Kegs are a rollin’.
When Shannon and Colin Westcott decided to start Equinox Brewing in Fort Collins, Colorado, they wanted it to be a local, green operation. And that meant no keg deliveries by car or truck. So to save themselves a lot of back-breaking keg-carrying, the Westcotts teamed up with custom bike designers Yendra Built Cycles. The partnership yielded the Bootlegger: a tricycle built for transporting kegs…
And while it’s not a speed demon like the booze-loaded vehicles that are the ancestors of NASCAR racing, the Bootlegger is built to get the job done. Unlike many cargo bikes that would require lifting a full, heavy keg a few feet up to load it, the Bootlegger has a cargo bay that’s only 6 1/2″ off the ground. A 36″ rear wheel absorbs road bumps, keeping the precious cargo safe from foaminess.
For the bike techies, here are the details, from Yendra:
Typical 2 wheels in the back cargo trikes carry their load above the center-line of the hub which make it difficult to lift heavy objects into the cargo bay. This design also needs a complicated and heavy rear axle with a differential. On the other hand front load trikes also carry their load high or attach the wheels to the sides of the cargo area, in that case in order to turn the rider has to pivot the whole front of the trike to steer.
I’m not sure if Equinox is the first brewery to start delivering kegs via tricycle, but hopefully, as cargo bikes go mainstream, this is a trend that will catch on.
