How to build a DIY cargo bike

I wanted to build a small, easy-to-ride, easy (ish) to build cargo bike and here it is.
I have all the extra info in the description here. Hopefully, there is everything you need to build your own.
TOOL LIST
Must have tools,
-A welder
-Hacksaw
-Hammer
-File set
-Ruler and straight edge
-Electric drill and bits
-Centre punch
-All basic bike tools, Allen keys, cable cutters, BB tools, etc.
Well you could probably build the bike with just that, here are some more tools that will make life a lot easier,
-Angle grinder with a zip disc and flap disc
-Spirit level
-C clamps of various sizes
-Heavy threaded rod with some fitting nuts and washers
-Various adjustable spanners
-Drill press
You will also need all the safety equipment to go along, including a welding mask, gloves, eye protection etc, don't skimp on those.
I built this with only a very basic welder and toolset, you could weld it with pretty much anything, use what you have access to and what you are comfortable with. The bike could probably be brazed as well, it would be a somewhat different build possess but if that's what you are used to, you can sort it out.
Community bike shops are often a very good source of parts, both frames and forks, and random components. Make friends with the people there and they will usually be happy to help get your project going.

[@Nick-mu9nx]

Ok, you are an Engineer. Nice brackets, great understanding of loads and geometry. Great use of CAD (cardboard aided design) impressive work. Also a nice wheelie! Also just noticed a six pack of beer in the cargo basket, sweet reward!

[@toriwatson9655]

Just the video I needed. I'm about half way through my cargo bike now. Many thanks.

[@eliotandal]

Good to hear!

[@Locojoe]

Nice work. That iconic triple triangle frame is now a quadruple triangle.

[@eliotandal]

Next one will have five triangles

[@Locojoe]

@@eliotandalRereading my comment.. I hope it didn't come across as sarcastic. The addition of another triangle caught my attention and thought it was funny. I wish I'd went this direction when I built mine. I just extended the head tube and then dropped the front end of the down tube to match. There was no good way to mount a sizeable rack or basket. I'd need to add something like those horizontal bars anyway.

[@POCAHONTAS080560]

Congratulations! Revamp is circular economy.

[@tamk9088]

Awsome build.

[@eliotandal]

Thanks mate!

[@AH-ie6bi]

Sweet build! I love how an old bike can be repurposed into something more useful!

[@michealcarney725]

I Love these types of videos do it yourself forget these companies it's the beauty of turning old Into new god bless 🙏🏿🥰🦍

[@sonsoluciones]

old bike? wtf?

[@RodrigoeBeta]

Just the inspiration I needed! That's a great build.

[@0geof]

Hi Elliot, its Geoffroy from Melbourne, I was scrolling youtube to find some videos about how to make a cargo bike and suddenly your Channel popped up! Nice job! I am looking for tutorials or ideas to build a Bullit cargo bike but as compact as possible, maybe i will see a tutorial on your channel someday

[@eliotandal]

Hey mate, I have wanted to build a small cargo bike. Maybe a mini velo or something like that so maybe Ill have a video up about that one of these days.

[@collectifdallas]

great work, one of the best I've seen on youtube, inspiring!

[@eliotandal]

Thanks, glad you liked it

[@peteryouds5634]

Well done, strong ,simple , and looks good as well !

[@osaqqa]

I am definitely making this. Thanks for the video!

[@scottcarpenter1108]

Clever & informative. Thanks for sharing!

[@robertatkinson923]

Sweet looking bike, reminds me a lot of the Omnium Mini. A great build!

[@barnyrockford]

Love your work. This has been on my mind for ages. The beautiful properties of Steel... customizable.... My head is whirring thinking of all that old 90s stock that could finally find a new purpose. Great video and attitude to life.

[@eliotandal]

Thanks mate, glad you enjoyed it

[@OLLO_TV]

great Work!

[@thisisadebrown]

Great bike

[@fraaggl]

very very good ! I was wondering how you could turn with those bars you had but the elongated direction tube is genius !

[@gravityiskey]

very good work

[@oot-n-aboot]

Sweet build, mate! Dig it.

[@eliotandal]

Thanks mate!

[@jlouter]

Nice job dude! Love it.

[@eliotandal]

Thanks man, hopefully I bring one back to Canada when I finally return.

[@antoniocorigliano68]

Amazing job end Amazing bicycle

[@rayr268]

this is awesome. Always wanted one. Might have to build my own

[@eliotandal]

Do it, I would love to see how other people build their own

[@kakarot_6667]

Dude this is cool af I need to build one now 😅

[@FindNuescht]

Hey, nice Inspiration! Thanks!

[@Ozz527]

Very impressive!

[@eliotandal]

Thanks mate!

[@garysprojects]

nice one Elliot! looks solid as

[@eliotandal]

Thanks man, I should build you and you can kick it out with all the old MTB parts.

