Oh, the basic front loader standard wheelbase design still seems like it's a good idea.
I'm not sure why the bus rack hangs the front tire, exactly - is it because the tires are fat? Or because it's a 20" tire? This is the tire that Worksman prefers, and it won't work for a bus rack properly. The basket, etc. is a freaking massive agglomeration of thick bent steel plate on either side of a sheet of heavy plywood. I seriously doubt the design really needs to have anywhere remotely near that much mass and metal to do it's job. Why are the cables zip-tied on? What's up with the metallurgy and design that the basket has substantial amounts of surface rust after only one week? We were looking at steel fence today and remarking that the fence by the cemetery had been in the weather for years, and had less rust than my basket did after a week.
None of these issues are inherent to the standard wheelbase fixed basket over the front design. The bike actually rides quite nicely, whether loaded or unloaded; a stepthrough frame is highly advised, but the thing works great for picking up a heavy load of cargo. That's the basic design geometry at work there. The basic "cycle truck" concept was, I think, proven to work fine. It seems to shine best at loading dense cargo as opposed to bulky cargo; I could fill the rack to the top with canned goods and bottled water, and it still rode in an extremely stable and comfortable manner. I had to step through the frame when I had that much on it, but I could do it without blinking. The handling was almost totally unaffected, and potholes were no big deal.
It's just that this specific bike design was constructed, well.. badly. The parts were shoddy. One could not change out the crankarms, they looked like a single piece S shaped bent bar like you find on a box store kids bike. THE THING WAS RUSTING APART AFTER A WEEK!! The welding was dubious in places to my wife's untrained eyes. The reflector was mounted bizarrely because nobody could be bothered to drill a second hole to mount it right. The chain came from the shop looking like it had been dipped in motor oil. Just all these little touches that add up to a bike that feels like something that could be dramatically improved in quality by being redesigned by Next.
I'm looking forward to seeing some reimagining of the cycletruck by some other manufacturers. The configuration still works great. -I- won't be able to get one, though. Price points would be all over the place for awhile, and in any case, it seems that people are, by and large, adopting longtails as the cargo design of choice. There are great reasons for this; i've used a longtail, and it worked amazingly well, with the caveat of the bus rack problem. Cycle truck seemed like the best way to solve it, and the standard is always described as the Worksman, which everyone knows about but nobody had ever ridden.
Well, I rode it. It was junk. So now people can take that knowledge and.. I don't know, either go design a better one, or go get longtails, or something.