Private enthusiasms: transport by bicycle, bike trailers.

The bicycle is one of mankind's best inventions, and can be made even more useful with some extra carrying devices.

Carrying a suitcase on a bike.

Actually, this is an accordion in its case, weighing 36lbs, but for carrying things like video recorders, large birthday cakes, etc, the method works well with a suitcase.

You need to start with a good strong carrier. This is an alloy one made by Blackburn. To stabilise the case, and give you some lashing points near the back end, you need to extend the carrier sideways. Keep the weight as far forward as you can, tucking the case under the saddle if possible.
The tube is 2" diameter plastic waste pipe, and the hooks of the bungees bury themselves in it, through holes in the tube's underside. This aluminium clip took a while to dream up: it snaps into place, then the tube is pushed through.

Trailer

For really serious loads, a trailer is necessary. Professionally made trailers cost ridiculous amounts of money. I use this home made one for transporting around 165 lbs (75 Kg) of stuff to and from the city centre here in York.

I am still experimenting with different designs, but I am extremely pleased with my tow-hitch arrangement, and am unlikely to improve on it. The ball joint is a track-rod end for a Ford Escort, about Ł4 brand new. Its taper jams upwards into the steel bracket on the bike, and is secured by a nut. This taper has to be knocked out with a hammer to release it, but that suits me fine, as I do not unhitch the trailer except at home. The ball joint allows full rotation for steering, but has a limited range of tilting angles, and if the bike fell over something would bend. Therefore the threaded body of the component is left loose,allowing it to twist on a length of bolt welded to the towbar. This, of course, means it is unscrewing when the bike tilts to the right, and screwing tighter as it tilts to the left, but there is plenty of thread engaged.
The prototype trailer shown is rather too wide to get through doors and gates easily. Since I have fixed dimension cases to transport, the trailer body cannot be made any narrower. However, smaller wheels could go underneath the body, and that is what I am intending to try next.