Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on October 12, 2011
Camioncyclette, Like a Shopping-Cart You Can Ride
Is the Camioncyclette a bike with too many baskets attached, or is it just a giant, ride-able shopping-cart? According to designer Christophe Machet, it is in fact a “transportation bicycle”, and it can carry up to 150 Kg, or 330-pounds in those wiry receptacles.
What I like most about the Camioncyclette is that it is dead simple. So many bicycle redesigns try to get fancy, dickering with a shape that is already almost perfect, in practical terms at least. Machet’s bike is just a bike with storage added anywhere it would fit, and is even strong enough to fit a person in the back, if they can stand the uncomfortable ride. No superfluous carbon-fiber, no integrated seat-tubes, no hub-less crap.
The wheels are small, which gives more space for cargo and also makes it easier to get moving and to maneuver. The bike uses disk-brakes so you can stop however loaded-up you are, and it appears to be a single-speed or use internal hub-gears, again keeping things simple. Finally, a proper two-legged stand in the center means you can actually load and unload the thing without it toppling over.
In fact, the only concession to fanciness is the Brooks saddle, although anyone who has one knows that a Brooks is in fact about the most practical and long-lasting (and comfortable) seat you can buy.
Machet’s design is, right now, not in stores. A shame, because it looks to be cheap and ugly enough to be very, very practical.
Camioncyclette product page [Christophe Machet via Oh Gizmo and I New Idea]
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Source:wired.com
Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on November 1, 2010
Electric Cargo Bike: A True Car Replacement?
I spent the “Summer” in Berlin, Germany, where a cargo-carrying bike like this is a common site, stuffed with a pair of brats as its smug, over-breeding parents pedal it along the city’s many excellent bike-lanes. Berlin is pretty flat but even so, an electric boost would be nice. That’s just what the Urban Arrow will give you.
The bike comes from Amsterdam, the world capital of bike-crime, and along with its electric pedal-assist, it has a modular aluminum frame that can accept different front-ends. There’s the two-wheeled version seen here, as well as a short two-wheeler for regular biking and a three-wheel cargo-carrier for more stability. Along with the helpful power-train to get you going, there’s also a pair disk-brakes so you can stop again without dropping your up-to-180-kilo (400-pound) load.
As for carrying the kids, there is an optional rain-cover, and the EPP plastic box has a rail running around the outside to protect little fingers if you run into something while the monsters are climbing up the sides. The bike is billed on the information-free website as being the “first serious car challenger”, and that might not be too far off the mark.
The Urban Arrow won an award at the recently-ended Eurobike 2010, and should be on sale soon for an as-yet unknown price.
Urban Arrow product page [Urban Arrow. Thanks, Jorrit!]
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Source:wired.com
Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on September 17, 2010
Home-Made Kid-Carrying Cargo-Bike
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
