An eccentric inventor attaches a supermarket shopping cart to a mountain bike frame.
By Our Cycling Correspondent: Bernie Legg
PAKEFIELD — Local inventor Jeffrey Schlepp, 58, has unveiled his latest contraption aimed at revolutionising grocery shopping: a hybrid vehicle fusing a mountain bike with a supermarket trolley.
The vehicle replaces the front wheel of a black GT mountain bike with the front frame and dual swivel-casters of a standard grocery cart. The handlebars have been removed entirely, leaving direction control to a rigid metal coupling bolted directly to the cart’s rear handle.
According to Schlepp, the contraption will allow shoppers to complete a routine supermarket run in half the standard time, effectively permitting users to ride directly through the aisles while loading groceries into the front cargo bay.
“The geometry is pure efficiency,” Schlepp said from his workshop. “You pedal through produce, bank left into frozen foods, and load direct to basket without breaking stride.”
The project marks the latest chapter in Schlepp’s controversial engineering career. He previously drew local attention for the “Cocktus,” a green-energy robot pitched to major tech firms, and a square-wheeled car which can avoid potholes.
Tour De Freezer
Other notable endeavours include the Aeronautical Auto-Flying Car Plane—which he claimed operated on strawberry-flavoured milk—and the Solarcar, a 1997 Vauxhall Astra seen towing what witnesses described as “six rusty panels and a sense of hope.”
Initial trial runs of the hybrid cart-bike have yielded mixed practical results. While the rear chain-drive provides sufficient momentum, the retention of the cart’s standard 360-degree swivel wheels at the front creates significant steering drift at speeds exceeding four miles per hour.
Local store managers have declined to confirm whether the vehicle will be permitted inside retail premises, citing concerns over aisle clearance, high-speed collisions in cereal aisles, and general liability. Schlepp remains unfazed by safety queries, confirming plans to add a child-seat modification before the weekend