It’s been a while since Clever Cycles has been open and we’ve been meaning to do a post about them. They were the first bicycle shop on the West Coast that started importing bakfiets and other European cargo bicycles to the US. My friends and family have only great things to say about them.
They’re probably a good place to start if you’re in the market for a cargo bicycle, bakfiets, longtail, etc.
Link: Clever Cycles Webpage
I’m selling one of our cargo tricycles. I bought two of these and had them shipped to us, but am selling one to make room in our garage.
If you’re in the Los Angeles or Orange County area, this is a great chance to get a Euro-style cargo tricycle without the hassles of shipping and customs. I’m asking $350 obo.
For more information contact: info@cargocycling.org
Larry vs. Harry manufacture a very nice modular bakfiets that can be fitted with a range of accessories such as wooden cargo box, aluminum all weather box, billboards, etc. As for fit and finish, their bakfiets frames are made from oversized aluminum tubing and fitted with modern components that even bicycle geeks like us would love.
Here are the specs for their base model the “Bullit Classic”:
• Powder-coated in black
• Hardened aluminium frame
• Stainless steel nuts, bolts and discs
• 7-gear SRAM i-Motion hub
• Hydraulic front brake
• SRAM Truvativ crankshaft
• Double-bound aluminium wheel rims
• Puncture-proof Schwalbe tires
• Impact-strengthened plastic mudguards
• Fast saddle and handlebar adjustment
• Insurance-approved ABUS bicycle lock
Links:
• Larry vs. Harry website
• Photo Gallery
Wired Magazine Article
So, is this the major game changer that we’ve all been looking for? Or else, is it just another expensive industrial design study that only a few can afford?
Without having ridden one, I can only say that the new Taga Stroller/Tricycle looks amazing. Basically, it is a kid carrying cargo tricycle that converts on the fly into a walking stroller. WOW! Also, it has numerous optional features that allow it to be customized and outfitted in any number of ways.
The MAJOR drawback at this moment is the stunning price and lack of availability. Not yet sold in the US, it has a base price of $2500 without any options. Include shipping, handling, and customs duties, you’re pushing $3000 by the time you’re riding the base model in the States.
Early Verdict: Function and styling that any parent would love, price tag of a good used car.
Links:
Taga Website
Triobike is a Danish company that makes a family tricycle with a nifty “Multi-purpose Design” which can be converted from a tricycle to a bicycle to a stroller. On paper it has many of the design features that families are looking for such as 5 point harnesses for kids, front & rear lights, disk brakes, etc. It’s sleek minimalist European industrial design will send hearts aflutter anywhere. Who wouldn’t want a tricycle you could drive the kids to daycare with, convert into a bicycle, and then ride to work with.
However in the case of Triobike, it’s Achilles Heal may be that it does neither of it’s intended purposes very well. As a tricycle, reviewers are beginning to talk about it’s dangerously unstable ride. As a bicycle, it’s sporty design doesn’t lend itself well for city riding (no fenders, uncomfortable forward leaning style, men’s style swing over frame) Finally as a stroller it’s unwieldy bulk makes it impractical. Imagine a parent struggling to load it into a car or better yet trying to get it through the doorway of a local store with a sleeping toddler on board.
Hybrid designs in and of themselves are a neat idea. They take up less space but serve multiple purposes. However, history has been marked with endless hybrid designs that try to do too many things and fail to do any well. Airplanes that convert into a car, cars that convert into a boat, and so on.
In the case of Triobike, it’s a great idea with flawed execution. Like any groundbreaking innovative design there will be growing pains and hopefully an evolution to an ideal form. If the makers of Triobike continue to refine and iterate the design, then it has a great future. Otherwise, it’ll remain another industrial design study where style has won out over function, with the added bonus of a $3000 USD price tag.
Triobike Links:
www.triobike.com
Triobike photos by Carteco
Triobike Video
Other Luxury Cargo Tricycle Makers:
Winther Kangaroo
Nihola
MyZigo (US manufacturer)
It was great to see that some of the large manufacturers are heading into the cargo bicycle market. Hopefully it’ll bring cargo bicycles into the mainstream and make a dent in car traffic.
Check out the Kona Ute. They’ve added this great new longbike to their huge lineup. Longbikes are great for anyone who wants an all around bicycle that they can use for commuting, getting groceries, camping, and to transport small adults or older kids.
Dutch company, SmartTrike, makes a fantastic cargo tricycle that comes in a variety of configurations. In the photo from their website, you can see two versions, the kid carrier and the basic cargo box. The tricycle is also available in a other models such as a solar powered icebox version for vending ice cream and soda. Also, the cargo box is available alone as a push cart for vending and moving cargo.
