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forum
Cargo Bikes
Talk to me about cargo bikes! Following cargo related comments in the live blog today, I thought I'd spin it off into a forum thread for people to share experiences of cargo bikes. Front-loaders, long-tails, electric and acoustic, all welcome.
If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.
Latest Forum Topics
Latest Comments
- David9694 8 min 40 sec ago
Clevedon: Controversial end of free parking 'will be monitored' after outcry...
- cardch 18 min ago
That is a great idea. And surely someone will call them Arsegos.
- chrisonabike 41 min 48 sec ago
Agreed - but with a bit more set-back from roundabout. Also how well respected is this in practice?...
- ErnieC 1 hour 17 min ago
I'm a bit screwed then, one bike has straight carbon forks and the other straight steel forks ...
- imajez 7 hours 49 min ago
When teaching kids bikeability lessions, one of theings I used to say to them was that what they were learning was also foundational skills for...
- muhasib 10 hours 54 min ago
"the cost to rebuild the M25 junction 10/A3 Wisley interchange is £317 million. The project is expected to be completed in 2025. "
- mark1a 11 hours 17 min ago
I think they did, from memory back in the 70s/80s... haven't seen one for years though, our current milkman uses a standard van, albeit hybrid.
- S.E. 13 hours 4 min ago
Yes, sleep apnea produces more CO... I'm not aware of any doping effect but what do I know....
- Gd29 15 hours 12 min ago
That's true enough. But doesn't address my point that the chainset you get as a replacement will not physically fit chainrings from the chain set...
- brooksby 15 hours 42 min ago
In all fairness, it almost certainly NEVER happened…
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64 comments
In my experience, the physical size of the children wasn't really the issue. You can carry an adult in a Bakfiets easily. But at a certain age, my kids wanted to be on their own bikes, rather than being carted around. That probably was when they were about seven or eight, but every child is different I guess.
Yeah, I figured it was more about wanting to be independent. I should crack on then if I might only have 3 years of use left!
I wouldlike to mention the Hase Pino, its a super versatile tandem where the stoker is on the front in a recumbant position. If you are riding it on your own the you can simply bungy stuff onto the front seat. I have ridden with full sizedbales of hay for example. We have a human powered version, but they come with electric motors if required. Really handles well, descending is a hoot.
We put a blue tooth speaker in the pocket on the back of the seat, and I pick my teenage son up from school on it regularly.
https://totallytandem.com/gear-reviews/hase-pino/
I really have n+1 desire for a bakfiets style cargo bike. I like to have my stuff in front of me where I can see it, probably from having experienced a rear pannier falling off a couple of times, and once some beer disappearing somehow from a pannier basket as I rode. However, I don't have the garage space unless we go down to one car. We're in suburbia, and although I normally bike commute in all weather, we do sometimes need two cars.
I currently use a Burley Travoy trailer and a huge front bag on the Brompton for easy shopping trips. I can hold the contents of a fairly full grocery cart with this combination. But I would look so much cooler piloting an Urban Arrow.
Also handy for dropping off my wife's e-bike for service.
I have a Burley Travoy trailer as well. If you don't need to transport kids it is a great option. Quickly attaches to any bike and folds down for storage. A big advantage is that you can take it into shops with you. It means that if a supermarket has the handheld self scanners, you can do 1 touch shopping from the supermarket shelf to the fridge/cupboard at home. You also don't have to worry about the security of your shopping if you are going to multiple shops.
Also use it for trips to the tip. Amazing how much you can carry using a few bungees.
Did you get Burley's expensive bags for shopping into? If so, how do you like them? I haven't pulled the trigger on those yet, I've just been lashing reusable shopping bags onto the trailer, but it's a couple minutes of extra faff.
I currently have Tern envy, a family near me use it for the school run and shopping. When on mat leave I considered it but because I was going back to work it seemed a lot of investment for a short period of time. Plus, storage.
We're quite hilly round here, I think the breakpoint for me on cargo will be when I get older and the hills become more challenging with the shopping. At that point I'll be all in.
