Wanted: Elephant bike/ ex royal mail postmans bike

Does anyone have an elephant bike?
Maybe you also love the idea of it, but not found much use in the end??
This is my worry, but keen to try it and curious how they are as a town bike.
Would need the smaller model (18"). In north/ central London.
Please PM me with details.

Hi, I have a Pashley Pronto for sale which might suit your needs as they're a pretty similar design, with a 3 speed Sturmey Archer hub gears, front dynamo hub, hub brakes etc, shoot me a pm if interested.

My ex had the Elephant bike, and its a pretty similar weight to the Boris bikes at around 23kg (no joke).

It was too heavy to be useful, I'd avoid if possible - there are plenty of alternative options out there.

I have owned a Pashley Pronto for the last past 9 years and it is still going strong.
It is the same model as the Mailstar/Elephant bikes.

Was £699 new and worth every penny.
Hardly any maintenance over this time - the drum brakes & SA 3 speed rear hub are just great.

Great town bike, the front rack can safely hold 20kg (I often had more in mine).

Yes, they are heavy, however that is not a problem if you don't need to carry it upstairs.
They are not high on the "theft list" so pretty safe to leave at the station / on street.

In short, it is hard to get a better small cargo bike for the money / maintenance required.

They even do an e-Pronto now:
https://www.pashley.co.uk/bikes/carrier-cycles/e-pronto.php

so Pros:

• price pretty decent
  
• low on theft list
  
• not high maintenance
  
• good for carrying load
  
• recycled and all the social aspects helping prisoners/ sending bike to africa (thats for elephant bike not pashley pronto)
  
  

Cons

• weight. 23kg - that's more than half my body weight and more than double my usual road bike (which i don't want to ride around town anymore)...
  
• lighter alternative town bikes to be explored.
  
  

Tough call!

Used prices are about £200 for a decent one. Much cheaper for a beat up one.

You can find much better and lighter cargo bike but you would need to spend way more.
A good one is an Omnium Cargo, used prices are around £1k.

Here is a great one here for £60:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pashley-Royal-Mail-Postmans-Bicycle-3-Speed-Post-Office-Bike/233274213157

Get the train, bring it back.

Less great ones here:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pashley-Royal-Mail-Postmans-Bicycle-Mailstar-3-Speed/254282464458

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Pashley-Pronto-Postman-Butchers-Bike-trade/254279141578

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PASHLEY-MAILSTAR-18-EX-ROYAL-MAIL-DELIVERY-BICYCLE-STURMEY-ARCHER-3-SPEED/293137626975

Do be careful buying/selling Royal Mail bikes as a great deal of them have been taken/given away un lawfully and are still HMRC property as a young friend of mine found out after being stopped by police.

Most were given to Charities such as Recycle.

When I worked as a cover postie I loved the bikes so asked what happened to them when they finished their active service, and could I buy one. I was told they sent them all to Africa which seemed like a good plan.