From Grocery Hassle to Bike Hack

Inspired by the challenge of hauling groceries on rental bikes, five Northwestern students in a Manufacturing and Design Engineering capstone course designed a simple, portable fix.

While living in New York City last summer as an intern with Amazon, Northwestern University undergraduate Felipe Reis Maccari got a taste of big-city life, including some of urban living’s unique challenges. 

Take grocery shopping, for instance. For local transportation options to stores he often rented a public bike—an immediately available, cost-effective, and rather straightforward solution. However, Maccari fretted about navigating busy New York City streets with packed grocery bags dangling from handlebars, which made the bike feel unsteady and the riding dangerous. 

“It was a problem for me and, I learned, others as well,” Maccari said.  

Pursuing a solution 

Fast forward to fall 2025 and Maccari’s final academic year as a Manufacturing and Design Engineering (MaDE) student at Northwestern’s Segal Design Institute. 

Tasked to find a final project with four classmates—Daisy Bai, Vicky Laguerre, Ollo MacLean, and Jaden Ordonez—for the three quarter-long MaDE capstone course, Maccari mentioned his summertime dilemma carting grocery bags on a rental bike. So, Maccari and his team explored a solution that would enable riders to conveniently and securely carry heavier, larger personal items while using public rental bikes. 

To better understand public bike rental users, the MaDE group created an online form and solicited insights by posting a QR code at Divvy bike stations in Evanston. They collected key information on individuals’ riding habits and different obstacles they encountered, including hauling cargo. 

“It was an important step to validate the problem and make sure it wasn’t something individual to me,” Maccari said.  

The team then brainstormed solutions, devising about 100 ideas from wearables to various cargo holding attachments before proceeding with a portable and removable cargo attachment system that connected to a rental bike’s rear fender. The foldable design, compatible with the proprietary geometries of major rental bike frames, enabled users to hang sturdy bags from hooks on each side of the rear tire for safe cycling. 

“Ironically, it wasn’t a solution we thought much of at first because it actually seemed too simple,” Maccari said. 

Introducing Pack ‘n’ Pedal 

Maccari and his teammates developed a prototype and positioned themselves at bike rental stations to allow product trials and gain user feedback. The results were clear: “simple” worked. Users appreciated the solution’s ease of use and functionality. 

Over subsequent months, Maccari’s team continued to sharpen their work with guidance from Segal faculty members David Gatchell and Dan Brown. Field testing and user feedback prompted new iterations with tweaks addressing performance and usability. 

At the same time, the group evaluated materials, assembly, and manufacturing operations. They also outlined a business strategy, from costs and sales opportunities to branding and partnerships, and filed a provisional patent application for their solution, which they called Pack ‘n’ Pedal. A multi-week, multi-user test of a high-fidelity product concluded the group’s work in the MaDE course, establishing a foundation for potential commercialization. 

“We’ll see where things go from here,” said Maccari, who graduates in June alongside his four Pack ‘n’ Pedal teammates. “But wherever this idea goes, it was exciting to see an idea in our minds become something that works and something people saw as a solution to a real pain point when using rental bikes.”