Tricycle Couriers

[Hobartlemagne]

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0403/csmimg/CTRIKE_P1.jpg

It isn't as glamorous as a messenger on a fixie but these trikes from
a Cambridge, Mass delivery comany can haul significantly heavier loads.

Article:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0403/p13s03-sten.html

[Nightshade]

"Perhaps so, but even Brown admits there is "a huge cultural hurdle" to overcome in the land of the pickup truck."

Read brain dead spolied people. Gas still ain't high enough yet to wake people up!

[mike]

"Perhaps so, but even Brown admits there is "a huge cultural hurdle" to overcome in the land of the pickup truck."

Read brain dead spolied people. Gas still ain't high enough yet to wake people up!


I doubt gas will ever get high enough to cause the bicycle utopia of which cycle enthusiasts dream. Gasoline is about $9.00 per gallon in France now (as in home of tour de France) and the automobile still rules the roads.

[Roody]

A pickup trike! With a nice waterproof compartment for cargo. I bet they get a lot of business from all the hospitals and universities in Boston/Cambridge.

[2manybikes]

It has an electric motor.

[Roody]

It has an electric motor.

So it isn't perfect, but it is very nice.

;)

[2manybikes]

So it isn't perfect, but it is very nice.

;)

I agree. :)

I put an electric motor on Bailey's trike for a while when I broke my toe. I calculated the cost of electricity to operate it. It was incredibly cheap, just pennies. It was a few years ago, I can't remember the exact amount. Much cheaper than a moped or anything else. Not even close.

edit: I'm olny 50 miles from them, If I go take a look I'll bring the camera, and ask questions.

[gerv]

Recently I visited the Yucatan and saw a large number of tricycles used to transport luggage for tourists and food to restaurants and just the general sort of thing you would use a small pickup for in this country. They were all single speed but could take an enormous amount of gear. When the driver hit any grade, he would jump off and push it as he walked.

http://www.rivieramayagrip.com/images/trike.jpg

[cutman]

I'm totally applying for a job with NAP when I move back to the Boston area this summer.

[ChipSeal]

... When the driver hit any grade, he would jump off and push it as he walked.

Hey, I do that very same thing! :eek::p

[qualia8]

$12k per bike? That's almost the price of a gasoline-powered small truck. It's gotta come down.

Then again, they're made in England, where the pound has doubled against the dollar. We need to make them here... or in China. With volume and competition, an electric-assist cargo trike should be under $5k.

80,000 jobs were cut in the US. Lots of cheap labor around now for bike manufacture and deliveries!

[wahoonc]

$12k per bike? That's almost the price of a gasoline-powered small truck. It's gotta come down.

Then again, they're made in England, where the pound has doubled against the dollar. We need to make them here... or in China. With volume and competition, an electric-assist cargo trike should be under $5k.

80,000 jobs were cut in the US. Lots of cheap labor around now for bike manufacture and deliveries!

It will/would if they made as many trikes as they do small trucks...

I think it is an excellent concept and hope to see many more of them in use. I was working at a large university and it amazed me the number of trucks and vans that were in use where something like this would make more sense.

Also IMHO nothing wrong with electric boost, especially if they are hauling a load.

Aaron:)

[Nightshade]

$12k per bike? That's almost the price of a gasoline-powered small truck. It's gotta come down.

Then again, they're made in England, where the pound has doubled against the dollar. We need to make them here... or in China. With volume and competition, an electric-assist cargo trike should be under $5k.

80,000 jobs were cut in the US. Lots of cheap labor around now for bike manufacture and deliveries!

America DOES have a work bike manufacture that's over 100 yrs in business and second to
none. That company is WORKSMAN that makes all sorts of work bikes & trikes. All for a
lot less that 12k!:eek::eek::eek:

Does anyone remember the old Harley Davidson "Servi car" trike motorcycle so popular
in the 1930's?

http://www.dl45homepage.com/servicontents.html

[moore.sean]

80,000 jobs were cut in the US. Lots of cheap labor around now for bike manufacture and deliveries!

I'm hating you so very much for saying this. Sure, lets create yet more of a gap, nothing wrong with haves and have nots!

[bragi]

I read recently that bike messengers were becoming a thing of the past, due to the fact that it's just easier to email documents than pay a person on a bike to haul them. These trikes may save the profession. It will definitely lose a lot of the hipness, though. Hauling lunches or lab samples or whatever on a big trike isn't nearly as sexy as weaving in and out of cars at a fairly high rate of speed while transporting legal documents. (It's kind of like switching from Arabian horses to ox carts... )

[mike]

I do think we are on the threshhold of a demand for more utilitarian human powered vehicles. I know that I feel limited with my modified baskets and carriers. I don't yet have a child hauling cart. Even then, I think I would like to have something more specifically designed.

Today, I went shopping for 50 lbs wheat flour, 25 lbs rice, 3 lbs cheese, 1 lb yeast, and a bunch of other stuff. Totalled about 100 lbs. I had to use my motorcar because none of my bicycle rigs could carry it.

[bragi]

I do think we are on the threshhold of a demand for more utilitarian human powered vehicles. I know that I feel limited with my modified baskets and carriers. I don't yet have a child hauling cart. Even then, I think I would like to have something more specifically designed.

Today, I went shopping for 50 lbs wheat flour, 25 lbs rice, 3 lbs cheese, 1 lb yeast, and a bunch of other stuff. Totalled about 100 lbs. I had to use my motorcar because none of my bicycle rigs could carry it.

I've got two words for you: Burley Flatbed. BTW, what on earth are you baking?

[wahoonc]

I've got two words for you: Burley Flatbed. BTW, what on earth are you baking?

Sounds like my bi-monthly grocery trip:rolleyes::D I am lusting after a bakfiets for just this purpose. But the Burley has it's strong points as does the Extracycle. I really should just get one of each;):p

Aaron:)

[Nightshade]

I do think we are on the threshhold of a demand for more utilitarian human powered vehicles. I know that I feel limited with my modified baskets and carriers. I don't yet have a child hauling cart. Even then, I think I would like to have something more specifically designed.

Today, I went shopping for 50 lbs wheat flour, 25 lbs rice, 3 lbs cheese, 1 lb yeast, and a bunch of other stuff. Totalled about 100 lbs. I had to use my motorcar because none of my bicycle rigs could carry it.

A bike, or trike, and a sturdy trailer equals hauling flexiblity to the max!:D:D:D

[qualia8]

I'm hating you so very much for saying this. Sure, lets create yet more of a gap, nothing wrong with haves and have nots!

dude, i did not chase the 80,000 jobs away. thank captain george w. ahab and his blinkered quest for wmd's for that.

the only upside to the falling dollar and unemployment is that we can now manufacture our own sh*t again, and maybe even export some of it. as long as we've got cheap labor, we might as well use it constructively to build cool trikes like these, to ride them, and in general, to remake our infrastructure in a future-friendly way. (big FDR-style public works projects on high-speed and light rail, etc.)

this isn't about having and not-having. i'd love to ride one of those trikes all day making deliveries...