Introducing new folks to the idea of cargo bikes?

[CyclingScoop]

Hello all! Thank you so much for the invitation to be part of this community. I’m one of the admins at CyclingScoop, a blog aimed at teaching beginner cyclists and pro cycling fans more about the sport of cycling.

I’ve been curious about cargo bikes for a while and would love to include more content about them on CyclingScoop. I don’t own a cargo bike, nor does anyone else who writes or edits for CS, but seeing how many folks love them, reaching new people who might get interested in them feels like worthwhile outreach. A big component of what I try to do for the blog is explore new areas and topics that might resonate with someone casually interested in cycling and get them to step outside their comfort zone and into a new interest or hobby. And cargo bikes could be that interest for somebody out there!

I wanted to check in with the community here for a few questions:

— If you were introducing cargo bikes to somebody for the very first time, what would you want them to know first? These ideas can spark inspiration for what kind of blogpost on CyclingScoop might pique someone’s interest and get them excited about cargo bikes.

— Should we seek out a guest author, or is something more exploratory by the editorial team okay? This is something we’ve done in the past, for example with this article by Mike Kirby about long-distance riding. But we also love to research and learn about new things as a group, so we could also learn alongside writing the article and share our novice perspective to the audience.

— Are there any big “no-no’s” that might not be obvious to someone new to cargo bikes? I’m sure you’ve guessed by now that I’m pretty excited about sharing the concept of “cargo bike life” to the blog readership, but I also don’t want to lead them astray or make them think it’s something it’s not. So, in short: what advice would you give to me as a blog admin when hoping to share this world with our readers?

Thanks so much for any input you can share! I’m super enthused about the prospect of introducing some of CyclingScoop’s readers to the world of cargo bikes and can’t wait to learn from you guys about dos and don’ts in this new space.

 

[MommyPedals]

I love introducing people to Cargo Bikes! But it's different from cycling as a sport and most cargo bike riders are using them for utilitarian purposes- carrying cargo or kids. The sport element comes from the Carry Shit Olympics where you see how much they can haul- couches, fridges, trees etc. I think somewhere in Europe they do cargo bike races, but the sport element isn't huge.

In specific answer to your questions:

1) First thing I ask people is what do they envision using the cargobike for- the bike you want really depends on your general use case. A fantastic kid hauling bike will not be the same as a purpose built cargo hauler. I try to encourage everyone to ride as many bikes as possible to see what they like- a longtail rides different from a Bakfiets which rides differently than a trike. Even in the same class of bikes an Urban Arrow rides different than a Trek Fetch 4+ which rides different from the R&M Packster and they are all Bakfiets.

Then I try to figure out if they have any use cases that specifically push them to one particular style- for example if you want to haul 4 kids, you pretty much need a trike. I also ask about the climate they ride- will you ride in winter? Snow, ice, rain lead me to suggest an IGH hub & belt drive & extreme cold and deep snow suggests a trike. Limited bike infrastructure might suggest a long tail, especially if you have to mingle with traffic.

2) I think either a guest post or an in house article would work, but the right guest article could cover a lot of terrain easily. Cargo bikes is a huge sub class and it's hard to get up to speed on all of it quickly, especially if you want to ride them all. When I was a novice I didn't find novice posts helpful as they didn't always answer the questions I had- I preferred long term riders with a ton of info.

Id also suggest whatever article you write comes from a woman or femme perspective. We make up a huge part of the cargo bike market and are historically not included. IMO the average cargo bike novice doesn't care about components in the same way sport cyclists do, and men tend to focus on specialized components whereas most new cargobike riders want to know how much they can carry, how far they can go, how hard it is to ride, how they store it & what accessories are available. Think more like a minivan purchase than a sportscar purchase

3) Cargo bike price ranges are huge- a cheap Rad Wagon is $2k, but you can spend $20k on an R&M (I'm in Canada, so that's CAD). Buy the most important part of what you spend is do you know who can fix it for you? You need to build a relationship with a LBS as many of the newcomers to cargobikes are not coming from the bike world and they don't have the bike knowledge to fix them. Also, cargo bikes are complicated and fiddly - my LBS says even after working on my Urban Arrow for several years it takes him 20min to get the back wheel off.

Hope that helps. A group of 3 moms in Edmonton started a local cargobike group because we wanted to help others find cargobikes to fit their lifestyles and it's hard to get good info and to test ride- so we facilitate it with monthly meetups at playgrounds. No one has asked me about what specific crank or pedals I use. I get tons of questions about how do I ride it, where can I buy one, who can help me fix it.

