Cargo Bikes

Read through all 91 pages of the thread whilst waiting for a chance to try the diy again.

All I know now is that there is big love for Bullitt, limited appreciation for Omnium, and to never touch Douze. Also that R&M is under-represented.

Seems that generally e-assist is only good for shorter distances because of battery capacity.

Makes me wonder about the reality of the cargo thing, speed and distance.

I did a 10 mile (hilly) round trip last week to collect a bargain Burley Cub -to strip down bare for cargo in case the diy cargo is no go- and certainly went faster than the 15mph maximum recommended speed on the way back, but I was on the road bike and it was unladen. I loved that the hitch allowed me to lean a lot, and camber didn’t affect handling.

Gonna do the <10mile round trip to the scrapyard for ~20kg of bricks and see how it feels tomorrow. Then try with 30kg and so on.

Was I unaware just how slow cargo is supposed to go?

Discovered what riding at almost peak capacity feels like.

Bullitt was fine with weight at the front, some 70kg of logs not a problem.

Trailer, OmG, need to sort out the hitch its very wayward down hill. Rest of the trailer did OK. Estimated around 220-250kg of very wet hardwood (not sure which wood but its pretty dense). Its one of the spring in a tube kind, not very good. Will probably try and copy a Surly Bill+Ted type hitch, much more solid.

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big love for Bullitt, limited appreciation for Omnium.

You're confusing commercial success (due to a variety of factors) with technical superiority.

So Omnium is technically superior but Bullitt is more commercially successful?

What I'm trying to say is the respective owners of the two brands have very different goals in terms of what they are trying to achieve commercially with their products. The fact that there's more Bullitts around is simply not the result of them being better bikes full stop. You could argue this is true for a lot of bikes.
Depending on your priorities, you may want to go for one or the other, or something else altogether. That's absolutely fine.

My Douze is awesome. Not sure how you came to that conclusion?

R&M is under-represented

Probably because they're expensive and ugly as fuck.

Probably the issues @Vince was having.

We have a Douze and love it! I know @Vince has had big reliability problems with his electric assist Douze, but this to my knowledge was solely down to the e-assist element of the bike.

I think Bullitt’s look better and have more kudos, but the Douze rides and handles better and has a superior seat, harness and canopy set up for little un’s.

We tested quite a few bikes and the wife refused to ride the Bullitt due to its handling. I like the Bullitt but have to admit the Douze handles so much better. Either way jump on a cargo bike and they’ll bring and instant smile to your face! :)

Our Douze has cable steering so has super tight turning circle (well as tight as a cargo bike turns!) in both directions whereas steering linkages are generally restricted with the tyre hitting the arm.

Useful for filtering in traffic but also just moving bike around to park up/getting through doorways etc.

The cables offer resistance that kinda feels like a tight headset (but smooth!) when on the stand, but it’s not really noticeable when riding, I think this helps with the neutral handling of the bike.

So far it’s been pretty reliable. On its third winter without any issues...

I think Bullitt’s look better and have more kudos, but the Douze rides and handles better

This got me curious? What makes it handle so differently? Looking at the bikes side on, the geometry (angles at least) seems very similar?

Not 100% sure to be honest! The Bakfiets rides and handles beautifully but is a very different style of bike, it’s like your pedalling an armchair! We needed a fast bike that both me and the wife could ride and the Douze ticked that box. Omnium ride great too, but again don’t offer the load or child carrying capabilities larger/longer cargo bikes do.

My advice, test ride as many as you can to see what works for you. It’s a good thing that we have quite a lot of choice these days!

I am on my second Douze.

The first one could not handle "London's acid rain" apparently, and that's why it was rusting from everywhere. In addition, the MPF e-assist was not working most of the time (when it was it kept cutting or the range went down to nought in 5 miles) and the AluLock box de-bonded itself.

For the second one, I took the frame with the "step through" top tube so it is much better to use daily and with heavy loads.
MPF put a full new e-assist system that packed in only once in 12 months (I now liase with MPF direct for warranty has Douze did not want to help further) - they provided me with a new display which seems to give me more range somehow.
AluLock provided a new riveted box so no chance of de-bonding this time.
Douze upgraded every single bolt on it to stainless steel so no rust this time around, they also have given me a waterproof cover to protect it from the elements.

