By opting for biking as one’s primary mode of transportation, Boston instantly becomes smaller. On a bike, a distance that once seemed formidable, if not rigorous, instantly transforms into an afternoon joy ride, assuming the New England weather doesn’t take a turn for the worse directly overhead. But if you’re looking to take your bike even further than the bounds of Boston, you may encounter scenarios in which your two-wheeler has to be hauled.
Maybe it’s because you got off the Red Line at Porter Square and you didn’t know the staircase and escalator system takes people from the depths of the Earth’s core up to the surface; maybe you’re cruising the countryside but have to walk up a few rustic stepping stones to achieve the perfect vantage point of the Boston skyline.
Either way, you’ve somehow got to awkwardly finagle your bike up to some kind of elevated surface which isn’t always the easiest of endeavors. After all, not all bikes are created equal – and some carry a bit more weight than others.
So what do you do?
Throw it over your shoulder, of course.
A crowdfunding campaign has been launched on Kickstarter in hopes of bringing the Bike Lift & Carry into fruition. The Lift & Carry is simply a reel wound with a tether situated on the seat of the bike. The tether can then be unhooked and wrapped around the handlebars, creating a shoulder strap for easy toting. Upon completion, simply press the button on the reel to retract the tether, and voilŕ: you’ve carried your bike from one place to another without so much as the slightest hesitation.
The designers came up with the Lift & Carry gadget in similar fashion as one of the scenarios I briefly touched upon above: They were biking through hilly Kiev, Ukraine which requires a strenuous stop, carry and go type of movement in order to reach the best vista views afforded by the city.
As they wrote on the Kickstarter page, “After researching the idea, we found that many people all over the world are forced to lift and carry their bikes when they are commuting, shopping, sightseeing, etc.”
Armed with a team of designers and engineers, a prototype Lift & Carry was created and subsequently ogled at during Interbike 2013 in Las Vegas.
With the additional funding courtesy of you, the Lift & Cary team will continue to work on any kinks with their device; produce and test the final product in November; and deliver it to your door by mid-December.
To date, they’ve raised $2,771 from 55 backers with 38 days left to achieve their goal of $32,000. Invest now and you’ll be rewarded with various Lift & Carry devices in multiple colors and material.
Images via Bike Lift & Carry Kickstarter
