I purchased an Urban Arrow in March of this year and it has become my favorite bike. I’ve already put a little over 2k miles on it. My only complaint is that it could really use front suspension and I’ve heard the 2025 model comes equipped with one.
Thank you for mentioning that. I like the idea of this bike because of the weight capacity; I have a seven-year-old that I would like to bring with me on grocery trips and outings to the park, etc. I will keep a lookout for the new model if the suspension issue is fixed.
Glad you are loving your bike!!! I love and hate suspension on front loaders. It can cause a diving feeling when weighted, especially if you have someone on that front bench.
I have the Aventon Abound. Amazing value for the price. It true is a car replacement. I had a rad wagon 4 but sold it as it felt really unsafe do to the brakes. I also wasn't sold on a quick release system. The rad power wagon 5 seems to have fixed these issues. I'm surprised the rpw 5 didn't make the list. But if you want to see if the cargo bike life is for you, you can't go wrong with Aventon. I bought it through my awesome bike shop.
Kind regards from Germany. Out family has an Yuba Longtail. But my wife and me own three bikes each and our kids have their own. We commute to work, school shopping and visiting friends every day and our car is used once a week or so when distances are more than 30 miles.
I’m riding a Gen 1 GSD, and we love it! With my two kids on the back, it honestly rides pretty well considering the lack of suspension and small wheels, but it does get choppy when riding solo. Even with a 400wh battery, I can realistically get close to 30 miles of range with 2 kids on the back and in tour mode (which I find offers the right amount of power for commuting around town). If I lived in a really hilly area, I might want a bit more torque for large inclines, but it has plenty of power for our needs. We have Tern’s large panniers and the bigger front rack, and even with two Yepp seats on the rack we’re still able to pick up a week’s worth of groceries for our family. Cargo bikes are great!
Gen 1 GSD crew! Ours is definitely my favorite of our 3 e-bikes, and might secretly be my favorite of ALL my bikes (don't tell the one I'm building though)
I wanted an Urban Arrow, but my wallet made me get the Abound. It's a great bike! The entry level brakes are a little noisy, but i plan to upgrade once its tome to replace parts. We've hooked up our Burley dog trailer, and once our first kid arrives this fall we will start adding on the kid-friendly attachments. In the meantime it's been my daily commuter, grocery getter, and scrap hauler!
@@BikeShopGirl yes, looking for an e-bike for a 1 year old grandson to ride along. What would you recommend with a protective cage? I was looking at the multitinker by Riese Muller but the price is prohibitive… thanks
@@sherryt2502 We have 1 kid and the Tern hsd. It has the clubhouse mini that adds protection around the yepp seat. We love this bike. If the close is more than your budget, the Tern quick haul is another good option that also fits the clubhouse mini for 1 passenger.
Tried the QuickHaul and ended up with an HSD because of the difference in fit. The new smart system and GPS was also nice and the suspension forks didn't hurt but it was mostly a fit thing at the end of the day. I prefer the upright posture when on an e-bike.
I’m riding a new Tern HSD Gen 2 p5i. Newly retired, my plan was to stay active and to leave the car at home. Two months in and I love it. I’m discovering a totally new side of my home city of Canberra. And meeting some really interesting new people with different views on how cycling and city infrastructure can be improved!
The Aventon Abound is one of our best sellers and definitely our most popular cargo ebike at our shop, I-Cycle Electric Bike Company. Most of our customers for cargo ebikes just don't have the funds available to buy an Urban Arrow, although we would love to carry them as it is a very good design but we just can't dedicate that much floor space to an ebike that we would probably only sell a couple of in a season.
@@BikeShopGirl We tend to focus on the mid-range of the market as the high end is pretty crowded and struggling for the most part. We used to carry Gazelle but found it unprofitable compared to Aventon, Himiway, Urtopia and Trivel. We have been invited to carry several of the higher end lines and we didn't find that our customers were seeing the higher prices leading to significantly higher value.
Have been riding a Madsen cargo bike since 2009 and absolutely love it! It's steel, heavy and a beast to get up a hill with a load, but if it ever get's stolen or completely brakes in half, I'll definitely get a new Madsen -in a different color, maybe. I don't have kids. I use it for, well, cargo: bags of soil, mulch, kitty litter, and trips to Costco. The back bucket's load capacity is over 400lbs. -oh, and I just loooove riding my Madsen cargo bike through the lines of trucks and SUV's getting gas at Costco. Thought about getting a smaller cargo bike like the Yuba Sweet Curry (the Sweet is the same as the Spicy but non-electric) because I like the 20" wheel in the rear, but you have to purchase all of the bags and add-ons, which can be kinda spendy, whereas I only bought front and back lights, water cages and a $25 cover over the bucket of the Madsen.
Thank you so much for coming out with this video and being so informative and honest. I really appreciate seeing options at different price points because I think that’s going to make the difference for a lot of people that would like to get a cargo bike but feel intimidated by some of the more expensive models.
Thanks for the videos. I’ve been deep in research land and think I’m going to purchase the Tern GSD S10 LX in the spring. I like that the S10 LX’s come with the 500wh battery.
When I started to look for an ebike I first rode the Tern GSD and was in love with it straight away. But had to consider storage so went for the HSD in the end. It is great but I do find it a bit heavy and have fallen off a couple of times when stopping!
