VeloLogistics.net has been making waves in Europe this week. The recently launched cargo bike sharing service enables people to find geo-tagged cargo bikes to barrow nearby.
How it works is simple: you go on to the site, register, and then add your bike. People then contact you about borrowing your bike. While the site doesn’t seem to support compensation for the bike owner (unlike recently-launched Relay Rides for cars), it does have clear interface showing what type of cargo bike lives where.
A new Yuba customer got written up in 7×7 magazine. She is going to configure her Yuba Mundo to make and sell tacos on the go.
Gourmet Tacos Made and Delivered by Hot Bike
Rose Johnson (middle) of Hot Bike
San Francisco’s food by bike business is booming. All across the city, bike-loving chefs are pedaling their tasty wares to hungry, mostly late-night customers. The latest bike chef to join the pack is Rose Johnson, of the catering group Apothocurious, who just launched her latest venture: Hot Bike, a mobile bike kitchen where she whips up delicious, organic, California-style tacos.
Hot Bike’s menu includes roasted sweet potato and broccoli tacos with apple salsa, and a signature dessert taco with roasted apples, drizzled chocolate and whip cream. I caught up with Rose to talk about her tasty ride and how to get my hands on some Hot Bike treats.
Where did the idea for Hot Bike come from?
Apothocurious started as a weekly delivery service. We delivered Hummus, Salsa, Salad and Pesto by bicycle to customers all over SF. In year three I was asked to set up a taco stand for a few events. I carried all of my supplies by bicycle, and was constantly developing my set up to make things easier and more efficient. It became obvious that a bicycle that carried and served the food was the next step.
What kind of food will we find you cooking on your Hot Bike stove?
I am mostly known for my tacos. They are simple California style grub with roasted veggies or sweet beans, gluten free, mostly vegan (with an add bacon option), and great vehicles for SAUCE. I love making apple salsa, flavor slam sauces, and a variety of vegan pesto.
Are you adding anything new to the menu in the near future?
I am planning to launch my grilled cheese menu on April 20 at El Rio. The grilled cheese will include cheddar and bacon, mozzarella and caramelized onions and pepper jack with pickled apples. Veggie burgers are on my radar too.
Your bike serves as the delivery and cooking vehicle. Tell us about the set-up.
I am using a Yuba Mundo and attaching a propane powered stove. I will have an electric set- up for indoor events that swivels out to create a decent size kitchen prep and cooking area. Rock the Bike is helping with the designs.
Where can we find Hot Bike?
I’ll be at The Lookout on April 5 for Super Sonic. We’ll be making Korean tacos! And we’ll be at El Rio on April 20, serving up grub from 4-8 pm.
On March 29th-31st Cyclecide, in conjunction with Circuit Network, will be hosting an art show at The Lab gallery called “The Heavy Pedal Art Exhibition”. The Lab is located on Capp st. and 16th st. in the Mission in San Francisco.
The Bicycle is the most versatile machine on Earth. The aim of this exhibit is to explore the concepts, principals and ideas that the Bike has inspired, transgressed, or altered.
This is a call out to all artists, mechanics, tinkerers, and creative sorts who are interested exploring the diverse mediums of the bicycle. The criteria for this show is open. One can make graphics, sculptures, paintings, or make or bring an altered bike to hang from the ceiling. We will accept any medium one wants to use provided that it has something to do with the bike.
All submissions are due on March 13th. Please e-mail jarico@monkeybrains.net with a brief description of you piece and space considerations so we can make sure to accommodate anyone who wants to be in the show. All proceeds of any art sold will go to the artist.
Bay Area Bike Rentals will be offering people demo rides on a Yuba Mundo to help them get their groceries home from the Jack London Square Farmer’s Market. The demo program will start February 12, 2012, and continue every 2nd Sunday of the month through the summer.
For more information, please contact Bay Area Bike Rentals at (510) 836-2311. They are located at 427 Water Street Oakland, CA 94607
Last fall, Yuba Bicycles partnered with Level Ground Trading to donate six Yuba Mundos to the HOPE Project in Tanzania. The HOPE Project works with coffee farming collectives to leverage the power of direct fair trade to improve lives. In Ileje, Tanzania they have helped farmers collectively purchase coffee cleaning and processing equipment, which has enabled farmers to earn market rates for their organic coffees.
The bikes arrived in Ileje on December 22, and the members of the coffee co-op started using them right away.
