Question Bike shopping cart ideas
- Thread starter TheTexasRoadrunner
- Start date
The Toecutter
The Patron Saint of Filth
What is it you're trying to do with this idea?
Shopping carts have very small wheels and no suspension, so if you want to travel at anything above walking speed, you will have to do away with the small castor wheel system that shopping carts use.
Shopping carts have very small wheels and no suspension, so if you want to travel at anything above walking speed, you will have to do away with the small castor wheel system that shopping carts use.
The Toecutter
The Patron Saint of Filth
The cheapest thing that might be similar to a shopping cart, assuming the intended function is storage space, would be to haul a trailer behind your bike. You can find used bike trailers for cheap over the internet, and could even build a shelter out of it if it has the right design/materials/layout for the task.
The above trailer made use of corrugated plastic, the same material used for election signs. You can ask city governments if they have any election signs they're about to throw in the trash and take them off their hands for free, and now you have free build material.
If that isn't appealing or viable, you could get an inexpensive used adult tricycle with one wheel up front and two in the back, and put a very large basket in the rear and/or front to store stuff.
If you literally are going to take a shopping cart and cut pieces of it apart to weld to a bicycle or tricycle, you will have your work cut out for you. The only useful thing in the shopping cart, IMO, would be the metal basket that all the groceries fit in. Making that work with a normal bicycle, regardless of what layout you choose, will require lots of planning and custom fabrication..
If you did a delta trike configuration with 2 wheels back and one front, you will need a front wheel drive setup similar to many recumbent bikes, making your cost go up, unless you only want only one of the rear wheels driven, and are willing to fabricate custom axles to make it work, or alternatively, can source an already built adult delta trike with rear drive. saving you most of the effort
A two wheeled version of this vehicle can be done, but it will be a pain in the ass to balance, especially during braking, and to keep upright when hauling a heavy load. And you will need to have idlers/pulleys for the chainline to maintain tension, which will require custom fabrication and the purchase of additional chain.
You will NOT be able to use shopping cart wheels for either of these setups unless you want a pothole to cause you to tip over and wreck.
If you scrounge for all the parts and can actually find them for free, and can do your own welding/fabrication, it's going to take at least 50 hours of work to put it together.
The above trailer made use of corrugated plastic, the same material used for election signs. You can ask city governments if they have any election signs they're about to throw in the trash and take them off their hands for free, and now you have free build material.
If that isn't appealing or viable, you could get an inexpensive used adult tricycle with one wheel up front and two in the back, and put a very large basket in the rear and/or front to store stuff.
If you literally are going to take a shopping cart and cut pieces of it apart to weld to a bicycle or tricycle, you will have your work cut out for you. The only useful thing in the shopping cart, IMO, would be the metal basket that all the groceries fit in. Making that work with a normal bicycle, regardless of what layout you choose, will require lots of planning and custom fabrication..
If you did a delta trike configuration with 2 wheels back and one front, you will need a front wheel drive setup similar to many recumbent bikes, making your cost go up, unless you only want only one of the rear wheels driven, and are willing to fabricate custom axles to make it work, or alternatively, can source an already built adult delta trike with rear drive. saving you most of the effort
A two wheeled version of this vehicle can be done, but it will be a pain in the ass to balance, especially during braking, and to keep upright when hauling a heavy load. And you will need to have idlers/pulleys for the chainline to maintain tension, which will require custom fabrication and the purchase of additional chain.
You will NOT be able to use shopping cart wheels for either of these setups unless you want a pothole to cause you to tip over and wreck.
If you scrounge for all the parts and can actually find them for free, and can do your own welding/fabrication, it's going to take at least 50 hours of work to put it together.
CluelessHero
Well-known member
check this guy out on youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@tonyhoar1/featured
he has 9 videos on how to make a bike and shopping cart combo
hope this helps you , and good luck in your journeys !
That nomad bike trailer is down right inspiring. I would love to have one of those. $150? That's just stupid great for what you are getting. I wonder if I am handy enough to tackle something like that, lol? Still at 35 lbs. empty, I wonder what the loaded final weight is? But I really like this idea.
The Toecutter
The Patron Saint of Filth
The value proposition increases greatly when you consider that solar panels and a small battery pack can be added to power LED lights inside, as well as a phone charger and an electric blanket. Or if the bike is an ebike, the battery inside the trailer can also act as an auxiliary battery, and the solar panels could allow a decent travel distance per day without ever needing grid electricity.
I plan to build one when I get the time. I built an electric "bicycle" that would be able to haul such a rig("bicycle" in quotes because it's really a recumbent three-wheeled pedal-electric hybrid microcar that is perfectly functional as a bicycle for legal purposes, and will soon be capable of reaching over 100 mph and accelerating faster than most new cars with the motor in use). Those two put together would allow for a hell of a bike touring setup, and allow one to get around long distances at car-like speeds for next to free, towing your shelter space with you.
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