Bike Rack for Pizza

I deliver pizza for Papa Johns in Evanston. I am looking for a different job but until that I get something else and with gas price so high I am going to try to deliver pizza on my bike. I need to build a rack that can hold a 16in pizza. I have some ideas but I am looking for any suggestions.

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Permalink Reply by Jin Kim on May 11, 2011 at 9:24am

A CETMA 7-rail rack has a 17 x 11 platform. It might be worth looking at.

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Permalink Reply by Cameron 7.5 mi on May 11, 2011 at 9:29am

I’d start with any old off the shelf rack and attach larger platform or box to it. This could be as simple as a pizza box sized piece of plywood. Either build some sides onto the plywood platform to stop the pizzas from sliding around or put some eye-bolts in it to make easy to bungee the pizzas down. Depending on what the off the shelf rack looks like the platform could attached with something as simple as some pipe straps around the top rails.

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Permalink Reply by notoriousDUG on May 11, 2011 at 10:37am

I have heard tales of NYC pizza guys using the Wald 157 Giant Delivery Basket with the front cut open and bent down to deliver pizzas. I would guess it is the cheapest and easiest option.

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Permalink Reply by Chris C on May 11, 2011 at 11:02am

Cut a piece of plywood to the same footprint as a insulated pizza delivery bag. Drill strategic holes into the plywood to allow you to secure the plywood to your rear rack using zipties, hose clamps, etc. Mount the insulated pizza bag to the piece of plywood using double-sided velcro.

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Permalink Reply by Chris C on May 11, 2011 at 11:06am

Look at the images from a Google search on "bicycle pizza delivery". Lots of interesting ideas.

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Permalink Reply by Kelvin Mulcky on May 11, 2011 at 11:20am

don't forget the bungie net.

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Permalink Reply by Joe Studer 8.0 mi on May 11, 2011 at 1:10pm

You can't walk by a pizzeria in NYC without seeing 3-4 of these with precisely the setup dug describes. Not as pretty as the Cetma rack (which are very nice), but much less expensive.

notoriousDUG said:

I have heard tales of NYC pizza guys using the Wald 157 Giant Delivery Basket with the front cut open and bent down to deliver pizzas. I would guess it is the cheapest and easiest option.

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Permalink Reply by steve rulz on May 11, 2011 at 1:20pm

CETMA racks are awesome and would be perfect for pizza boxes. However the price and the time it takes to get it shipped is kind of ridiculous. If you order one today you might get it by early September.

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Permalink Reply by Alex on May 11, 2011 at 1:27pm

Yeah, lots of NYC delivery people use the Wald basket. But cheap, quick and easy (and also flexible for other uses) might be:

- cheapest front platform rack you can find (you can also probably mod a cheap rear platform rack with enough hose clamps and creativity). Nashbar front rack, Pletscher, Wald, you can find something for $10-30, even brand spankin' new.

- you have an oven, right? Do you really use all of the racks inside it? No? Then take one out, and clean it off. Free-ish.

- Zip ties and/or used inner tubes. Or more hose clamps, if that's your thing. To strap the oven rack onto your platform rack. Make sure it's stable! And flat! Almost free.

- bungee net and/or bungee cords and/or whatever other straps you might want to use. Free (if you have them already), maybe $10 for a net at a bike shop.

I haven't done this before, but have seen it, and thought about it myself. Not to carry pizza, but copious amounts of sparkling water. And if you are not long for the world of pizza delivery via bicycle, you can always put your oven rack back into the oven, and use your front rack for other important things, like carrying six packs of beer to the lake.

Not sure how your corporate overlords at Papa John's might react to you delivering without a car, so I'd also look into getting a job at Jimmy John's, Potbelly's, or another sandwich place that does deliveries by bike. A lot easier to carry a 6" sub sandwich than a pizza, I think.

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Permalink Reply by Joel on May 11, 2011 at 2:08pm

If you don't want to use your own oven rack, head over to the nearest used appliance store and buy a spare -- trust me, they have lots of the them. You should be able to get it for free-$15 depending on where you go and how good of a mood the person is in.

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Permalink Reply by Kohaku on May 11, 2011 at 5:39pm

The rack is the easy part. I hope you and your bike have a gentle touch to ride around with a stack of pies. Good luck with your endeavours. Oh, get a center stand.