Cargo Bikes

PMd

Gilles Berthoud (...) custom 20" front guard

They really should do this a a stock option.

Yeah, they really should, luckily we have a contact at GB and managed to get some out of their secret stash!

I thought you had it from a fellow framebuilder, maybe I should get in touch with them directly!

A friend helped us with them. We suspect they were from a personal stash, so we know we are honoured!

I think Velo orange do a specific cargo set.

They do in fact.

Well, after another hour and a half of backpedal trying to fit the powunity to my bulitt no joy, apparently there definitely isn't any room. If anyone has actually fitted one to the newest iteration of bulitt let me know.

Anyone carrying two kids on the back of a GSD? My other half had a go on one yesterday and liked it a lot but is a bit worried about having the kids on the back if they start rocking around and misbehaving. They are 9 months and 3 years old atm. She's 5'2 and quite light so thinks it might be easier to manage them with an urban arrow or similar.

Think brickman said he’d fitted the powunity into the new Gen bullitts?

Having just picked up a new-to-me Omnium cargo (great fun!) that came without guards as they were warped/cracked is there anyone in the U.K. that has stock? SJS seem to have 24” and 28” SKS guards in almost marching sets but not sure if the 24” will be too big and I’d quite happily not buy two sets if there is anyone selling a cargo pair.

Paradise cycles looked like they used to have them, but showing out of stock as do most online stores it seems.

Secondly, the Omnium steering rod connection at the handlebar end. Looks like it has a number of positions it can be mounted; more onboard or more outboard. What are the various merits of this? Assume it’s to do with responsiveness, and the heavier loads one carries the more onboard it should be to be more stable?

Assume it’s to do with responsiveness, and the heavier loads one carries the more onboard it should be to be more stable?

Just have it as far to the right as possible and get used to how it handles. It severely impacts the turning circle moving it inwards and it’ll not respond in a way you’re used to if you’re always moving it around.

Oh and it also does other weird stuff if the bar is v close to the steering column… like flip the steering round once you get to a certain point

I have a 9 year old and a nearly 5 year old on the back of mine. The 5 yo messes about a fair bit, leaning out to the side and rocking about and you can definitely feel it, a bit like a gust of wind but is easy enough to react to and counteract. Don't think your wife will notice it much while they are the size they are but might be an issue in the future if she isn't particularly confident. Haven't ridden an UA so no idea about a comparison.

Handy thanks for that. Wasn’t going to move it fully onboard as that seemed to be too close but wondered if there was a difference between fully outboard and in the middle. Tried it with a pretty heavy load (a person) sitting in the front ti see how it felt up and down the road and it was pretty wobbly hence the thought process, but maybe it’s just something to get used to (or find a lighter human to test with…)

yeah, just give your brain a minute to work it all out! Cargo handles so differently to a regular bike it'll take a bit of time in the saddle for it to become second nature.

I found it surprisingly similar to the handling of my Brompton funnily enough, so not as different as I expected. Will just need to get used to the load, and TBH don’t ever expect to be carrying the weight of a person in cargo very often/at all, was just a convenient load to use to test 😂

Long john's defo you are affected less by kids moving around.

Long tails if they swing around, the bike is going to change trajectory, but to be honest once you've got a few dozen miles clocked on it, the pilots confidence will go up and it'll likely be fine*. Kiddo's also learn to not swing around like monkeys after a few rides and a few telling off.

*Recently a customer got a stonking deal on a mk1 with pretty much all the options, as one of the owners/had a bad scare on the road when the stem /bar combo twisted around (was never done up from new, bought online, no one had checked it, owner had self assembled etc, the usual) and they crashed on a busy road with kiddo's on board, thankfully car's all avoided them. So they sold it for not a lot and a local family swooped in and picked it up and are very happy with it.

If your partner was taller I would say get a benno boost instead, slightly bigger rear area and other reasons (go back through mine and others older posts). But for someone thats under 5'3 or 5'4 the GSD is pretty much the only long tail that genuinely fits them. WE have a 4'10 and a 4'11 user of the mk1 gsd at our shop and they get on OK with it. I think R+M also make a long tail now that has a pretty decent stem/bar combo for shorter folk, could be wrong.

Tried it with a pretty heavy load (a person) sitting in the front

Obviously it depends on the human, but a full size adult on the front of a Omnium is getting up there toward the weight limit.

Velo Orange sell a 650b rear mudguard matched with a 20" front one, perhaps they also do 700 + 20? If not, try hollandbikeshop.com

Paradise cycles looked like they used to have them, but showing out of stock as do most online stores it seems.

We actually do have a few pairs in stock. I don't know why they aren't showing up on the website. Drop us an email!

@VeloSurMer often does orders from Omnium, they sell a set which fits, decently quality too.

At what point after buying a cargo bike do you stop:

• grinning like a loon riding about
  
• volunteering to do errands out of the house just so you can use it
  

At no point

I’m a slightly less than full size adult so overall still under limits, but yes agreed that its the max I’d ever want to carry

Oh great, Thanks!