off. b) watertight -- so the briefcase won't get drenched from puddle spray or from unexpected rain. Also various noxious fluids might be encountered on the road. c) padded -- so the briefcase itself is protected from abrasion due to vibrating or rattling around in a box. d) light -- of course, as all other bike stuff should be. I wonder if a rigid box would be best, or if something made of several layers of cloth-type material (ballistic nylon, gore-tex, something high-tech like that... :-) would work as well, or better? A solid unit would add a lot of wind resistance even when there is no briefcase in it, and it would have to be sized to the particular briefcase. A cloth unit would be more flexible (pun intended), and might even be designed to be rolled up and strapped to a frame member or support rod like a furled sail when it is empty. I fear the cost of this will far exceed the briefcase's, unless the latter is ostrich hide or snake or something else ostentatious... :-) Another thought -- does anyone make a harness that lets you wear a briefcase in a backpack-like position on your back? An added advantage, if you have one of those bullet-resistant security briefcases, with the layer of armor and/or kevlar in it, your back is protected! (This ties in to the unending series of "Bicycles, violence, & hatred" postings.) That might be too uncomfortable in hot weather, but it does have the advantage of not unbalancing the bike and also won't be on the bike when you don't need it, thus saving a smidgen of weight (or time to remove a rack). Do any such products exist? I haven't seen them in any catalogs that I recall, and I get a *lot* of catalogs... An entrepeneurial opportunity here! I'll take 10% royalty, please.... Regards, Will Martin USENET: seismo!brl-bmd!wmartin or ARPA/MILNET: wmartin@almsa-1.ARPA
kjchapman@wateng.UUCP (Kevin J. Chapman) (07/01/85)
I haven't seen a rack specifically designed for a briefcase,
but I have seen briefcases designed for a rack. The cases are made
of some type of corrugated translucent nylon, I think, and are shaped
roughly like a pannier without external pockets. They probably wouldn't
look anything near as good as what your father (I think) gave you, though.
Kevin
P.S. I use a small pannier (Cannondale Whistle I think) on
one side of my rack to carry books and papers to the office. It
doesn't seem to unbalance me on asphalt, but the bike shows a
decided proclivity to jump to one side on gravel roads. Nothing
you can't get used to though...
--
Kevin Chapman
Computer Communications Networks Group
Waterversity of Uniloo
'Loo, Ont., Canada
Lemond and Hinault are domestiques for Steve Bauer - go Steve go!!pkh@alice.UUCP (Paul Pavlidis) (07/02/85)
> ... > advantage of not unbalancing the bike and also won't be on the bike when Woah! I know from experience that carrying *anything* on your back on a bike (especially in traffic) really makes you unstable (top heavy). A big, bulky briefcase filled with paper can be pretty heavy. Boom. It is much safer to carry it on a rack of some sort. That is probably why you don't see such items in catalogs.
levy@ttrdc.UUCP (Daniel R. Levy) (07/14/85)
pkh@alice.UUCP (Paul Pavlidis) <3947@alice.UUCP>: > >> ... >> advantage of not unbalancing the bike and also won't be on the bike when > >Woah! I know from experience that carrying *anything* on your back on a bike >(especially in traffic) really makes you unstable (top heavy). A big, bulky >briefcase filled with paper can be pretty heavy. Boom. It is much safer to >carry it on a rack of some sort. That is probably why you don't see such items >in catalogs. > I don't quite understand the problem here. Back when I was in undergrad school, I would often carry up to twenty pounds of textbooks, etc. in a camping-type backpack with frame while bicycling back and forth from campus to my car which was parked maybe a mile or so away (why that kind of arrangement is another story) and never did the weight give me any difficulty. In fact I was rather puny at the time. (Maybe it helped that the bike was a relatively heavy cheap K-mart 10-speed :-).) I would imagine a briefcase, by its shape, to be awkward to carry that way however. Not impossible but awkward. here's hacking, dan levy at&t (data communications products division, aka Teletype Corporation) skokie, illinois