Creative cargo bike builder

Paul Larsen of Toronto makes some interesting cargo bikes in his spare time. While Larsen's Toronto-based business, Invodane, focuses on creative engineering solutions for large-scale industrial projects, he's also been dabbling with making the cargo bikes that he grew up with in Denmark. Since moving to Canada he has not seen such a large amount of interest as there is this year. On a lazy Sunday I decided to go see Larsen's collection of bikes.

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Larsen proudly showed off his collection that included his own creations and imported cargo bikes and trikes from Europe. As I arrived he was just handing off the retrofitted cargo bike that a customer was just picking up for his two kids, which included two kid seats that are secured firmly to the cargo bay of the bike. We then proceeded to try out his custom large flat bed cargo trike and followed up with a couple cargo trikes imported from Denmark and a Bullitt cargo bike, a very light, narrow and long two-wheeled cargo bike.

The easiest to maneouvre were the two-wheelers since the loads were quite low and I could easily lean into turns. People seem to think that trikes are inherently stable since they have three wheels but they don't seem to realize that most roads are sloped which means you are always fighting against the lean of the trike whether going straight or turning corners. There has been some improvement with the fancier trikes made by companies such as Nihola, which have front wheels which swivel independently, much like those of a car.

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Unfortunately, Larsen is only producing cargo bikes as a hobby. He's doing this, I imagine, simply for the love of the bikes and making people happy because he isn't able to pay for his own labour. That means he's willing but don't expect him to meet any deadlines. It would take some work to make this a commercially-viable bike, unlike what other cargo bike makers are pumping out. Larsen is still a good place to go if you want a custom configuration or if you want something creative.

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herb : 15 years 10 months ago
Tags: cargobikes, design

Igor Kenk as the Bicycle Thief: the graphic novel

Sat, 08/02/2008 - 16:25 - Igor Kenk's Bicycle Clinic - Owner finally busted after many years.<br /> More than 3000 bicycles found in caches around Toronto, the alleged bike theft capital of the world. cnIgor Kenk's Bicycle Clinic - DSCN9999 ep
16 years ago ago by Eric Parker.

(Photo: ericparker)

Igor Kenk, major Toronto bike thief and drug dealer, will be the subject of a graphic novel and a documentary by Richard Poplak:

Kenk, owner of the shop Bicycle Clinic, was arrested and charged in July 2008 with theft, attempted theft, possession of stolen property and possession of burglar tools. Later, police displayed nearly 3,000 bikes that were found across the city, hidden in garages, warehouses and homes.

I think they missed out how he was charged with a number of drug charges. Those are the ones that probably made him some money and allowed him to just sit on thousands of bikes, waiting for the apocalypse to arrive.

"If you were a customer you learned pretty quickly that this was a hard capitalist, with some hard socialist, what's mine is yours, what's yours is yours type mentality," Poplak said.

Kenk was born in Yugoslavia, which is now know as Slovenia. Once a police officer, he moved to Toronto in February 1988.

He set up his bicycle shop in 1992 and moved three years later to 927 Queen St. West location where it remained until his arrest.

Customers - and victims - also learned that he was mostly out of his mind, cramming his tiny shop with bikes. One guy told me he had to climb over bikes piled up like they were stairs to get from one end of the shop to the other. I believe one of the more interesting features of Igor, was not just that he was a "capitalist" and a criminal, but that he was also a compulsive hoarder. How else to explain that he accumulated so many bikes with no apparent plan for their disposal or sale other than to wait for an apocalypse presumably far off in the future?

herb : 15 years 10 months ago
Tags: bike theft, police

Bixi versus bike rental

(Photo: Jay the Commie)

A bike rental store owner is upset with Bixi in Montreal, claiming that Bixi, the public bike sharing service, is killing his business.

Does he have a case? Or is he full of it?

He warned the city in April 2008 that the Bixi project, launched six weeks ago and slated to expand to 400 stands housing 5,000 bikes by next month, could wreak havoc on private shops. Yet the city placed a station 40 metres from his storefront. When he complained, it was moved two blocks east.

How nice of Bixi. They were under no obligation to move the station just to reduce competition with his shop. You don't see Starbucks agreeing to move just because they are competition for the local coffeeshop. What if people actually want to drop off or pick up Bixi bikes in the area? They don't deserve to?

Bixis are meant for short hops by commuters, not tourists on a half-day jaunt, Giroux said.

So, you're proposing to outlaw tourists from using it?

The city responded to his complaints by putting notices on stations that say the bikes are intended only for short-term use, providing improved explanations of the system's pricing structure ($5 for the first half-hour, but prices jump with time, so a full day costs about $80, compared with $25 at Ça Roule), and slapped the name of his business on nearby stands - all to little effect, Giroux says.

Okay, it's not outlawing tourists but what else can Bixi do?

"I'm convinced the city is just trying to make money," he said. "I'm paying $5,000 a year to them in taxes and they install 60 bikes around me. It's unacceptable."

First, the citizens are actually the "owners" of the city, so big deal if it's trying to make money. Usually people complain that cities are just losing money, and for once we come across a program that will actually break even within three years. Second, Bixi is actually a company that is required to be financially sustainable and won't be reliant on tax dollars. Third, and you're not trying to make money, Giroux? Good feelings? I thought not. Forth, even if Bixi was subsidized by the public sphere how is that bad? Public transit gets lots of subsidies. Our highways get even more subsidies. But somehow Bixi and cycling isn't deserving even though they're the most egalitarian of all modes of transportation.

To be fair, I can understand the fear and anger of losing a business and a way of life, but the city shouldn't have to go out of its way to ensure the survival of his business in its current form. If bike rentals is no longer working, maybe find something else to sell

herb : 15 years 10 months ago
Tags: bike sharing, rental