bicycles and beers

TLC continues our unofficial support for local invention from two McMaster engineering students: vote for the Crosstown Trailer in this international competition: http://www.jamesdysonaward.org/

Watch it in action, Canadian style!

carrier wave

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Helping cyclists carry the load TheSpec.com - Local - Helping cyclists carry the load

Mac students win design award

Rob Faulkner, The Hamilton Spectator
(Feb 10, 2009)

Raised in Toronto, Lindsey Kettel was no stranger to cycling: The fifth-year McMaster student says bikes outnumbered people at her house.

So, when a McMaster industrial design course asked students to examine ways to improve the grocery-carrying experience for people without cars, she got into gear ... with two wheels and a dream.

"One thing I noticed is a problem with unplanned stops," Kettel says of cycling. She recruited fellow fifth-year mechanical engineering and management student Cory Minkhorst, of Milton, to turn her idea into a prototype.

They created an award-winning collapsible carrier for commuter cyclists -- a type of trailer with soft sides that folds so well that it packs as tight as a close-fitting rear bike pannier. For a demo, they put it on Kettel's mom's 25-year-old bike.

And last weekend, the 22-year-olds took first-place in the innovative design category at the Ontario Engineering Competition at the University of Guelph. It saw about 200 competitors from 15 universities.

They won $3,500 and a chance to go to the Canadian Engineering Competition March 5-8 at the University of New Brunswick.

Kettel and Minkhorst did their research and saw that lots of fixed trailers existed, like the ones rented on campus. But none folded away with such a small profile that a cyclist would keep it on a commuter bike, they say.

Large packs of toilet paper, or cases of beer, are hard to haul in backpacks or bike panniers. Their carrier -- which has a name they can't reveal as it nears copyright protection -- fits two cases of beer.

The pair, who have had people suggest they get on the CBC entrepreneurial TV show Dragons' Den, are still refining their carrier. First up, they may create a whole new prototype for the national contest.

By April, they will submit it as a thesis project at McMaster. And as they both anticipate spring graduation, they are toying with the idea of turning the carrier into cash.

Some of the Guelph engineering contest sponsors were informally interested in funding their work, but the duo plan improvements.

The prototype cost $160 to make with some donated materials. A better cinch-sack, bolts, a bit of carbon fibre and more, with manufacturing efficiencies, may cut it to $125. It'll sell for about $300.

"That's actually at the lower end of the range of products like this," says Minkhorst, noting that their engineering contest pitch this weekend had more commerce than most. "This project really is a great thing, to combine both parts of our degree."

rfaulkner@thespec.com

905-526-2468

water cycles

Continuing the TRAILER PARK theme of bicycle trailers, here is the flatbed construction designed by John Milton for the time he was a contractor doing house renos, all without a motor vehicle - John handed it off to me for use as a canoe trailer when he switched careers, and it served me well until a break in the main beam finally rendered it out of service.

The combination garnered lots of looks as I made my way down the streets to the nearest river access, and some approving comments when I pulled into the beer store on the way home...

In practical terms, it is much easier and less messy to attach the canoe to the trailer than it is to tie on to a car rooftop - no climbing under the car on greasy pavement to secure the ropes, less lifting, and you can just toss your paddles, lifejackets and other gear in the canoe and go. Talk about efficiency!

These days I've taken to walking the canoe the three kilometers using portage wheels, so I don't even have to worry about my bicycle being left unattended at river's edge. The strap on wheels fold up and fit in the canoe so you can leave no trace of your journey behind.

(Send your bike-trailer photos and comments to tlchamilton@gmail.com)

haulin'

This Cargo Cart is a versatile little puppy: you can attach it to the seatpost of your bicycle with a clip on the handle, or use it as a hand cart - it can haul a lot, and a bungee chord can add some stuff to the top on the lid. I use this regularly to carry 40 pounds of water from an artesian well in the Dundas Valley, but it can do groceries, trips to the beer store, and even stand-in as a make-shift wheel-barrow to carry soil.


It's an all terrain vehicle for the human powered. Beats a bundle buggy in mud anyday. Snow banks crumble under the 20 inch bicycle tires. I borrow mine from Mac Green at McMaster. I'm not sure where they ordered them from, but I found this Canadian site that makes them here.

trailer park

I wouldn't be able to do as much as I can without my bike trailer. When the kids were small, it was them, diaper bags, and groceries, some library material.

For a while the two oldest would sing loudly as we pedaled through residential streets "hang down your head, Tom Dooley, hang down your head and cry..."

Now they are too big to fit in the trailer, riding their own bicycles instead, but I still use the trailer for jobs moving things. Still need groceries, library material, and things like beer, or any shopping that i can fit in, strap on and pedal up hills.

I got this one used for $400 about eight years ago, making it my second trailer.
It folds down flat in seconds, and I hang it at the bottom of the basement stairs from a couple hardware hooks in the ceiling.

Investing a little money in bike gear can make being car free that much more possible. With three kids, my wife and I have managed quite well, incorporating a variety of means to accomplish daily tasks: pubic transit, bikes, and walking mean only occasionally needing use of an automobile.

Trailers are versatile and indispensable for expanding your options when it comes to doing things without using a car.

There is a going to be a "Trailer Park" at the September 6 Locke Street Festival to showcase human power for moving people and things. Get your bungee chords, your panniers, your milk crates, and your trailers out and come compare notes.