One for BigDummy – utility bike content

Is a cargo bike loaded up with booze/ a family shop realisticly rideable up a big hill?

If you can do it on a SS with a small load, you’ll be fine on something with gears, even with a big load.

Ed is well placed to comment after riding the Ute up some hills, but a loaded cargo bike will give good traction so as long as you have suitably low gearing you can ride it up hills even with a load. You just won’t be doing it quickly and they generally aren’t condusive to out of the saddle climbing. Sit and spin all the way.

Cyclescheme to me
Dear Mike,
Your voucher request has been submitted.

😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀

Mike, I think you meant 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

miketually = smug git… 😉

Looking forward to the pictures of it lugging suitably preposterous cargo (Cute girls included).

Just +1 on the lugging things up hills. I can haul my wife up Wimbledon Hill and Putney Hill, if that’s a useful poit of reference. I sweat, but it’s OK. As others have said, traction is excellent, the thing cannot wheelie, and with the bottom end of an mtb gear range you can just get on with grinding away.

Mocha, that looks great, and Mike, looking forward to seeing it!

miketually = smug git…

Invoice arrived on Saturday, so signed the hire agreement today. Our finance guy was impressed that I’d managed to spend £999.99 🙂

Should get the voucher by the end of the week 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

Thank you, Mike. Please stop waving it around now….

🙂

ED-O….have you reviewed the 08 or 09 Ute? I ordered the 09 model at the end of November…and am still waiting. The container’s due to dock this week so I’m hoping to have it by the end of the month.
I am planning to use the Ute on the school and supermarket shopping run. I will report back when it – finally – arrives.
Looking forward to it coming….looks like a lot of laughs could be had!!!!

I’m hoping to have my Mundo at SSUK in June, if anyone wants to try one out.

Thanks BigDummy.

I’ve just Alfine’d mine and also ordered some of those big bars some nice chap pointed me in the direction of t’other day. Have yet to try out the Alfine, will do on tomorrows commute. Thought was that I actually only had 18 gears anyway and used few of those so the hubgear made sense. 42:20 at the moment btw.

On a related note, I measured my chain for wear while swopping things around and was surprised that it already needs changing after 4 months. Does anyone using a cargo bike experience similar rapid wear issues? It’s the weight of it I guess.

I strongly suspect that my chain is dying a horrible death too, a delicate mixture of limited maintenance and heavy use, plus collossal weight and the ridiculous length. I propose to run the whole lot into the ground then change it. 😉

well, that’s the attraction of the alfine a little bit. As long as I don’t let it get too far gone it’s just a £4 sprocket instead of a £30 cassette.

ED-O….have you reviewed the 08 or 09 Ute?

2008. 2009 looks nice, enjoy it when it arrives.

Is this in the current issue?

Yes the just-coming-out one.

Is this in the current issue?

It’s in the issue on my drawers at home.

At the risk of being smug, got this email today:

When I last heard from Yuba the bikes were being finished in Germany last week. This hopefully means we might get them by the end of March….

And of being smugger still, I have a voucher worth £999.99 in my bag 8)

McTimoney – I’m going to get you banned at this rate..!

Ed-O – your review, while praiseworthy, was v short! Anything else to add?

McTimoney – I’m going to get you banned at this rate..!

Just wait ’til it arrives. How many threads and photos do you think I can post? I’ll make sure to Tweet and blog about it too, for full web2.0-saturation.

😉

Oh god…. *buries head in sand*

😀

Got my cyclescheme voucher today 🙂

— Mike McTimoney (@miketually) March 19, 2009

Ed-O – your review, while praiseworthy, was v short! Anything else to add?

What do you want to know?

I have a similar problem with writing about the Dummy. It goes something like “this is the ace-est bike EVER. It can do anything. Yes, of course it’s heavy, what on earth did you expect?”

🙂

I was trying to explain the point of the Mundo to some friends and family on my Facebook status comments last night. A friend whose husband is a roadie couldn’t understand why I’d be getting a bike with a steel frame (to which I answered that my two current bikes both have steel frames) and am ex-student who is into triathlon was rather shocked at how heavy it was.

When it’s got almost double my body weight on the back, I’m not sure the extra 15lbs on the bike is going to make much difference, and I’d not fancy riding a carbon fibre cargo bike.

I read somewhere the extra weight being described as “functional weight”. Yes, it’s heavy, but it’s heavy because it’s strong.

