7PM

Cargo Bike Design Senior Thesis Project Zhiyu Cheng

design intent

With the rapid development of automobile and the road system in North America, bicycle is gradually being displaced as a transportation. But people with love in bicycle has never stopped pedaling. From this research I will start look into experiences as a cyclist in urban area; learn what they love about riding a bike and what the problems they met, and then try to bring them a better experience accordingly.

research direction mindmap I started with a mindmap about the opportunities of bike commuters based on my own experiences and assumptions. It offers me a guideine for constructioning my research, framing insights. I found things to carry is the aspect has the most opportunities, and it is related to many other aeras that may affect the biking experience.

primary research general observation After my overall research direction was chosen, I did some random observation about the bike commuters on the street. I found a lot of people are carring their belongings in uncomfortable or inappropriate ways. I also found many people ride their bike to grocery shopping, which was unexpected as I started my research. And the large amount of bags and groceries make it even harder ride a bike. Following are pictures I took during the observation showing some typical problems people met while they carring with bike.

In order to avoid the belongings they have affect the riding, some people start to jam all their belongings in to their backpacks. This will result hug and heavy backpacks that give pressure to their back and shoulder.

After a grocery shopping, most commonly people will hang plastic bags on their arm or the handle bar. The plastic bags will keep swinging around while they are riding, and hiting their bike and leg. It could even be dangerous if the bags jamed into the wheel.

There could be circumstance that a rider has mutiple bags with them while they are riding.

People will eventually have bags all around their back and the bike.

Bike rests in public places could be crowd. Limited space make it hard for people to bring their bike in and out of the racks.

primary research primary interview I started my interview with some people in a co-op bike shop. It gave me a chance to learn details about how cyclist manage to carry their belongs while commuting with bike. The interviews also gave me ideas about how cyclist think about commuting and carring with bicycles. Following are notes of two repersentative interviews that may rich my design opportunities.

Justin – volunteers at co-op bike shop

“Riding is the time for me to clear my mind.”

• • • • •

He rides almost everyday; His work place is about 2.5 miles from home; Laptop and grocery are the trickiest things for him to carry He rides in rain and snow; He keeps his bike in his office, in the building, or aside bike rack on the street; • He rides road and track bike.

Cartek – a hard core cyclist

“Riding is always better than driving.”

• He does not have a car, and he rejects everything about car: car insurance, maintenance, tickets…; • He feels safer on the bike; • He rides everyday; • His work place is about 5 minutes from home; • He usually carries books and tools with him while riding; • He has a bag that attaches onto the rear carrier of his bike; • Grocery is the trickiest thing for him to carry; • He keeps riding while it’s snowing, since it’s not far.

primary research user group targeting As I moved on with my interview, I was able to get an idea about who are the people that may use bicycle to carry a good amount of belongings. Along with my survey result which shows that the top three purposes of riding are commute, hobby, and workout, I roughtly framed the user groups I will be designing for as following: • Those who enjoy bicycle riding • Those who favor bicycle than cars • Those who do not have access to cars

Amy – ride for over 20 years

is It’s exhilarating to travel around and “Riding move so fast with your own power! ”

• She had rid in From San Francisco, Chicago, and Columbus; • She would still ride in rain, and may ride in snow slowly if the condition allows to; • She rides to grocery, with a backpack. But she hurt her shoulder recently which does not allow he use backpack too much, so she switched to pannier bags that can clip on to her bike; • She feels bag of toilet paper is had to carry on bike since its too big and chunky; • She loves to work with gears, get hands and pants massy; • She loves to gear up her bike to make it useful; • This is her 3rd bike in Columbus; • Her bike usually stays in her office.

56%

commute

44%

hobby

15%

workout

8%

trevel

secondary research what are usually carried with bicycle?

I created survey to figure out what are frequently carried with bicycle by cyclists. Since grocery shopping is a common circumstance where cyclists may carry a large amount of belongs with bike, I also did survey about things people mostly purchased at a grocery store. Knowing what people would carry with their bike may help my future concept development. The result of 52 participants are showing below.

what are frequently carried with bicycle?

58%

drink

42%

laptop

31%

book

19%

cloth

10%

suitcase/handbag

what are mostly purchased at a grocery store 77%

Fruit

77%

vegetable

75%

bread

73%

milk

63%

egg

secondary research what are tricky to carry with bike?

A lot of the belongings are tricky for cyclist to carry while riding. With such belongs on their bike could increase the difficulty for cyclist to control their bike, make the bike lost balance, and eventually bring safty issue to them. Some survey and Interview results helped me to find out things that are hard for cyclist to carry with their bike, and belongings that may affect riding experiences.

Gabe – designer and cyclist

“Designers all love bicycles.”

• He had a lot of experiences going grocery shopping with bike • Anything that is longer than a yard is hard to carry while biking. Either extends out too long if he puts it in his backpack, or makes it hard to steering if ties it along the bike. Broom is a good example.

• Anything too bulky like toilet paper pack is tough, because there is not a good place on a bike to stabilize it.

• Anything too heavy like a bucket of food is tough. It’s going to affect that balance of the bike, makes it hard to steering, and hard to brake.

• Anything with light weight and big area like a poster is going to grab the wind.

• He rides a lot in snow. Once should not have because the visibility is awful.

• He have not own a car for about 6 years.

Survey - What is tricky to carry with bike?

drink

art supply

grocery

food

other

29.2%

18.8%

16.7%

12.5%

22.8%

market research what do people ride to commute?

There are mainly four types of bikes that people would be commuting with. Each of them are designed for certain purpose, varies in founction, and may fit people with different needs. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of them can help me define the direction of my concept development.

Urban bikes

Touring bikes

Road bikes

Touring bikes

capacity

capacity

capacity

capacity

comfort

comfort

comfort

comfort

handling

handling

handling

handling

speed

speed

speed

speed

weight

weight

weight

weight

are mostly single speed. Simple structure and less components make them reliable and easy to maintain. Average performance meets the needs of most bike commuters.

provide the largest capacity.

Durable structures and materials makes it last long enough. Best for those who enjoys traveling for longer distance with bike.

have the lightest weight and the best performance. Every part is designed to be fast. Only for those who never forget to enjoy the pleasure of speed.

can overcome all road conditions. They provide the best handling without provide compromise their speed too much. Very little effort is needed to control and enjoy the ride.

market research how do people carry with bike?

Knowing cyclists’ current hibits of carrying with bike offers me opportunities to improve their cargo experience based on what carriage system they are useing now, and what problems do they meet while riding with those product.

Messenger bags

Panner bags

capacity

capacity

capacity

capacity

mobility

mobility

mobility

mobility

protection

protection

protection

protection

are the mostly used solution to carry belongs while riding. It helps cyclists to carry their belongings along while they are riding as well as walking. But it has limitation on capacity and protection. It also gives too much pressure to the cyclists shoulder when the contents are too heavy.

are also commonly used to provide larger capacity than messenger bag or backpack.

They are usually cliped on each side of the rear carrier and can be removed and carried with the cyclist if necessary. But too much weight could bring the bike off balance.

Bike traliers

has the largest capacity. Some traliers even allows cyclists carry their children while riding.

However, a bike tralier extends the length of a bike. It takes more space and lowers the dexterity of bikeing. It makes the bike difficult to string.

Custom made solutions

includes Baskets, milk crate, trunk bags, and trays. Cyclist make their own carriage attachments based on their need and what they have.

But the function of these solutions may not be very comprehensive.

participatory research how do people distribute belongings?

In order to understand where on a bike are the parts people are comfortable with carrying their delongings, I setted up make tool session at a co-op bike shop with some cyclist. A hands-on building activity and a collage was designed to learn how do people distribute the volume of belongings on their bike. The reason behind how they distribute the volume could due to their riding habits, how they keep their balance, or how they avoid being obstructed by their belongs.

Volume Distribution of Belongings volume

position

persona Jeff Horseman Age: 32 years old Job: Mechanician Family Member: Wife and a 5-year-old daughter Hobby: Riding bicycle, model crafting Jeff is a cyclist. He enjoys go to places with bike, and he feels the open air and pedaling of biking it is always better than driving in a car. Jeff lives about 15-minutes-riding away form his workplace, so he mostly goes to work by bike. By commuting with bike, Jeff had save a significant amount of money that he can spend on his hobby.