All in, I am happy with the bike now, it genuinely rides like a normal bike so usable by all with no training.

I was not satisfied with the initial bike at it was £4k worth and rust was pissing out the steering column after 2 months in London + customer service was very blasé

Omnium ride great too, but again don’t offer the load or child carrying capabilities larger/longer cargo bikes do.

How many children and what size of cargo are you trying to carry?

This thing's been out for more than a year.
Good friend of mine has bodged something similar and ferries his little one around without complaint.

Where do you live? If you come down to Bournemouth you're welcome to test ride our Omnium and our Bullitt.

We sell both for people with different needs.

Personally as I don't have children my go to cargo bike for hauling stuff is my Omnium Mini Max

(Non-electric) Douze has been trouble free so far. I love that bike so much I ride it around town even if I don't need to schlepp anything. Also when it rains because it's the bike I have with mudguards.

Same for me with my Bullitt. Just got some mudguards for my pacer to be able to use it more

Thanks all, I think this page alone will be super useful for anyone - definitely summarises more clearly experiences with all the different models.

Local e-bike shop has a R&M heavily reduced but still nosebleed expensive. Daren’t test ride it. I’m nowhere near starting to save for a ‘proper’ one (hence the aggro with the diy option) but I will definitely try to escape Swindon and take a mini holiday down your way @VeloSurMer to try out ‘real’ options in the coming months, thanks.

Finally, an actual test, and the bike does quite okay. There’s still the wobbly steering but it’s no longer a dealbreaker, and with weight on the front it handles better.

Need to get around a dozen of these back to the house to use the planks for general garden stuff. Fortunately these pallets are only a few hundred meters away where they are building a new play park, so it’s no great stress to carry them one by one. It was taking too long and getting too muddy trying to break them down there and carry them back dismantled so decided to risk sticking them on like so.

Such a high load without lashing was a bit silly (was feeling lazy - lashing straps were in my bag) but brought about half a dozen no issue before it started to rain. Only one went walkies on a turn.

Starting to see the light, a little.

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I built my Bullitt last year to cycle my Daughter into nursery. She still isn't ready for that yet so i ride it into work occasionally just for fun which is where the problem has grown, I forget i'm riding a cargo bike and due to bar width/style just feel like im riding a mountain bike/ boris hybrid.
Three weeks ago on a grimy/icy morning I was riding it pretty quick up Clerkenwell Rd before turning into Hatton Garden, where i dropped it on the pelican crossing paint. The front wheel had very little weight on it and i was on my arse listening to the thing slide metres down the road ahead of me on its side.
I don't think there's anything wrong with the bike at all apart from scratches down the left side and the bar end plug having been battered. I dislocated my thumb though which was absolutely excruciating.
Either way i feel like I've had so much fun on the bike its as far removed from its original intention as could be, instead of carting around my daughter carefully I've been sprinting off from lights and carrying friends to the pub.
Id recommend a cargo to anyone for the fun factor.
Also second xt 1x11 sentiments earlier, its amazingly easy to fit and super effective on cargo around london.

Pros - no steering arm to get banged up or develop play

Cons - pain in the ass to work on.

We sell both for people with different needs.

care to elaborate?

Odd you should mention it, I managed to crash my Omnium this morning in very similar circumstances, lost the front wheel on a greasy mini round about, when down on the drive side, obviously. The only damage was a bit on the cargo deck and a grazed rear mech and knee. It was after dropping my daughter off thankfully. I was riding like a bit of a dick, its been along time since I've ridden a bike with gears, a free wheel and disc's.

shit fixie skidder >>>>>

I briefly worked for a R&M dealer so I have tried a few of their models. I had to deliver a Load across town once, I thought it was very smooth and comfortable and I was very impressed with the e-assist but... it's so heavy it has its own gravity field, and unsurprisingly it's not exactly nimble in traffic. It's really not meant for quick changes of direction and to be ridden above the 25kph motor limiter.
If you're considering Bullitt and Omnium trying both with @VeloSurMer seems a no-brainer to me, so you can decide for yourself.*

*and quickly realise the Omnium is without a doubt the best handling bike out of the two, and after all @VeloSurMer himself has a MiniMax so really it's the one to go for ;-)