More Mundo Upgrades

The beauty of a cargo bike is that you can carry most anything you need. I've carried, on separate occasions: four full bags of groceries (about 90 pounds), 24 cans of dog food, two 14 pound bags of dog food, a dozen or so vegetable plantings, and so on. On recreational rides with my spouse, the heavy weight of the Yuba Mundo makes me a better (slower) riding companion. When possible, we've taken to devoting ourselves to making Sundays a gasoline-free day - no car, just transportation by bike or by shanks mare. And I continue to enjoy tinkering and modifying the Mundo, too.

A cargo deck for the Mundo's rear rack was something I wanted from the start, but the current bamboo cargo deck sold by Yuba won't work with the version 1 frame I have. A brief web search uncovered Joe George's post describing how he created a cargo deck for his Mundo. I decided to create something a bit lighter.

Started with 1/4" marine-grade plywood

A bit of cutting, shaping, sanding, and fiddling was required. After finalizing the dimensions, a light, honey-colored stain was added and then two coats of polyurethane satin varnish, with some sanding in between.

I decided to attach the deck using p-shaped clamps.

Finished product

The next issue to be tackled was the seat post. You see, about 12 years ago I underwent lower back surgery to remove a L5/S1 free disk fragment. The surgery was very successful and cycling doesn't generally bother my back, but the Mundo's more upright riding position was proving problematic. Shocks and bumps were being transmitted more directly through my spine, resulting in back soreness. More investigation and research uncovered the Cane Creek Thudbuster seat post. Designed for hard-tail mountain bikes, the shorter travel Thudbuster ST seat post seemed to be good solution. I opted for the 27.2mm diameter version in the longer, 400mm version. This required a shim since the Mundo's seat tube diameter is approximately 30.3mm, but have no fear: Thudbuster.com has shims, too. Installation was simple and the results? No more sore back.

The original 6-speed drivetrain, while geared with a pretty low gear, was inadequate for carrying 100-plus pounds of cargo up the rolling hills of North Berkeley. So I acquired a SRAM triple-crank, clamp-on front derailleur, and shifter. Yet without a braze-on cable stop for a front derailleur, another solution was needed. Enter the ProblemSolver clamp-on cable stop.

Rear view

Front view

The last bit of customization, at least so far, was the addition of a whimsical decal. You see, I'd nicknamed this bike and for less than $12 (including shipping), Do it Yourself Lettering allowed me to ... well ...