Similar to other European luxury cargo tricycles, the SmartTrike comes with a hefty starting price of € 2199 Euros ($3000 USD). The tricycle looks great and has many useful options like power assist & onboard lights. However, it comes at a price only a few can afford.
Hopefully enough early adopters will buy these great tricycles and bring the price down to a family budget.
Check out their website at: http://www.smarttrike.com
Dutch ID is a company in the Netherlands that makes a bakfiets with a tension fabric and cage design for carrying children. Think of it as a kid trailer mounted on a two wheeled bakfiets bicycle.
The added safety of the tension fabric cage takes care of the safety concerns many parents would have when using a wooden box style bakfiets. Although this bicycle is available only in a few countries in Europe, it would be a very easy sell to parents anywhere.
Maybe if enough parents show interest in this style of bakfiets, dealers will start to carry them in the US.
Here’s a link to their website:
http://www.dutch-id.nl/products.shtml
The Christiania Tricycle is one of the original “tree hugger” bicycles from the 70s. It was built as a way for residents to get around the town of Chrisitiania, which does not allow cars. The town has about 850 residents and was established as a social experiment on the site of an old military barracks. Although the town has had some recent troubles with the Danish gov’t, the trikes themselves have gained in popularity throughout the years.
We are real fans of these great tricycles. They are sturdy front load cargo trikes that can be used for all sorts of tasks such as carrying kids, the handicapped, transporting goods, etc. The unique charm of the tricycle is it’s simple wooden box design which is inexpensive, easy to maintain, and highly customizable.
If you’d like to find out more, check out these links.
• Christiania Bikes: http://www.christianiabikes.com/
• Christiani Freetown: http://www.christiania.org/
• History of Christiania Freetown: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freetown_Christiania
Triobike is a Danish company that makes a family tricycle that can be converted into a bicycle or stroller. It has pivot style steering and also boasts features such as a 5 point safety harness for the kids, front and rear lights, firehood, disk brakes, etc. Although we haven’t seen any owner reviews yet, Triobike’s unique design has been garnering a lot of praise within the design community.
The Triobike could be the perfect thing for families that are trying to do away with a family car. Drive the kids to daycare, convert triobike into a bicycle, and then ride the bike to work.
It retails for 2375 Euros (around $3200 US Dollars), which puts it in a similar price range as the Winther Kangaroo and Nihola. Hopefully for all three tricycles, as sales grow the prices will come down.
They’ve got a great website, where you can configure and order a Triobike. They’ve also got videos of a person converting the bike in a few easy steps.
A. Winther A/S is a company in Denmark that makes the Benz of family tricycles. Winther did not hold back when designing this trike. It has hydraulic brakes, independent suspension, 7 speed internally geared hub, etc. Plus, the aluminum frame wrapped with tension fabric will keep your kids and cargo safe & sound.
Although this trike is close to being the perfect family trike, the big deal killer is the PRICE!! It retails at a starting price of 17,000 Denmark Kroners, which is a little bit over $3000 US Dollars. With shipping and taxes, the Kangaroo will be close to $4000 US Dollars by the time you get it into the country. OUCH!!! If Winther could only find a way to bring the price down to around $500 US Dollars, we might see a renaissance in neighborhood transportation and planning.
www.Worldbike.org is a non-profit organization dedicated to building load carrying bicycles for people in developing nations. From the looks of their website, they make use of bicycles that are readily available locally.
Most of the bicycles look like adaptations to the ubiquitous Chinese bike that Chairman Mao made famous in the 20th Century. These Chinese bikes are everywhere in the third world. They are affordable, built to last, easy to maintain and highly modifiable.
Especially interesting about Worldbike’s website, is their open source community approach to designing bikes. Currently their bicycles are on display at the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum as part of their new exhibit that showcases products designed for the needs of the developing world. The exhibit is called: Design for the Other 90%
If you’re interested in designing bicycles and helping people in the developing world, check out www.worldbike.org
It’s great to see people helping people. Keep up the great work guys!
Danish company Nihola makes an award winning family cargo tricycle available for sale in Northern Europe. It’s understated style appeals to anyone wanting easy convenient transporation, but with features that meet the needs of an urban family. It comes with a lightweight truss frame, Ackerman steering up front, all weather drum brakes, and a 5 speed internally geared rear hub.
Although the Nihola family tricycle is large enough to carry two small children and some groceries, it will be a cozy fit. Due to the Ackerman steering, the cargo box is smaller than for tricycles that use Axle pivot steering. However, for many people that is a small price to pay for having the added stability at speed.
After asking the kind folks at Nihola if we could purchase one of these tricycles in the US, we received a very kind email saying they are currently sold out and are having difficulty just meeting demand in Europe.
