Replacing a car with a Tern GSD or the like

I’m sold @dmorts 😁 thanks.

Need do few emails Monday and think going try order shortly, get the motor separately

I know Kinetics sell them and Manchester Bikes do ex-display/hire.

They also do this beauty:

https://www.manchesterbikes.co.uk/carla-cargo/

Could easily strap 2 kids to that trailer

Is there anywhere decent to buy second hand longtail cargo (non e) bike from?

This is not a sarcastic answer: Holland. You could quite easily go, have a weekend in Rotterdam or Amsterdam, and bring back a bike on the ferry. There are loads of bike shops and the Gumtree equivalent is Marktplaats.

@5lab

Is there anywhere decent to buy second hand longtail cargo (non e) bike from? eBay and facebook marketplace never seem to have any

Matt, formerly of this parish, has a barely used electric kona Ute on facebook right now. And the family cycling uk facebook page is usually good for cargo options, though they don’t stick around long. Quite a few people on there shifting from non-e to e, so if you asked you might find someone who would make the leap knowing there was a buyer.

@northshoreniall

Any luck finding someone who will sell you a Yuba? I’ve found 4 potential UK suppliers

Leftfield Bikes
Eco Move
London Green Cycles
Kids and Family Cycles

Contacted all 4 via email. Leftfield Bikes responded initially, then have not replied further. Had nothing back at all from Eco Move and London Green Cycles. Only found Kids and Family Cycles yesterday and they said they will do a quote for me.

Hi @dmorts – not really had chance to yet, though bit pissed with our scheme as after looking it’s capped 2k and only 1 year repayment option. Going have chat with HR see if it’s got any change.

Thanks for list of suppliers, will give family cycles a shout – they do the accessories too?

Thanks, Niall

they do the accessories too?

I’d guess if they can get the bikes they can get the accessories

Overall I’m still undecided about the Trek or the Yuba. I did find that Schwalbe do a 20 x 2.15″ version of the Marathon Winter Plus tyre. It’s studded and I have used the before on a commuter. They do a 24 x 1.75 too but it’s bit skinnier than the stock Yuba tyre (2.5)…. neither are cheap though!

bit pissed with our scheme as after looking it’s capped 2k and only 1 year repayment option

I got my scheme raised from £2k to £5k and all it cost me was a kit Kat for the head of HR. I think when the scheme was setup no one thought a bike could cost that much.

The trouble with terns is the wingspan is slightly too small and their load carrying suffers. Otherwise, they are lovely birds and can tolerate quite a varied diet.

I got my scheme raised from £2k to £5k and all it cost me was a kit Kat for the head of HR. I think when the scheme was setup no one thought a bike could cost that much.

At my previous job, it took me a month of persuasion to get our scheme raised from £1000 to £2000 and after all of that they wouldn’t even consider shops other than Halfords so your HR department is considerably better than mine ever was!

My current job has an even worse scheme with extra requirements tacked onto including a requirement that you actually cycle to work 3x a week on the purchased bike. 😳

@dmorts @northshoreniall I got my Yuba from London Green Cycles and they were great with (mainly email) comms with me. And shop is open till 7pm which is good for collecting the bike.

I’ll chase my enquiries up this week.

For expensive cargo bikes in general, how do people secure them when out and about?

Lite lok. The one with an anti angle grinder material. But no bike is truly safe if left too long in the wrong place

Lite lok. The one with an anti angle grinder material.

Yes, this is what I was thinking. There’s the HipLok one too. Is there ever an issue getting a cargo bike close enough to a rack etc. to be able to use a D-lock?

If the lock is strong enough they’ll just cut whatever it was locked to.

I have the beefiest Trelock folding lock as it’s easier to transport and get round things than a D-lock.

I then have a Knog scout with an alarm that goes off when the bike is moved and a tracker for helping locate it.

I’m also considering getting a proper hidden tracker for inside the frame on the logic that any thief who removes or disables the Knog will probably think they’re in the clear.

I must confess I use an adaptor chain most of the time that clicks into the side of the wheel lock. Super quick to put on and only one key is nice (need to remove that key anyway otherwise someone will have your battery)

https://www.tredz.co.uk/.Abus-Adaptor-Chain-Frame-Lock-Chain_213690.htm

If I’m anywhere risky then I’ve got a beefy abus lock

Insurance covers us for any lock

@northshoreniall

Yuba dealers page seems to have been updated https://yubabikes.eu/dealer-locator/ There are actually a few more than I thought

I’m still looking at long tail cargo bikes, went on a bit of a tangent and had a demo of a Benno Boost. Really keen on it! However it’s a big step up in price from the Yuba and it opens up the Tern GSD and R&M Multitinker/Multicharger as similarly priced options. Not sure I want 20″ wheels though….

I’m still trying figure out what I want @dmorts – had a quick try of raleigh stride 2 couple of weeks ago and really liked it but can’t really stretch budget to 3500 unfortunately.

Still thinking the yuba with retrofit motor.

We took the plunge and went Benno after looking very hard at a GSD and the Multitinker.

Feel free to ask about living  with one.

@hatter why did you choose the Boost over the GSD and Multitinker? Did you demo the others? The rear rack weight limit on the Boost is relatively low compared to those, probably not too much of a concern though. I think the kids will be too tall to both go on before they are too heavy.

For a cargo bikes in general, security when out and about is a concern. It’s even had me debating which colour to go for. I’d like a blue one, but is grey one less obvious, therefore more secure? It wouldn’t be left for long, max of an hour somewhere.
I’m thinking of getting 2 x Litelok plus a Knog Alarm. One D lock is to lock the bike up, the second to go through rear wheel and frame.

