Thinking of getting an E-Cargo Bike? Read this

If you’re really interested in moving away from driving a car for as many journeys as possible, a cargo bike is the probably the best tool for achievi …

By ben_haworth

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Thinking of getting an E-Cargo Bike? Read this

We’ve had our Tern GSD for nearly two years now and it’s brilliant. We needed an electric cargo bike to get back over the hills around us without getting a sweat on whilst doing the shop. It’s basically our second vehicle. It’s done shopping, the odd commute, tip runs, hauled garden centre loads including bags of compost and even picked @ahsat up from the train station (now has a proper seat on it).

A brilliant bike and one that has started more conversations about bikes than any other bike we’ve ever owned. Make sure you’ve got plenty of high end locks

Love it.

In a world where there was a God, these things would be free and buying bling MTBs on C2W wouldn’t be possible

Until then, much respect to anyone that has one and uses it ,:-)

Good read that – I’ve been cargo bike curious for a while now and you’ve piqued my interest.

Beeno Boost here, 100% agree with the dropper post suggestion, it really helps when quickly changing between riders and also lets you get both feet flat on the ground to brace the bike whilst the passenger climbs aboard or if stopped at the lights with a heavy load.

Had it over 18 months now and the novelty hasn’t worn off, the kids love it, their friends insist I use it to run them home after playdates.

Seen here out repairing vandalised Lib Dem signs before the General Election, I think I may have hit peak ‘centrist dad’

I can’t work out what the difference is between the two models but the more expensive Decathlon cargo bike is currently £700 (so ‘just’ £2500).

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/electric-cargo-bike-rear-loading-longtail-r500/_/R-p-329177?mc=8605830&c=rainy%20blue

What is the box on the front of that Benno? I’ve been looking for something that fits & that looks ideal. Also, how have you fixed it in place?

We’ve had our Tern GSD for nearly two years now and it’s brilliant.

The local community group has one, I’m one of the riders for it – it gets used for food bank runs, local “shop to home” deliveries, bits and pieces around the various fairs, festivals, events that the town puts on.

It’s great fun to ride. 🙂
Also, the quickly adjustable handlebar and seatpost is so good for swapping it between riders of different heights. Because it gets used by half a dozen different riders, that functionality is essential.

What is the box on the front of that Benno? I’ve been looking for something that fits & that looks ideal. Also, how have you fixed it in place?

The Benno front utility racks are designed to take standard EU issue Euro crates. Ours is a 20 litre Length 400 x Width 300 x Height 220 mm one, the ‘frame’ on the rear rack is also designed to have a larger one just slot in.

I got mine here for £15 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/114993584272?var=415097685259

I then cut some slots in it for velcros straps to secure it to rack and drilled some holes in it so that is it rains it doesn’t turn into a portable bird bath. I lined the bottom of the inside and the underneath with rubber non-slip mesh that I hot-glued in place so that it won’t rattle against the rack and stuff doesn’t bounce about as much.

Job Job’ed. Have’nt taken it off the rack since and use it most days.

Of course I could have bought one of myriad of options Benno themselves make but I quite like the ‘Euro Utility’ look of the crate and I think all in it cost me about £20. I am now slowly covering it in stickers.

Since loosing our second car earlier in the year to an unfortunate incident I’ve been using my trusty Fortitude for shop runs, short journeys that I’d have normally jumped in the car for. It’s been brilliant bar the odd overly sweaty moment.

I’ve been looking at an out front cargo style bike like the Omnium albeit in non pedal assist guise – the jump up in price for the E version is firmly back in second car cost realms 🙁

 

Tern GSD user here for ~18 months. Gets me & the kids up and down our steep Brae a couple of times a day without me getting all sweaty. Much easier than a car to use if we’re going into or through town and definitely more fun.

@hatter you forgot to mention the Boost is a blast to ride too! Love zipping about on ours

The popularity of ebikes means it’s now really hard to find a non-e-cargo bike, which is a shame. E cargo bikes are fine for the average person, but as a keen cyclist you don’t really need the assist ime

@5lab even if you’re really keen, I think the e-assist widens the scope of what you can do with a cargo bike/without a car, especially if you’ve got some stiff hills around you. My husband uses ours to ‘drive’ to the local bike park with his jump or mountain bike. If he did that without e-assist he’d be too tired to safely do a trick session. When I had just a trailer and hybrid when the kids were younger I could use it for a big shop, but the whole process was a lot slower. With the e-assist, it speeds things up a lot – meaning I can fit doing the shop in by bike to the day alongside other things, which makes it much more likely I will actually do it by bike than car.

300 miles in with our tern quick hau Absolutely brilliant. 4 year old loves going in the back and means we rarely go anywhere in the car. Those 300 miles have all been done within 5 miles of the city centre so huge amount of journeys in and around town.

