[quote=johnasavoia]
Local dude is gearing up for a run of cargo bikes, and I’m gonna try to sell my xtracycle free radical and some other shit and get this done to the Research Design Coyote (current xtracycle frame)
Pretty psyched if it works out.[/quote]
Those are some sweet roman candle launch tubes up front.
There certainly is a lack of triangles in that general area.
[quote=jimmythefly][quote=Straws]
One major problem with the bullitt linkage is it has a tendency to flip the fork around backwards. It is super difficult to describe so if I can remember I’ll recreate it at work tomorrow and take a picture. To be fair though I don’t know how one would fix it. [/quote]
I believe the term is “over-center”. There should be a stop to prevent the fork from turning that far. I be it’s exacerbated by the effects of steering geometry, lean, and weight.
A bungee or spring on the steering arm or fork somewhere so that when you get close to that state, it pulls it to the correct direction might help?[/quote]
Omniums have the same problem and are solved with a stop welded onto the frame. The issue with the bullitt or any ‘nose up’ style of low-bed cargo bike is there isn’t a great place to put in a stop for the fork crown. Bullitt has been recently pushing the use of a steering damper which I suspect is their solution but they try to sell the damper by saying it helps control steering under heavy load.
The best part is the SLX M7000 group on a Schwinn Crisscross.
Yeah, I’m actually curious to try one out and see if that works. It sounds like there’s dual cables for redundancy, and possibly adjustable:
[quote] The answer is in a unique steering mechanism guided by four barrel-adjustable cables, like what you might find on a mechanical brake. It responds similarly to a regular bike, and gives you a lot more space for cargo. You can even adjust how responsive you want your steering to feel.
[/quote]
Metrofiets and Cetma are two others I can think of.
[quote=schultzor]Yeah, I’m actually curious to try one out and see if that works. It sounds like there’s dual cables for redundancy, and possibly adjustable:
[quote] The answer is in a unique steering mechanism guided by four barrel-adjustable cables, like what you might find on a mechanical brake. It responds similarly to a regular bike, and gives you a lot more space for cargo. You can even adjust how responsive you want your steering to feel.
[/quote][/quote]
Frances Smallhaul has been using cable steering for a number of years.
I always wondered about hydraulic steering, seems like you could get great design flexibility and precision. Downside might be weight I’m not sure how small/light steering hydraulics components get.
[quote=Straws][quote=jimmythefly][quote=Straws]
One major problem with the bullitt linkage is it has a tendency to flip the fork around backwards. It is super difficult to describe so if I can remember I’ll recreate it at work tomorrow and take a picture. To be fair though I don’t know how one would fix it. [/quote]
I believe the term is “over-center”. There should be a stop to prevent the fork from turning that far. I be it’s exacerbated by the effects of steering geometry, lean, and weight.
A bungee or spring on the steering arm or fork somewhere so that when you get close to that state, it pulls it to the correct direction might help?[/quote]
Omniums have the same problem and are solved with a stop welded onto the frame. The issue with the bullitt or any ‘nose up’ style of low-bed cargo bike is there isn’t a great place to put in a stop for the fork crown. Bullitt has been recently pushing the use of a steering damper which I suspect is their solution but they try to sell the damper by saying it helps control steering under heavy load.[/quote]
Would something like this work?
holy fuck. Yes it would. That is god damn perfect. Although to be fair I have no idea how long something like that would last under my company’s use, shit breaks so god damn fast. We bleed brakes almost monthly. We use metal brake pads because organics burn out in under a week.
Anyway, I took like a million photos today describing the problems with the linkage on both omniums and bullits. I might still post them tomorrow but they’re so fucking huge I have to resize them.
Xtracycle is putting out some new cargo solutions, this one looks particularly good:
Earlier in this thread, I was considering getting a cycletruck conversion kit for my Edgerunner, now I’m thinking I may just use the Evo Brooklyn handlebar basket. I’m pretty confident I’m not going to need to haul anything heavy on the front of the bike, but for small things, it might be handy.
My desire for a sidecar has been banked a bit by watching the video they provide:
[youtube]N7LIYUyZ2YM[/youtube]
It’s clever to use quill stems, but the whole thing seems like a zany kludge I’d come up with, more than a finished product. I like the “raided the parts bin at the bike co-op” vibe, though. The whole company feels like a few people very earnestly exploring how to make longtails work well, which I really appreciate.
And in general, I’m really liking riding my Edgerunner, now that I’ve gotten the Yepp kid seat off of it. It’s quickly replacing my Crosscheck as my go-to commuter bike.
having ridden a bike with a sidecar…yeah no. I wouldn’t trust your average bicycle commuter to ride competently on it. They’re fucking weird.
Doubtless terrifying ride quality aside, did you watch the video?
It’s basically a commercial product that looks a hell of a lot like something the CHVNK666 folks would have cobbled together.
I mean, I kinda want one
Jfc I haven’t thought about chunk666 for a while
That one dude who split his head open zoobombing
Not into the sidecar. It doesnt even come with a platform!
Yeah I rode a sidecar at a bike punk event. Using quill stems to attach is actually pretty clever but definitely a freak bike idea.
Check this thing out. I’m not totally against it.
Oh wow, they made it out of Kickstarter and into the real world! The Argo conversion kit seemed like a good idea, I didn’t think they’d actually make it. Okay, that’s #9 on my list of bike projects, now.
Wait.
You could put an Argo front end on an Edgerunner, and also put two sidecars on the back. Holy hell the cargo capacity
it’d be like a cargo bike Voltron
[quote=johnasavoia]
Local dude is gearing up for a run of cargo bikes, and I’m gonna try to sell my xtracycle free radical and some other shit and get this done to the Research Design Coyote (current xtracycle frame)
Pretty psyched if it works out.[/quote]
So I got to take this for a ride last night, and the guy building them put me on the bed (he rides around with an ottoman on the front for people to sit on lmao). When my 260lbs were on the cargo bed, it felt great. He purposefully hit a bunch of bumps and small curbs and it seemed super burly. When I rode it (both unloaded and with him on the front) I was shocked by how different it feels to push the cargo rather than pull it like on my xtracycle. Weight is probably similar if not heavier but felt much easier. He’s redesigned the steering linkage to be more of a _/ shape rather than the V it is in these pictures, and he says he’s still iterating it before it goes into production. Also made it very clear that he and his buddy would be providing full warranty service going forward in that they’d fix it if it breaks, and change stuff if they make a huge breakthrough down the road, which is cool if true.
The only issue is I can’t fucking steer the thing! Its so wildly different from any other bike of any other geometry I’ve ever ridden. I spent about 5 minutes doing donuts in a field and felt like I was getting close to getting it, but wow its so different. Didn’t help that the reach is about half of what I prefer on my own bikes, they chopped like 4 inches off the front of that old schwinn. With me on the cargo bed he was bombing corners like it was nothing, so I feel confident that I just need more time on it. Hopefully I’ll scrape the money together and it will be all built in a couple months.
Anyone wanna buy that supple trek I got a few weeks ago?
