E cargo Bike on the Cycle to work scheme

dpendable

Hello everyone!

Apologies if this has been posted before (if so I couldn't find the thread!)

I want to sell our second car for a cargo bike. Looking online there are loads of great options....in the US! Some of the bikes that would work really well for me are the following;

1. Radwagon 4 - https://www.radpowerbikes.com/products/radwagon-4-electric-cargo-bike
2. Lectric Expedition- https://lectricebikes.com/pages/xpedition-cargo-ebike
3. Adventons Abound bike - https://www.aventon.com/collections/cargo-ebikes

Sadly none of these bikes (as far as I can tell) are available in EU. The only bikes I can find are either very expensive (+3k & well beyond that price point) or by companies with a poor reputation like Fiido;

https://eu.fiido.com/products/fiido-t2-longtail-cargo-ebike-for-versatile-all-terrain

Added to this ideally I'd get the bike on the Bike to Work Scheme.

If anyone has any advice or suggestions for bikes that might meet my needs I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks,David

the_amazing_raisin

I got a Yuba Kombi E5 last year, great for bringing the kids to school

the_amazing_raisin

Also the cargo bike from Decathlon looks like a good option within budget

Watch out for whoever is running your bike to work scheme. I wasn't able to go with the Decathlon bike because they don't accept vouchers from biketowork.com

dpendable

Thanks alot for getting back to me.

Yuba looks like a great ride, although it might be a bit too expensive for me. Any issues going up hills with the 250w motor? I plan on having my two kids on the back of whatever bike I buy, but there are a couple of steep hills on the way to creche!

I'll check out the Decathlon bike, but I might run into the same issue as you.

Thanks again,

David

Clo-Clo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122175935#Comment_122175935

I was going to get one last year, done lots of research and the Decathalon one was coming out way on top for value for money etc

DaveyDave

I don't have experience with a cargo bike but have experienced two different motors on road bikes.

I rented an Orbea Gain with a 250w rear hub motor and 40Nm of torque. It struggled to get me up the steeper hills. Granted I'm 18 stone but a cargo bike with two kids isn't lightweight either.

I have a Canyon Endurance ON with a 250w motor/400w peak and 60Nm torque. It has torque sensors to detect how much effort I'm putting in and will ramp up to 400w peak when I'm pushing hard on the hills. Even just cruising up hills the 60Nm torque is noticeable. Even at my weight to this day I'm still surprised at how well it pushes me uphill.

With a 25kg+ cargo bike and two kids, the Shimano STEPS E5000 motor with 40Nm torque in the Yubi may struggle depending on how steep the hills are. If they're around 5% gradient it probably won't be an issue but if you're looking at 8-10% you'll probably have to push hard.

Also worth keeping in mind depending on how far into the journey the hills are the ebike will save you energy for the whole journey so you should be a bit more energised for when you do get to the hills so when if you have to push on it shouldn't be too difficult.

Laviski

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122177744#Comment_122177744

but you didn't go for it?

looking at this myself however the lack of a rain cover to ferry kids is making me look elsewhere. The Radwagon rain cover was able to fit on it but its out of stock for some time and no sign coming back to eu market.

the_amazing_raisin

I'd recommend checking this thread where I went though a lot of the same questions

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058305082/long-tail-electric-cargo-bike-recommendations

To give a quick summary, pretty much all the cargo bikes are going to be over €3k since that's the limit for the bike to work scheme for cargo bikes

Funny how when they raise a grant then suddenly everything gets more expensive, isn't it? 😭

There were 3 reasons I went with the Yuba. First was that I couldn't get the Decathlon bike on the scheme, which made the Yuba cheaper

Second was the 200kg weight limit, which is higher than a lot of cargo bikes and important since my fat arse weighs over 100kg 😬

Third was the mid motor on the Yuba. A lot of cheaper e-bikes are rear motors. Nothing wrong with that, but it is less efficient since you don't get the advantage of the bikes gears

I wouldn't say a mid motor is essential, but it is worth getting if you can make the finances work

I use mine to bring a 7yo and 4yo to school and preschool. I'd bring them both home up a roughly 2km uphill ride, including their bags and jackets in the front basket

The hill isn't particularly steep, but the bike handles it no problem at all. I do take it slow and steady with that much weight on the back

I've also gone up a short very steep hill with both kids and that was a bit of a challenge. Bike still did it in lowest gear, but it was a workout

Probably worth mentioning I'm not exactly Lance Armstrong levels of fitness, in case the aforementioned 100kg weight on non muscle didn't clue you in 😅

The kids absolutely love the bike, they give out if we end up taking the car. I'll admit it's a lot of fun to cycle around town as well. I've gotten to the point where I'll refuse to take the car if I can avoid it

fits

how do you find parking it in town?

I went for a cube supreme hybrid in the end with big battery and motor. I’m towing my kid with special needs in a tag along trailer type thing at the moment but it’s easy to detach if I want to head out on my own. Only struggled on one hill that I can remember. I could only get lower grant obviously which was rubbish as needed a good bike for what I want to do with it.

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122179271#Comment_122179271

Yeah parking can be a bit... inventive

First thing I'll say is that I got two motorbike locks, and I use both if I'm leaving the bike out anywhere public

Tbh, I feel like a cargo bike has a bit of protection over an expensive scooter or e-bike because to the enterprising young thief they're probably the most uncool things that have ever been put on wheels. They're not exactly good getaway vehicles either weighing in at over 30kg

Still, it doesn't take much googling to figure out they're worth plenty of money and it never hurts to be prepared

The main issue I find with parking the bike is that it's quite awkward to get it locked to some of the bike frames

Mine has a frame that goes around the rear seats to stop the kids diving off, that tends to put the bike frame a bit further away from anything I'd lock it to, making it harder to lock it properly

Dunno if the front loaders have the same drawbacks, I feel like you can probably get them at more of an angle to lock them in place

I've also comprehensively proven that a cargo bike won't fit into a bike locker 😬

It'd be nice if there were some bike concierge places around where you could check your bike in and the staff lock it up and bring it back to you when you collect it

I was considering the trailer myself to give myself a lighter bike to use. Problem with that for me is that the cycle lanes here have kerbs separating them from the cars. That's good, except I'm pretty sure most trailers are the width of the lane and so would probably clip the kerb stones

Thanks Fingal County Council, I guess 🤔

fits

mine is a single wheel tag along. It can go off-road too.

https://www.weehoo.co.uk

dpendable

Hey guys, particularly @the_amazing_raisin , thanks for all the info. Some real food for thought.

I'll keep you posted on progress