Cargo Bike Food Stall Unit
Private Client
A private client wanted a food stall on the back of an ONO electric cargo bike. Their brief was a single image made in ChatGPT. It showed the look they wanted, but nothing in it could be cut, bought or bolted on. ONO make the bike. They weren’t my client, and this work wasn’t done for them.
From AI image to working prototype in just seven weeks.
Duration: 7 Weeks
Stages: Concept to Prototype Build
Basis: Venn Projects, Product Design Engineer, in collaboration with Sam Bernard of 52 Degrees North
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The brief was a picture, with no dimensions, no materials and no way of fixing it to the bike. On top of the look, the client wanted cold boxes in the worktop, drawers, a rear cupboard, a canvas roof and side awnings.
The manufacturing approach was yet to be defined and suppliers were not yet identified and approached. -
I kept the layout that made the image work, a counter box over the rear wheels with a roof above it, and worked out a structure that could be cut, sourced and built in the time, with the client’s requests designed in. I was responsible for:
Designing the box as 31 CNC cut parts in white PP faced ply, birch ply and clear acrylic, joined with Rafix fittings
Sending the panel cutter 1:1 DXFs, a dimension pack and the bill of materials
Bringing in two trusted partners from my own network, for the panels and the bent aluminium roof hoops, and working with them directly
Designing and 3D printing the brackets, pole clamps and locators in my workshop in Banbury, Oxfordshire
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Seven weeks after I first saw the image, the stall was built and on the bike. Both suppliers delivered well within their quoted lead times, and none of the parts I designed gave any trouble.
The only snag was the bike itself. A few parts fitted to it weren’t in the CAD I’d designed around, so they had to come off before the stall could go on.The finished stall has a clear acrylic worktop with two cold boxes set into it, drawers, a rear cupboard, a canvas roof on two bent aluminium hoops and side awnings on telescopic poles.
Brackets, pole clamps and locators I designed and 3D printed
The CNC cut panels laid out at the start of the build
The carcass, assembled with Rafix fittings
The box on the bike, with the roof hoops ready to fit
The canvas roof and side awnings going on
The finished prototype on the back of the ONO
Timelapse of the build, from CNC cut panels to finished stall