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Christoph Fahle
May 3, 2012

An Armchair on a Bike?

Cargo bikes are a new form of bike transport. Bikes are already commonly used as a perfect environmental-friendly way of transporting yourself. You burn fat, stay healthy, save money, never get stuck in a traffic jam, etc. But what if you are not alone, but accompanied by a cozy armchair for your apartment? Then you have to ask one of your friends for a lift or rent a car and put your armchair into the trunk, right? Because it`s impossible to transport it through half of the city by bike. Just impossible. Sure?

If you upgrade your bike, and build a cargo area made out of wood or steel, an armchair would actually be no big deal. The coolest cargo bikes can carry a maximum of 150 kilograms, however with so much load, biking gets really heavy. With 75 - 100 kilo grams though you are perfectly ok.

You can obviously buy such a bike, nicely made by someone else. But come on, you have 2 hands? Then you can build it yourself! If you are brave and creative, you may make your own cargo bike out of elements which were stored in your basement during last couple of centuries, waiting for their “star hour” to come. If you are brave, but feel that your creativity needs to be supported by some practical skills which are missing, you can start out with following the instructions, for example make your own “Long John”, using this link http://www.werkstatt-lastenrad.de/index.php?title=Fahrao_Bicycles_1991 .

But if you feel a need for personal communication, someone who can advise you which tools to use, where to get the materials, how to solve this or that constructing problem, there are cool people called “Werkstatt Lastenrad”. They are obviously very welcome at betahaus` Open Design City and were working there on their new “Long-André” last weekend. This Saturday they will be back and ready to show you how to make your own cargo bike and make it with you. To know more about the event, follow the link http://betahaus.de/event/open-bike-hacking-2/2012-05-05/

Click here for more announcements and events at the 'haus!