Japanese pet porter bicycles

Do you know about those delivery bicycles with small front wheels and large front baskets? In Japan, these bike are apparently marketed for carrying your pets.

potta-3

This is the Coloco “Potta” — pronounced “po tah” (think how a Japanese person might pronounce porteur) — which retails for the equivalent of $360 American plus shipping.

Another example is the Maruishi Pet Porter, available in the “stylish” X frame shown below, or the more traditional frame that they describe as “cheap and cute.” These Maruishi bikes are more expensive than the mail-order Coloco bikes at around US$500.

Maruishi Pet Porter

The pet carriers are designed specifically for the bikes. The bikes themselves include features such as a locking steerer so the front wheel doesn’t wobble and fall over when parked.

At least one Japanese dog blogger reviews the cheaper Coloco bike.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Maruishi tried to sell entry-level road, mountain, and touring bikes in the US market without much success. Some low-end Maruishi bikes were also sold under the Jamis brand. Maruishi still sells the entry level “Emperor” line of touring, cross and road bikes to the Japanese market.

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