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Jul 18, 2024
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The Dutch brand CYCLR has introduced a design for an expandable cargo bike. Riders can adjust the length of the storage area based on their needs.
Eurobike, the world’s largest trade show for bicycles is going on right now in Friedrichschafen, Germany. For those looking for the latest in new ideas in bikes or e-bikes, Eurobike is the place, and one of the newest ideas to debut there is a design concept for an extendable cargo e-bike.
Designer Nikolaï Carels of the Dutch brand CYCLR spent six years working on his design for a variable-length cargo bike. The Dutch call this style of cargo bike a bakfiets and they are prized for their ability to haul big loads. Multiple kids and groceries? No problem.
The challenge with bakfiets is that they are long, like school-bus-long. That makes them terrifically stable at low speeds, but difficult to maneuver in tight spaces because they have the turn radius of an SUV. CYCLR’s design allows the rider to change the container length, which changes the overall length of the bike.
CYCLR worked with VROEGH Design to create a patented system and build a prototype, the CYCLR-FLEX. While they don’t explain quite how they did it, they say the design uses customized bearings and slides that work with the steering cables that run from the handlebar to the fork, and that are said to be stiff enough to give the rider and load sufficient support so that it provides a stable ride. The CYCLR-FLEX can carry a load of up to 175kg (386 lbs.), including rider. As the CYCLR-FLEX will be an e-bike destined for market in the Netherlands, it will have a maximum assist speed of 25kph (15.5 mph). It is expected to come to market in the third quarter of 2025 and will retail in the neighborhood of €7,500.
CYCLR hopes to license the design to other bike brands.
The idea that you could have a cargo e-bike that isn’t always the length of a kayak carries obvious appeal; no real sales pitch is needed. That said, whether or not the system actually maintains the stiffness necessary to be rideable is a different issue. A lack of stiffness is the sort of deficiency in a bike or e-bike that many casual riders may not be able to verbalize, but they will feel it and it will undermine their sense of confidence because they won’t be certain of just where the cargo e-bike is headed.
The expandable design will also prove useful to anyone for whom storage space may be in short supply.
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