 

[MommyPedals]

I love introducing people to Cargo Bikes! But it's different from cycling as a sport and most cargo bike riders are using them for utilitarian purposes- carrying cargo or kids. The sport element comes from the Carry Shit Olympics where you see how much they can haul- couches, fridges, trees etc. I think somewhere in Europe they do cargo bike races, but the sport element isn't huge.

In specific answer to your questions:

1) First thing I ask people is what do they envision using the cargobike for- the bike you want really depends on your general use case. A fantastic kid hauling bike will not be the same as a purpose built cargo hauler. I try to encourage everyone to ride as many bikes as possible to see what they like- a longtail rides different from a Bakfiets which rides differently than a trike. Even in the same class of bikes an Urban Arrow rides different than a Trek Fetch 4+ which rides different from the R&M Packster and they are all Bakfiets.

Then I try to figure out if they have any use cases that specifically push them to one particular style- for example if you want to haul 4 kids, you pretty much need a trike. I also ask about the climate they ride- will you ride in winter? Snow, ice, rain lead me to suggest an IGH hub & belt drive & extreme cold and deep snow suggests a trike. Limited bike infrastructure might suggest a long tail, especially if you have to mingle with traffic.

2) I think either a guest post or an in house article would work, but the right guest article could cover a lot of terrain easily. Cargo bikes is a huge sub class and it's hard to get up to speed on all of it quickly, especially if you want to ride them all. When I was a novice I didn't find novice posts helpful as they didn't always answer the questions I had- I preferred long term riders with a ton of info.

Id also suggest whatever article you write comes from a woman or femme perspective. We make up a huge part of the cargo bike market and are historically not included. IMO the average cargo bike novice doesn't care about components in the same way sport cyclists do, and men tend to focus on specialized components whereas most new cargobike riders want to know how much they can carry, how far they can go, how hard it is to ride, how they store it & what accessories are available. Think more like a minivan purchase than a sportscar purchase

3) Cargo bike price ranges are huge- a cheap Rad Wagon is $2k, but you can spend $20k on an R&M (I'm in Canada, so that's CAD). Buy the most important part of what you spend is do you know who can fix it for you? You need to build a relationship with a LBS as many of the newcomers to cargobikes are not coming from the bike world and they don't have the bike knowledge to fix them. Also, cargo bikes are complicated and fiddly - my LBS says even after working on my Urban Arrow for several years it takes him 20min to get the back wheel off.

Hope that helps. A group of 3 moms in Edmonton started a local cargobike group because we wanted to help others find cargobikes to fit their lifestyles and it's hard to get good info and to test ride- so we facilitate it with monthly meetups at playgrounds. No one has asked me about what specific crank or pedals I use. I get tons of questions about how do I ride it, where can I buy one, who can help me fix it.

I'll just add that I come at cargo bikes from the perspective of someone trying to avoid having to drive in a car centric city and I'm a mom who has to take kids to school, activities, the doctor, get to work, buy groceries etc. That won't be true of all users but it's definitely true of the majority of cargo bike riders I know. I was not a cyclist when I bought my first cargo bike 7 years ago.

 

[Nacho Bikes]

I can share my thoughts on questions 1 and 3.

1. You don’t need a specific “cargo bike” to start. Use your current bike and a basket if you already have one or a backpack to basic errands. We started our cargo biking journey on our mountain bikes doing small trips for carrots, apples, and tooth paste. I later bought a specific commuter bike with panniers and did all our grocery trips with this and a backpack.

3. Much like the first answer, a No-no, would be, don’t go out and buy a (cargo) bike without first using what you already have. From here you can start getting an idea of what kind of bike could fit your needs and your cargo. Depending on whether your cargo is groceries, pets, people, or equipment the type of bike can vary. Then you can start to look at cargo bikes within your budget. My recommendation would be is to buy the best you can afford. CargoBikeGirl has great reviews on her YouTube channel.

 

[k4y3ff]

> If you were introducing cargo bikes to somebody for the very first time, what would you want them to know first?

There are all kinds of cargo bikes, and many short-tail cargo bikes are just the length of a standard bike, anyway: Tern, Globe Haul, Omnium, etc. So, you don't need to invest in a giant front-loader or long-tail and can indeed still store your bike indoors.

A cargo bike can be your everyday ride, even if you don't have kids to carry or a car-sized garage.

Also: get bike insurance and sign up for AAA or Better World Club!

> Are there any big “no-no’s” that might not be obvious to someone new to cargo bikes?

Visit local bike shops before ordering something online!

Most people buying a cargo bike will probably want to buy an electric cargo bike--and at least in Portland, many bike shops will not perform maintenance on an electric bike unless it's a model they already sell.

