Danish duo Larry vs Harry have taken the obviously functional but visually uninspiring cargo-bike and given it a funky makeover. Notable for a streamlined design that's not much wider than your average bicycle and weighing as little as 22kg, the Bullitt range sports jumbo-sized hardened aluminum tubing, top quality gears, hydraulic braking, puncture-proof tires and some interesting iconic branding.
Take a quick look at Larry vs Harry's Bullitt cargo-bike website and it's easy to imagine some funky 1970s Isaac Hayes' penned tune running in the background while a tough private dick (and part time courier) makes his way through downtown Harlem. Even easier while listening to the bike's very own soundtrack.
In similar fashion to what would happen if some clever modder took a Smart Car and turned it into a Porsche, the Bullitt appears to take the basic Bakfiets cargo bike design and pimp it up, seventies-style.
The making of a legend
The Danish-built modular Bullitt is made of light, strong oversized aluminum tubing instead of steel. The iconic part is the famous name making an appearance somewhere on the frame - Chuck Berry appears on the Red model, Chuck Connors on the Chuck flavor and of course Steve McQueen on the Race version.
It's available in a number of configurations all built using the same hardened aluminum frame design and coming with double-bound aluminum wheel rims, puncture-proof Schwalbe tires, impact-strengthened plastic mudguards and a bike lock.
The gear, brake and crankshaft set up depends on which of the models is chosen:
- The Classic, Red, Chuck, Race and Little Boy varieties feature a seven gear SRAM i-Motion hub, hydraulic front brake and SRAM Truvativ crankshaft
- The Clockwork, Bluebird ‘71 and Milk Plus models come with an eight gear Shimano Alfine hub, brake blocks and crankshaft and Shimano Alfine front and rear hydraulic brakes
- The John Player Special has an eight gear Shimano Alfine hub, brake blocks and crankshaft plus a Brooks B17-saddle in black or honey
- And finally, the TNT shows off a complete Shimano XT series
As with other cargo-bikes, it's quite a bit longer than your average bike (96" / 245cm) but not that much wider (18" / 47cm) and the lightest model - the TNT - weighs just 48lbs/22kg (that's naked of course - before adding all the boxes, bags, packages and such like).
A plywood box, a weatherproof aluminum box, a billboard and various other accessories are all available to be shipped along with your new Bullitt.
Availability
Bullitt prices start at around the Euro1800 mark and the cargo-bike is shipped to a limited number of countries including the US and Europe.
According to the new Larry vs Harry blog, fans of the forthcoming Cycle Messenger World Championships in Tokyo might very well see the Bullitt represented by four times freight bike world champion, Erik Zo.