This week at Wandertec:
1. Designed & listed a new adapter that makes Ortlieb rear panniers fit much better when used together with a BOB Trailer.
2. Listed the Wandertec SAX on the BikeTrailerShop.com.
3. Worked on sourcing Wandertec woven labels for branding the SAX.
4. Ordered a sizable load of trailers including 10 Carry Freedom Large Y-Frames to stay stocked up for a good while.
5. Discussed a bike cargo trailer design project with a student from the Art Institute of Colorado.

The new Wandertec products are starting to come to fruition. With the SAX now available I’m ready to start taking some nice photos and getting these products visible on the Wandertec website.

Once I get the new products visible on the Wandertec website, I will conduct a (soft) sales launch of the Wandertec mLite by introducing it to online bicycle trailer retailers, Greenspeed retailers and other shops. I’ve currently got approximately 100 Wandertec mLites and my goal is to determine the level of interest from these dealers before putting in a large order of 500-1000 mLites.

The next step following the larger order of 500-1000 mLites will be the marketing launch which will include press releases and contacts as well as blog/messageboard postings and new Google Ads.

I was brainstorming ideas for new Bicycle Cargo Trailers with a student from the Art Institute of Colorado. The student is taking part in a group project in which they are designing a trailer as part of a final project for there industrial design degree.

My suggestion was to focus on a bike cargo trailer designed for bike commuting. My feeling is that the market is well served in the area of utility style trailer such as the Carry Freedom Y-Frame and the Burley Flatbed as well as for performance touring trailer such as BOB Trailers, the Burley Nomad and Extrawheel. However, there seems to be a void in the area of bike trailers designed for bike commuting. The Carry Freedom City offers a very interesting solution for many bike commuters. By having the trailer fold up very compactly, this is a great way to stow the trailer while at work. However, there could be interest in a trailer that locked up to the bike and was also lockable. The now defunct BOB Coz had some of these features. It may be a good starting point for such a design.

I’ve posted a survey given to me by the student from the Art Institute of CO. They are looking for some good feedback on uses of bike cargo trailers if you care to participate.

Recently, I’ve been clued into an interesting literary reference concerning the name of the Wandertec CELLO bike case. My uncle had been reading One Hundred Years of Solitude, the literary classic written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez in 1967. He came across a passage which would seem to be the inspiration for naming a bike case “CELLO”.

Marquez writes, ‘Besides Fernanda’s old trunk, which they had sent her off to school with, she had two upright trunks, four large suitcases, a bag for her parasols, eight hat boxes, a gigantic cage with half a hundred canaries, and her husbands velocipede, broken down in a special case which allowed him to carry it like a cello.”

I should note that this quote is the only reference to this “special case” for bikes. Though my uncle was certain that he had figured out how the name for the Wandertec bike case had been determined, this was not the source , just an intriguing coincidence.

The true source of the CELLOS name was inspired by Philip Novotny, the originator of the BOB trailer itself. Philip has been involved with the project on a conceptual level since close to its beginnings. He was discussing the concept with a friend. They were discussing the often awkward difficulties of checking a bicycle on an airline and dealing with the inconsistent over-sized baggage policies. As it seems that bicycles are sometimes discriminated against with higher charges, the idea of naming a bike case as something that was charged more favorably was born. By naming a bike case the “CELLO”, the traveler could report with honesty that they were transporting a CELLO.

After several months of practicing and gradual effort, I’ve nearly completed building a custom touring frame. In the months ahead I will be building bike frames to replace all of my current bicycles as well as outfitting my family and friends with custom bicycles. I’ve been working together with my friend Joe Murray of VooDoo Cycles. He has been lending a hand with tools and skills as this new project gets underway.

The goal is to begin offering custom frames through Wandertec sometime in the future. I am interested in building touring specific road and mountain bikes. I am also interested in bikes specifically suited to work with bike racks and/or bike trailers, possibly even with racks integrated into the frame. I’ve been dreaming of a frame with a bike trailer somehow more closely integrated into the frame, to allow for a lighter, yet stronger trailer with better handling characteristics. This would likely be a very specific expedition style rig designed specifically for long bike tours but perhaps not having multi-use appeal.

Check back for pictures of new frames in the coming months!

Wandertec’s European delegate, Mike the Bike, recently turned me on to Bike Radio. This weekly broadcast from the UK covers a variety of topics surrounding cycling mostly in the vein of using bikes as transport. It is a great show and truly inspiring thing to listen to as I spend my days doing what I can in my small corner to make movements forward. So far I’ve been entertained and inspired by shows on winter cycling and the UK bike messenger lifestyle. Have a look at the Bike Radio archives at http://www.unstablesound.net/bike.html.

I’ve started work on further streamlining the production of the CELLO as we look towards the spring, the cycle travel season, and an increase in orders. The key to improved production efficiency is reducing the part counts with simpler yet improved designs. It is actually quite amazing how the simpler the parts designs of a product become the better they often function. This is an everlasting and undying principal in the bicycle, the simplest of transportation devises that thrives much in part through its combination of simplicity and precision.