I don’t know what it is about cargo bikes, but they do have a funny way of getting into your heart. I’ve had a lot of bikes comes and go from my life over the years, but there is one I miss more than any of the others and that’s my old Xtracycle.
The Xtracycle was a gift from my brother for my undergrad graduation, and it was proudly mounted to an my first racing bike, a Bridgestone MB5 mountain bike. I had that thing for 6 happy years. My husband and I shared the rig, and we could be spotted around Tucson riding the family truck to all matter of appointments and events. I even sexed it up a little for a handlebar review here at Commute by Bike.
And then one fateful night, it was stolen from the University of Arizona campus while my husband was inside finishing work. The thieves even managed to saw through our Kryptonite chain lock. We had been careful about locking up the family truck, but to no avail. I’d had bikes stolen in the past, and while it always made me incredibly angry, the loss of the old Xtracycle tore me up more than any other bike.
I mean really, who would steal our family truck? It’s probably chopped to bits somewhere in a dump by now. Good thing it didn’t have our Bongo Bike Cargo Trailer on it at the time it was stolen.
But anyways, the point is that people grow attached to their cargo bikes in special ways. So it comes as no surprise that there is a group of people out there who love their cargo bikes so much that they are contributing to an upcoming, crowdsourced cargo bike documentary called Less Car More Go.
Initiated by filmmaker Liz Canning, Less Car More Go is co-directed by over 100 fellow cargo bike lovers and features the rapidly growing culture of cargo bikes around the world with some great video footage. In addition to the crowdsourced footage, Canning has detailed the story of the cargo bike through interviews with riders, designers, shop owners, advocates, and more. The film also tells the history of the cargo bike from the originals in Europe and Asia to the now diverse assortment of cargo bike designs that are currently available.
Less Car More Go is currently being funded on Kickstarter in order to help with post-production, help make sure all the work that’s gone into it thus far pays off, and help pay for equipment and other expenses associated with making a movie. There is a great deal of editing work remaining, and it takes time to weave hundreds of hours of footage into a coherent story.
If you are interested, you can learn more about the film in the Kickstarter campaign video below.
They are currently about half way to being funded and there are 22 days remaining. This looks like a great cause, and I’m definitely keen to see the movie when it’s finishing. Check it out, and happy cargo bike riding!