This may be a dumb question but are these wheel hubs like car hubs where you can open them up to get at the brakes? If the hubs themselves are hard to replace maybe the brake pads themselves would be easier? Something you could replace with a generic pad cut to size or something?

Thanks! That reminds me: one thing I did on the second and third book blocks was clamp them further in, so they were more or less flush with the boards. (I think the bookbinding book said to let it stick out a bit). That let me compress the spine an extra millimeter or two, so it wasn’t as flaired as on the first one. I think it’s always going to be a little thicker on the spine side because of all the folds and thread, but I think this looks better.

Thank you so much! I’m very grateful for the sheer amount of high quality guides and resources available for free - the bookbinding community seems to be very generous with their knowledge. I basically just read and followed them carefully. I’m also lucky to have access to some great workspaces/tools.

Yeah my first reaction at just the headline was “yeah people fall off bikes, what’s actually happening to cause a recall?”

Launch hazard? Vehicle breaks in half hazard?

Just updating to note that I’ve acquired two square buckets and am going to start this build. Thanks again!

https://thisiscriminal.com/episode-244-fine-art-and-meat-cleavers/

That’s kinda what I was thinking, yeah.

That’s interesting - this is the first I’m hearing of them doing that to jets.

I’m just getting into bookbinding. It requires surprisingly few tools and not a ton of space (though like all hobbies it can always grow to consume whatever space is available). Its a good option if you have access to a printer with free or cheap prints.

Balcony gardening can be satisfying but might not be what you’re looking for.

If you already have a project (or lots of them) in mind, a 3d printer can be great to have around. Depending on your fillaments of choice (determined by what you want the print to be able to do) you might need good ventilation or an enclosure. If you have a spare bedroom that’s a good start.

That’s awesome and I’m totally going to do this. I’d been looking for some kind of basket or other hard pannier I could just drop the regular grocery totes inside, I should have thought of this.

This isn’t the original, but I took the photo and cleaned it up a bit:

Yeah I’ll swap it for something smaller/lighter, and the set of panniers I already have (though I think their current strap/hook configuration seems like an accident waiting to happen so I’ll probably mess with that too)

I think a milk crate is a good call.

I’d thought about doing something like that with the basket - to modify it so it hung on either side like panniers/saddlebags, and I could just drop the regular grocery totes into it. I wouldn’t mind the welding practice, though I’ll probably start with the secondhand cloth panniers first and go from there.

Update:

If “Bicycle Pickup Truck” was a good idea, people would probably be doing it already.

Don’t worry, I have actual panniers to put on it, I just wanted to see how my pre-advice plans would have worked. After that, I’ll try the Koolstop Salmon brake pads, then maybe a removable basket for the front and a frame bag.

Step 1 in the cargo bike transition is complete! I have some secondhand panniers to try out with some groceries, and I’ll see about adding better brakes, a rear basket and eventually a front basket, options like that.

(I mentioned in another comment that I’d had to modify the rack to get it to attach since the right seat stay is crowded, that’s the blue part in the picture.)

Thanks! I’ll start slow with adding weight and I’ll look at better brake pads next, to help deal with it. I had to modify the rack a little so it’s wrapped around the seat stays at three points, and where it gets crowded with the rear derailer cable and it’s attachments, I modified the back right post to use a longer rod so I could attach it to the little bolt above the gears the way the bike designers intended. Not sure what that does, if anything, to it’s weight capacity but I’ll be careful.

Thank you! This is really good advice! I’m definitely not counting on the claimed 310 capacity (especially since I had to replace one post with a longer one I made from a 3/8" rod, so I could attach it to the little bolt above the rear gears instead of wrapping it around the seat stay). I’ll definitely post my progress soon, and I think brakes are going to be my next step. Supposedly there’s an adapter kit to add disc brakes to this bike but everything’s so cluttered back there I think better pads make more sense and are more achievable. The pads on there now might be some of the only original parts left, not sure.

Well, brakes and one of those wrap-around-the-chain-stays kickstands. So I’ll have a kickstand. It’s a work in progress.

That’s a good idea! I’ve got the rear rack attached, I’m going to add a kickstand and then some kind of front basket. I think these will work with my front fork.

Thanks!

I haven’t been over to the other zerowaste communities, so I appreciate the heads-up! I mod this one (though the community here is great and has needed no input from me!) so I want to make sure it continues to be a nice place to share projects and ways to avoid waste.

Yeah I generally don’t love these extension cord / splitter combination because they make it too easy to casually plug in lots of stuff. I’ve been using this one but just for a box fan (old building, retrofitted for electricity with the absolute minimum number of outlets). When I do hook multiple things to one extension cord, I make sure it’s something like power tools, where I know I can only use one at a time anyways, and that I’ll always be there when its in use. I also check my cords for heat when they’ve been in use for awhile (I once found a daisy chained set of rack-mount power strips in a server room, where one of the plugs had melted to the socket it was plugged into, fusing them together. Pulling them apart broke the plastic outlet. I’ve been a little cautious ever since).