To illustrate what I meant in the live blog comments about 'needing' versus 'wanting' a cargo bike, our school run will be either 0.5 miles or 0.8 miles, depending on which preference we get, and we currently have our shopping delivered... Maybe mine is just Tern envy too
We ditched the 2nd car for three years and I did the school run on a Circe Helios tandem with one kid stoking and another in a GMG Yepp junior seat on the rear rack (seat with a 35kg/9 year old rating & solid rack rated to 55kg). No electric, so it was a bit of a grind uphill. At some points (when I called out for a turbo boost!) I could feel some extra effort from the stoker, but most of the time, it seemed I was pedalling to move my kids legs around as well as propelling the bike forward!
It's an adaptable bike, can take an adult stoking or a kid and you can replace the rear seat with a cargo deck. However, it doesn't have weather protection for kids like the GSD.
I fawned over a Bullit, but it was way more expensive than the Circe and the kids would have quickly outgrown it.
If looking now, I would get the Helios if you would use it as a tandem with your other half, or the Tern GSD otherwise, with electric assist. Or a Junior seat if you can find one in the UK and your current bike/rack would take the weight.
Thanks, there was another vote for the Helios in the live blog comments yesterday - I have seen one or two around, but hadn't appreciated the platform is adaptable. Will have a look.
The Helios is a great bike, but probably only worth considering if you will do some longer tandem rides with an adult or when your kids get older.
Plus points is it will fit on a roof bike carrier and can take a Brompton luggage mount on the front. I had a large Brompton T-bag, which was great.
I nearly went for a Yuba Mundo Classic, only did a car park test ride, but I really liked it. Not as compact as the GSD though and your centre of gravity will be higher with the larger wheels, so a bit more of a handful to keep upright when stopped.
Post Bakfiets we had a Thorn child-back tandem. Initially fitted with kiddy cranks until youngest was tall enough to fit without.
Your turbo boost comment made me laugh. We had a code word for extra power ("Bogies", based on a children's TV skit from the time). I think it helped, but honestly I might only have been encouraging myself. The tandem was great for cycling holidays etc., but couldn't carry any more cargo than a normal bike. The Helios is much more versatile I think.
Most of the time I ride a Tern GSD S10 - it's my commuting bike, and shopping bike, and town bike, and pub bike. It's without doubt the best bike i have ever owned*. It's great. You can get a fully grown friend on it, or two kids, or about £200 of Lidl groceries, and ride the steep hills of Bath easily enough. It fits through nearly any stupid bike infra and it lives in the shed like a normal bike.
I've ridden and reviewed the S10 (derailleur) and the enviolo and rohloff ones. I prefer the S10, personally. okay it'd be a faff to do derailleur tinkering and stuff but the drivetrain is so well protected that you hardly ever need to. round here all you need to do is change the brake pads with alarming regularity.
*i don't actually 'own' it
Thanks Dave. Also found your vid review useful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNc6ffkdmJs
I had a Workcycles Bakfiets when our two kids were small. The nearest current equivalent is their KR8 I think. We used it from when our youngest was a few months old, in a baby car seat strapped in the front, up to when they were about five or six. With a second seat in the front box, it carried 4 kids. Children loved riding in it.
I'd echo the comments elsewhere: The steering is weird initially, but you quickly get used it. We had nothing but positive responses from everyone who saw it. My favourite experience: cycled the kids to a nearby village show. The guy manning the carpark asked if we were exhibitors, I said no, just visiting. "Would you like to exhibit it?" We were placed next to the miniature steam engines and spent a pleasant couple of hours eating ice creams and extolling the virtues of cargo bikes to passers-by.
The bike was manual at first, but I eventually adapted it with a Heinzman front hub motor. Made a big difference, but range was limited due to the crappy NiMh battery. I would go electric if buying one today. It had other limitations compared to modern bikes too, like Shimano roller brakes which were puny for such a heavy lump.
We lived in a terraced house at the time and storage involved manhandling it up two steps to the front door and wheeling it through the house into the garden. Unwieldy!
Thanks. The kid experience is another part of the equation for me. When we tried a box bike and the Tern, my little one definitely preferred the former because she could see more, and I guess it was novel when she's used to being on the back of a regular bike. While for me alone I like the idea of a manual bike, I think whatever I get will be electric to maximise usability.