Thanks! Thoughtful, concise, informative. I live in Minnesota. I'm retired. I'm car free to have more disposable income. I ride all year. Being retired I can wait for bike routes to be safely cleared after snow. We have a great street maintenance organization too. Also a great public transportation which in my small town is mainly buses but we also have heavy rail commuter into the Twin Cities. Anyway, I'm in an apt. Storage is limited. I have 2 trailers. A Burley Travoy (folds up, stores in a closet) and a DIY flat bed for big heavy stuff (always outside). I always wonder how those long cargo bikes would do on a packed snow trail. I also wonder why trailers are always left out of the conversation? There's a lot of flexibility with them.
Absolutely trailers are brilliant for people who only need a cargo bike capacity "as required". I bought a large sized dog trailer over 3 years ago to use as a fully enclosed cargo trailer and it's been fabulous. Then I also got an actual large cargo trailer for everything too bulky to fit into the dog trailer cabin like a full size lawnmower. I can even fit a 400 litre plastic storage container onto it using mini ratchets. They cost €131 and €105 respectively online and they literally turned a €600 hybrid bike into having more than the the cargo capacity of a €6,000 cargo bike and a real world practical alternative to a car. I've had over 70 kg on those trailers with just an ordinary bike and I have just got my first e-bike which makes it even easier. I love the ubiquitous practicality of cargo bikes which is why I follow channels like this but totally, trailers are amazing and so very versatile and affordable.
Thanks for the great comment! I’ve reviewed a handful of trailers over the years, including the travoy. For me, they don’t handle the weight I need - 100+ lbs and in busy traffic, or navigating on and off sidewalks/bike lanes, they can be unnerving. The travoy is great for the grocery run!
I've ridden the Tern GSD gen 1 on some...sketchy terrain, and it handles less well than my fat bike, but more well than one might expect. As always, stay more upright, stop slower, and don't assume you have traction.
I would love to see a review of the Haul a Day Elite. I feel like Bike Friday doesn’t get enough credit for pioneering the dual 20” midtail, and also that the new design is a huge improvement over their original, is that it has a main triangle. I personally own a GSD (more stable, better accessories), but I can see the use cases where the Bike Friday would make a cargo bike practical for people where a heavier bike isn’t, like taking on transit or carrying up stairs. Also, I saw one parked at my local pool all summer and thought it was also a beautiful steel bike, which has its own draw.
I’ve been patiently waiting for them to have better testing on their e-bike system and frame. Hopefully we will see that now that they have partnered with Bosch on other bikes.
Thanks as always for all your great work, Arleigh. I rode a Larry vs Harry Bullitt for about four years and then traded it in for a Bullitt X (same bike but about 11" longer). I remember seeing that you rode a Bullitt a long time ago and switched away from it. It's been fantastic for me-I usually ride it everywhere, in preference over a non-cargo bike. I was in Portland recently and was boggling over how many of them are on the streets there-I assume because Splendid Cycles, their West Coast distributor, is there. I think your recommendation of an Urban Arrow is probably right for most people, and the listing the Riese & Müller Load bikes on your top 10 list makes sense, too. But for people who like a zippy, fun-to-ride cargo bike, where carrying one child at a time is workable for them, I think the Bullitt is worth a try.
Thanks, Marc. There are many great bikes that didn’t make the list even though the bike itself is superior. 1. Pricing 2. Dealer base 3. Replacement parts The bullitt doesn’t fall in that category, mainly due to its limited sizing, and tall top tube. It’s great for a cyclist wanting a cargo bike, but most folks buying cargo aren’t actually “cyclists”.
We have about 600 miles on our Globe Haul St and we love it. In Phoenix we don’t have the best bike infrastructure so don’t feel we could maximize an Urban Arrow, so our next bike could be a long tail type.
@@BikeShopGirl Similar to @TrailNachos I tow 1 kiddos on back in a seat, and a trailer for the other little. Have 500 miles on bike in the last year - rain or shine in the hilly PNW and it has worked out beautifully for kids drop off and pick up. Tried the Abound, and ended up enjoying the Globe Haul much better. Throttle + class 3 speeds are a bonus.
Great review! I know it may not be considered comparable in relation to theses 5 cargo bikes but what are thoughts on the Orox? Are you going to do any more videos on the Orox?
Thank you!!! I have one more video comparing the orox to a standard eMTB. It’s a very cool bike, but doesn’t fit into my life and I felt like I was going to hurt myself doing some heavy off roading with it due to the weight.
@@BikeShopGirl I’ve had to replace two bunch disk brake systems. Bunch does send parts and you can contact them but quality doesn’t seem that great imo.
Yeah, I tested it out initially at Radio Flyer’s flagship store in the Chicago suburbs and now I’m considering buying from a shop closer to my home that has carried their bikes for a couple years and seems to have had a good experience with them.
I have a couple questions about the Xtracycle Swoop: First, can the front tire be changed out for something a bit bigger or more aggressive, meaning knobbier, like for dirt paths or slick roads? Second, on the CargoBikeLife website it shows the Swoop as being $3999.00 with a "Buy Now" button. When I click the button though, it takes me to the Xtracycle website where it shows the bike's price as being $4999.00. Am I missing something -- is it available somewhere for $3990? Thanks