Absolutely brilliant car alternative. Definitely helpful to have the e assist even as a keen cyclist. Easy enough to turn it down to eco or off if you want to work hard!

Definitely helpful to have the e assist even as a keen cyclist. Easy enough to turn it down to eco or off if you want to work hard!

Yep, riding the GSD without the motor is just as exercise in purgatory, even for a”keen cyclist”.

I’ve had my Yuba Kombi over a year now and absolutely love it. Eleven year old son happy to go everywhere on it – even in cold and rain. Fourteen year old happy to do shorter trips but prefers we drive if raining for longer ones. Have done 2500km. Chinese ebike conversion hasn’t yet burnt the house down.

E cargo bikes are fine for the average person, but as a keen cyclist you don’t really need the assist ime

Depends on how you look at it, if you’re only planning on using is occasionally, live somewhere completely pan-flat and you really don’t care what state, how sweaty etc you arrive in then I can see you point but that’s a fairly unusual usage case.

We use it as a car replacement, we still have other other vehicle and have busy lives so if the Benno wasn’t convenient we just wouldn’t use it that often. The E-assist makes it convenient as my wife and I can ride it in ‘civvies’ and you don’t arrive at your destination needing a shower and a change of clothes.

If you want a work out, put an average sized 10 year old on the back and stick it in Eco, you’l be working plenty hard enough. Sometimes if I’m feeling cold I’ll knock the assist down notch to help me warm up.

The assist just turns it from an exercise in hair shirtism into something you (and your parrner) will actually gladly use every day rather than the odd occasion. I still have my other bikes for that that kind of thing anyway.

And yes, the Benno does ride really nicely, biger wheels and fewer weird propriatory parts than a GSD were a major factor in why we went for it. You can really lean those tyres over.

The popularity of ebikes means it’s now really hard to find a non-e-cargo bike, which is a shame. E cargo bikes are fine for the average person, but as a keen cyclist you don’t really need the assist ime

I am what most people would call a keen cyclist and used to pull my daughters in a trailer for weeks of touring as well as to and from school… it was great fun but everyone has their limits.  I think.  an ecargobike will expand the range of any keen cyclist and means that I will opt for the bike for journeys that I may not have cycled before I had it.

I am very anti-ebike for various reasons but I do agree that a cargo bike is the one time they do make sense for an able-bodied person, and is the only sort I will consider whilst I’m still capable of riding a proper bike. Less ‘bike’ and more ‘very small vehicle’

Realistically, what’s it like trying to store one of these things? I mean if you don’t have your own garage or large shed with easy and convenient in/out access…

I’d love one, but although I have secure storage, that storage is already full of other bikes (and even my “one in/one out” rule won’t really clear enough space).

I’m kinda paranoid about security as well – and I’d probably be far too distracted thinking about someone nicking the bike to do the weekly shop without forgetting some items…

My lodger had one for a bit. It didn’t take up that much more space than a normal bike, obviously longer, but that’s it, his was maybe 18″/2ft longer than my road bike. However, that was upright in the porch, absolutely no chance of hanging it in the shed with most of the bikes (which hang by the saddle) and I’d guess similarly no chance of storing upright if you hang them by the front wheel, partly due to weight as well as sheer size. Not sure about, for instance, fitting them in the bike bit on a train?

Storage is the kicker.

The boost in total has a footprint only about 4 inches longer than the 700c Dutch bike that used to live in the same spot but is generally more bulky within that space.

Convenience is king, the easier the bike is to grab and go the more you and your partner will use it over a car.

Some of the Tern models are designed to stand vertically on their rear rack, which might work for some people. The weight of cargo bikes does mean that anything more than a couple of steps is pretty challenging- near level access is a huge help. I can’t imagine trying to lift mine onto the kind of racks I’d used for other bikes, even if there was a strong enough hook/rack.

If you are even thinking about it, with family that are unconvinced, borrow one for a bit and watch the smiles come. We borrowed a demo from Kinetics in Glasgow (Ben Cooper, might still be on here somewhere, super chap and amazing ‘shop’). And that won over my wife and youngest who would be on the back occasionally.

Since then, bought one, over a year now, replaced car for approx 80% of local car journeys – shops, taking duvets to dry cleaners, picking up odd things from B&Q, taking bike to bike shop (an ebike on an ebike – haters have at it 🙂 ) , carrying youngest (13yr old) to sports/scouts etc, taking dinosaurs guising… it is absolutely brilliant.

Agree storage is important, as others have said has to have easy access or it won’t be used.

Longtail bikes like the GSD are a bit easier to store, to manoeuvre around in a garage etc than front-loader cargo bikes but they’re still bulky cumbersome things.