I've owned a couple of Bullitts and now ride an Urban Arrow and like learning to ride a bike for the first time, the handling characteristics of a front-loader are quickly learnt, especially if it's an e-bike that gives you an initial shove to get yourself and your load moving.
The biggest negative I find with front loaders is storage, they do seem to take up more space than something like a Tern GSD or RadWagon, but all of my bikes are happily accomodated in the hallway of my terraced house with no garage. They make a great clothes horse next to the radiator!
Like anything a test ride is definitely recommended. I've always used Outspoken Cycles in Cambridge for their excellent customer service and variety of different bikes available in stock.
Any specific questions, just ask.
I'm definitely keen on trying a Bullitt as a comparison, and fortunately there is somewhere nearby that I can do that. If I was buying a car I could test a number of brands on one industrial estate, but cargo bikes not so much. Were your Bullitts electric or mechanical? What made you switch to the UA?
My first Bullitt, a Clockwork Orange was mechanical, yet I still used it daily for literally everything, commuting, leisure rides, shopping, going to the tip, 50 mile round trips going to see the family. Pretty much everything apart from MTBing
Followed that with an E-Bullitt, a Lizard King, a bright green beauty. It was pretty much everything I needed in a utility bike, until I started couriering again as a side hustle and more parcels needed to be carried more often, so I upgraded to an Urban Arrow, which are absolute monsters in comparison to the Bullitts and carry far more both in terms of weight moved, but also volume too.
From a business perspective Urban Arrows work much better as they are very easy to lease, rather than some kind of hire purchase agreement or outright purchase for the Bullitts.
So, to kick off - I'm cargo curious. We are a one-child, one-car family living close to a city centre, so can already do a lot on foot / bike and aren't reliant on the car. But the little one is getting bigger and is about to outgrow the bike seat, so I'm interested in something with a bit more capacity that might also replace some car trips. My heart likes front loaders where the little one would be in sight and there's a massive cargo area (Bullitt, Urban Arrow). Haven't ridden either of those, but have tested a Riese & Muller Packster to get a feel for the box-bike style. That felt a bit of a barge and the steering was a bit of a learning curve. Have also ridden a Tern GSD and it was a doddle by comparison, and more adjustable so that my wife could ride it too.
I have a Tern GSD, I considered a front loader but they're not that practical for UK city centre life.
If my, non photographic, memory serves me correctly you live in Cardiff?
There are a fair few Cardiff bike paths which would be impassable on a front loader but can be done on the GSD. It's also easy to lock to a standard Sheffield stand.
I'd massively recommend it.
There is something about the Tern, and makes me smile every time I see one.
Do you have the continuous variable drive?
And do you store it upright on its arse?
I do have the variable drive, took a bit of getting used to but love it now, only issue is it can be hard to turn in gloves or when it's raining.
I don't store it upright at the moment as have a kids seat right at the back, this necessitates the use of a curved back bar which prevents you storing it upright. Once the youngest is out of the seat I'll pop the standard back on and store it upright.
Every time I ride it I get positive comments, drivers have even slowed down alongside me to ask me where I got it, I assumed I was in for a mouthful and just got a smiling bloke complimenting me on the bike!
Yep, Cardiff. I hired a GSD from Pedal Power and may return for a longer hire to see how it fits into life. They're certainly very well thought out.
I can't really fault ours.
From an ease of use perspective I'd recommend the belt drive/hub gear variant. It would be very awkward to service a derailleur or even oil a chain. Had to tighten the bolts on the disc rotor and even that was a massive faff.
Yeah, I'm keen on the belt and hub. Do you have any of the clubhouse kit for kiddy-hauling in the rain?
I just have the clubhouse, haven't got the storm shield bit to go on it, the poor kids just have to wear waterproofs!
I've got the chance of a deal on a GSD. Seriously tempted, but not sure I can justify it at the moment.
Mine has enabled me to ditch my car club subscription which is probably saving me about £300/year.
Will pay for itself in about... 15 years
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