Turn Any Bike Into A Cargo Bike – The Easy Way

Thinking this might make a viable option for my non-riding hubster. He’s not great at balance. Any word on increased stability? Ie, trike like?

That would be a cargo trike, not a cargo bike. Kinda like it though. I need that on the front of my Xtracycle conversion – can’t lift the front end on that thing anyway.

@Engineer its actually designed to lean, look at the second picture. Watch the video.

Great idea. Well thought out.

I don’t see a lot of good things happening carrying your kid like that. I cringed when they turned
right by that car at about the 3 min mark.

Cool that they got it to production, but I agree with John: Torque steer will really affect the pleasure of cycling with this thing. You will have to firmly hold the handlebars in case one of the front wheels hits something. If you bumped both wheels at the same time against a curb it will be ok, but with only one wheel hitting a bump.

arm-chair-engineer:
The key would have been to engineer the steering mechanism in a way that the point where the tire is on the ground is in line with axis of the steering. That way you eliminate ‘bump-steer’ and potholes would not affect the handling. This type of steering geometry you can find it in the better recumbent tricycles. But that would have been a much more expensive solution then what they did here. So that is the compromise they made.

@Chris: So no, this mechanism is not comparable to those motor tricycles like the Piaggio MP3. Those have much more complex steering geometry for eliminating the bump-steer.

Well this definitely wont work for my chimpanzee Henryetta, her arms are just too long and I cringe thinking about her fingers and those soon-to-explode spokes. I guess I’ll just continue to suffer her back slapping antics which she inflicts from the perch of her standard rear-rack child seat. Her helmet is just adorable though.

from one engineer to another “engineer”: @engineer – you must be an EE b/c you certainty have no credibility with any sort of mechanics

There always has to be one arm-chair-engineer 🙂

@Fytze:
@Chris: So no, this mechanism is not comparable to those motor tricycles like the Piaggio MP3. Those have much more complex steering geometry for eliminating the bump-steer.

Well aware of that, having driven a Piaggio. My point is to counter the first post that two wheels in front hinders maneuverability. Agree that bump steer could in theory be a problem though probably not a big one. Doubt people would be riding very fast with these things. I’ve also ridden other two in front trikes and not had problems.

Personally, I think it’s clever but impractical. Much as I like cargo bikes, bakfiets, Xtracycles etc. I’ve yet to find one that was better than simply hitching a trailer to my bike. The trailer also has several key bonuses:
1) I can remove it quickly so I’m not schlepping an extra 10-30 pounds everywhere I go.
2) Way less expensive
3) Lower maintenance
4) Covered cargo space – an important consideration when hauling kids in Seattle!

I’m sure there are some niche applications where cargo bikes excel but they seem to be very niche circumstances.

@Engineer. Good points, and I stand corrected in my analysis not accounting for some spring force to bring the wheels back upright as well as bumpsteer. This statement that you made – “Turning on bikes is’t so much steering wheel as it is leaning. Kinda hard when you have 2 front wheels.” – is also incorrect, which is why the rebuts came. Turning on a bike with two front wheels can be done, although perhaps not implemented correctly in this case. When on the internet, all we have to go off is is your opinion that is blurted out, so you absolutely have to back it up should you want to be taken seriously (if then). I’d rather people be highly critical, rather than just believe the most recent thing they read.

In any case, I imagine the bike would be best ridden to see how hard it actually is to turn.

This is almost a perfect storm of badness:

Compared to a normal touring bike that setup has:
Less pannier capacity than regular front low riders.
Smaller front wheels to fall into potholes deeper.
Tricycle config so now you have three lines to watch if you want to avoid running over an object in the road.
More bulk to fit into the back of a car.
Will not work with bus racks or most roof racks.
More awkward to carry up stairs.
Leans in turns -so not actually much more stable than a normal bicycle.
Two different spare tube sizes to carry.

If you really want a small cargo bike, a cycletruck or cycletruck conversion makes much more sense. They can carry much larger loads, including large boxy objects, and are close to as small and maneuverable as a normal bicycle, both on road and inside buildings.

@ Chris, you should try one if you get a chance.