I swore I'd never do it, but I did anyway, made a quick and dirty electric bike for my wife to ride. It was kind of fun to goof around on, and it suggested a use to me. A lot of pickers - homeless and otherwise - are using bike trailers to pick up cans, bottles, and items they can use or sell. I talk to them when they are up for it. The ones who seem to have it together like a trailer with a high, centrally-mounted hitch.

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I am a heavy-duty gardener in Portland and have learned the hard way that you gotta mulch here or the weeds will take over. You can buy the stuff, but by the truckload? I don't have a truck. Anyway Portland is lousy with trees and they drop their leaves every fall. I had been picking leaves up in the neighborhood with a wheelbarrow, but I could never get enough.

I thought, this year I'm going to pick up the big piles that are out of wheelbarrow range. I got a gently used Shimano mid-drive unit, a 6010 STEPS, and most of the associated wiring. I modified my 26" cruiser frame to accommodate the motor and used an 853 disc brake fork that was kicking around the shop.

Brakes are 203mm discs with BB7 calipers.

For a hitch I built a little tower off the seatstays with a 3/8" bolt sticking up. The trailer side of the hitch is a heim ball from a military surplus aircraft linkage. It has freedom of motion horizontally and vertically. The trailer is big but light, with a box that will hold about 1/3 of a half-ton pickup load.

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So I have got eight loads in, half maple leaves for over the winter (after which they pretty much disintegrate into compost) and half a mix of oak and magnolia which should last out the summer as mulch. My first load was the heaviest, wet maple leaves pack down. I couldn't get the bike moving! It was an uphill grade. The STEPS doesn't kick in until the bike is already moving, so starting out you are on your own. It was all I could do to push the bike and trailer to a level side street where I was able to get it moving under leg power. Lesson learned!

The setup I got was hard-wired for a 700c wheel and Alfine hub. This bike has 26" wheels and a Saint 8-speed downhill wheel/gearing combo. So the bike gets going what it thinks is 20 MPH and shuts down power assist. Not that I want to go thaT fast with a loaded trailer. It takes me about an hour to raKE up leaves and fill the trailer. Sometimes people stop and ask how much I would charge to rake their lawns ... this may spawn a new livelihood!

jn