Living in Montreal I’ve gotten to the point where I only ride my own bike when I’m transporting paniers of stuff or doing an overnight trip. I installed a double kickstand on my old bike and its worked well until today when my old frame kicked the bucket. I realized that what I basically want is a slightly long tail cargo bike. A rack that’s big and built in, not electric, normal sized wheels and straight handlebars. The weird thing is, I can’t find this product. I’d assume it would be a popular choice for people touring with a lot of kit, but almost everything I’ve found seems to be for electric urban cruising with a couple of kids on the back. Has anyone else looked for this product and encountered a similar gap in the market?
The Yuba Mundo Lux is probably as close as I’ve seen, but has anyone done a few full days on it? It’s probably too much to spend if it can’t handle a few days on tour.
Edit: I’ve decided to dabble with a cheap second hand aluminum Kona Ute, because I live in a salted road winter an aluminum frame is good to have around. If I like it, I’ll probably invest in an electric option for the other 3 seasons.
You could also consider something like the Crust clydesdale fork. I’ve never used it myself but heard it’s great. Only issue is that it’s usually out of stock. It may seem like a lot of money for a fork but it’s still cheaper than any other cargo option available, especially if you can find a cheap frame to use it on.
I just don’t think I want the default to be storing cargo out front, I like pulling stuff from behind.
I don’t think acoustic cargo bikes are super common these days. The best two options I can think of that might fit your needs are the Tern Short Haul D8 or the BikeFriday Haul-a-Day. I’m not personally familiar with either but heard great things about BikeFriday bikes (plus I’m a sucker for folding bikes).
It doesn’t have straight bars, and you have to provide the paniers, but check out the Surley Long Haul Trucker. It’s a great bike for riding distances with a full kit.
If you want more of a city bike then you might like this Tern Short Haul.
Check out the Yuba Combi or Mundo Lux. There are a few dealers on the island. They come in both electric and acoustic.
Unfortunately I don’t have any recommendations for you, but I just wanted to say that I recently visited Montreal for the eclipse and I found myself feeling really jealous of your bike infrastructure compared to what we have around me in the Philadelphia area. I’m not super well-traveled, so maybe Philly is just that far behind the curve that anything else looks impressive, but at least from my perspective you guys really seemed to have it figured out.
I had a great time up there, probably one of my favorite cities I’ve ever visited, I’m already looking for excuses to go back.
I used to live and bike in Philly on the bike share and it was pretty good back in 2015, have things just stalled out or something?
Yeah, sadly it doesn’t feel like they’ve done a whole lot to expand things in the last decade.
The bike share is decent enough, but the situation with the actual bike lanes is pretty abysmal. Where the lanes even exist, you’re lucky if you can make it a block or two at a time without them being blocked by a delivery truck, someone just straight-up parked there, or a dumpster or construction materials/equipment, and Philly traffic is scary enough in a car, let alone a bike.
Though to give credit where it’s due, I do love some of the bike trails we have, the Schuylkill river trail, Fairmount park, the Perkiomen trail out in the suburbs, etc. all great to enjoy a rid, but not necessarily to get from point a to point b.
Look up Surly bikes. Surly is a QBP house brand. That is the biggest wholesale distributor in North America. Any shop should be able to order Surly stuff. The Trucker is the classic long haul touring bike. Then they have stretches like the Big Dummy which is intended for more serious cargo. Many a shop monkey has lusted after these.
Yeah the Big Dummy is the other closest thing I found. Got any thoughts on it vs the Mundo Lux?
I own a Big Dummy and had a Mundo Lux which I electrified.
The Big Dummy makes a great daily around town bike. That’s how I use it. Love it. It’s lighter than the Mundo. Definitely my #1 choice for a non-electric cargo bike.
See my long term review: https://mark.stosberg.com/surly-big-dummy-long-term-review/
And this third part slingset review: https://mark.stosberg.com/review-of-carsick-designs-xtra-big-one-slingset-for-surly-big-dummy-longtail-cargo-bike/
This is awesome and confirms what I’ve been hoping, although it looks like the big dummy is being discontinued so I’ll probably have to move quick if I want one new. I have a couple of questions that it seems you’d have the answers to: Q) I think I know the answer from reading your blog, but if you didn’t own any cargo bike already, would you buy a Big Dummy or would you just put that money towards a Big Easy? Q) Is it possible to just ride around with the battery removed or flat? Is it pretty much the same bike plus the weight of the motor? Q) I already own nice (standard) paniers, can those be clipped onto the side of these cargo bikes, or do they have a different sort of rack. Q) Thoughts on riding an electric cargo bike in the snow/slush?
if you didn’t own any cargo bike already, would you buy a Big Dummy or would you just put that money towards a Big Easy?
The electric cargo parks in my house get more use the non-electric ones. I could have just one, I’d go electric.
Q) Is it possible to just ride around with the battery removed or flat?
Yes, but will be heavier (even with the battery moved, because of the heavier bottom bracket. I tried this idea some, and all our e-bikes just end up getting ridden with electric. The easier thing to do is set the assist level at, say, a “1”-- the idea is just enough assist to offset the extra weight so you still get the fitness benefit of pedaling when you don’ the assist.
Is it pretty much the same bike plus the weight of the motor?
The Big Easy looks looker witha more relaxed rider geometry and maybe some fatter ties by default. Overall, it’s similar.
Q) I already own nice (standard) paniers, can those be clipped onto the side of these cargo bikes, or do they have a different sort of rack.
I’ve seen adapters before, but I can’t find one quickly now. For example, see how the EdgeRunner rack has extra bar? I think panniers could hang there. These won’t work on the Dummy, though. https://xtracycle.com/products/edgerunner-all-in-one-rack
Personally, I love the Carsick Design slings.
Q) Thoughts on riding an electric cargo bike in the snow/slush?
I’ve done that. Studded tires, fat tires and a warming planet all make this more viable. Going slower helps too.
It’s probably the same thing or nearly so. Pretty much all bikes are contract manufactured by one of 4 companies all within a stone’s throw of each other in Taiwan. The only one of these companies you will have heard of before is Giant.
I’m a former Buyer from a chain of bicycle shops, so this was my wheelhouse for many years. Personally, I’m a hardcore roadie, and not a fan of anything with a upright steering geometry like a hybrid bike. I like traveling distance at speed and prefer as compact of a wheelbase as I need for the weight I’m carrying. I can handle these kinds of bikes just fine, but I don’t like the wobbly feeling they tend to have at higher speeds, and the upright position feels unfulfilling to me in terms of a real workout. I’ve thought about getting one for groceries in the past, but never had a good opportunity. The 3 shops I managed were focused on high end road and XC, so I never stocked these directly. I did order a few Surly’s for employees personal bikes and I’ve putt around on a few at Interbike ages ago, but there is not much to say about that experience; it’s not memorable against the background.
Slightly different approach, but where I am Omnium cargo bikes have become very popular, they have a platform at the from, but aren’t super long like a Bullet, and handle more like a regular bike. I’ve even come across a mod that means you can fold the platform up to store it easily in an apartment, or even in a hallway when combined with a stem that rotates the bars around.
If that works for you great. Those little front wheels and cargo out front is just not the direction Im looking to go, I’m basically wanting a gravel bike with cargo carrying by default.
Maybe try to look at their CXC V3 frameset, I have it and installed Tubus rack on it yesterday.
Carrying capacity is about 40 kg (depending on your wheels) I tested it by sitting on it and I weigh about 65kg.
