This month marks the one-year anniversary of my cargo bike and my blog. What an interesting year it has been! I realize I’ve already made that point in several recent blog posts, so I won’t repeat myself here. But I will take just a moment to marvel at the timing of this: shortly after I returned to Seattle following a year of positive biking experiences in Copenhagen, and after deciding the only way to approximate that lifestyle here is with a little electric assistance, multiple manufacturers decided to offer motors on their cargo bikes. The timing couldn’t have been better to enable me to contribute something to this movement.
The title of today’s post (“Looking back, cranking forward”) reflects my desire to reflect on this past year. But it also describes the maneuver I perform on my bike when I want to change lanes or direction, and that’s a pretty good metaphor for my intentions regarding this blogging project. When I started, my main goal was to demonstrate the possibilities of this type of transportation. As more bikes came on the market, I started comparing their features. Then I wrote a few cautionary articles about potential pitfalls and limitations, trying to balance the inevitable marketing hype with a small dose of reality.
Now I’m approaching a decision point. With bigger companies starting to pay attention to cargo bikes, the efforts of a part-time cargo biker may not matter so much. People with bigger megaphones and larger marketing budgets will shape perceptions of cargo biking. Professional staff employed by biking magazines will begin to review these bikes, and I can shift my focus to other things.
At least, this is my hope. If we aren’t on the verge of this scenario, cargo biking may remain a small niche of enthusiasts. I’ve enumerated some of the reasons this could happen: lack of infrastructure, safety concerns, practical issues with weather/clothing/hair, or maybe just the larger size and higher price of these bikes. Even the price of gas figures into the general popularity of biking. The crystal ball is still cloudy.
Nonetheless, there are some interesting developments. For example, check out this marketing video from Trek. It presents biking in a light that might not be familiar to modern Americans. An attractive young woman enjoys doing her errands (buying vegetables and gardening tools from her neighborhood co-op) on her cargo bike at a relaxed pace in a nice suburban setting.
If you don’t find anything unusual about that marketing approach, compare it with this video that presents biking from the more common fanatic/competitive/fitness-oriented perspective:
(Did you watch that? The soundtrack, visuals, and punch line are pretty good! ) Granted, this video is promoting a bicycle race, but that’s my point. Many Americans think of Lance Armstrong and Tour de France when they think of biking, not going to pick up their groceries. We’re gradually changing that perception, but it hasn’t happened overnight, and it probably won’t.
Hammer Truck reviews
I’ve been waiting to see more detailed reviews of electric cargo bikes by professional magazines or web sites. Until they materialize, I’ve tried to fill the void with my own mini-reviews, but I can’t afford to buy bikes just to try them, and no manufacturer has offered to loan me one to demo. I can’t say I’m surprised – if they wanted to loan a bike out for review, they would probably choose a professional reviewer with known technical and writing chops.
Although I’m still waiting for those electric cargo bike reviews, I was pleased to see the first detailed review of the Rans Hammer Truck (but no motor added) a few weeks ago on the BikeCommuters.com web site. It’s nice to see a cargo bike critiqued by someone who is knowledgeable about cargo bikes and bicycle components.
While I’m on the topic of the Hammer Truck, I found this article about how to haul heavy loads with it (by Rans founder Randy Schlitter). I thought it was noteworthy that he mentions the dangers of transporting heavy loads downhill – on a bike equipped with both front and rear disc brakes! Most manufacturers are content to provide a single disc brake. Randy mentions other possible points of failure with a degree of candor that I heartily applaud. I recommend reading the article even if you aren’t considering a Hammer Truck as a potential ride.
Cargo bike economy review
Midway through the year, I projected that I would ride my cargo bike approximately 1,000 miles by its first birthday. The actual number appears to be somewhat less: a bit shy of 700 miles. Two things happened that cut my daily mileage: summer (we traveled a lot and I used the mini-van to transport kids to various activities) and a new exercise schedule (my wife and I drive to the local YMCA at 5:00 in the morning instead of me biking over by myself).
However, even though we’re driving the mini-van more than I would like, we cut our annual gasoline bill in half compared to the year before we went to Denmark. That’s partly because we have one less car now and my wife commutes to work by bike and bus. On the other hand, this year we needed to drive our daughter to many far-flung locations for gymnastics practice and competitions. Although the cargo bike isn’t the only factor reducing our gas usage, it is an important part of the program.
