Cargo Bikes

Whats wrong with Alfine 11?

Have had Alfine 8 on all of my cargo bikes and it's been great.

Maybe 8 is more durable than 11. Think I read this somewhere earlier on here ...

I've got Alfine 11 on the Douze and it's been skipping gears, sometimes under full load, nearly causing a stack. Also in general feels crunchy and is leaking oil. Had oil swapped and hub opened up and serviced by reputable shop, but it was not much of an improvement. Not a big fan. I mean, it sorta works, but I suspect it's not really all that good to deal with proper torque through the pedals.

I have done about 80 miles on the bullitt now. Just jumped on my old runaround for the first time since I got the bullitt (90s Kona) was wobbling all over the place.

Takes a month or two but your brain learns to adjust automatically to the different handling!

first time I went from long term bullitt only to brompton was scary

That was some bad writing from me. For clarity, I was wobbling on my old Kona. Now the cargo feels normal.

Yea, I knew what you meant :)

I had a similar experience to Amey, went from a period of exclusively riding an urban arrow XL then hopped on a Brompton and nearly stacked it immediately

Maybe 8 is more durable than 11. Think I read this somewhere earlier on here ...

I concur. I have both on two pompetamines. The 8 has always been reliable. The 11 skips, doesn't always engage, can't always shift into the loosest gear. Have had the shifter serviced etc. It's the hub.

Hmm, good to know. Had thought about upgrading to 11.

Love the Alfine 8, had mine years, has done 1400 miles with electric assist on the bullit and probably double that, if not more, before on other bikes, never skipped a beat.

Keep seeing rohloffs pop up on eBay!

my sister has started her own painter and decorating business, and is thinking about a cargo bike to haul paint and tools around.

Anyone else doing something like this? I think a positive model to help decide would be useful, in addition to suggestion of particular models etc.

If I recall, Alfine 11 has a maximum torque limit that if you exceed invalidates the warranty. Alfine 8 doesn't, which gives some indication of relative robustness. Also, I think what 11 gives you is taller gears compared to 8 and that's not what you want, you want more low-speed twiddling gears.

I like Alfine 8, used it with no real issues across a couple of bikes. However, in the end I went for an 11-spd SLX setup on my Bullitt. It's been faultless, absolutely love it. The gearing is perfect for my needs and the combination of MTB braking and wide grippy tyres means it stops incredibly well.

Key thing is probably get all her things in one place and work out what it weighs and what volume it takes up. Then work from there. But it's going to be between Bullitt style or Omnium with some kind of locking box for her kit.

+1 on alfine 8 vs 11.

Had 11; gears slipped.

8 is SOLID even with the bafang.

Visited New York in 2019, the before times, saw many cargos mostly long tails with bolted on assistance (rear wheel or under BB hanging jobs), biggest user group wasn't trendy mess life people, wasn't families (visited many wealthy neighbour hoods and saw many e cargo), food couriers, and wasn't big 3 letter aconym courier services using up their grant funding.

It was the trades. Hundreds and hundreds of them, more if you looked inside doorways of buildings. I imagine their big heavy tools live on the job site throughout the course of a project, the hand tools and small items they ride back and forwards with daily (as might do other jobs before/after main work project), some had saw tables/router tables built into their long tails. Others just seemed to be dragging any old pair of wheels strapped onto some timber stock (saw an entire 3m long kitchen worksurface being dragged this way).

Most bulky materials are delivered to site, so no real need for a van, and the cost of getting a van onto the island is pretty high, then parking is cripping, 20-35 USD an hour is normal.

Would absolutely love to see more trades using cargo bikes, and you'd be surprised how small of a bike you can get away with. Its not often you need to move full size step ladders, and bulk materials, often its just your hand tools (10-40kg) and small consumables for the day (papers/plastics/paints/tape, lots of tape).

Another +1 to avoid Alfine 11. I got a free 'upgrade' due to ordering issues and it needs adjusting at least once every week (in fairness the adjustment is easy if using Di2 but still!). And as Mikenetic said, it gives you taller gears which is utterly useless so I've had to swap out chainring and cog to gear down (I wish I'd geared down even more) so I can use the 1-9 range instead of 1-5. Upper gears only come into play when I'm cycling downhill at over 35km/h which never happens with a little person up front.

looooong time reader here.... could you let me know what you think are the pro/cons against the muli cargo bike`? the electric one seems super expensive...

i am searching for a small/light cargo for everyday use, would just need space for my 3y old kid and his small bike... i am thinking the bullits are too big for my needs and the omniums have difficult low speed handling because of the position of the platform maybe??... i am guessing here, since i never tried either...
my kid is 16.5kg already if this info helps

https://muli-cycles.de/en/shop/bikes/muli#/20-basket_color-space_black/35-lighting_system-rechargeable_battery_lights_without_hub_dynamo/38-gear_shift-alfine_8/40-seat_post-hook_ergotec/50-chain_belt-chain_standard/18-frame_color-bang_orange

Looks cool if a bit spendy

Was going to mention those (again) as I've seen a lot of 'em here in Berlin lately - usually with one or two little kids in the "cargo area".
They are indeed very expensive (not sure why exactly) and look a bit shit in my opinion, but handling wise they are good I hear, plus easier to stow away in a bike shed etc. surely is a big plus for a lot of people.

any suggestions of models? i think ladders and paint plus sanders are her main cargo tbh

I have not, I concur they seem pricey, for something that looks like it's half the size of a bullitt but I do like the way they look and the foldable cargo space.

Stockists in the UK are Velorution and Manchester Bike Hire, and neither one has them on their websites. I'd like to see/ride it in person before dropping that amount of cash on it..

Video here of it
https://youtu.be/Hcdf2hZBpsQ

Maybe Omnium cargo seen as load bed/top tube you can run a ladder along it. Though TBH moving a full ladder by bike just sounds a traffic cops delight. One of those collapsing ones much easier.
Paints and tools tend to be heavy, so something with low down load bed, but doesn't help for full ladders.
If in Glasgow check the council website, think there is a £3k grant for those affected by the ULEZ coming in, i.e folks who currently have a crappy old van and want some help towards something else. Not entirely sure if it means giving them the old van/ forced to scrap type of scheme though.

would be good to hear what the actual law is on carrying ladders by cargo tbh

There isn't one.

Have a client who uses us to transport his ladders to site for him and store them when not in use.

Most stops that we encounter from bored cops question sight lines rather than oversized/long items.

Should add that while there is no current legal oversight, I'm sure that if people move large stuff badly by cargo bike-impacting other road users massively or being involved in /causing collisions legislation will happen.

Tell them to jog on. Lockdown increased our interactions with bored dickhead police by over 200%.

Manage risk responsibly and politely but firmly tell old bill where to get off.