There’s a whole intriguing world of possibility there though!

It must be right that a full suspension, carbon fibre cargo bike would be better than a rigid steel and wood one in pure performance terms, we’d just have the same arguments about durability, damage resistance and cost-effectiveness (and possibly looks) as we do with mountain bikes. The black sheep titanium waaaaay back when this thread was young is presumably a tad lighter than a Mundo or a Dummy, and may be more compliant etc etc. And the engineering challenge of doing the suspension would be quite something, nevermind manipulating the carbon fibre to get the strength where it was needed.

🙂

It must be right that a full suspension, carbon fibre cargo bike would be better than a rigid steel and wood one in pure performance terms

Technically, wood is carbon fibre. The Mundo doesn’t come with a deck, but I’m going to make one. Out of carbon fibre.

What do you want to know?

I guess dull stuff, like:

*longevity of components (including wheels)
*gearing (and its overall suitability I note you found it low enough for your hill)
*flexibility of the structure of the bike for carrying awkward (not just child-shaped) loads
*sizing – pic looks like it could be quite flexible on the saddle height front, but less so at the bars
*whether the supplied panniers are the only bags that can be attached to the frame and what their quality and suitability is like
*how much more awkward storage is compared with a regular bike with rack and panniers (it’s longer, but I don’t have a feel for whether it’s much harder to live with at home)
*what you think makes it a better alternative than other cargo bikes on the market (noting that the market is pretty limited)
*what you think it could have done better

Not much to ask, eh?!!!

Thanks

Tom

new bars! not as wide as I expected but for £15 it’s worth a try.

Alfine’s working well too, expected that tho.

one of the parents at my kid’s school has a big dummmy

he currently has one child sitting on the back – and has rigged up a tag-a-long thing which attaches to the back of the wooden deck thing for another older child

looks quite clever – next time I see him i’ll ask if he minds if I take a photo and put it up here

How much stuff have you got on those bars? 🙂

I did pass by the shop this am, but it was before it was open. Will try to drop by some time for a gander.

just enough 😉

clock – to tell the time, so i don’t get to work too early
bell – excuse me can i just sneak past?
horn – get out of my way i’m coming through!
light – please don’t squish me
brakes – so i don’t squish anyone else
gear shifter – so i don’t completely kill my legs pedalling this bloody thing 25 miles a day.

Custom Pereira longtail bike, built to the Xtracycle standard: http://www.flickr.com/photos/54435280@N00/2640135856

*longevity of components (including wheels)

Only had it for a few months and haven’t worn anything out so hard to say. It’s for use on road (most of the time) and the components are decent Deore-ish level.

*gearing (and its overall suitability I note you found it low enough for your hill)

Granny ring and middle ring sizes 24 / 34 I think. There were times when a big ring would have been fun, but the bash was good on steps.

*flexibility of the structure of the bike for carrying awkward (not just child-shaped) loads

Good I’d say. There are lots of rings to attach bungees to as well as the rails. Just look at a photo of one.

*sizing – pic looks like it could be quite flexible on the saddle height front, but less so at the bars

Bike tested was an 18″ and was fine for me at 5’8″

*whether the supplied panniers are the only bags that can be attached to the frame and what their quality and suitability is like

The 2009 bags look bigger and better. The ones I had were good but too small. Also held on at the top by folded, flat plate hooks which can bend under more extreme load. They do come with rain covers. I also fixed a bread crate onto the shelf for bigger loads.

*how much more awkward storage is compared with a regular bike with rack and panniers (it’s longer, but I don’t have a feel for whether it’s much harder to live with at home)

Didn’t fit in my shed! Had to take the front wheel off to get in my 6 seater Vito van which you don’t have to do with regular bikes. Ideal if you’ve got a garage.

*what you think makes it a better alternative than other cargo bikes on the market (noting that the market is pretty limited)

Haven’t tried any others, but cost is good.

*what you think it could have done better

Disc brake on the back as well as front, just so that you just carry on type of spare pads. Better panniers. Other than that I loved it.

How TF is this thread still going?

Oh…

How TF is this thread still going?

The new forum seems to keep threads going for longer. Which is a good thing.

Customary update on minutiae of buying my bike:

Me: Look how terrible this photo in my passport is
Paul: You look like a sex pest
Steve: But you look better in the photo

Just found a great review of the Mundo (BiGDummy might not want to read it): http://longwalktogreen.blogspot.com/2009/01/yuba-mundo-wow.html