Cargo Bikes

Chasing cool in cargo bikes is a mistake (I have made).

The GSD is extremely versatile and easy to store

ha yea me too. does look pretty dope and probably wouldn't be more expensive than how i would have built an omnium. downside is a don't get a fun project, but probably would work better in general.

I borrowed a Ridgeback for the evening from work. Pretty fun! Rides a lot like a Bullitt.

1 Attachment

huh had not looked at that one. looks very nice thanks! not quite as cool lol

Also historically riddled with QC issues, even today.

tern or omnium?

... probably would work better in general.

@amey must have gotten one of the rare one's that's not a total albatross of a bike.

tern or omnium?

I cannot advise against Tern enough, but I sadly have no personal experience with Omnium.

They are quite variable. Many are great and folk have no issues apart from the total shit kick stands they ship with (the newer hd kickstand that tern made customers pay extra for works for about a month in winter and will then seize, keep it greased and will work very well though). Others have issues like brake mounts not welded on straight, no amount of facing will bring them back, headset bearing recess not straight so steering has an eccentric tolerance (wrong term but you get the picture). Creaky bar adjuster (grease, grease all the things, from day zero).
Ua are similar, you get mostly good ones (now) and folk love them, but still the odd absolute clanger that should never have left the factory*

*goes for all bike brands, had a customer in today with a regular hybrid arrived yesterday from an online retailer, someone had tried to rectify the world's most hilariously badly welded on disc mount by using bolts bent in a vice, v brake convex /concave bits and a ball bearing greased into a dropout in a mental attempt to mask the problem so that the customer wouldn't notice. Erm, they did, I did and probably a solicitor will along the way, worst cover up I've ever seen (not a cargo, but it reminded me of how early ua would arrive).

Ah yes, I've heard a lot of wonderful things about the shartstorm that is UA from other shops.

I don't know if Tern will every get back on my good side after having built and maintained dozens of first and second gen GSDs, and hearing about the new wave of problems with the current generation of GSDs and HSDs from my former shop.

But what rubbed me wrong the most outside of the specific QC issues on the bikes themselves, was the fact that Tern was extremely resistant to even acknowledge the issues were real even when photographic evidence was presented and literally told shops having issues shit like "ah yeah, it's normal for MT5s to rub for the first couple hundred miles."

Looks a lot like the bullitt!

yes this, all bikes unless REALLY big brand popular bikes come with these sort of issues. I built an omnium with @cake once and the design for cable routing was shambles.

resistant to even acknowledge the issues were real even when photographic evidence was presented and literally told shops having issues shit like "ah yeah, it's normal for MT5s to rub for the first couple hundred miles."

With the massive influx of pedelecs on the street and inevitable issues, I fear this will become a regular fight.

I think most mftr argument against it being a "defect" is that, "well we sold thousands of these and your the first to say about this problem, so it must be a you problem, not an us problem, please go away"
When actually they are neck deep in returns and paperwork and don't want any more to come back as they'll need to hire a warehouse to keep them all in (this actually happened with spesh/globe branded bikes around 2010 to 13, a local set of dealers were nearly crippled by the influx of every spesh and globe bike sold in those years for a recall on forks that affected a lot of them. Spesh decided to not just send boxes of forks out to dealers so they it could be fixed fast, instead requiring each one to be catalogued, booked in, fork stripped and sent to them, then they would ship a new fork out, chaos, would never get myself involved at a dealer level with that company again).

This is very validating to read.

Got mudguards for sale if anyone looking for the pair for their omnium.

Might know someone interested if you're willing to post. Wifi width?

sorry dude already gone.

I'm considering a touring bike + Bob Yak trailer combination for cargo/shopping duties which is rated to carry 32 kilos on the trailer plus what can go into panniers on the rear rack. This looks to be more luggage capacity than something like a smaller cargo bike like the Omnium Mini which is rated at 125kg including a rider. Not wishing to offend those who enjoy their cargo bikes (they look great), but what am I missing? Obviously, I'm not comparing with a heavy duty long-john type cargo bike.

I’d go with a 2 wheel trailer, more stable and higher carrying capacity, the one I made uses a frame that is rated to approximately 225 kg.
Also take a look at Hinterher.com.

Also take a look at Hinterher.com

That is an interesting website. I liked the photo of the kit which converts their trailers into a market stall.

frame that is rated to approximately 225 kg.

Have you carried this much out of interest? If so how did it handle and was braking ok?

Also what’s your hitch mechanism :)?

Not wishing to offend those who enjoy their cargo bikes (they look great), but what am I missing?

Mostly the convenience of having all-in-one, i.e. not having to hitch anything up, being able to just throw everything on, only one thing to store and lock up, being able to do a cool build thread on here, ability to complain about lack of tyre clearance, what mid drive to use etc.

I'm about to run out of space on my drop-front. First camping trip with my boy coming up and it's going to need the trailer as well as the box unless we really take the bare minimum. Stick a second child on board and I'm going to be well into the panniers and rear rack territory too!

I think it depends on how you need to carry loads. If it's occasional big loads (supermarket/taking stuff to the tip/etc.), then a trailer is fine, but if you're going to daisy-chain various errands, then having a shopper/utility bike you can just sling stuff on is helpful. I think the appeal of the Omniums is that they feel nippy when unloaded or with moderate load? For me the max load on the minis would be an issue, plus they're a bit nice/pricey to leave locked up around town. Since I got rid of my bakfiets, I've been meaning to get an Elephant Bike (refurbed Pashley Pronto/PO bike), which should cover 95% of my shopping needs at a fraction of the cost of a posher cargo bike.

If you get an Elephant bike refurb (they are decent BTW, we got a basically new one that had been painted and new tyres/tubes/cables fitted for £325 delivered, insane value for money), plan on changing the gearing. Ours was ambitious, even for flat towns like Cambridge you'd never use 3rd gear. Changed the rear sprocket to the largest available for a Sturmey 22 or 24t from the fitted 18t, a new better chain (KMC B1 or Z1eHX), and fitted the metal Sturmey 3s thumb shifter instead of the plastic one.
Things a tank, does everything that average joe/juliet is going to need from it, goes to work (slowly), doesn't get stolen, lives outside all year round without issue, has huge F+R racks, comfy. Slow though, even unloaded, its a plodder.