Cargo bikes history

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Cargo bikes are a type of bicycles with special frame, larger than a normal bike, to carry persons, pets and objects. We see them more this year than the previous one. They are folk from year to year. What is its history?

They appeared before the actual bicycles in England back in 1877. It was when James Stanley conceived a tricycle with a platform in order to transport people and goods. The very one of the cargo bike was a machine less attractive with an iron frame, without gears and a small surface to carry loads. However, the improvement in wheels, the larger platform and improvement techniques and even technologies have made them to be more suitable to farmers, craftspeople, postpeople, and riders among others. Improvement continued and cargo bikes were looked from mundane machines to the present beautiful, good-looking ones.

Sara Dykman

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Every year, the Monarch Butterfly, Danaus Plexippus, goes from the USA to Mexico in a massive migration of about 5,000 kilometers. Millions of this butterfly start it with the unique help of their instinct. Sara Dykman accompanied them by pedaling for nine months in which she learned a lot about this insect and came across interesting people. As a result, she wrote the book Bicycling with Butterflies which is plenty of data and rigor as well as humor and lyricism.

In reality, the Monarch Butterfly spends Winter in the Oyamel forests in Michoacan, Mexico and flies to the USA and Canada. When the cold of Autumn arrives, they go back to Mexico. Four generations are needed to complete the migration and lay their eggs on the milkweed plant. Thus, the butterflies which return to Mexico are the great-granddaughter of the ones which initiated the migration.

Sara studied the specie and discovered that this butterfly travels about one hundred kilometers a day. This figure is the preferred one to ride in a day for Sara. She learned a lot about people and butterflies since she claims that we are connected to nature and the force of unity: A butterfly weights 0.5 grams, but if millions perch on a branch, they can break it.

Ruyi bridge

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If you were born in Western countries, you probably identify it as a massive treble clef, whereas if you are a Chinese, you will see it a special, well-known sign immediately. As time goes by, bridges designs have evolved into a more eye-attracting ones. If these bridges are bike and pedestrian friendly, they are better. This is the case of the Ruyi bridge.

This steel and reinforced concrete bridge is located in Chengdu, China, and was approved back in 2016 as a part of the High Technology Zone Principal Landscape Improvement project. It connects two concurred neighbors: Tianfu and the Dayuan Central Park. Their designers inspired in the panpipes, a traditional Chinese music instrument. It is 331 meters long and between 2.36 and 9.23 meters wide. It counts with two spiral staircase for pedestrians and two two ramps allow bikers to access it.

Bicycles and songs

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Bicycles are much more than mere machines. People have developed culture around them and this time I show some of the songs dedicated or related to them: