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Fast Boy Cycles Introduces the Nose Bike, A City Friendly Cargo Bicycle

Fast Boy Cycles nose bike big city friendly cargo bicycle with handmade crate basket
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Fast Boy Cycles nose bike big city friendly cargo bicycle with handmade crate basket

Tired of schlepping his Xtra Cycle in and out of his NYC apartment, Fast Boy Cycles founder Ezra Caldwell has been toying with the Nose Bike for a while now. In fact, this is version two and has been his main bike for the past month.

He says he’s got it pretty much where he wants it, just a few minor geometry tweaks, then it’ll become a regular offering from his custom bike program. Oh, and he’s also designed a new dropout that’ll keep the sliding dropout design shown here but moves the disc brake mounts inside the rear triangle. Why? Read on…

First, a little backstory. If you listened to our short-lived podcast series, you’d know that Ezra has battled cancer. And he’s done it again since we interviewed him. You might also know that he makes custom bicycles and, when there’s time, some extremely limited edition and highly sought after wooden bicycle fenders. OK, now back to current news:

Fast Boy Cycles nose bike big city friendly cargo bicycle with handmade crate basket

The Nose Bike shown here is Ezra’s personal test mule and is set up as a pure single speed. With his new dropout design (shown at bottom of post), it’ll be able to hold any internally geared hub also, and it’ll add a couple of handy rack and fender eyelets.

Since fit isn’t quite as important as on a performance bike, he’ll likely offer it in two standard sizes and build them in small batches. Estimated price is around $3,000 for a complete bike, and that should include his handmade crate:

Fast Boy Cycles nose bike big city friendly cargo bicycle with handmade crate basket

It’s the little details like this that set Fast Boy Cycles’ bits apart. Sure, it’s a simple crate, but the elegant construction takes something benign and makes it beautiful. He’ll also offer handmade stainless steel crate-sized baskets for folks with deeper pockets.

One day, we’re really hoping FBC can show at NAHBS. In the meantime, you can follow his personal and bike building progress on his blog.

Ezra’s new sliding dropouts were born of frustration with current offerings when it came to ease of installation. He also wanted to add the ability to use fender and rack eyelet mounts, which are typically not used on such designs because the outboard disc brake mounts get in the way.

These are waterjet cut of 3/16″ 4130 steel. The design keeps the brakes mounted in line with the axle, so as you slide the wheel to adjust chain tension, the brake stay right where they should in relation to the rotor. Get the full scoop on their development here, and if you’re a frame builder and want to use them, they’re for sale.

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11 Comments
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JayP
12 years ago

Cool design. I’m diggin’ the rack and steering assembly being independent of each other. That stapled box doesnt look like it will last too long though. Sweet design overall. I’d ride one.

Capaneus
Capaneus
12 years ago

Looks like it might be practical – then again if we are talking parts utility – is that a bmx 20 inch wheel or a srange hard to replace side – also does it handle badly with huge front loads… you would think a big load in the rear would be better to steer / swerve with – you could gie me one for free but I would opt to go with a messenger bag to carry stuff before buying an ugly practical bike like that

mkrs
mkrs
12 years ago

Quite a clever design. Indeed the rack is very cool. The price, however, is absolutely crazy – I could EASILY order an identical bike as a one-off custom design and pay much less.

JacobC
JacobC
12 years ago

Looks like a pretty blatant rip off of a Civia Halsted.
http://civiacycles.com/bikes/halsted/

dgaddis
12 years ago

I bet this one handles with a load better than the Civia. Nearly the entire rack on the Civia is in front of the wheel axle. And neither of them are the first to use this type of front-loading, small front wheel configuration.

Bmark
Bmark
12 years ago

The Civia handles super well with a load on it. The weight being above/in front of the front axle isn’t a huge deal because of how close to the ground the load rides. I’ve had 50ish lbs on the front of a Halsted before with no complaints.

rideTall
rideTall
12 years ago

And Civia ripped off Joseph….

http://www.ahearnecycles.com/cycle-truck-intro/

JacobC
JacobC
12 years ago

Joseph wasn’t the first he just made big improvements… Schwinn also did it in the 50’s http://luxlow.com/bicycles/1952-schwinn-cycle-truck-delivery-bike/

I’m sure there are earlier examples as well….

Robin
Robin
12 years ago

So much for the stupid “rip-off” idea and claim.

Fred
Fred
12 years ago

If you think the Civia Halsted handles well with a load you must think all bikes just have to ride that poorly with a front load. They did absolutely everything wrong, with a super slack HTA and minimal rake, maximizing wheel flop and shimmy.

The Fast Boy bike looks like it has an even slacker HTA, though at least he put enough offset in the fork to make it merely mediocre, and not actively terrible. At the same time with that flimsy small box and minimal support cantilever it’s not like you could carry any more on this than you could in a Wald basket.

The plate dropouts are awful too, if you don’t want to use an eccentric BB, multiple companies make rocker dropouts with inside caliper placement.

Matt
Matt
12 years ago

In the UK you can go on a Custom frame building course with Dave Yates. He will teach you how to build a frame, your frame. This costs £879 plus approx £180 for materials. This frame will fit you. $3000 dollars for a butchers bike does seem OTT. Most of Ezra’s bikes are overpriced for what they are but people will pay to have something individual, as long as someone else makes it.

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