Cargo Bikes

that look

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That is such an unprofessional answer.

Show him how to strap two kids on the top rack with just a couple of innertubes :-)

Talk to me about Bafang costs and installation cost and whether I'd be able to pull my two units of children on a bike as well.

Nice bikes, nice dog. Also thanks for reminding me that summer will come back.

@Gewürzt I have a bakfiets short. Its old (doesn't have that crazy seat tub e angle yet) and in the end it cost me maybe third of a bullit.
Its definitely not built for speed, but does a great job as a relaxed shopping bike.
Which is great because I don't need any more anger on the way to the supermarket than I already feel bc of idiots in cars.

some Copenhagen kids are lucky if they get an innertube to cling onto, the true cargo solution is just to have them cling onto the enormous box/fridge/sofa (delete as appropriate) and hope for the best

in all seriousness I've had the pleasure of riding as a passenger on the Omnium Taxi-Bike and as an adult it was quite comfortable so I'm sure the Omnium Kids seat mount or even the lesser known 'Omnium Backrest' would be very comfy for a child.

Woow that Omnium backrest is expensive!, when compared to there other stuff.

Its like Bullit accessory money.

The Cross Kings were put to the test last weekend : mud, snow, ice.
Pretty damn good.

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@Chalfie not found bafang cheaper than 600 quid. No idea about installation costs.

Also spotted today in Temple Fortune might belong in the gravel thread tho.

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Black all day long... I do like both the racing green and the new lighter (army) green

Although everything looks better with gumwalls

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not found bafang cheaper than 600 quid

The 250w is around 400 from what I've seen, I thought you couldn't put more than a 250w on?

Interesting where you seeing that, is that with a battery, how comes you can only go to 250w? I thought bafang for cargo was supposed to be 500w. I'm not speaking from experience here tho.

Amazon and à few others but actually you're right, with battery it seems to be around 550.

The road legal limit is 250w, I looked to see if there was a difference for cargo bikes but I can't find anything, I'm clueless about it so happy to be told otherwise.

Oh I know, this is where I live (and I carry my own kid with 2 innertubes securing the seat section of his stroller onto the rack).

i love my bluebird, but with the big box to carry kids/stuff and sharing it with my wife i am thinking of a 2nd bullit, much lighter and more sporty.
thus i am always looking at this as inspiration and push:

Legal limit for pedelec is 250w, electric scooters are allowed 350w.

Have a look at Babboe too. We’ve got a City Mountain, bought through Carry Me. The Yamaha motor is brilliant - we’ve now moved to Edinburgh and it powers up vertical cobbled streets with 3 kids loaded on board.

Eclipsebikes.com are very good.

I think the 250w bafang kit is about £360 then you'll need to buy a battery, cheapest is ~£200. But buy the biggest capacity you can afford imo.

Install yourself is pretty easy.

Thanks, I'll check them out.

Install yourself is pretty easy.

I've had a look online and it looks like it's not much more than swapping out a bottom bracket?

It seems like a no brainer (if you know a bit of bike maintenance) to fit it yourself as the cost of the bikes nearly double with e-assist.

Is there a big difference in other brands to bafang or is it simply a case of a Chinese company being able to undercut the market?

Someone please correct me if I’m wrong but when it comes to mid drives I think it’s more to do with availability- you simply can’t buy a Bosch motor new unless you’re a registered dealer. And even then I think they will only readily replace a broken motor on an already existing ebike rather than just sell you one out the blue. Think it’s the same with Yamaha, shimano etc.

Also your frame would have to already be built to fit one -or modified.

Have you ridden both types extensively?
Pendix make the nicest BB bolt on solution, £1.8k though, Bafang make the popular choice, few different ones, they are built well and many people have put tens of thousands of miles on them without drama, but they aren't a £1k mid drive from Bosch, Brose, Yamaha or Shimano, those are a much nicer experience*

*Though, have said to quite a few customers, especially those with kiddo, you aren't going to be pushing the very limits of speed and grip all the time with your 2 year old on board, you'll be just glad of the extra assistance. So a cheaper but still reputable mid drive bb bolt on kit is a good middle ground.

As for direct sales of mid drives, afaik its to do with type approval for the use of that motor (engine) in that configuration. If folk were to start buying Bosch Performance line or Shimano EP8 engines themselves, setting to world max capacity of 500w + 25mph limit and then just bolting to their own home brew frame, law and order in the entire country would break down overnight, or at least that is the picture painted by those who write the rules. But seriously, yeah they do not sell to individuals, even to companies who make bikes and are well established have a good pile of paperwork to get the approval sticker to allow them to use the motors/engines. Its one of the reasons proper e assist bikes seemingly cost more than the sum of their parts, lots of hoops to jump through divided by their expected sales, so for a Raleigh £1500 commuter, yeah the uplift is going to be barely noticable, but on a super niche cargo bike where they only sell a few hundred units a year worldwide, that uplift is going to be noticable.

Have you ridden both types extensively?

No, I haven't tested anything as yet, baby number 2 is due at the start of May so it'll be a later in the year when my wife is ready to cycle again before we start testing anything, just trying to get as much advice as possible so I'm not completely clueless when I start going into shops.

Pendix make the nicest BB bolt on solution

The only place in London that (I can find online anyway) sells the workcycles kr8 fits the pendix but every review I've found for the pendix hasn't been great, which considering how expensive they are has put me off a bit.

I'm more than happy to pay for quality and will want to go for the nicest and most reliable option but when the difference is over a thousand pounds you'd want a decent level of improvement.

Yeah fair enough. Test as many as you can, you'll soon get an idea for what fits/suits you and your families needs.
Bear in mind not all cargo can be converted to aftermarket bb bolt on type, recently had two bikes that whilst possible to convert, will have such tiny ground clearance under the new motor that its a serious concern.

Bolt on solutions from Bafang/Tongsheng usually add £600-950 with enough battery and your own labour.
Proper out the box solutions are usually a solid £2k over their analogue counterparts, that won't be reducing any time soon, if anything the gap is growing.

Well, for everything I've said we'll end up going for whatever works best for my wife. It's good to sound things out though so thank you for all the info as e-assist is something I've never even considered before now.

I know it was mentioned on here, but I can't remember how far back.
What is the maximum width 406 tyre you can fit on the front of an omnom, and what tubeless 406 tyres do you know of? Cheers! :)

I've got a 2.35" on a standard Minimax. It's pretty tight, <5mm clearance each side