A Cargo Fork

Intro: A Cargo Fork

I had this bike for running errands around the city but you can only carry so much in a backpack. Now it can carry a large box and a backpack. No more sweaty back!

Some of the steps on here are a bit hard to follow so feel free to watch the video to get a better gist of how it all came together: check out the ol' youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijfmEkNPAsU

STEP 1: Finding the Location of the New Axis.

It depends on the fork but I tried to achieve a similar rake to the original fork so that I would handle as natural as possible

STEP 2: Cutting Up the Spare Forks

I cut up the spare forks to achieve the length that I needed to reach to axel of the 20" rim, but making sure the top bar remained parallel to the ground.

STEP 3: Jig for Incorporating the Rack Into the Fork.

I made a jig that used the brake pins to keep everything in place while supporting the main crossbar or the rack.

STEP 4: Attaching the Rest of the Rack.

-With a digital level I got the angle that bed of the rack needed to be cut to, then I cut the pieces accordingly.

-Once I had the bed of the rack welded up, I tack welded it in place and use the level to make sure it was parallel to the ground before continuing to weld it on.

-When solid I removed the fork/rack from the bike to continue the welding the underside.

STEP 5: Cargo Bed Supports

I hacked up another found fork, this one from an old road bike, which was nice because they are so thin and strong. As you can see they made for great supports, I did not use any measurements here I just put them far enough down the fork so they would not interfere with the V-brakes that would go in later.

STEP 6: Cleaning Up the Welds

Just cleaned up those welds, nuff said.

Not shown here: I welded in little caps to the open ends of the square bar.

STEP 7: Adding Brake Pins

-I cut two brake pins off the original fork so that I could move them down the fork to accommodate the 20" wheel.

-In order to get this right, I built a hardwood jig to hold the pins at the right distance and angle. This was simple to make. I just measured the distance of the pins on original fork (centre to centre) and drilled two hole in the hardwood using that measurement. Definitely use a drill press for this.

-To get the location that the brake pins should be welded: install the wheel and use the actual brake and layout it out to make sure they are not too high or too low on the fork.

-Then I just welded that biz

STEP 8: Painting!

I had fun with this one! As you can see!

Honestly I would advise from using neon paint from home depot its not very durable. Graffiti stores have much more durable bright colours if that is what you are looking for.

STEP 9: Install That Thang!

-Install that thang and add those brakes, I chose V-brakes because they I have always enjoyed how simple and strong they are.

-Then get those handle bars on there and start hauling!

I built this rack so it perfectly holds a milk crate which I strap on with ski straps, (THE MOST HANDY STRAPS EVER, at least for biking). They are super easy to take on and off.

Comments

[kjlpdx]

Your well being depends on those fork welds. Even if they didn’t fail I can foresee the square tubing walls bending from the stress eventually. I witnessed this on my trailer where I had tubing to extend the height of the sides. Road vibration eventually made the rectangular cross sectional shape become more oval.

[JerseyHat]

I like this, too, and suspect that the weight over the wheel affects the steering less than people here think. I grew up sitting on a seat attached in front of the handlebars of my father's three speed "English racer". Nicely done.

[Galt]

Having toured with front and rear panniers, along with a rear cargo rack, I love the lower center of gravity that this would provide, but with a few caveats. First, the added weight on the steering geometry doesn't help in making evasive maneuvers (potholes, opening car doors, etc.) in the city, and on rougher terrain I'm sure it would be extremely wearing to ride for long. That said, for urban living short jaunts to the store, it sure beats walking or bringing home broken eggs in a backpack (been there too). Of course the ultimate stable load hauler would be a trike, but that would be death on a stick in most cities.

Any thoughts on keeping the original front wheel diameter and switching out the rear for a smaller profile. Advantages more weight over your drive wheel without as seriously effecting steering geometry, plus I would think you could make it even wider overall, as well as longer. Gearing would obviously have to be worked out, but I'm just spit-ballin', recalling how many times my girl and I used to have to walk home with groceries and would have killed for something like this.

Great Instructable overall. Not picking nits, I just look at everything with an eye toward improving on others' ideas. Saves me lots of brain work when folks like yu do the heavy lifting. :)

[Geek In Training]

What is old is new again. Very popular type bike during 1942-1945 time. Not stylish but very useful. Wish I had one of them when I had my paper route.

[charlessenf-gm]

Really cool idea, nice execution, too. Physics & Geometry has me asking "How do it steer w/heavy load? With shifting load?"

[DDW_OR]

add a fender to stop mud and gunk

[Sethsg]

very cool instructible. I have a question what type of camera are you using.

[Uncle Kudzu]

Nice work! Great idea to scale it to the ubiquitous and handy milk crate.
Thanks for sharing!