The Wandertec “Tuba” is for Car-Sized Errands
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Aug. 20, 2012 – Wandertec, a leading online retailer promoting products for everyday bicycling, has announced a new bike trailer aimed at urban and suburban cyclists wanting to reduce or eliminate the use of the family car.
The idea behind the Wandertec Tuba is to provide the same level of convenience and spaciousness as a car’s trunk or backseat. Most consumer bike trailers don’t have this kind of space. So even the most dedicated cyclists have to fall back on using a car for very common load sizes.
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In developing the Big and the Really Big Wandertec BONGOs, we decided to incorporate the rail system, a liner and a waterproof cover. The challenge for the cover was to come up with a simple, sturdy design that was easy to install and remove. One key element we were thinking through was how to keep water from pooling on-top of the cover. So the brainstorming began.
The proposed ideas included a center tent pole and a pole that tensioned across like this arch. We kept throwing around a variety of potentially lightweight designs, but to get the ball rolling, Stu cranked out a version of this sturdy looking arch. Upon seeing Stu’s first attempt, I realized that simple and strong was most likely best. Not only would this serve to prop up our waterproof cover, it was tough enough to handle any other abuse that might get hurled its way. The Big and the Really Big BONGOs are after all being designed as tough, around-the-town work trailers.
Stu ran with the design and refined it a bit more to this 2nd rendition pictured here, somewhat reminiscent of the Gateway Arch of St. Louis.
If you follow this blog, you may have noticed that we are developing a new version of the Wandertec BONGO Trailer. I’ve posted a few images of the Really Big version of this new design. We are also doing a size that we are just calling Big for those who want a large around town utility trailer but won’t appreciate the massive scale of the Really Big.
Really Big Wandertec BONGO Bike Trailer loaded up with Winter Cycling Tires
I thought I’d post up these preview shots of some early prototyping of the new larger versions of the Wandertec BONGO bike trailer that we’ve been working on. While we are keeping the original design in the small version around, we’re replacing the large with a similar sized but newly designed version and an XL version. This is the initial design that we had out for testing. We’ve already evolved several iterations beyond this and are now working on a fabric liner and waterproof cover to fit in the new side rails. We’re targeting to have this available in the coming months and there should be preview photos as we continue on with development.
Here is a glamor shot of a batch of Wandertec BONGO Trailers ready for paint. I took this shot a few months ago, when Stuart was still wrapping up the Bike Shop Hub – Bike Rack Sculpture project, thus capturing it in the background.
Stuart’s been working hard on organizing the assembly/repair area of the shop, building a variety of metal tables for work surfaces and organizing all of the tools. With this project completed, he is back to wrapping up the massive bike rack sculpture project before diving into bike trailer prototyping mode. Stu is pictured here with the new tubing bender that we just picked up for building a rail system for the Wandertec BONGO and possibly for some bike racks.
It’s been a hectic month at Wandertec. We’re getting our new building ready to move into, working on several new Wandertec products for our Wandertec BONGO Trailer trailer, and hustling to keep up production on our current offerings. This week we’ve been working on a new batch of trailer frames, which we make right here in Flagstaff. After a couple days of cutting, bending, drilling and filing, the pieces are all ready for welding. This is what they look like before they meet Stuart.
And here’s Stuart. He’s a top-notch metal fabricator.
Here’s a shot of all the pieces in the jig and ready for tacking.
Stuart took a break to repair a high mileage BOB trailer for a friend. Stuart’s idea of taking a break is welding steel instead of aluminum.
And back to work.
And here they are all welded up. We’ll drill the load bed mounting holes, clean them up, and ship them off to get anodized.
Here at the shop, we’re working on making our Wandertec Bongo Bike Cargo Trailer more versatile and useful. One of the many projects in the works is an extended hitch arm for carrying longer cargo. It won’t be ideal for hauling really heavy stuff, but it’ll be great for moving a little lumber, a ladder, or lightweight boats. The prototype pictured here is about 3 1/2 feet long, which allows you to center an eight foot long load over the trailer axle. We’re considering making it a little longer, or possibly offering two sizes. What do you all think? What kinds of long cargo do you want to haul with your bike trailers?
And for those of you who want to carry the long and/or heavy stuff, check out industrial strength offerings over at Bikes At Work.
Thanks for reading, and thanks for riding bikes.
-Casey
We set up these 3 Wandertec BONGO Bike Cargo Trailers to be used by a local crew to pick up garbage on an earth day event. We have joined in for the Earth Day trash pick-up with bike trailer fun the past 2 years but had a bit too much to deal with over the weekend working on our new website update.
The 3 trailers here are 2 large Wandertec BONGO Trailers on the sides and a small trailer in the middle. The one on the right has a loadbed with box strapped on. The center BONGO has a 24 gallon Rubbermaid ActionPacker bolted on while the left Large BONGO has the ActionPacker attached with a sneak peak of our prototype quick attach system.
Here is a batch of load beds that Casey is varnishing for the Wandertec BONGO Bike Cargo Trailer. We are using the office at our new location while it is being built out as a warm, dust-free environment. As we are not too well setup for this part of the process, we are talking to local cabinet makers about doing the load bed finishing.