Jeff usually goes to grocery store on his way back from work. He has two pannier bags that he can mount on the rear carrier of his bike, so that he can load his grocery.

When there comes a large load, he would use a birly trailer which he used to carry his daughter while riding. But the tralier could make the bike hard to control.

Jeff hopes he could have a cargo bike that can increase the carrying capacity based on his need without compromise his cycling experience in the same time. So that he can keeping commuting with bike and enjoy the fun of riding.

research summary conclusions • For those who enjoy bicycle riding, who favor bicycle than cars, or who don’t have access to cars, there is not a friendly solution for them to carry belongings under circumstances such as grocery shopping.

• Things that are difficult to carry with bike usually heavy, big, long, fragile, or in odd shape. And people do run into condition where they have to carry such thing while riding • Cyclists value their riding experience, and they would not like anyting affects that.

• Cyclists varies in the ways they riding, but their are habits they hardly change due to nature of bicycle.

opportunities • Management and protection of belongings • Capacity increase for various way of carring • Dynamic balance of the weight that whould not affect the biking experience • Modified bike frame that is compatible with the increased capacity • To-go containers that will let cyclists carry belongs along when they leave the bike

concept exploration management & protection of belongings Following are my exploration on some soft materials that may help to manage belongings and protect belongings from collision, and some transformable structures that help attachments to save space when they are not in use.

concept exploration capacity increase & dynamic balance Following are my exploration on concepts that may increase the capacity of a bike while keeping the bike balence so the attachment would not affect the steering.

concept exploration modification of bike frame & to-go containers Following are my exploration on how to modify bike frames to fit in larger containers and how to keep belongings with the riders as they switch between riding and walking.

concept testing front tray The front uses bungee cord to tight belongings, holds the tray flat, and proects belongings from collision.

A hole was cut out as a cup holder to avoid people from holding drinks while riding. The tray rotates 180째 and folds aside the bike frame when not in use, so that it would not take to much space. This is a successful condept as seen in the testing photos. Some minor adjustments are needed to avoid obstructing legs while riding.

concept testing luggages (failure) Luggages are attached on to the bike by tracks and rollers. While bike is steering and leaning the luggages slid up and down accordingly to keep the balance. This concept actually fails during testing due to bad force orientation. the 3D printed rollers break down and not sliding well.

concept testing luggages This is the revised version of the previous concept. Luggages are attached to swinging arms estended frome the bike frame, so pivot motion is used instead of silding. This concept performed very well during the testing, although minor adjustment is needed.

styling sketch In terms of styling, I want my design to have a robust feeling so that it would look durable and reliable. I also want to keep the simplicity so that it can blend into urban aera perfectly.

styling how do people distribute belongings?

As I moved into solidworks, I was able to work on details that are hardly touched in sketching.

• The shape of the luggages are modified to into a dynamic shape so the bottoms wouldnot touch the ground as the bike steers.

• A cut out was made on each side of the bike frame to fit the curve of the front tray whenthe tray folds aside the frame.

• A kick stand was added on to each luggage to help it support when detached from the bike.

• Handle bar was raised to bring in more space to the front tray.

final product rear carrier/luggage handle dynsmic-balanceing luggage water-proof cover

foldable front tray cap holder

final product 7pm is a cargo bike deisgned for commuters. It gives management and protection to your belongings with a front tray and a rear carrier, as well as two luggages attached to swinging arms that increase the capacity of your bike significantly while keep the dynamic balance as you ride and steer. It gives an ultimate solution for bike commuters to carry their belongings without compromising the original biking experience. “7pm� is a typical time where people end their work of the day, ride on their way to home, stop -by at a grocery store, and enjoy the rest of the day. 7pm aims to help cyclists experience enriched and interesting daily life.

final product

7pm can be esaily transformed into to-go mode. Simply • rotate and fold the front tray aside the bike frame; • detach two luggage bins and combine them in to one; • use the rear carrier as a luggage handle; and then you are ready to go, with all your belongings with you, and the front out of the way while you are parking your bike.

final product

Thank you!