There are some exceptions to this, like if your bike is still higher-end with common components, using Bosch or Shimano electric systems. But if you order a Rad, Lectric, etc. bike off the internet, the parts might need to come from the manufacturer directly, and many local bike shops don't have the resources to go through that process for you. So, you'll need to perform the maintenance yourself and keep extra parts on-hand--which could be complicated, since electric bikes can be difficult to sort out issues.

Similar thing if you want to buy a giant front-loading cargo bike: not all bike shops are able to help maintain a bike that unwieldy or unfamiliar.

 

[dr2chase]

My one problem with doing this is not knowing how much my experience will or won't generalize. If I thought that everybody's experience would roughly match mine, my advice would be

• be sure that your routes will be safe/comfortable enough
• be sure that your routes are not too hilly
• figure out bike storage
• figure out bike repair (not necessarily DIY, but what's the plan when you get a flat? It will happen.)

and then just go whole hog, don't underspend on the bike, and ramp up as fast and as hard as you can. to get over the learning hump. I don't ride an e-bike because when I started there weren't really good ones, and the first month for me was hard physically but I kept at it because I was mad at Bush's Oil War and mad at global warming and mad that I was getting old. Arguably a mid-life crisis, but a lot more productive than the usual. E-bikes win because they avoid the physical-fitness-hazing phase and remove most of the hill constraint, but they lose a little because of expense and how they complicate repair and storage (i.e., what's the plan for battery charging?)

And I did not start whole hog, and I did underspend at first, because I wasn't sure it would work at first, which inevitably led to wasting money over time and not enjoying myself as much as possible. Honestly replicating my experience, any new cargo bike user would have the same uncertainty. A thing I do wonder is whether bike shops ought to have something like a lease-then-buy model for cargo bikes, to help remove the risk of "actually this didn't work for me" while letting people try the bike that is most likely to work for them.

Speaking of, are you all aware of the Somerville E-bike Library? I work with the guy who started it, if he's not here, he should be. That's another model for learning which bike is best, thought it is shorter term than a lease.

Where I ended up, is I own two cargo bikes, one nominally "summer" (Xtracycle Edgerunner 11i) and one nominally "winter" (Surly Big Dummy V1, upgraded to have a Rohloff hub). Both have Nitto Bosco bars, both have spring seat posts, both have nice saddles, dynamo hubs, fenders, laser-cut chainring guards, and 160mm cranks because my knees are old. And I bought a trailer, because it's about as useful as a pickup truck for a fraction of the price. That is, a very nice (non-electric) setup. Part of my "reliability plan" is I have a whole spare bike. That probably seems excessive to anyone new to riding cargo bikes.

But also, "this all works for my situation". Work is 6 miles away, through Cambridge, so almost all errands are on-the-way. Trailer loads, usually those are 3-miles or less, and I don't like using the trailer at rush hour because it is wide.

One piece of advice I am very conflicted about is whether people "should" learn to repair their own bikes. Strictly speaking that should not be necessary, but the benefit is huge. I don't worry about flats, or even being delayed much by flats (less than 20 minutes for a repair even if I must patch). It makes it much easier to tweak and customize.

 

[Shaun Moulds]

I'm not sure where this fits I to your questions but for me the decision on which cargo bike was simple, I only had a narrow hallway to park the bike and as far as I was aware at the time there was only one bike that could be stored vertical and carry two kids so a GSD was my only option. I think space needs to be a real early question especially here in the UK where most people do not have a garage.
As for spreading the good news, just be visible in your local area, bikes had never crossed my mind until I started seeing them in my city. I stopped and chatted to one rider and it was a real eye opener. Now I get people stopping me all the time on rides out and I do my bit and tell them what I know.
As for a warning point, cargo bikes can be very labour intensive on a maintenance front, especially if you have a dirty commute and you're riding all year.

If you ever want a chat/brain storm about cargo bikes feel free to get in touch and we could face time. I was car and motorcycle obsessed for most of my life but in the last 3 years I've sold my car and gone all in on cargos, riding around 6tkm a year in an extremely hilly and muddy part of the UK.

 

[Shaun Moulds]

Me and Arleigh covered a few good points in this podcasty thing.

