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Andover native Will Kearins runs a business selling a European-style bicycle that has a front storage compartment. He calls his line of bikes Boxcycles. PAUL BILODEAU
Kearins takes his cargo bike out for a ride. PAUL BILODEAU

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July 29, 2010

Andover native works to bring European-style bikes stateside

By Bethany Bray Staff Writer

For Will Kearins, an Andover native living in Copenhagen, the morning commute goes something like this: He pedals as his wife and young son ride in a sturdy cargo bin built into his bicycle frame. Within a few city blocks, he drops Dorthe off at work and Kristian at his nursery school, and he continues on to his workshop, where he works on prototypes and marketing for his line of cargo bikes called Boxcycles.

Kearins, 31, is working to bring the three-wheeled bikes to the U.S., and his first shipment arrived stateside last week.

The American bike market is poised for Boxcycles, Kearins said, which he believes is perfect for shopping and errands or trips to the beach, park or school. His first shipment, delivered to bike retailers in five pilot cities, has sold out and he's collecting orders for a second shipment.

While home to oversee the shipment, Kearins and his family took a Boxcycle to Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket to gauge reaction and do some grassroots marketing.

Several other European bike companies are also beginning to market cargo bike models across the pond, he said.

"It was becoming apparent if I wasn't going to do it, someone else was," said Kearins, who was known as Billy growing up in Andover. "Maybe people don't understand (the cargo bike concept) now, but they will."

Cargo bikes suit the green and healthy living trends, Kearins said, and also relate to "a down economy, and getting back to basics."

Boxcycles can be used to substitute or supplement a family's vehicle, he said. They cost $2,599 but he points out the purchase price will quickly pay for itself in savings on gas, parking, insurance and vehicle maintenance.

In bike-friendly Copenhagen, Kearins and his family do not own a car.

There are an estimated 15,000 cargo bicycles on the road in Copenhagen, he said. Five companies based in the city design and sell them. The post office uses a fleet of cargo bikes to deliver mail and street vendors use them to sell coffee and other wares.

"For me, it's like a pickup truck," he said, because he uses it to carry everything from groceries to workshop supplies.

Danes ride bicycles year-round, Kearins said. The cargo bin on a Boxcycle can hold up to 250 pounds, and has a bench seat with seat belts and a removable weather-proof hood.

When he moved to the Danish capital city three years ago, its "bike culture" was one of the first things that struck him, he said.

"I sold my car the day before I got on the plane. It killed me to do it," Kearins said, breaking into a smile.

He went from being single and owning two cars in the U.S. to having a family and no car in Copenhagen. Soon after moving, he built a prototype cargo bicycle for his family and started working on a business plan to market them in the U.S.

"The biking scene was world-class. I thought I might as well join the crowd," he said.

He approached Christiania Bikes, a company that began designing cargo bikes in the 1970s for the vehicle-free Christiania section of Copenhagen. Kearins met with a finance officer from the company, explaining months of research and his business plan to bring cargo bikes to the U.S.

Christiania Bikes agreed to let Kearins do his own branding, marketing and promotion to break into the U.S. market. Kearins sells a Christiania bike with a few of his own design elements.

He owns the exclusive rights to sell Christiania bikes in the U.S. and is owner of the Boxcycles company.

He designed a website and word spread quickly, and Kearins began fielding orders for Boxcycles. For the first order, he worked with a single bike retailer in five bike-friendly cities: San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Portland, Ore., and Minneapolis, Minn.

With a degree in communications from Boston College, he is learning the ropes of business management as he goes. When he first moved to Copenhagen, Kearins took a summer course in entrepreneurship from a local college. He formed his business plan for Boxcycles as a project for the course and presented it to the class.

"It was a humbling experience," Kearins said, as his classmates shot down the idea. How would cargo bikes work in a country with no bike lanes, they asked.

The critique only spurred him to tweak his business plan and do more research.

Kearins says he lives by a quote from Yvon Chouinard, founder of the Patagonia outdoor clothing and gear company: "If everybody thinks you have a good idea, you're too late."

It's been roughly one year since Kearins took his first summer business course and the first shipment of Boxcycles arrived in the U.S. He has been a full-time student through the process, enrolled in a master's level entrepreneurship program at Copenhagen Business School.

"It's all been fast and furious, up and down," Kearins said. "When I have an idea, I go all out."

A 1997 Phillips Academy graduate, Kearins is the son of Pam Sheehy, who still lives in Andover. He has two older sisters, Kasie Sullivan, who lives in Reading, and Mia Fagan, who lives in Taunton. His younger sister, Krit, passed away at age 26 in 2008 after a bicycle accident in Boston.

Will Kearins travels between Copenhagen and the states several times a year for family visits, which he said he hopes will be more frequent as more shipments of Boxcycles cross the ocean.

For more information, visit boxcycles.com.