# My Cargo bike build



## N8R (Feb 4, 2004)

Here is the start of my cargo bike build. This will just be a quick chop/build to test the ride. If it rides well I'll build another using new tubing. I also plan to make a fat bike version, possibly tandem. It's LONG but should be fun.


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## demondan (Jul 25, 2008)

Sweet!


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## petriccione (May 7, 2014)

Agreed. You just welded that yourself? Nice work. What's it for?


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## Bluechip (Feb 17, 2006)

That's going to be a long chain!
I am going to get my brother in law to teach me how to weld this summer. I can't wait to start experimenting with ideas. It looks like a lot of fun. Good luck!


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## gmats (Apr 15, 2005)

Yes, long chain and a long bike. But hey, I love this kind of engineering.


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## petriccione (May 7, 2014)

Hey, what do you mean 'this kind' of engineering? :smilewinkgrin:


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## N8R (Feb 4, 2004)

petriccione said:


> Agreed. You just welded that yourself? Nice work. What's it for?


Yes I weld. The only thing that's welded so far is the box though. I originally made it as a bike trailer, but then decided to use it for this cargo build. The rear cargo part won't be welded to the front bike part, they will be separate and just bolt together. That way it can come apart and be half the length for transporting on a car rack. It's going to need some more bracing to the seat stay's because it's so long too.


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## N8R (Feb 4, 2004)

Bluechip said:


> That's going to be a long chain!
> I am going to get my brother in law to teach me how to weld this summer. I can't wait to start experimenting with ideas. It looks like a lot of fun. Good luck!


Yes long indeed! It will be fun though. Welding is not hard at all, and you should be up and welding within a few hours of learning. However, thin bicycle tubing is a little tricky because it's so easy to blow holes through it. Just jump in and start welding, you'll figure it out, it's fun stuff to be able to build. One word of caution, though, make sure you are welding strong welds, and over gusset, if in doubt, before riding bikes you weld up. You can get seriously hurt if critical welds break in places like the head tube, etc.


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## gmats (Apr 15, 2005)

Haha!! Homebrew. Remember, that's where the Wright Brothers built their airplane and became famous.


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## N8R (Feb 4, 2004)

Yeah, I think this design is going to catch on! haha. At first I was reluctant to do it because it WAS so long, but then after thinking about it more I though it would stand out, get a lot of attention, and be something different. Now that I'm getting used to how long it is, it's not seeming so impractical, but the final verdict will be when I ride it...


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## PeopleForScience (May 15, 2012)

Its cool, good luck parking it at the store! I have made a few cargo bike by just chopping up frames and putting together. If you do it right then you can take out a lot of the wasted space like the chainstays on the front bike. That'll save you over a foot right there.


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## N8R (Feb 4, 2004)

PeopleForScience said:


> Its cool, good luck parking it at the store! I have made a few cargo bike by just chopping up frames and putting together. If you do it right then you can take out a lot of the wasted space like the chainstays on the front bike. That'll save you over a foot right there.


I'm purposely making this really long. There are limiting factors with this type of design in how short it can be. The front part of the bike can't really be much shorter unless you go to a 20" front wheel and shorten the cockpit. With a 26" wheel and regular comfortable cockpit, the closest the cargo box can be is about where it is on mine, any closer and your heels hit the box. Can't shorten the chainstays because they are not the limiting factor, where your heels pass are. Then on the rear of the cargo box, the rear 26" wheel can only be so close to the back of the cargo box. I made it a little farther back so as to fit 26" x 4" tires which are really 29" diameter.

So the only way to get a significantly shorter wheelbase with this design is to shorten the cargo box area and/or go to smaller 20" wheels which allow for a more compact design. There are already other 20" long cargo bikes and I didn't want to make one. I want a 26" rear wheel and higher ground clearance.

I don't think this long design is going to be as cumbersome as one would think, and may end up being very practical for it's intended purposes (Camping, not riding tight single track, and getting groceries, shopping, hauling larger akward items, kids, pets, etc. )


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## MayaC (May 9, 2014)

Good job.


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## KamikazeKunze (Apr 6, 2014)

So how is the build going?

I volunteer at a local bike shop that takes donations and fixes them up to sell at a reasonable cost to the community. All profit goes to sponsoring TripsForKids in Denver and Boulder. Lucky Bikes is the shop name.

I love the idea of getting more home brew cargo bike ideas. Just one more thing to put back into the community.

Thanks


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## N8R (Feb 4, 2004)

KamikazeKunze said:


> So how is the build going?
> 
> I volunteer at a local bike shop that takes donations and fixes them up to sell at a reasonable cost to the community. All profit goes to sponsoring TripsForKids in Denver and Boulder. Lucky Bikes is the shop name.
> 
> ...


I decided to not finish this build and am planning on making a cargo tadpole trike out of the rear cargo section instead. After getting the long bike semi-rideable, and after coasting down the street on it I realized that super long bikes handle like crap. It was seriously bad.


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## KamikazeKunze (Apr 6, 2014)

Sorry to hear that, I was a long beast at that.

Well good luck on your future build. This was just enough to keep the creative juices flowing.

Thanks


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