Watch the Apprentice on BBC1 last night? (If not, you can catch it again on BBC’s iPlayer). In the show, one of the teams took onboard and attempted to sell the Bee3POD, a rack-mounted carrying device for heavy shopping loads.
The Bee3POD was designed by London-based entrepreneur Paul Thomas, one of the founders of design company Spring3Design Ltd, and describes the product as a “…socially conscious design solution that is destined to revolutionise supermarket shopping by enabling users to do substantial shops by bicycle.”
Whether that’s the case or not, it was certainly entertaining watching the dimwits attempt to sell the product. The product in question couldn’t be simpler, an expandable ‘pod’ that clips to a rack and swallows several shopping bags, with adjustable straps to ensure the contents don’t fall out and a flap to cover it up.
Once home, the Bee3POD can be easily unclipped and brought indoors for unloading. The Bee3POD and the empty recyclable carrier bags can then be rolled up and stored for future use. As well as carrying your milk and bread, the designer claims it can carry a full-sized suit bag folded in half allowing for a suit, shirt and shoes to be transported.
It’s an interesting, simple and elegant solution to carrying luggage on a bicycle. According to the Department of Transport, 87% of cycle owners in the UK currently do not use their bicycles for shopping and instead are most likely to use a car.
While there are already plenty of luggage solutions for bicycles (panniers), this is certainly a more stylish alternative for the fashion conscious.
