Take one old bike, a big ol’ box and a whole lot of steel tubes and welding gear and what do you get? A cheap, stable cargo-carrying trike with enough space to haul the kids or carry groceries to feed the family for a week.
Over in Vienna, Austria, Instructables member Carkat took a crappy old mountain-bike and turned it into the handsome beast you see above, which will actually be used to carry kids – up front is both more fun for the child and less scary for the rider, who can see that his offspring are safe. The construction is straightforward, although Carkat had some headaches.
The first “draft” was a meter wide, and the pivot that allows you to steer the front-section (like a headset, but underneath the box) just wouldn’t turn. Once the box was slimmed down to an Austrian street-legal 80cm and the pivot replaced with another, welded in at a better angle, Carkat’s bike was good to go. A pair of caliper brakes on the front wheels, with a customized lever to trigger both at once, made sure that it could stop, too.
The resulting load-carrier is way cheaper than buying a proper delivery bike, and with a lick of paint looks almost as good. I’d probably upgrade those brakes to v-brakes or even disks if I was to, say, load this up with beer and ice, but Carkat’s DIY project is pretty fantastic. And I bet his kids totally love it, too.
How to build a cargo bike [Carkat/Instructables]
Source:wired.com
Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on July 6, 2010
The more cargo bikes I see, the more I want one. They’re immensely practical in any city, and can carry enough junk to make most car journeys pointless. But if you’re already used to a bike you likely think smaller — daily rather than weekly trips to the grocery store, for example. The cargo bike, then, may best be marketed at the guilt-ridden car user.