[@PrinzEisenherz12]

really greate bike!

[@hamidazizov8762]

Great job, i Like It. Thank You for sharing your perfect simple ideas, i'll try to make it too

[@allantaylor__]

Nice cargo bike!! But can it hold a devilishly handsome lad in the front basket??

[@Xtrafix2015]

It’s the best I seen so far!😮❤

[@michaelquinones-lx6ks]

Nice! Where i live at doesn't afford me that luxury of having all of those tools you have to have. if im going to built a 'cargo bike' ill just use an old Raleigh 26" three speed "ladies frame" bicycle using 'Schwinn type' cruiser wheels with Blackburn rear and front racks.

[@eliotandal]

Yeah this does need a few tools and such. The cargo forks, like the crust ones, are a great way to go if you cant use or make a full sized cargo bike.

[@michaelquinones-lx6ks]

@@eliotandal Thank you for your reply.

[@kakarot_6667]

Would it be possible to use metal tubing to extend the head tube rather than cutting a frame up ?

[@lorantstary4398]

This is a great project. Could it be the world's first "quadruple triangle" GT?

[@GeekonaBike]

Sweet!

[@calcagnolibero]

Very well done. Too bad I can’t weld or braze but if I find a cheap 26” and 1”1/8 frame I can have it done by a framebuilder. Thanks for sharing!

[@chrisallen2005]

I suspect that you are too cheap to pay a framebuilder for their time, equipment and expertise.

[@jos1534]

Nice work. I built one my self last year. Phil Vandelay was my inspiration. Everything worked but was way to heavy.

[@eliotandal]

His stuff is great, I made a long john style bike roughly based off his plans. They can be a bit heaving but as long as you have the right gearing and you arent looking to get anywhere fast they work well.

[@PantherU]

I feel like heavy duty cargo bikes need electric drive to be practical.

[@whitepawrolls]

Be nice if they sold affordable premade frame/fork sets for this for those of us that can't weld.

[@chrisallen2005]

They do exist. Be creative in your internet search.

[@darib842]

Elliot, this rocks!!! I have a couple of questions regarding the shim used in the head tube extension, around 3:40. 1. Do I need to be concerned with the shim fusing to the head tubes while welding? 2. If so, would a plastic or wood shim introduce other issues while welding? Thanks!

[@eliotandal]

I made sure to drill some holes and plug weld the two parts together, this also stress relives the joint but its not really necessary. If the welds are good a butt weld should be fine. Wood would probably be fine, I would tack it and knock it out then weld the rest. I would not use plastic as I think it would contaminate the weld. Keep in mind I am not a welding expert and I try and overbuild if I have any doubts so take my advice with a grain of salt. Hope that helps.

[@MajimaEnterprises]

Very cool build. I'd put a nice sprung beach cruiser saddle on it personally. At least around where I live here in the UK, there's potholes everywhere. Having no suspension whatsoever would ruin your back. I'd swap those handlebars for some classier looking ones too. Probably Nitto Bosco. Also, an LED light bar mounted under the basket would look cool af. It's your build though, I'm just throwing some ideas out there.

[@eliotandal]

It was built mostly from spare bits so there is a lot of room for improvement. Some classier bars would be great and I would love to build a light set up of some sort. Next bike I suppose

[@ashleysinani4207]

Me and a friend are going to make one of these each a few weeks ! Can you let me know the thickness of steel tube you used and how you flattened the ends ?

[@eliotandal]

The tubes were 25.4mm (1 inch) outer diameter and 1.5mm wall thickness. I flattened the ends with a bench vice. You could probably hammer the ends flat as well but I have not tried it with the thickness of metal I used. Let me know how it works out for you !

[@avgmaker]

Great build! What brand welder do you have?

[@eliotandal]

I have a really cheap home brand flux core one from Bunnings. Wouldn't really recommend it and you can get a lot of better options but it does work

[@ACStrong1982]

Hello. How big is the wired basket you’re using and where did you buy it? I’m looking for one that’s at least 16x14. Thanks. Love the video and the bike.

[@eliotandal]

I got it from a local hardware/construction supply store, I think it was for home storage. The one I used is 41cm by 53cm so its bigger than that I think. If you are in America I think Home Depot would have something like that. I just picked the basket that looked good and them made a tray to fit.

[@thevlklng3878]

You should definitely use the welder with the nozzle for the shielding gas! This will also give you a better indicator of how much feed you need from the welding wire. This will make the welds much cleaner, so you will need to clean less, and safer. Otherwise, a great tutorial!

[@jimhodgson]

He's using flux core wire. It's shielded by the flux in the wire. No gas. Agreed he should have the nozzle on to protect the tip and the rest of the gun but no real need for it. Won't make a difference how his welds look unless he switches to gas & solid core wire.

