Utility Cycling - Cargo trike

Is this a production trike?

http://inlandempire.craigslist.org/bik/642597412.html

Eric

Hard to tell from the poor photo, but looks to me like one of the Mexican cargo trikes, produced in fairly large quantities, that sell for around $ 500 or so new, if I remember right.

I ran across several websites that were selling these things when I was doing a bit of research a few months ago.


Ron Richings
Vancouver, BC
Canada

Any links? I've been looking for one.

Any links? I've been looking for one.

Worksman cycle in New York city has been making industrial cargo trikes for
over 100 yrs now. Give'm a look........

http://www.worksman.com/frontload.html

Husky-brand are made in Mexico, listing here:
http://www.huskybicycles.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=hb&Product_Code=160-120&Category_Code=ti&Product_Count=4
There is currently one on Ebay that I'm pondering. It's actually a Mercurio, and I think that's one of the companies that is part of Husky.
That's a good price if it's in good shape. Jump on it.
Note the warnings about instability when operated empty on the Husky site.
The Worksman are a lot different, and have the pivot point at the middle of the front axle instead of at the back of the box. I'm not sure what that does to ride quality.

The ad mentions adding a motor, which I wouldn't recommend. The Ebay ad refers to the movie Nacho Libre, in which the main character rode a motorized version of one of these. If you look at the movie pictures, it has moped wheels or something heavier than the normal wheels. Apparently, it's also not clear if the movie version actually ran.

There was an ad for one of these in the Dallas area that said it was a Worksman brand, but I'm not aware that Worksman actually made one of these box-thingies.

FYI, the one on Ebay just went for $418 + $150 if shipped.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200214803972&_trksid=p3907.m32&_trkparms=tab%3DWatching

A cool one here, local pickup only. (Local pickup means it's always on the other side of the country from where you live!):
http://cgi.ebay.com/Delivery-Bike_W0QQitemZ230244824044QQcmdZViewItem

Crap, that's local to me! Looks like an insulated box, not sure what I'd use it for, but would be cool to make runs to the CSA pick-up!

Worksman and others make boxes like that just for delivery that are not insulated, and I would guess this is not insulated. The "Ice Cream Bikes" tend to go for more money. (There's a couple on Ebay right now in the Chicago area.)

Crap, that's local to me! Looks like an insulated box, not sure what I'd use it for, but would be cool to make runs to the CSA pick-up!

Bee Double E Double R yoU eN:D

And yes Worksman makes the front box style trikes. They will make just about any type of commercial bike or trike you want.

Aaron:)

Bee Double E Double R yoU eN:D


Talk about a hit around town! BTW, I'm a homebrewer and you just opened all kinds of possibilities! Good thinking!

Talk about a hit around town! BTW, I'm a homebrewer and you just opened all kinds of possibilities! Good thinking!

:beer::roflmao: What else are bikes for? When we had a beach house one of my "jobs" was to make the beer runs. I used my expedition tour bike with front and rear racks to roll the 3-4 blocks to the Beverage Barn. IIRC the normal load was around 3-4 cases...

Aaron:)

I'm outa my league here, but I messaged the seller about the reserve on this bike (http://cgi.ebay.com/Delivery-Bike_W0...QQcmdZViewItem) which was too high for my tastes and now the seller is asking me for my best offer, since it didn't sell on auction. What would be a reasonable offer on this bike?

http://organicengines.com/products/

way cool recumbent lean-steer cargo trike. Picture shows SUV with rickshaw seat

Which bike is that, Aeneas? The ad's not pulling up. If it's that same Worksman, I'd figure $300-$400 or so if it's in good riding shape, maybe more or less. A new one is $999 plus freight from NYC (see here: http://worksmancycles.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/frontload.html). Really just depends on how bad you want it and how bad the seller wants to sell it.

These things are available in very limited supply and have very little demand. They are often sold "local pickup only" which hurts on the demand end. That makes it hard to establish a fair price for them. But if that same Worksman bike was available here, I'd pay that range for it. I've seen one of the Nacho Libre trikes here locally for $250 for an older rustier-looking one, seen a pretty decent but older Worksman with box like that one for $375 or so. Don't know if either sold at those prices. I'd say that Worksman is definitely worth more than the Nacho Libre bike, which went for $400 + shipping (if shipped).

