I was looking at Goeland bikes and trailers on EBykr, and saw an ad for the Zigo bike stroller/bike bike. At first I was irritated by the fit, stylish, child-portaging package. I don’t like strollers, and I’m not (that) fit or (all that) stylish. But I am fascinated by the concept and the technology. I think it’s a cool design, and I’d like to see one in person.
You can convert the Zigo from a child-truck trike, to a separated jogging stroller and regular (ish) bike. It seems very useful and cool, if you don’t already have a bike to hang a Bobike seat on. My kid is done with the “kid as cargo” stage of his life, but a modular utility bike would be fantastic. A more open-ended setup, or set of modules that extend the function beyond child-carrying would really put this over the top.
During and after your five years of kid use, it would be fantastic to use the bike for local errands that might take a car, otherwise.
Garden cart
Ride to the nursery for bags of soil, starts, etc. Maybe even tools? Use the detachable part as a garden cart when you get home. You could use it for runs to the U-pick vegetable farm in canning season, and roll or ride right into the fields.
- Fatter caster tires, so it will roll in the dirt and grass
- Solid plastic tray bottom for carrying soil
- Not too deep, so you won’t overload it
Shopping
A grocery hauler you can use in the store as a shopping cart. Also gives you a shopping cart at the farmers market. You have the advantage of in-store smugness: people would know you biked to shop, even if they didn’t see you in the parking lot.
- Covered, for shopping on rainy days
- Possibly with a fold-down top “shelf” for double-deckering light items
- Use the detachable ‘cart’ part in the store, and reload it after checkout.
Delivery
Bare bones, but with an awning that could unfold into a tarp for protecting larger loads. Attachment points for dividers or bins, depending on what you deliver. Mailmen could use them, if they had a lower storage and upper ‘next deliveries’ area. Square bottom footprint for square boxes.
Market Stall / Pushcart
My friends Mitch and Ari have a fantastic farmers market stall setup with a custom rickshaw and a trailer. They built these things so they could ride to the farmers market, and pop everything open into a stall. From the customer side, they don’t even look like bikes.
Something like their setup would be cool (and niche-y): hard shell boxes with good storage that fold out extra display shelves, and allow for an awning or umbrella to be raised. You could even detach the bike and use it as a pedestrian-powered pushcart.
Attach a power-takeoff to the drivetrain and make smoothies to sell from your little stand…
Go check out the Zigo blog to see how they work for real people: http://blog.myzigo.com/