[@dreamcyclevancouver]

Great job Elliot! Very simple & clean looking. Where are you at these days? Dunno if ur interested but I happen to have a Soma Tradesman disc brake cargo fork with a hella long steerer tube that you could use for this same kind of mod. Hope ur doing well bro! Darren

[@eliotandal]

In Melbourne! Hope things are good back home. The tradesman fork would be great but I think the shipping down here would be a killer. It would certainly beat extending the fork like I did here. Hopefully I will make a trip home next year and I`ll be sure to swing by the shop.

[@dreamcyclevancouver]

Anyone in Vancouver wanna try this fork on this style rebuild? @@eliotandal

[@charlesblithfield6182]

You could make and sell these, esp with a low cost mid drive motor. You might make and sell for 2/3 or even half the price of e cargo bikes which are very expensive, and still make a decent profit.

[@eliotandal]

I would love to but the start up cost is pretty high, its also a lot to source parts and frames. I would really need a better welder and some proper jigs, etc. Maybe one day

[@jonmarshall1502]

That’s actually pretty cool. How’s it holding up?

[@eliotandal]

Its been great, I used to move house and its been a run about for a while.

[@KarlOnSea]

"Not a how-to video". 😆 Seriously, this is an EXCELLENT tutorial!

[@eliotandal]

thank, glad you liked it

[@carllaub2732]

How did you Weld The 2 crown tubes together if The mtb frame is aluminium?

[@eliotandal]

The frame and spare headtube were both steel so the welding was pretty straightforward.

[@avet2020]

I love it, can you sell me this bike?

[@peter2327]

Can it stand vertically "on the nose"?

[@eliotandal]

It can, I think the next one will have little bumpers on the rack specifically for that.

[@gabrielgomescunha]

You're right, this is definitely not a how to weld video😁 Good job anyway. If it works it's all that matters

[@neiljarvis8911]

I guess a lot of the steel tube you used could have been from free old bicycle frames

[@eliotandal]

For sure, you would have to do some measuring and take parts from a few frames but it could be done

[@darrenstanleysmith5207]

“I liked the video”. Boaz, 5yrs old

[@ilhamaja9290]

You still have that bike?.

[@eliotandal]

Yep, a mate is using it at the moment to do some running around.

[@anonymously241]

What is the top speed?

[@eliotandal]

Depends on how strong your legs are

[@superpotato4274]

What is your height?

[@eliotandal]

About 175cm

[@user-hy2my9wo3g]

Велик конечно классный, но намного ли тяжелей стало управлять им?

[@eliotandal]

It is surprisingly easy to ride. Unless it has a lot of weight on the front it rides pretty much like a normal bike

[@user-hy2my9wo3g]

@@eliotandal Больше спасибо, хочу позже сделать подобный велик, спасибо за идею!

[@plank3000]

This is so sick

[@jeanyluisa8483]

I like your cargo bike much more than most cargo bikes you can buy and wonder why they dont sell cargo bikes like that. My kids are grown up, so I dont need one of those big cargo bikes with room for two kids. We have bike lanes here, but many of them are narrow and in a bad shape. So I dont want a wide, big and and heavy bike. I'm living in a city and mainly use my bike for errands and grocery shopping. A bike like yours would be perfect for that.

[@eliotandal]

Thank for the comment. There are a few that you can buy of a similar design. If you search Butchers bike or Bakers bike you can find some made by bigger companies. They tend to be a bit pricy though.

[@jeanyluisa8483]

@@eliotandal Yes, there are various options. But those I have seen where either really old ones in a bad shape but still expensive, modern ones that are really expensive and all kind of fakes that are sold as mail-bike or baker-bike, but are just cheap bikes with a big rack. Some years ago I also saw a startup selling special forks with a big rack and small front weel. That looked like a nice option, but they were very expensive too.

[@ashleysinani4207]

@@jeanyluisa8483 have you considered a petit porteur?

[@jeanyluisa8483]

@@ashleysinani4207 No, I never heard about them before. But now I had alook at their website. Very interesting, thats the kind of Cargobikes I'm interested in. Too bad that they dont give any info about the maximum weight it can carry.

[@ashleysinani4207]

@@jeanyluisa8483 there’s plenty of info on weights- check again From memory i think it’s something like 60kg front and 80 rear ?

[@tvbox6955]

Why not use a bike trailer?

[@eliotandal]

You can and I do use one sometimes but it is much easier to manoeuvre a proper cargo bike vs a trailer especially through rough roads and tight streets.

[@sonsoluciones]

you destroyed two frames and two forks to made this? what next?

[@eliotandal]

Maybe three frames and four forks

[@georggiotis]

Kosten

[@olirueda6907]

This is so based lol

[@HolahkuTaigiTWFormosanDiplomat]

：００

[@oo0024]

Just ruined a retro GT frame in my opinion