Hasta La Gadget!

Want to trade your expensive car for a cheap bike in “These Troubled Economic Times”? Scared that you might not be able to make those monthly mega-mart runs and still carry home all that important junk food? Clearly a purpose-made cargo bike is out of the question, as it is a relatively expensive specialist machine. We have the answer: A hacked together cargo bike.

Flickr user Harvwoien took two old beaters and joined them together. The front bike is unmodified, other than the removal of the rear wheel. The rear bike has been more drastically chopped, and is now missing its down-tube. The end of the top-tube has been hammered flat and drilled and then bolted onto the back of the seat-post of the front bicycle, and its bottom-bracket bolted to the dropouts.

Lastly, an old derailleur has been used to guide the chain through the frankenframes, and a pair of wire baskets hung on the sides to carry cargo. Although rather scrappy, the solution is elegant in its simplicity, and while it doesn’t have the flat load-bed of some ready-made options, you do get the extra stability of a long wheelbase. Now, imagine this made with an old mixte or step-through frame, and the extra load-space it would give, and you have a rather splendid and cheap bike, ready for a shopping trip. Bonus: It’s so ugly, nobody would ever steal it.

Extra Bike [Flickr via Bike Hacks]

See Also:

• Bullitt Bike is Cool, Cargo-Carrying Cruiser
• Bucket Bike: 40 Gallon Cargo-Carrying Cycle
• Electra Delivery Bike is an Old-School Cargo-Carrier
• Euro-Style Cargo Bikes Made in America
• Photo: Incredible, Overloaded Cargo Bike