We were very interested in competing in this project as a chance to demonstrate and show case our Apprentice Engineering skills, wrapped up in one project. As a UK manufacturer and assembler of lifts, we were looking for something ‘different’ to focus the skills our Engineering Apprentices learn through their 3 years of training. As many sections of the bike will be designed and manufactured using our in-house processes and current parts and material sections will be re-invented into bike components. The finished bike will exhibit all of our manufacturing processes from tradition milling and lathe machine work, TIG & MIG welding, to 3D printing (our newest machine). The materials will also be coated in our Lift finishing processes including power coating, zinc bleaches and polished materials. At the end of the project when the bike is fully constructed we will extend the project further to help demonstrate our Assembly techniques on the Production Line. Using a new ‘non-lift’ product this will help deliver the importance of Lean and well thought out assembly principles using a product they are not familiar with, hence having to ‘think out of the box’. We would like to think that future apprentices will be able to re-design the product each time with subtle updates whilst still keeping the main focus on using all in-house techniques and materials/processes where possible.

Velopresso is a unique, highly innovative and fully integrated coffee tricycle, that combines great mobility and excellent espresso machinery with an ultra low-carbon, pedal-powered operation that requires no electricity.

Designed from the ground up around our unique rear-steer modular tricycle, pedal-driven grinder, and robust gas-fired lever espresso machine, Velopresso is a celebratory fusion of human power, sensory pleasures and technology – old tech with hi-tech, bicycles and coffee, their engineering and aesthetics.

The result is a highly efficient, robust and humanised machine with a compact footprint – no motors, no noise – enlightened coffee ‘on the go’, perfect for city streets and piazzas, at exhibitions and events, in parks and markets – wherever people congregate.

Rodford is a Bristol based business building cargobikes, at its core are Steve Bodiley and Rob Bushill, a fusion of minds, fuelled by tea, biscuits and a love of old world transport. They come from a background of selling, riding and modifying the best two wheeled cargobikes in the world, sidecar construction and computer hardware design.

They wanted a Cargobike that offered something fresh, a Cargobike with function at its heart and with a dusting of British swagger, a bike fashioned from the same BS 4T45 steel used in Spitfires and Hurricanes, a Cargo bicycle handbuilt in Britain.

Since 2011, when Rodford exhibited the first Cargobike at Bespoke, Rodford have experimented with design, honed their craft and discovered other skilled craftspeople in Britain with which to collaborate.

Rodford is a business built on people. The people helping the project to grow, and the people using our Rodford Built bicycles to enhance their everyday. It is built on a respect for the bicycles place in history and a desire for more bicycles to be used as local transport in the future. It provides options for your transport, Cargobikes built in Rodford.

Workhaus Bikes is a new venture based in Brighton & Hove founded by Duncan Henderson. The aim is to encourage the return and use of utility bikes in the UK and reduce the reliance on the combustion engine.
Our project is to produce a cargo bike for a painter.
The artist, Sam Hewitt, whilst a keen commuting cyclist historically, either drives his equipment to any chosen location or works from photographs back in his studio.
The equipment required for painting in the field, whilst being a little unwieldy in the case of canvases, is by no means heavy and so can be transported by bike with ease.
Apart from the obvious benefits: health and wellbeing, reduced pollution and costs, etc. Sam feels that the pleasure of this self-contained vehicle coupled with the physical nature of getting to a chosen site will provide further liberation for his work.
The bike needs to securely transport wet canvases and palate, brushes, paint, turps, rags, easel, a large umbrella plus the usual luggage for a day out on a bike

The brief is for myself and the students of L!fe Bike to design and manufacture a steel framed Redshift Radio utility cargo bike. The bike will carry a range of lightweight broadcasting equipment and be a focal point for the radio station at events, but when you take off the cargo bits, it will still be a nice bike for the employees of Redshift to ride. By putting it on rollers, it will also be used as a training bike to promote cycling and health.

The students who designed and built bikes for GCSE are now at A-Level stage and are chomping at the bit for the next project, so I’ve got a ready made team for the Constructors’ Challenge, and this project is more complicated and challenging for them