 

[esmhutcheson]

I agree w. Mommypedals—— try as many cargo bikes as possible. And include women/femme opinions bc of what she said. We currently have an xtracycle stoker —— we’ve also had a r&m packster 40, a non electric bullitt bike. We bought the previous 2 used on marketplace which lowered the cost. I also organize cargo bike meetups with other cargo bike families in San Antonio. It’s mostly families ! And most here are car replacements and families share them (aka both parents ride one bike at different times) Xtracycle has a website where you can find people who own them and try them before you buy. I am a mom of 3 and bakfiets vs long tail figures in for kid carrying, but i also am a commuter cyclist and have opinions on which shifting and gearing/hubs feel better to me. That’s why it’s important to try so many! My nos would be to avoid throttle e-bikes and stick to pedal assist. Storage also is important to think about!

 

[Forrest Baum]

People have already covered a lot of good stuff!

Here’s a little vid I threw together for an environmental class project which makes a quick case for family/cargo bike vs. cars

(relying heavily on some Motherload montages, ha! Recommended for further viewing)

I have some other simple suggestions for what to think about when considering cargo biking, especially with kids. Happy to talk more, and thanks for asking around and getting this topic out there!

 

[americanfietser]

If you were introducing cargo bikes to somebody for the very first time, what would you want them to know first?
E-bikes have changed the game for everyday bike transportation. Even a standard e-bike with a rear rack or panniers can handle most daily tasks. But an e-cargo bike takes it from “possible” to “easy.”

Whether or not you have children, if you’re using a car for local errands, you can absolutely justify an e-cargo bike. Bakfiets-style e-cargo bikes, with their spacious front bucket, make life on two wheels a breeze. Forget carefully packing panniers or figuring out a child seat on the back—just toss everything into the front carrier, whether it’s groceries, the dog, or the kids. Because it’s so simple, choosing a bike over the car for daily trips becomes second nature. And with even halfway decent infrastructure, e-cargo bikes remove that last bit of friction from using bikes as true transportation.

 

[whoalansi]

I love introducing people to Cargo Bikes! But it's different from cycling as a sport and most cargo bike riders are using them for utilitarian purposes- carrying cargo or kids. The sport element comes from the Carry Shit Olympics where you see how much they can haul- couches, fridges, trees etc. I think somewhere in Europe they do cargo bike races, but the sport element isn't huge.

In specific answer to your questions:

1) First thing I ask people is what do they envision using the cargobike for- the bike you want really depends on your general use case. A fantastic kid hauling bike will not be the same as a purpose built cargo hauler. I try to encourage everyone to ride as many bikes as possible to see what they like- a longtail rides different from a Bakfiets which rides differently than a trike. Even in the same class of bikes an Urban Arrow rides different than a Trek Fetch 4+ which rides different from the R&M Packster and they are all Bakfiets.

Then I try to figure out if they have any use cases that specifically push them to one particular style- for example if you want to haul 4 kids, you pretty much need a trike. I also ask about the climate they ride- will you ride in winter? Snow, ice, rain lead me to suggest an IGH hub & belt drive & extreme cold and deep snow suggests a trike. Limited bike infrastructure might suggest a long tail, especially if you have to mingle with traffic.

2) I think either a guest post or an in house article would work, but the right guest article could cover a lot of terrain easily. Cargo bikes is a huge sub class and it's hard to get up to speed on all of it quickly, especially if you want to ride them all. When I was a novice I didn't find novice posts helpful as they didn't always answer the questions I had- I preferred long term riders with a ton of info.

Id also suggest whatever article you write comes from a woman or femme perspective. We make up a huge part of the cargo bike market and are historically not included. IMO the average cargo bike novice doesn't care about components in the same way sport cyclists do, and men tend to focus on specialized components whereas most new cargobike riders want to know how much they can carry, how far they can go, how hard it is to ride, how they store it & what accessories are available. Think more like a minivan purchase than a sportscar purchase

3) Cargo bike price ranges are huge- a cheap Rad Wagon is $2k, but you can spend $20k on an R&M (I'm in Canada, so that's CAD). Buy the most important part of what you spend is do you know who can fix it for you? You need to build a relationship with a LBS as many of the newcomers to cargobikes are not coming from the bike world and they don't have the bike knowledge to fix them. Also, cargo bikes are complicated and fiddly - my LBS says even after working on my Urban Arrow for several years it takes him 20min to get the back wheel off.

Hope that helps. A group of 3 moms in Edmonton started a local cargobike group because we wanted to help others find cargobikes to fit their lifestyles and it's hard to get good info and to test ride- so we facilitate it with monthly meetups at playgrounds. No one has asked me about what specific crank or pedals I use. I get tons of questions about how do I ride it, where can I buy one, who can help me fix it.

I started reading all this and was like "agree, agree, agree" & THEN looked at the username and was like, well duh, it's Sarah! lol.

All of your points are great - I would your point that you posted later on about an LBS that can service it being very clutch. It's definitely up there with being one of the first things to think about.