My Takara has shown itself to be a great all-arounder. I momentarily considered buying a new Long Haul Trucker, but, after an honest assessment I decided against it. I've had my camping gear together for quite some time now and have managed a grand total of one S24O. A long tour necessitating an honest to goodness touring bike will not be happening anytime soon. So I'm now thinking in terms of cargo hauling. I'm looking at the new Civia Halsted. It's so new that there aren't any reviews to be found.
This is the Halsted with an optional folding cargo box they're working on. I think it would be great for hitting garage sales or hauling stuff home from the grocery store. Price for the Halsted is around $995.
Instead of buying a new bike it might be more fun just to go ahead with a couple of projects that I haven't been able to start. I've got the old Panasonic ATB frame gathering dust in the garage. One thing that I will do is make a few adjustments to the Lotus that I had originally purchased for my eldest child. He's working and going to school and hasn't shown much interest in riding lately, so I've officially claimed the Lotus as my second bike. He can borrow it when he'd like. I'll keep you guys updated.
These are the Craigslist photos of the Panasonic ATB. I used that huge sofa seat as leverage to twist the stuck seatpost free. I ordered a cheap dynohub from Trinity Bicycles that I may build into a 26" wheel for this frame. I kicking around the idea of equipping this thing with an internally geared hub.
I bought a wider set of classic bend drop bars at a recent swap meet for $5. I'll be fitting them to a Nitto Technomic stem that I've been holding onto for a while. I'm hoping that raising the bars will make riding drop bars tolerable once again. I also plan to swap the 27" wheels for 700c's, Maybe I'll go to 650b, if it's possible.
