Ok, so I've had this project going on of "let me see how much I can bike instead of drive".
Except for visits to my mother, which will have to wait til spring since my extremities aren't handling long cold stretches well, I've pretty much been doing everything by bike.
Then my boyfriend came back into town.
"could you pick up a pizza?"
drat.
car.
resolve. Next time, I will find a way to do this by bike.
Next time was last night, and I want to tell all a yinz my happy story.
First, I don't *really* need these shelves. I'm sure I can find somewhere else to put my stuff.
(Not sure who makes these shelves. I went to buy a food processor advertised on craigslist, and when I got there the seller, who was moving, handed me a bunch of free stuff, among which were the shelves.)
Bungee to bike rack:
Pizza goes in an old briefcase-type bag that I got after earning some proscribed number of points at a miserable job with a dehumanizing incentive system.
After I quit, I seam-ripped the logo off, and then it sat waiting for it's eventual destiny as a pizza bag.
Wrapped the whole thing inside this piece of material that was laying around.
Put that
in a garbage bag in case it got wet.
Showed up at the bf's house in sub-freezing weather with a hot pizza. heh.
One awkward trick: I wanted the bag to be warm when I got to the pizza shop and not have it end up cooling the pizza rather than insulating it, so I stuck it inside my jacket, figuring my body heat would keep it toasty. Worked ok, but it definitely wasn't a fashion run.
I am truly impressed.
This reminds me of a set up I saw a CMU student use to load 2 freshly baked pies in a milk carton on her rear rack. She had them separated by putting wooden dowels across held in place by duct tape.
You had that added element of keeping your pie hot though. Great presentation!
Although not a fan of typical pizza, that's pretty cool, especially considering you did it for somebody else
bikefind - you are so awesome. Very good solution, with materials at hand. Sweet!
i was captivated from start to finish.
@helen: Thanks! The cmu student's setup sounds a good bit more impressive than mine, but then cmu people are often impressive.
@pierce: I wouldn't call myself a fan either, and actually hesitated to post this for that reason, but eventually "hey lookie what I made" won out. No big surprise there.
@ejwme: You realize this really opens up the possibilities for any snacking breaks we want to take while climbing stoops ferry.
@erok: did you like it better than Cats?
Nice.
NIce job!!! 
All the sudden I'm imagining a sort-of "show and tell" kind-of competition/alleycat to see who can transport in a bike the oddest-things possible the best way, without using any professional sort of containers.
Kind-of like this...
I've transported things on my bike with nothing more than a length of rope, or some plastic bags/tape. I sometimes transport boxes of stuff from the strip district to market square as such. My boss always does the "I'm so fascinated by this, but I'm sure you can't possibly make that trip," kind of look. it's fun!
I have to have described "chicken bike" on here before, a staple of West African commerce. Three simple steps:
1) Hang chicken upside down to stun it, tie feet loosely together with string/fabric.
2) Drape chicken by tie over bike/rider part.
3) Repeat until bike and rider are at capacity, known to be on the order of 75-100 chickens.
Typically a little old man on a fixed gear bike can then pedal ~10 miles to the nearest market and try and feed his family for a while on the proceeds. Sometimes a little kid will run along behind, to pick up any dropped chickens or help the guy get on/off the bike as needed.
This guy's load is light, but gives the idea:
(I've seen them where they look like hovering mass of feathers with a little old man head perched on top, body and bicycle completely invisible)
edited to clarify: I'm not advocating this as appropriate treatment of poultry. Though I hate the beaked bastards and relish eating them with gusto, I do think there are more humane ways to handle the situation.
You could go to const junction, get 1 - 1x1 ceramic floor tile, preheat it in the oven before you go for the 'za, and slide it into your package. Preheated!
The treatment of chickens in that photo looks far better than the majority of chickens get in this country.
"Humane" treatment is akin to giving somebody extra padding while waterboarding them
Piza Bike=Love.
Just to be clear, in my book, RubberFactory is the queen of improvised bike transport. I'm happy with my little project, but defer where appropriate. I'd been thinking about this for weeks, and needed something really stable before I was willing to consider it. She does things like "what? Two cakes? Sure, I'll just tape them to my bike..." (my memory isn't perfect, but something like that.)
Thanks Nick and Bikeygirl, ALMKLM
edmonds, you may have just cut my waistline back in half. thanks.
Haha! Great work, bikefind! I think those wire shelves are the kind you can get at Kmart type stores so that you can stack canned soup in your cupboards with greater efficiency. Find em in the closet organizer section or w/ the dish drying racks &tc.
the real question is: how many pizzas can you get on there?
That, is sweet.
So a similar, but less inventive story.
It starts when I was visiting a friend in NYC, but had forgotten to bring a belt. He lent me a long length of thin rope, and I went to give it back when I bought a $2 belt in chinatown. He told me to keep it because "You never know when you'll need a length of rope." He was absolutely right.
Today I bought this:
They put it all in a paper inside of plastic bag for me:
I could have asked them to split it into several bags, But I like to do things the hard way...
now it did move a bit, and flopped over once or twice, but it didn't break or fall off, and everything made it home in one piece.
Two things that I never leave home without, my rope and a cut tube (in case I acquire a milk crate). I love carrying stuff places.
Awe geeze erok, if I buy more than one, then it's going to take a group of people to eat them. Which means I have to crawl out of the hole I normally hide in. I don't know, you and your evil challenges.
Thanks Pseudacris and Ka_Jun! This is great. Build something, take pictures, get all these nice comments. You guys are making a stressful day way better.
RF: One time, in the process of trying to do something along the lines of your picture, I inadvertently tied my rear wheel to my rack. Didn't realize it until I attempted to start moving. Actually, didn't realize it until a little while after trying to get going, after spending the requisite amount of time staring at my bike (looking at the chain, etc) and asking it "why won't you go?" (facepalm.)
