Adventure Bike Rider Forum

Very excited today. I've just taken delivery of my new pair of wheels. Two shiny new Haemmerlin Aktiv Premium 100 beauties. Aren't they lovely?

As a daily mover of muck, I'm well-versed in the fast paced world of shit-shifting. I've been there and done that. I've steered some of the best and worst, and I have a workshop full of damaged/dismantled machines to prove it. But despite this, of course I did my research. Extensive reading of 'Barrow Buyer', 'Which Wheelbarrow Weekly' and 'Manure Mover Monthly' just made the task of wisely choosing the right machine so much harder but I eventually plumped and pulled the trigger on a pair of high-tech cutting-edge Haemmerlins.

For those of you who for some strange reason may not be aware of developments in performance barrowing, the Aktiv Premium is right up there. The Bentley of barrows. You can keep your excel rims, mousses and tub-liss - these have the latest in solid unpuncturable tyre tech. And a 250kg carrying capacity! You can't quite see the ohlins cartridge forks in this shot but believe me, these will corner on rails out of the stables and perform at the top of the heap.

Obviously I am a bit worried about my first crash. I can't even bring myself to remove the packaging yet. Piloting such pristine equipment brings responsibility, but I feel up to the job, ready and raring to test my new capacity to shovel shit uphill.

It's got to have at least 36 spokes to be a proper adventure barrel, have you not learnt anything from your time here. At best you'll only be able to pick up a handfull of pain aux raisins with that.

The solid wheels dont ride up solid edges or over rocks as well as the pneumatic tyred barrows do,in my opinion.

Snaf MKII wrote: ↑Tue Dec 08, 2020 10:51 am It's got to have at least 36 spokes to be a proper adventure barrel, have you not learnt anything from your time here. At best you'll only be able to pick up a handfull of pain aux raisins with that.

Presumably your barrows sport chrome centre-lines or BST custom mags do they, Snaf? You show-off.

Perhaps I should start a wheelbarrow farkling thread...

"Essential wheelbarrow satnav mounts"

"Best throw-over luggage for RTW barrows"

"Heated grips and charging points - how to fit them to YOUR barrow"

steve the grease wrote: ↑Tue Dec 08, 2020 12:00 pm The solid wheels dont ride up solid edges or over rocks as well as the pneumatic tyred barrows do,in my opinion.

Fair point, Steve. You're clearly a man who has walked the walk and pushed the loads. But I am totally fed up with fixing punctures. We have a lot of hawthorn here, and the occasional fencing cleat or horse shoe nail, so I'm always getting flats and torn inner tubes etc. Time to go solid.

I've actually got old mousses in mine, just cut them up and ram as much as you can in.

Snaf MKII wrote: ↑Tue Dec 08, 2020 12:13 pm I've actually got old mousses in mine, just cut them up and ram as much as you can in.

I actually considered doing that. If you think it's worth it I'll give it a try, thanks. Got lots of old crap tyres and wheels hanging about.

Starting to get worried about you again Dave

Just spent the afternoon bodging (ahem, skillfully engineering..) the fleet of old wheelbarrows. If you count in the brand new Haemmerlins, we now have 6 working beasts and a possible seventh with a bit more, er, skillful engineering.

So here (David Attenborough voice...), we can observe the evolution of the wheelbarrow. It started with a simple wheel, borne from the primeval soup, which crawled on to land, developed a frame and eventually the appearance we are so familiar with today:



The second from the left now proudly bears a mousse-filled tyre. A front enduro mousse is the perfect fit, cut down to size and squeezed into the old barrow tyre. It was a right pig to lever it back on the rim though. In recognition of his input to the idea, I have named this particular one the 'Snafbarrow'.

When I first started serving my time as a joiner in the late 60s we used to make wooden barrows the only true barrow is a pre69 barrow