I’m thinking of getting 2 x Litelok plus a Knog Alarm. One D lock is to lock the bike up, the second to go through rear wheel and frame.

Benefit of an e-cargo bike is you can carry a massive great motorcycle chain lock and simply not notice the weight. The local community e-cargo bike that I have access to has a gigantic Kryptonite chain plus its own inbuilt front wheel lock, plus a locking kickstand.

When I’m doing community deliveries on it I usually just lock the front wheel and the kickstand then turn the head unit off. I’m only ever away from it for a few minutes usually. Any longer and it gets the full chain lock treatment.

Benefit of an e-cargo bike is you can carry a massive great motorcycle chain lock

Yeah, I can see that but how does a chain like that stand up to angle grinders?

We’ve got two angle grinder resistant d-locks on ours – means multiple cuts either to the lock or bike rack. No issues locking a Tern GSD to a normal bike stand like that. Plus a disc alarm (when needed) and the cafe lock for the front wheel that is built in (which is also the battery key).

On locks – and 16mm+shackle double locking D lock is the best.  I have a kryptonite m18.  Its saved my bike 3 times

Very few locks will do a huge amount against angle grinders but a lock like I have is bolt cropper proof which at least locally to me is the neds tool of choice

dmorts – Full Member
Yeah, I can see that but how does a chain like that stand up to angle grinders?

Depends what was meant by “massive great motorcycle chain lock”.

There are motorcycle chains that are in a different league to those made by Kryptonite. Pragmasis and Almax both make chains you can’t reasonably carry even on a motorcycle. But as pointed out, an ecargo bike handles them no bother.

The idea is the chains are so big that they’re too big for the jaws of any croppers. And when you bear in mind you have to cut each side of the link, so two cuts, they take a long time to get through.

I have a cargo bike, and I use a huge Pragmasis chain left over from my motorcycling days. However if I was staring again now, I suspect the modern grinder-resistant D-Locks is where I’d spend the money. As per TJ’s suggestion, I think for bicycles, D-Locks are generally better than chains, all else being equal. Much easier to carry, store, handle, generally less of a faff.

We include the Bafang gear sensor that detects when your change gear, then cuts the power to the motor momentarily.

That’s a quickshifter in motorbike terms!

Very cool.

stealth ad alert but I’ve got a kona Minute in the garage that I’m thinking of selling. It’s a non-e slightly shorter version of the e-Ute. It’s the later model in the Matt powder blue. It has the water resistant panniers as well as the long skateboard style deck and I’ve bolted some bmx stunt pegs to the rear peg holes for the kids feet and a stem attached to the seat post with some cut down bars and grips. I’ve also got a pdw mini front rack on it but might keep hold of that, it’s also got 700c wheels with 40c knards on it and full fenders. I used to use it locally with one of the kids sat on the back and towing the other in a bike trailer. Kids are now riding themselves on their own bikes to clubs and mates places accompanied and it’s not getting the use as it’s quicker to walk to the shops or to my office. Took me ages to find it and it was pretty much as new condition and has had less use than expected from us as my wife isn’t confident in traffic and the infra round here is poor. It rides really nicely, can carry a reasonable amount of stuff and is also great on gravel and the kids love it.

 dmorts Full Member  @hatter why did you choose the Boost over the GSD and Multitinker? Did you demo the others

Sorry for the delay, I’ve been travelling, big response coming up:

• More conventional construction fewer ‘foldy bits’ feels more sturdy and less to go wrong. We don’t need the store upright feature anyway.
• Bigger wheels, handles more like a ‘normal’ bike than the GSD or R&M, both of which I tried. And handles the bumps better on the rear, which is nice for your passengers.
• Rack has an official 60kg limit but I think our kids will run out of room about the same time as they get too heavy. 95% of the time we are just carrying one of them anyway and by the time either of them gets too heavy to be carried solo they won’t want to be pedalled around by mummy anymore.
• No suspension fork, can’t see the 20″ cargo forks, servicing or parts for them being  readily available and don’t want to be left with a dead £5k bike 4 years down the line because the forks died.
• The general fit and finish of the  Benno accessories, racks etc seems a notch above the GSD/R&M.
• Fewer proprietary parts and weird bits that could be hard to source down the line. Most of the Benno runs on pretty normal running gear.
• It looks cooler!

Hints tips and downsides:

• Whilst there is a guard on the Benno’s chainset the chain is not fully enclosed, this hasn’t been an issue so far but lovers of volumous pantaloons beware.
• Buy the low standover version so you can get on easily without Chuck Norris’ing your passenger in the face.
• The integrated rear light, whilst very nice quality, is a bit weedy, we supplement it with a brighter flashier Knog jobbie on murky days.
• Colourwise we went with the logic that anybike being ridden regularly in traffic should be as bright as possible, they didn’t have the orange so we got the blue. It’s going to stick out when  parked up no matter what colour it is.
• The 24″ rear wheel means the load is carried slightly higher than  on a GSD, this may be a balance issue for less strong  of confident riders carrying heavy children but we were fine with it.
• First upgrade should be a dropper post, the longest drop one you can fit. Not only does this make it super easy to switch between riders but it means you can get both feet flat on the ground whilst passengers climb in or whilst stopped at junctions, handy with a heavy or wriggly load. A bike yoke devine is perfect as it also has a tiny amount of suspension built in.
• Be prepared to be interrogated if you ride up to anywhere parents congregate, you get a lot of attention.