Following on from Delivery quad bikes in Bristol, I've been looking for cargo cycles with one fewer wheel. I've been somewhat surprised at the lack of cargo trikes in Bristol, but much of that is down to the collapse of Zedify which was operating with several trikes in the city. These machines were somewhat unwieldy with wide rear tires and a differential sharing drive between the two rear wheels. Unlike most of the quad cycles they had no suspension and could be quite unstable under braking as the rear wheels locked up. Some of the former Zedify employees have now set up their own cargo bike delivery company, Pedal Collective, a non-profit worker-owned cooperative.
The only other cargo trike I have managed to photograph in use in Bristol is the Urban Arrow Tender Pickup belonging to Emmaus Bristol. Like the Zedify trike this machine has two wide wheels to carry to load, but is more stable because the single wheel is at the back putting all the braking onto the pair of wheels at the front that steer independently from the load platform which is fixed to the rear frame. These machines are far too wide for many cycle tracks and so can often get held up in traffic.
One trike I was expecting to see in Bristol is the Christiania. A much lighter trike with a front load box with two fixed wheels. The steering is achieved by rotating the whole of the front of the trike. However, these machines are often used for static display, rather than as delivery cycles.
Perhaps the most famous Christiania to be seen on the streets of Bristol is Dom Whiting's trike which he uses for the Drum and Base on a Bike events. Read more about it at Love That Bass.
No comments:
Post a Comment