Backbrat rack-mounted grill cooks while you cycle

Ever get the urge for a well cooked sausage when you’re out riding your bicycle? No? Me neither, come to think of it. But if you ever did, then you’ll be relieved to know that somebody has spent time and money developing a rack-mounted grill so you can cook food while you cycle.

The Backbrat has been invented by Los Angeles-based Mathias Hintermann, who grew up in Switzerland. The designer obviously has decided to tackle the really big issue facing all cyclists: how to cook food when riding. Why not strap a barbecue to a rack? 

It could be handy for cycling touring perhaps. If you timed it to perfection you could arrive at your evening stopover with dinner nicely cooked. it’s hard to imagine quite how distracting the smell of cooking food would be, especially for any companions following in your wake. Being serious for a second, grilling on the move isn’t the safest thing to do and that’s not what he’s suggesting you do. The idea is to ride to the park or someplace, then park up and get the grill on.

Mathias' actual reasoning is to combine the trends amongst young people for group cycling and BBQs in the park. And he’s going after the German market, where he says 5.9lbs of bratwurst were consumer per person in 2011.

The grill, big enough for four sausages (and we’re sure you could squeeze some onion and mushroom on there as well) is actually really rather well designed for the task. He’s developed his own locking system, a clamp fixes to a standard rack and the grill slides and locks into this accessory.

The grill is fuelled by charcoal and a lid slides over the top to keep your sausages in place.  t’s all cleverly designed and now we’ve given it some thought, it doesn’t seem as mad as it did when we first stumbled across the idea. Mathias' website is packed with early design concepts and other cool stuff. It’s worth taking a look at www.mathiashintermann.com/#!backbrat/c1xq4