12. Apr. 1999. Tomi Engel

When using your HPV on a daily basis it usually is not enough if it can only carry you from A to B. There must be some way to transport additional load. Riding in a comfortable laidback position does not allow you to use a backpack as you would on a normal upright bike.

The early Amigos did include a very simple carrier which was made out of alloy and nicely integrated with the design of the seat. However, on its own it was not extremely useful because mounting anyting on top of it proved very difficult. There were no loops which would have allowed to attach straps for securing baggage nor a chance to add a regular load basket.

I used to attach my backpack with a rubberband (hmm...there must be a technical term for that thing) but this was not a very safe way of transporting heavy load because it could easily shift in curves. With the smaller 406 wheel the carriers useability as a fender degraded significantly. Riding after a rainshower did not only resulted in a wet backpack but also in a wet and dirty neck and head.

As one would expect where was a regular side rack as well. Since it was designed for some special paniers it did not nicely cooperate with my large Ortlieb paniers. While it did somehow accept the small Ortlieb Rollers it never was perfect because the plastics, which were should keep the paniers from swinging to the outside and protect its fabric from tearing and wearing, did not fall into the right place.

Michael Fraunstein did add a second "stick" which I had specifically designed to fit into the existing alloy construction and which was tuned to provide proper placement of the large paniers. In addition to that I could still strap the backpack to the carrier.

Most of the time I was riding with a single panier which made the side setup a little "unbalanced" and turned most of the carrier into useless weight, as the fender functionality has gone south anyway (see above). So the next logical step was to reduce the mounting construction to a minimum.

By totally removing the original carrier and replacing it with a simple construction which placed the panier right behind the seat I did not only reduce the bikes weight but also

Another nice sideffect was that I finally had a solid handle behind the seat that would make lifting and carrying the bike a lot easier

.While the second incarnation of the Amigo started to use a different seat and tail rack my own vision was heading into a different direction. Having a 406 wheel in the back enabeld me to add something which I call the tailsack...