Just got a Worksman reverse trike with the platform (not a box) off Ebay- sposed to get it tomorrow, report later. :)

http://drunkcyclist.com/wordpress/2007/09/17/i-had-a-bad-day-at-the-office-so-i-drove-down-to-nogales/

Mercurio trkes are sweet machines. I've seen plenty of them in Mexico. A few in Costa Rica. Took this shot of a Mercurio last month while traveling in Belize.

http://tucson.craigslist.org/bik/679128113.html
http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/bik/630385784.html

Mercurio trkes are sweet machines. I've seen plenty of them in Mexico. A few in Costa Rica. Took this shot of a Mercurio last month while traveling in Belize.
What front tires is this bike using?

Someone on another forum asked about a supposedly "super heavy duty" tire (rated for 300 lbs) made and used in Mexico on pedicabs. Some of the Mercurio trikes appear to use fatter front tires, but in most of those photos it appears that the fatter front tires are also on smaller wheels, which means they could just be 24"x3" wheels and tires.

See this photo:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/89119745@N00/2166994161/

And compare it to the ones in the banner and content photos here (where all three tires appear the same width and height)
http://www.tucsonbikelawyer.com/cargo-bike-no-3-rolls-across-the-border-and-into-tucson/
?
~

See this page, though:
http://www.tucsonbikelawyer.com/for-the-really-heavy-work/
The text indicates they use motorcycle wheels on the front.
The discussion there also mentions they are more often pushing these when loaded very heavily. I've seen one on Ebay or Craigslist that looked like it had 1:1 gearing.

http://www.beachcargotrike.com/

I ran across this webpage, which appears to be abandoned. I emailed the guy and it bounced, mailbox is full, evidently. Anyway, the question is, what brand is that trike? It's similar to the Mercurio, but the frame is different. There's some sort of brand on the rims that I can't make it (hint: the photo may be reversed, but I still can't tell for sure what it is after reversing). It's missing the normal Mercurio frame markings, too.

Also, notice on the photos, he has a homemade model with a kid in it, then if you read the "safety instructions", it says not to put a kid in it...

I found some of the heavier wheeled versions here. A "300x18 Moto" wheel/tire, whatever that is.
http://manufacturastrejo.com/estandar.html
http://manufacturastrejo.com/extralargo.htm
Note that they have different sizes of cargo box, etc, too.
Note the "Pony" versions which includes a kid-size version, pretty cool!
Similar here:
http://www.bicimaya.com/catalogo/index.php?Estructura=1&Categoria=3&Idioma=1

http://tulsa.craigslist.org/bik/1437956569.html

I have a Mecurio cargo trike that i bought off of craigslist from a guy who brought one up from mexico. It's got a ton of cargo capacity, obviously, and i'll let you guys know a couple of things about them:
- as mentioned, the pivot point is at the back of the box, which makes it pretty unstable at high speeds, it's easier with a load but still possible to tip to the side and hard to keep in a straight line. you get used to it after awile, but you'll never be going faster than 8-10 mph. on ours we changed the chainring and cog to a 32-19 or something like that, it came geared really stiff. (44-16 IIRC)
- the wheels are 26 inch and easy to replace (the stock ones are pretty terrible)
- the axles on the stock wheels have some crazy thread pattern that we couldn't find a matching nut for (the bike was missing a nut on the right front wheel). we looked everywhere and our only option was to have a nut custom machined and we would have had to order thousands of them, so obviously we bought a new wheel (with a different size axle) and rigged it to fit.
all in all though, it's a great utitlity bike and definatley turns some heads, especially with a gringo riding it. while most of the stock stuff is crap, the frame itself is sturdy and built like a tank. with a little improvosational skills you can make it do alot of crazy stuff! I paid 200 for mine, but it was pretty beat up, i wouldn't want to pay much more unless it was brand new.
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