Re: [workbike] Pedicabs, HPUCVs

-----Original Message-----
From: F.Lenk <lenkf@vcnet.com>
To: workbike@ihpva.org <workbike@ihpva.org>
Date: Monday, August 23, 1999 4:16 PM
Subject: [workbike] Pedicabs, HPUCVs


>We too have some town events in which I could make a few
extra bucks.
>And during Christmas/New-Year shopping season, the local
mall attacts
>folks from 100 miles away - very large parking lot. Might
make a few
>bucks on weekends.  Problem is getting business license,
insurance,
>etc.  That's the tricky part.  And since I wouldn't be
doing it
>fulltime, would probably make a partime business not
profitable.

You might try approaching the mall first and see first if
they'd be interested.  Getting a ride to and from their car
might really appeal to harried shoppers.  If they're
interested, you might be able to find sponsors wanting to
put advertising on your cab to help cover your fixed
expenses (especially insurance).  I built our cab at the
request of a hotel and cafe owner who offered to pay for the
cost of the cab plus insurance if we'd operate it for them
and ferry passengers from their establishments to local
events.

>
>I've been researching a human powered urban cargo vehicle -
hpucv.  I'd
>like to have a trike configuration with track less than 36
inches wide
>(that's the urban part - sharing roads with motor
vehicles), and that
>could haul 350# including me.  Also, seating has to be
recumbent
>design.  Most cargo vehicles are too wide
(industrial/commercial
>design).  I've found some good candidates at Lightfoot
Cycles and Human
>Powered Machines in the U.S.  Any other pointers will be
appreciated.
>
Consider the Brox, too, built by World Within Wheels Inc.
(Anybody got a URL?)  They make a sharp-looking recumbent
quad that is used frequently as a pedicab in Europe.

-Jim
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Jim Gregory & Joan Stein
Bikes At Work, Inc.    mail@bikesatwork.com
216 N. Hazel   Ames, IA  50010-5948
515-233-6120
providers of bicycle delivery services & equipment since
1991
http://www.bikesatwork.com