Combine a derelict shopping cart with a bicycle for a ride with ample cargo capacity. This is a nice way to save a shopping cart and a bike that might otherwise end up in a landfill. It is quite the head turner but not a good corner turner.
Any mention of this project must provide a link to www.zieak.com with credit to Ryan McFarland.
Any mention of this project must provide a link to www.zieak.com with credit to Ryan McFarland.
Step 1: Gather materials
You will need:
A bicycle
Shopping cart
Socket set
Hex key set
Dremel tool
Utility knife
Zip ties
Screwdriver
A note on shopping carts: Please don't steal them. This one happened to be floating around our downtown area for over a week before I grabbed it. The bicycle is almost ten years old and still works fine but I just bought the bike shop in town so suddenly have access to plenty of cycling materials.
A bicycle
Shopping cart
Socket set
Hex key set
Dremel tool
Utility knife
Zip ties
Screwdriver
A note on shopping carts: Please don't steal them. This one happened to be floating around our downtown area for over a week before I grabbed it. The bicycle is almost ten years old and still works fine but I just bought the bike shop in town so suddenly have access to plenty of cycling materials.
Step 2: Remove the handlebars and shopping cart handle
Use the allen key set (probably number 6) to loosen the stem bolts on the bicycle. Use the socket set to remove the shopping cart handle. Ideally the diameter of the cart handle is close to the handlebar center. As you can see i was able to just bolt the handle right in as a replacement. Remove the front wheel. You also can remove the front brake.
Step 3: Install the brakes
In order to attach the brake i had to cut off the plastic handle. I used a rotary tool to cut a line down to the metal and then used a chisel and utility knife to peel back and cut off the plastic handle. I then used a screwdriver to slightly pry open the brake lever and gear shifter enough to slide it on. I also slid the handle grip on since the end had already been cut off for the bar ends.
Step 4: Stabilize the forks
The bike needs to articulate a little for the irregularities in the road. Leaving the forks hanging free makes the bike prone to leaning over when you turn. Just using a few zip ties to connect each fork to the shopping cart frame helps stabilize the bike and prevents it from falling over. I would like to find a more permanent solution. It needs to allow the fork to swing forward and back but prevent too much side to side sway.
Step 5: Test ride
The front brake lever won't be useful unless the shifter is attached to it. I will modify the left handlebar for the shifter when i find one without a brake lever attached.
On test rides it does not corner well. Steering is very wide turns and sometimes the cart teeters on two of the wheels on one side. I'll definitely be playing around with the details. This will make a great rig to make trips to the post office for the bike shop. The cart bike will be a great addition to our town parades.
Please note that this is not the first cart bike. See some of my inspiration here and here.
On test rides it does not corner well. Steering is very wide turns and sometimes the cart teeters on two of the wheels on one side. I'll definitely be playing around with the details. This will make a great rig to make trips to the post office for the bike shop. The cart bike will be a great addition to our town parades.
Please note that this is not the first cart bike. See some of my inspiration here and here.
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Seems to me you are comprimising the ridability of the bike and your safety by using the shopping trolley on the front end. If the basket is what you want then wouldn't it be safer to hack the unroadworthy trolley wheels and frame off, get a short axle and put some bicycle wheels (or lightweight bigger diameter wheels) onto the basket, then fashion a tube hitch and use it as a bicycle trailer?
Probem with this design is that shopping trolleys are relatively heavy, and only designed for short trips on smoothish surfaces. For anything to do with bikes you want something as lightweight as possible.
Years ago, when people still returned shopping carts back to the front of the store, I was doing just that, and because I was in a hurry, I was moving at a pretty good trot, and I hit a nicely cut little trench cut into the pavement of the parking lot, filled with asphalt to a couple of inches below the rest of the pavement. The handle of the cart got rammed back into my stomach, pinning my hands to my stomach, and I went head first into the cart as it went end over end with me in it.
Having entertained my friends during my misspent youth by taking head-first tumbles down staircases and walking away as if nothing happened, I was well prepared for the shopping-cart mishap, and didn't get hurt, but for those without specialized skills for rolling around on pavement, this sort of thing could be painful, especially with the higher speed of a bicycle.
This bike requires more alertness to conditions than most, and while it might be OK for short trips, ti wouldn't be good for commuting. Safety-wise, this project has "Don't try this at home" written all over it. But other-wise, it shows some great, um, imagination.
@cubesquaredtothe1 there are classes, but I think a lot of people just learn. I took a couple Aikido classes a while back, and am comfortable with my ability to roll on pavement from a standing position.
You could put just a single larger wheel under the cart, maybe like from a wheel barrow with bolt on brackets.
Cool idea.
on many shopping carts the wheels are real cheap and squeak a lot. maybe theirs a way to upgrade the wheels with some sort of small bike or training wheel
lets settle some disputes here,
don't go to a store and take their brand new shopping carts. Go inside and request to speak to the owner or a manager and ask if they have any older shopping carts that they can sell or give you or a way to acquire one. Some may give you a few to choose from while others will say no. There is probably one out stuck in a lake, rusting. Go and help your community and pull it out and put it to use! If those aren't options and there isn't a dump near you, weld/make one! I am sure you can learn a new skill, to weld! it would probably be lots of tacking, but a good way to practice! or maybe you are confident in your lashing abilities and the strength of bamboo and make one that way. Maybe you make one out of composite material! the simplest way would be to form it to the shape you want or to attach the sheets to form a box and drill holes in it. There are so many alternatives!
and as to him with no helmet and flip flops, it isn't the safest thing but there is no reason to argue about it.
also it would be very innovative to attach the handle of the cart to a sets of wheels with a rod to make them turn! like how go carts turn.
I don´t think the first comment was inappropriate.
I thin kyou need a new username, because obviously you arn't "easily amused".
also i would weld the back flap on the cart closed and remove the child seat. and for a more permanent fixture to the forks maybe a metal rod secured through some holes drilled in the carts frame and locked on with some nuts or bent around the cart frame and welded on?