Not sure if you're exaggerating for dramatic effect, but 200lbs of liquid is fairly large. According to my calculations, which could be off, that's like 3-1/3 cubic feet and about 25 gallons - how much did you get, and how large are the packs? I'll assume not all of it was liquid, but even at half that's 12 gallons. I grew up in a 6 kid family and I know how heavy stuff can get, but I still think you miscalculated. :)

Which is not to say it still isn't damned heavy...

Anyhow, don't take this as a dis. I'm glad to hear it worked out; sounds pretty interesting. We have no kids and I'm able to get by with just bolted on baskets, a rack & bungee cords, but they look like they're really taking this to the next level. Compared to some of the "sports touring" bikes I see, they're really not even that expensive.

At a garage sale, I found a bunch of those wire frame baskets that you find in gyms or swimming pools. The ones with a lid that could be padlocked. I atatched them with small size stainless screw hose clamps (for fuel lines)to the luggage rack. With the lids open, grocery bags. With closed, a level platform for bungee cording all sorts of stuff or a large basket.

Hopefully stuff like this gets a bit more popular and a bit more affordable for the masses out there, especially in urban areas where distances to the grocery, the hardware store, etc, aren't that daunting. Even here in suburban Boise ID, I'm probably within 2 miles of any business I could conceivably need to visit. But $17 for a chicken... puh-leeesse

A gallon of water is roughly eight pounds, a two-liter bottle is four, and a can of liquid canned good is somewhat over one (the can itself being more dense than water). 200 pounds is right at the edge of credulity, either for a Xtracycle or a grocery trolley.

I will say that for the year I didn't have a car and exclusively used a bike trailer (the "BOB" one-wheel pull-behind style, rated to 70 pounds), I drank Kool-Aid instead of any soda, that's for sure. Still, with a low enough gear and time, pulling 70 pounds wasn't that hard, even up moderate hills. More weight than that, though, and I'd want more wheels for low-speed stability. How much does a loaded cycle-rickshaw weigh?

. . . next time use Cointreau or (my favorite) Grand Marnier for your Margaritas. It costs a little more, but it's well worth it.

Those kids didn't look to safe to me.

Other than that, a nice way to haul stuff.

I really enjoyed the video.. the margarita mixer at the end confused me at first. I couldn't tell if that was being powered by an electric generator attached to the bike or what. (I get it after reading the article.) The bike is awesome though.

Aside from long distance drives with bikes you really can replace almost all transportation needs a car normally provides. It's too bad that the only thing that is making Americans look to bicycles with interest is economics, but I welcome it regardless. I ride my bike to work every day. It is only .75 miles though.. I could walk it if I wanted in 10 minutes or so. In fact it's so close I've been considering getting a long board skateboard just because it would be fun. Now we just need better public transit to complement growing demand for non car based transportation.

Over 10 years ago I bought German made Ortlieb brand bags that fit on the rack on my bike. Each bag has a single strap that connects on each end to a spring loaded plastic clamp that fastens to the rack, so each bag can be removed from the rack just by lifting on the strap. Putting the bags back on the rack is nearly as easy. These bags cost over $100 dollars over 10 years ago, but today, with years of use and carrying many loads of up to 50 pounds total, they are almost like new. I can fit the contents of two grocery bags in the bike bags- mostly, but I may have to tie stuff on top of the rack and use a knapsack for a few items.

The bags are waterproof, and sort of like a car trunk for me. Stuff goes into them, I forget about it, and ride around with it. When I get somewhere, I lock up the bike, lift the bags off, and carry them with me. Each bag has a another strap, with rubber padding, that makes a pretty good shoulder strap.

No, I wouldn't even try to carry a barbecue grill like Mark did, and I don't have a Margarita blending attachment, but I do pretty well. Also, I do admire what Mark did.

It was just this morning when I was all geared up to try my new bike-train-bike commute for the second time. But having been away from the office for a couple weeks, I had a few more things to bring along. After my full-size day-planner, work documents, laptop w/accessories, lunch container, and change of cloths, my backpack was bursting at the seams, and I wasn't even finished yet. Even if I could get everything in, I wasn't looking forward to riding with it on my back.

So I drove the thirty miles.

I may not be ready for an Extracycle yet. (nor do they seem ready for me, being sold out of everything I looked at), but it has me thinking of the racks and side bags I used when bike camping so many decades ago. Thanks for the inspiration.

Now if we only had showers at work.

Hi I am a fat pig American and I cannot even walk to my mailbox without being winded, how do you expect me to ride a bike!

For those who want pretty serious cargo-carrying ability but with a more reasonable, faster bike, a few companies make a "touring" style bike, which is a slightly elongated somewhat tougher and heavier road bike.

A local company here in Minnesota makes a bike frame that's XtraCycle compatible.

http://www.surlybikes.com/bigdummy.html