Can’t pool enough bills for your own ride? Here’s an idea. Steal one of those wheeled grocery baskets and slowly build it up into a usable cart, just like the LOLriokart, a modified shopping cart that’s been rigged to become a motorized vehicle.
Forget about pushing your grocery down the aisle. With this thing in tow, you can drive down from one shelf to another, all while sitting on the kart like a drooling five year old. Even better, you don’t have to unload the groceries into your trunk – just scoot with the damn thing all the way home.
Created by MIT undergrad Charles Guan, the 250-lb LOLriokart was built using an abandoned shopping cart, some discarded wheels and an electric engine borrowed from high-performance golf carts. He cut off the original wheels (which are too small) and added a mounting plate along the wheel line, where the nickel-cadmium batteries, motor and drivetrain now rest.
He removed the bottom of the basket area and added seats, which makes it largely unusable for shopping. Of course, you can always attach an extra basket like those on bicycle handlebars, in case you want to take it along to buy unnecessary stuff, like food and toothpaste. A custom steering system and brakes round out the package.
According to Guan, the LOLriokart can go as fast as 30 mph. A larger motor sprocket could have raised that to 45 mph, but the speed seemed a little risky for such a novelty vehicle. Besides, who wants to blaze through the road on this thing. It looks like the kind of ride you savor – and get beat up by big dudes for, you clown.
The LOLriokart cost the creator one year of his life and a total of $300. It looks like it’s totally worth every penny.
[via PopSci]