I mentioned a few interesting bikes at the last couple of North American Handmade Bicycle Shows. This year’s show, which opened today in Indianapolis, promises to be the biggest one yet. I really wish that I could make it to the show in person, but I will have to rely on internet coverage like most of you reading this. If you are one of the lucky ones at the show though, I would appreciate any pictures of interesting bikes and parts that you could send my way.
Fritz from Cyclelicious pointed out this Torker Cargo-T bike. The bike has a MSRP of $640, which seems like a pretty good deal to me. For a point of comparison, a Batavus Personal Delivery Bike, like the one pictured here, sells for about $1000 (if you area able to find one). As you can see in the photo, the Torker has a step through frame design with a center kickstand, chainguard, bell, and fenders. The hub is a Sturmey-Archer 3 speed and the bike has a rear coater brake and front roller brake. Another interesting feature is the headset lock, which you can see here on Cyclelicious. I haven’t seen much from Torker lately (other than unicycles), but I am glad to see this bike and some other utilitarian oriented designs on their website. In the interest of full disclosure, I will mention that I was pretty big Torker fan many years ago. The brand has certainly changed over the years, but I still have one of my old early 80s Torker BMX bikes hanging in the garage. And yeah, I’ll admit that I still like that old Torker signature dual top tube frame design just as much as I did when I was 12. Thinking back to those days, I can’t help but wonder how much air I could get launching off my kids’ ramp on the Cargo-T …but I digress… better move on.
You may remember Erik Nolan as one of the finalists in the recent commuter bike competition. I noticed one of his bikes on Mocoloco this week. You can see more from him here as well.
The Greenwheel, which promises to easily turn any bike into an electric bike, has been mentioned quite a bit on the web lately. If you haven’t yet seen it yet, take a look here.
I have mentioned Bob Shaver’s Patent Pending blog in a few old posts. Fritz from Cyclelicious recently let me know that Bob, and fellow patent attorney Steve Nipper, have a new Bicycle Technology and Patents blog. Good stuff; check it out.
Finally, I will point to this folding bike design, which I have noticed on a few design blogs recently. Sudents at RISD designed and built this bike, which you can see in a YouTube clip here.
Leave a Reply