However it fitted into my house via my normal front door, you just learn to grab it by the rear rack, not the saddle as you might on a normal bike. It will also stand on its back end.

It is really not the thing you want to be taking up a flight of steps though!

How many people could you feasibly fit on a long-tail?

For example… I have 5 young un’s between the ages of 10y and 18m (madness, I know). Could I strap all 5 of them on somehow?

How many either on a regular basis or as an awkward one-off? I’m imagining a big wriggling pile strapped on with 50 velcro straps & bungee cords 😀

That frame on the back like in the 1st pic of @big_scot_nanny, could you squeeze three 8yo’s in that?

I’m just thinking for things like school run if their bikes aren’t working, or on my rota days bringing the neighbour’s kids back as well, etc.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C9-rM4uOedM/

 

Is that real? Looks like it will fold in half at the BB if you sit on it, let alone load it with your shopping!

E cargo bikes are fine for the average person, but as a keen cyclist you don’t really need the assist ime

Perhaps I don’t ‘need’ the assist, what with me being pretty fit, but what a privilege it is to be able to choose one’s own level of suffering.

ive been thinking about a cargo bike for years. main thing that puts me off is the worry the thing will be nicked if its ever left for more than 30 seconds.

are you guys packing serious locks for popping to the shops?

and how are you towing the mtb in that pic?

are you guys packing serious locks for popping to the shops?

These days, the only locks worth using on any expensive bikes are the Hiplok and Litelok anti-angle grinder ones, possibly two of them

are you guys packing serious locks for popping to the shops?

Most e-bikes now come with locking mechanisms for the motor (often via an app). Plus you can carry a massive lock without ever worrying about the weight. The community-owned Tern that I use has:
a locking kickstand
an integrated front-wheel lock
a bloody massive gold-rated motorcycle chain lock

It’s been left alone for a few minutes in so many places while doing deliveries and the kickstand and wheel lock are enough on their own to prevent an opportunist riding off on it. When it’s stored, it gets the full motorcycle lock treatment.

How many people could you feasibly fit on a long-tail?

For example… I have 5 young un’s between the ages of 10y and 18m (madness, I know). Could I strap all 5 of them on somehow?

Two on a longtail but you could tow a child trailer as well.

Some front-loader cargo bikes will take 4 kids.

Weve had a few over the past 10 years, all second hand. Weve currently got two (humble brag)

If you think a cargo bike is life changing, two is doubly so. no need to worry about who is picking which kids up, as long as they keep their helmets with them we can be as flexible as we need.

my Yuba’s electric conversion dies the other week, (after 10+ years, it was factory fitted when new), im riding it “unplugged”.

It managable, but i got a hell of a sweat on this morning.

I think they should be heavily subsidised, to get one in every household.

and planning laws adjusted to allow the addition of secure storage in front gardens too. Madness that you cant put a Asguard shed on your front garden, but you can dump a rotten caravan, boat, trailer full of rubbish, etc. (round here, at least)

Is that real?

I guess the horizontals from the head tube to seat tube are critical for strength. Looks compact and useful, but as others have said about the storage issue, why don’t cargo bike front platforms have a hinge that allows them to be tipped sideways for storage? Surely not beyond the imagination of a bike designer.

Cargo bikes Rock.

Thanks to various incentives and tax kick backs I bought an eBullit back in 2019.

Fun bike to ride. Very versatile. Can take big, clumsy loads as long you as strap it down. There are better options for transporting kids, but they have many accessories if you wanted/needed to do that.

I’ve a Bob trailer that u used to hook onto the Bullit. It was long! Made planning a BBQ down by the river much easier.

 E cargo bikes are fine for the average person, but as a keen cyclist you don’t really need the assist ime

That’s bollocks. I dislike emtbs, egravel and eroad bikes. For cargo bikes they make total sense.

I used to often transport my tools or four crates of Augustiner or materials and whatever else needed. The motor makes a massive difference when pulling away from traffic lights or when riding up hill. I can easily get up to 25km on the flat with a light load, but after a long day’s work when loaded with tools then the motor is great.

I now live in a van and really miss the convenience of the Bullit. Going to get a new axle for the gravel bike so that I can hang the Bob trailer to it making shopping trips much easier.

Made a new deck for it the other week because I was bored. Not as practical as the original, but much better looking.

why don’t cargo bike front platforms have a hinge that allows them to be tipped sideways for storage?

There is one that does exactly as you describe, i can think what its called, the bed sits higher up though to allow it clearance to tip, and obviously it cant interfere with the wheel.

Alternatively, the gazelle and other (https://velco.tech/en/muli-cycles-shimano/)  has a basket that folds up to make it narrow when not in use.

you can get a long tail that shortens by folding, though i cant find the link in the moment.