Aug 6, 2010
Knot It Up
Over at the RootsRadicals garden, the ‘Rads have shared some knot tying information that’s pretty helpful for lashing your cargo bicycle load.
Fat Rob suggests,
I find the bowline and the truckers hitch to be most useful when securing a load.
The bowline ties the end of a rope to whatever, it can be loosened and untied easily when it’s time, yet it won’t let go before it’s time.
The truckers hitch will cinch down and tighten a load, giving a 2 or 3 to 1 mechanical advantage.
Learn the bowline and trucker’s hitch with these animated instructions courtesy Grog’s Index. Devian also suggested learning the complicated knots to slow a would-be thief down. Of course, a knife will end any frustration quickly, but most criminals are in search of easy pickings. When tying two ropes together the double fisherman’s knot is handy.
Other options outside knot tying are CamStraps with bungees falling behind due to their stretchiness for heavy loads (and that whole hook-flying-through-the-air-aiming-for-your-eye-thing*). That being said, cargo bungee nets are very useful, especially the ones that lock your gear.
Of course, let’s knot forget the ever useful buckle straps on the FreeLoaders. Here SpokenWord demonstrates the over-top method of securing cargo on top the deck.
