Author: m@Robertson

I'm responsible for the day-to-day operations at my place of business: Leland-West Insurance Brokers, Inc. We do classic and exotic car insurance all across these United States. I'm also an avid auto enthusiast, a born again cyclist (i.e. an ebiker) and participate in medium and long range CMP and NRA sanctioned rifle competitions.

The Mongoose Envoy Project

I’ve wanted to build a cargo bike for some time.  I’ve gone halfway a few times, with Frankenbike (front and rear racks, plus a handlebar basket on fat 4.9″ tires, with a 48v, 20a geared hub drive) being the closest I have gotten to the mark.

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Frankenbike on the job. And yes… that frame really is Max’s MFP Yellow (google it)

When Mongoose began offering a mid-tail ‘urban’ frame — in a complete bike that retails for less than half of anything similar on the market —  I had to jump in and give it a shot.

So here it is, fresh out of the box in its stock form.

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Which lasted about a day.

As I write this, the bike has had its cranks and bottom bracket removed, its chain and derailleur detached, the brakes have been upgraded, and of course there’s the double-kick longboard raised upper deck …

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… and thats only the beginning.  With that said, this bike is going to be left outside unattended (but securely locked) at local shops.  I don’t want to pour money into its components in case someone manages to make off with it.  So I will be keeping the changes to a minimum – or at least minimum for me.  I’ll be doing just what is needed for improving drivetrain reliability, safety and of course, adding a motor.  And a front rack.  And a suspension seatpost.  But that is it.  Really.

EDIT:  As you can see from the content in the other chapters of this project… all that talk about keeping things under control went out the window.  In the end I decided to just go for it and ended up with what I think is a top line cargo hauler capable of handling 450 lbs+ total system weight (or more… 450 is just how much I have loaded so far) with ease, as well as being an easy commuter.

The Day After

So… I started this blog – and abandoned it – something like 7 years ago (I deleted all the posts except the very first, keeping it for posterity’s sake).  I’m resurrecting it now so I can have a more permanent platform to post stuff that I can link to from various Facebook groups I belong to… Its almost a waste of time to describe anything in detail on that medium as it lends itself to a couple-three sentences, tops, and whatever post you make is gone from sight within a day.

We’ll see if anything worthwhile shows up here.

Day One

Well so here we are.  Finally.  My first blog ever.  I have worked very hard to stay as far away from blogging as I could for many years.  Instead opting to write dedicated articles on our company web site, or give direct advice on a wide variety of automotive internet forums directly to the people affected by whatever ails them.

This blog will give me the option of commenting generally on things that I come across, rather than focusing on just the individual group I am usually speaking to.  Plus it gives me a forum to sing out when I see something crazy or interesting.  And since I do indeed live in interesting times … let the games begin!