Steven leads a busy life – you’d expect that, given he has a part-time hospital job, runs his own business and has a wife and four young children to transport around Christchurch.
But Steven manages his busy lifestyle while hardly ever using the family car.
“I used to use the car three times a week or so – now I only use it about once a month, occasionally more if it’s raining,” he says. “Basically we only use it for going on holidays.”
Always an avid cyclist, Steven transports himself, the family and any loads they need to carry by using a cycle trailer – designed and made by himself.
“I use it most days, for shopping mainly – it’s set up extremely well for that, with two old recycle crates that fit in the shopping trolley. That means you don’t need plastic bags, and it saves double handling – you just put things straight into the bin at the checkout and carry them easily from the trolley to the trailer to the kitchen.”
His bike is also equipped with child seats, so he can carry the groceries and several family members around at the same time. The trailer can handle large weights, including loads of wood – “a friend of mine carried a 70 kilogram fridge in his,” says Steven.
He got the cycle trailer bug about five years ago when he wanted to bike instead of drive to his regular band practice, but couldn’t because he had to carry his bass guitar and amplifier.
“I came across plans on the web for making a trailer out of recycled materials, using trampoline springs for a hitch to the bike,” he says.
A few days later, Steven bolted together his first cycle trailer, made from old bike frames and wheels. Since then he’s refined his designs, and now makes trailers out of bent aluminium and an easily-detached hitch system.
“I think it has huge potential – think of all the energy we’d save if everyone who cycles in New Zealand had a trailer,” he says.
For more information on Steven’s cycle trailers, see www.cycletrailers.co.nz
