Close
Pedal Progress
The Pedal Progress team and their prototype
Team Members
- Laure Durand
- Kenny Lee
- Keval Pisavaria
- Loc Nguyen
- Seiko Nishino
- Jia Gin Tan
- Umut Turkucu
Supervisor
The Project
Have a look at the poster for the project
Transportation of agriculture goods is a severe issue in developing countries due to inefficient or expensive methods for low income farmers. Our target country for the project is Ethiopia because of its large agriculture sector and large bamboo forests. The goal of the project is to promote economic growth in Ethiopia. The project aims to fill the gap between head portaging and motorised vehicles by designing a cargo bike. The cargo bike needs to be durable, functional, simple to build, affordable, and have a minimal environmental impact.
The Design
The Pedal Progress prototype is a rear loading tricycle that has a five year lifespan, 150 kg cargo capacity, hemp-resin joints, 7-speed gearing along with a rear differential, and less carbon footprint than a steel bike.
Major innovations of the bike include using an orthotropic model with hoop stress analysis to accurately analyse the anisotropic properties of bamboo, fatigue analysis to increase the lifetime, and joints testing to improve the reliability of the manufacturing process.
The outstanding work of the team has attracted the attention of the IMechE and the team won the Group Project Award allowing them to attend the International Cargo Bike Festival in Nijmegen, Netherlands. This will allow the team to gain approval of the design and create funding opportunities to develop the project further.
The prototype of the Pedal Progress team
Pedal Progress on the web
Follow Pedal Progress on social media
