Cargo-bicycle with a Polymeric Frame: The Development of a Low-cost Multifunctional Cargo Bicycle

Since the beginning of the 21st century, human-powered vehicles are increasingly seen as an attractive alternative to solve some of the problems associated with mobility in major cities. Firmly rooted in Northern Europe’s Social and cultural behaviour, cargo bicycles are beginning to spread all over the globe and, in this sense, it is expectable a global outbreak on this market. A cargo bike that considers the use of a polymer as a raw material to build its frame opens a new window of opportunities for new and disruptive designs. A frame like this raises some new shape and structural challenges. But by taking advantage of existing technologies and combining them, made it possible to achieve results that exceeded by far the initial expectations. It is not intended to reinvent the bicycle, neither to propose it for new uses, others already addressed these issues. Instead, the goal is to redesign this machine, exploring new frame designs, to adopt Polypropylene as a structural material and explore injection moulding as a manufacturing processes