Designed to be lightweight, nimble, and stable at moderate speeds, this tricycle is a popular choice for many people. But with a starting price of €1995 Euros, it will likely be out of the price range of most young families.
We’ll keep our fingers crossed and hope Nihola tricycles will reach the US in the future. If you’re lucky enough to own one, we’re sure you’re riding with a smile.
Here is another great article on Sheldon Brown’s page about family cycling,
covering tandems, trailer cycles, and teaching kids how to ride a bike.
To the right is the popular Adam Trail-A-Bike.
Popular Mechanics has a great article submitted by a Caleb Brown who shows you how he built a leaning bicycle sidecar for carrying his son around. The great things about the design are that the full suspension smooths out bumps in the road, the suspension allows for leaning, it allows the driver & child to communicate face to face, and finally it’s pretty low cost. Also, the fact that it uses a commercially available child carrier means many families will be able to make use of carriers they already own.
It looks professional and we’re impressed. GREAT JOB!!!
When riding around with my son in the front of my cargo tricycle around town, onlookers often ask me “What’s that?” I think the main reason is that most people are used to seeing tricycles with two wheels in the back and one wheel up front, rather than the other way around. Well, for those of you who are new to cargocycling here’s a quick summary of the main types of tricycles.
Tricycles are generally defined by their wheel arrangement. The three most common are:
• Delta Tricycle: 1 wheel in front and 2 wheels in the rear
• Tadpole Tricycle: 2 wheels in front and 1 wheel in the rear
• Sidecar: 2 wheels in line with each other and 1 wheel parallel and offset
Delta Tricycle:
A delta trike has 1 wheel in front & 2 wheels in the back. It is sometimes refered to as a traditional tricycle or rear load tricycle (meaning the cargo is behind the driver). A lot of times you’ll see older people using these bicycles because it is stable at slow speeds and uses standard bicycle steering.
Tadpole Tricycle:
A tadpole trike has 2 wheels in front & 1 wheel in the back. It is sometimes refered to as a front load tricycle because the cargo is in front of the driver. These tricycles are useful for drivers that need to keep a close eye on their cargo or need quick access to it without having to get off of their trike. This makes them ideal for use by food vendors or pedi-cab drivers who have frequent interaction with customers.
Sidecar Tricycle:
In the side car arrangement, two wheels are in line with each other like a bicycle. The third wheel is parallel to the other two wheels but is offset from the center line of the two wheels.
In future posts, I’ll try to include information on other aspects of cargo tricycles for those of you who are interested in picking up a cargo tricycle.
Check out Biketrailershop.com, an online retailer specializing in bike cargo trailers.
Biketrailerblog.com, dedicated to bike trailers.
Cello, an unique bike case travel system for BOB trailers.
All three sites were started by Josh Lipton, here is his interesting blog where he talks in depth about running his own small start-up business.
Henry Work Cycles is a Dutch retailer specializing in workbikes, cargo trikes, city bikes, and some bicycles for the mobility impaired. Check out their great selection of quality practical bicycles.
B.O.B. (formerly Beast of Burden) is the maker of the famous single wheel Yak trailer. By replacing the stock quick release with a special replacement, you can mount the single wheel trailer to any bike.
BOB Ibex is a variation of the Yak trailer with suspension added.
Curiously instead of building kid trailers, BOB makes a line of jogging strollers.
Wanna cruise around town in style?
Check out Felt’s line of retro cruisers.
Too cool for school!
Check out other cruisers at
The bike to the right is a Felt MP.
Chariot , a maker of kids trailers and strollers, have a unique sidecar design called the Sidecarrier. It is like a regular motorcycle sidecar except it allows the bike to lean independently.
Sidenote: We’ve read in some reviews that one drawback of the Chariot is that it’s only compatible with mountain bicycles. We haven’t tested one out on our bike. But you might want to check with the manufacturer about compatibility with your bicycle before rushing out to order.
Check out this interesting child carrying bike called Gemini from Riese&Muller.
The child seat is located on the handle bar. This allows the parent to see and talk to the child.
Velolution, a wonderful online store that carries commuters, folders, work bikes, and family bikes. According to their website, they have a showroom in London. They even have folding bikes available for rent!
My friend JKoshi captured this photo during a trip to China. If you’re a parent of small kids, you’d appreciate the convenience. hmm… I wonder if you can do this in a car?
Check out the rest of Koshi’s Flickr albums. He’s got lots of other great travel and bike photos.
I just posted my photos from the North American Handmade Bicycle Show at the San Jose Convention Center. There was a huge number of custom bicycle builders from all over the world attending the show. The variety of bikes ranged from all out velomobiles to rat bikes built with found materials. It was great talking with the builders who went out of their way to be friendly and answer any questions.
Some of the themes I noticed throughout the show:
Some fun stuff I saw at the show:
