Finally - tackling the No-Weld, Longtail DIY Cargo Bike (for hopefully less than $100)

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I finally started, y'all!

Long-time readers of MH or 2WM are thinking, Jeez, MH, it took you long enough! To that I say,  Both of you are absolutely right.

 Our biggest-ever posts on both blogs have been about cargo bikes, and the really big one is about a No-Weld DIY Longtail Cargo Bike. So, here we go, people - it's time to build one. This week, the final piece fell into place: a Giant Simple Single cruiser bike ($35ish).


Originally, I planned to pick up a cheap Huffy cruiser for the build, but cheap Huffys (Huffies?) have been rather rare lately, so I ended up with a nicer (but cheaper) bike.

The free swingarm donor


The other two main components that previously came into place are a nice and very cheap 3-speed Schwinn step-through ($20 and not pictured) and a junky full-suspension mountain bike ($0). So, the goal here is to balance this equation:

Giant + Schwinn + Junky MTB = Longtail Cargo Bike < $100
Humble beginnings

(I'll also be using a bunch of junk very valuable stuff from my very junky garage.)

Inspiration (in case you wondered)

The biggest inspirations will be the granddaddy of this sort of thing, Ross Evans' Xtracycle FreeRadical/Leap...

...and this really sweet green machine from my favorite MTBR Forum post

So, there it is so far. Hopefully she'll come together soon-ish. Be well and haul your stuff as carbon-free as possible, friends (Both of you).

(If you're wondering - this project idea started 2 years ago here.)
Location: Lubbock, TX, USA

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