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Consider an Alternative Vehicle
The ideal way to try to make your delivery service eco-friendly starts with your mode of transportation. For shorter trips and lighter deliveries, consider an electric bicycle or scooter powered by green energy. Many of today's electric scooters go an average of 65 kilometres on a single charge.
Your Next Car or Van
If and when your courier delivery business grows, and funds allow, plan on purchasing fuel-efficient cars and trucks, such as hybrids or those that run on biodiesel. Hybrids are known to produce fifty percent or less of the carbon emissions of a regular gas vehicle, while biodiesel is a clean-burning alternative to petrol.
If you're looking to do your part for the environment and you're a bicycle courier, it's time to congratulate yourself - you already have a head start. Since your bike relies primarily on human power fuelled only by the calories you consume, you're already contributing to the conservation of dwindling, non-renewable fossil fuels, as well as helping reduce the huge carbon footprint attributed to the industry.
Because bicycles are smaller and move faster, it also means that you're not part of those long, unmoving traffic jams every time you go off on a courier job. Not only do bicycles help reduce the air pollution by not relying on fossil fuels; they're also quieter, thus helping reduce sound pollution as well.
But realistically speaking, we know we can't all be bicycle couriers. Some packages are just too big to be balancing on a bike (even on a motorbike!) and not all of us are young enough and fit enough to be zipping around on bikes. So what's a man with a van (or a car, of course) to do?
When figuring out a frame size for a client I will take measurements of inseam length, torso length, arm length and shoulder width. Then I will do a structural assessment to look at flexibility and core strength. From this data I can calculate pretty closely what frame geometry will work best. Once the bike is built we take care of the fine tuning during the custom fitting session.
When you are trying to find a good size on your own, find a bike shop that will take your measurements and figure the reach and stack height you need. If you aren't buying a bike from them you will probably have to pay for this service but it is well worth it. You can also search for online size calculators that instruct you on how to take your measurements and calculate the correct size.
Given the surge in popularity for hitch-mounted bike racks like Thule's popular line, we're starting to see them all over the road. Most of the time, they're on a vehicle you'd expect to be armed with a hitch and a rack, like an Xterra, an H3, or even one of those awful Azteks. Lately, though, we've seen some ridiculous vehicles with an unnaturally added hitch simply for having the hitch-mounted bike rack. We've collected the top 5 worst instances we can remember and ranked them in factors of hideousness and hilarity. We'll start at the bottom with a classic hatch.
To compare the size of frames you should look at the effective top tube length and headtube length. This will give you an indication of the reach and height you can get the bar to. With a road bike as long as you can stand over the top tube with your feet flat you have enough crotch clearance so the reach and stack height are much more important.
As road bars don't have rise you need to make sure a given frame and fork combination will allow you to get the bar high enough in relation to your seat height. You can use stems with some rise but there are only a few options with much more than seventeen degrees of rise, particularly for the over sized handlebars that are standard these days. If choosing between two models that have a slight variation in top tube length you can compensate with a longer or shorter stem. A point to bear in mine is that carbon steerer tubes can only be spaced up around 30-40 mm before you risk damaging it. Too high and you risk the fork snapping off while riding.
Ergo handlebars are similar to the traditional bars in shape only. Ergo bars have a 'flat' section in the drops which makes it so your wrists are in a more natural position. Thus helping to eliminate strain on your wrists. They often come with an over-sized top portion of the handlebar making it more comfortable for you. At least that is the idea!
Choosing the right size road bike can be tricky as they don't all fit the same. Two companies models listed as the same size can have vastly different measurements. Depending on the company, I ride anywhere from a 52 cm to 56 cm frame. All of these have the same length top tube. Don't think that because you ride a given size from one company that you can just get the same size from another and have it fit the same.
When a company lists the size of a road bike frame it is some variation of the length of the seat tube. Measurements all start from the center of the bottom bracket but can be to different points up the seat tube. That point can be the center of the top tube, top of the top tube, top of the seat tube or some virtual point that isn't even on the frame. Add in sloping top tubes and this can get really complicated.