Before sending the bikes to Africa, Level Ground tested a Yuba Mundo under load at their facility in Canada and made this short video:
If you want to support the coffee collective, you can purchase their coffee directly from Level Ground.
Toby L., Yuba’s warehouse guy just got married and he sent us these photos of his wedding in Truckee, CA.
Do you sometimes lament that not nearly enough kids ride to school these days? Damn, that makes me sound old. Kids nowdays!!… Well, take heart. The Bicycle Revolution is coming at us big as the tsumanis and hurricanes! Kids still love to ride bikes. And with the energy of bike advocates all across the country raising the call of programs like safe routes to school and other bike-to-school challenges, kids are turning to bikes for their everyday transportation in droves.
Need proof, you say? Thought you’d never ask. Be prepared to be inspired by Bay Middle School near Cleveland, Ohio. Propelled by the school’s Bike-to-School Challenge, 63% of the students of Bay Middle School rode to school this week. Driven on by advocates like Lawrence Kuh, a fifth grade teacher at Bay Middle school and major advocate for biking, the students of this school pulled 28,641 pounds of carbon emissions out of the atmosphere and saved $3,857 in gasoline costs by having an average of 58% of the students ride to school instead of being taken to school by fossil-fuel vehicles. Dig the numbers? How about this: last year, the students tallied up enough bicycling miles to circle the globe 3 times!. Impressive.
This school blew me away when I went to visit as part of the Yuba Bicycles “Change Your Mobility” Tour during Bike to Work Week. I had the privilege to introduce their students to “What a Bicycle Can Do”. I sure hope that Bay Middle School will inspire other schools to support bike to school programs. Keep it up!
-Steve
Congratulations – Team Yuba! The 5th annual Supermarket Street Sweep was a blast, and Team Yuba took honors after donating and delivering 544 lbs of food on a single Mundo. It’s amazing to see a Mundo cruizing along with over 500lbs on it. Thanks to everyone who joined us in the fun. SMSW in a grass roots event that collects food for the San Francisco Food Bank. This organization collects millions of pounds of food each week and distributes it to thousands of people throughout the Bay Area who would otherwise go hungry. A very worthy cause.
Team Yuba at SMSW 2010
Last week, after touring Europe for six months with no truck or van support, the members of the Pleasant Revolution returned to New York City by boat from England, a bit scruffier and stronger than when they embarked in May, and with plenty of great stories to tell. Four of the group rode V3 Yuba Mundo Cargo bikes.
Above: Amanda Mora Jones performs her original music at Barceloneta Beach with backup from Cello Joe on cello, Louis on Flute, Scat on Trumpet, and Jared May on bass. Four members of the audience pedal to create the power for the stage monitor and amplifiers; two of the four generators were Yuba Mundos. Click the photo for a large version. Photo: Gerard
Yuba stepped up to sponsor the tour because we wanted to make a genuine contribution to a Bike Culture project we believed in, not just get our name out there. Fortunately we couldn’t have asked for a better crew and venue to put our gear to the test. The Mundos we sponsored were heavy duty haulers, Pedal Power generators, and even a mobile LiveOnBike stage.
The Pleasant Revolution co-produced Bicycle Music Festivals in 5 cities, including Barcelona, above. What makes a Bicycle Music Festival different from the more frequent Pedal Powered busking sessions on the tour is the full-day all-encompassing nature of the event. A Bicycle Music Festival packs up and moves 3 times over the course of a day by bike, a feat that would not be possible without cargo bikes like the Mundo.
Above, yours truly, Fossil Fool, singing LiveOnBike at the Barcelona Bicycle Music Festival, with Jared May on bass and Cello Joe on bucket drums. I joined the tour for 5 weeks when it entered Spain and helped to produce the Barcelona BMF. Photo: Gerard
Rather than just hauling the gear to our next Bicycle Music Festival venues, we would rock out en route with LiveOnBike performances, like the one in the video below:
Fossil Fool performs on a Mundo at the Bicycle Music Festival
Congratulations to the “Viva el Mundo Style” Video contest winners! And, thank you everyone who created cool videos and all who voted for your favorite video. It ain’t exactly sundance, but these videos were pretty cool! The prizes are:
And the winners are:
First place: Gautier HENAFF – “La Vie en Mundo”
Dan Rain - “Dinner by Bike”
Travis Flett – “A day on The Mundo”
You can see all the videos and more on the Yuba Bicycles You Tube Channel