What program?
Although I may have hinted about our goals in previous blog posts, I don’t see any harm in being explicit about it. During this past year, my family has taken numerous steps to reduce our energy consumption and carbon emissions. We simply think it is wise to live in better balance with our planet and the creatures which need it. A less impactful lifestyle will benefit our country, our environment, and our children.
Last May we installed solar panels on our roof. During the sunny summer months they have produced more than 3 megawatt-hours of electricity – twice what we normally use during that period (the extra electrons flowed into the grid and were shared with our neighbors). But now the sun is going south, the days are getting shorter, and the clouds are returning. Our electricity production will fall below our needs this month for sure.
Federal and local tax incentives make our solar project financially feasible at our northern latitude, but just barely. Even with production credits, it will take us approximately 15 years to recover the investment, unless electricity rates climb significantly during the coming decade. So we’re not doing it just for the money. In these few months, the solar panels have saved the equivalent of nearly 3 tons of carbon dioxide. That feels nice, but most of our electricity comes from hydro-electric and wind power, so the savings may be more theoretical than actual. In any case, we wanted to support these nascent solar technologies so that the companies can survive and improve until solar power is a no-brainer for people around the country.
The next step in our program is to eliminate mini-van usage completely for daily errands. We’re planning to lease a Nissan Leaf all-electric car for about $350/month. Since we spend about $200/month on gas, the real cost of the lease will be about $175-$200/month, but then there’s car insurance and maintenance costs. No matter how we rationalize it, cars are expensive to operate. In comparison, the total bill for maintenance, improvements, and electricity to power my bike was less than $200 for the entire year.
Now what?
Back to the main topic of this blog. As I review the articles that I’ve posted this year, I’m pleasantly surprised with the quantity of information I’ve been able to convey. Hopefully the quality of my posts was commensurate with that effort. Although I can now see the light at the end of the tunnel, I don’t think the project will be complete until I get to ride the Transport+ bike from Trek, which I’m hoping will debut in my area next month.
After that, I’m not sure. Writing a quality blog is interesting, somewhat addictive, and time-consuming. I’m open to suggestions, if you think there are topics that aren’t being covered elsewhere.
A few days ago, I was carrying a load of groceries home on my cargo bike. Ahead of me, a serious lycra-clad cyclist was cranking a nice-looking bike up the steady incline. Normally, I try to avoid passing hard-working cyclists on hills out of respect for their efforts. But on this occasion, the gap between us was shrinking quickly with the assistance of my electric motor. Cars were approaching us from behind which would catch up to me at about the same time I caught the cyclist. To avoid a situation which might force me out of the bike lane, I quickened my pace and passed the cyclist at more than twice his speed.
Many biking purists scoff at electric bikes, and I can understand why. If my hard-earned athletic achievements were nullified by someone “cheating” with an electric motor, I wouldn’t be thrilled. On the other hand, the boundaries of “pure” biking aren’t black and white. For example, some dedicated cyclists ride fixed-gear bikes (“fixies”) without extra gears and derailleurs. Extreme purists even remove the freewheel for coasting as well as the brakes (although that’s illegal in some cities).
Fixie bike
One could reasonably say that purity ends where non-muscular assistance begins. But that’s where practicality begins as well. The fact is, I wouldn’t have been hauling those groceries up that hill if it hadn’t been for my electric motor. If bicycle-based transportation is going to grow significantly in the U.S., we must broaden the concept of cycling to include motor assistance. We must enable Americans of average fitness to carry stuff uphill on two wheels.
This vision was validated by bike giant Trek when they announced their Transport+ electric cargo bike (see here for further thoughts on that bike). This month, another big company joins the parade: Shimano is introducing its “STEPS” system that includes a 250W front hub motor activated by a torque sensor (like the Kona Electric Ute), an electrically-shifted hub transmission, regenerative braking, and battery-powered front and back lights. Although a 250W motor is, in my opinion, a little skimpy for cargo bikes, more powerful motors and batteries will come. What’s important right now is the products and competition brewing in the electric bike market. I can imagine a day when unpowered bikes will be considered like fixies are today: cool, but for a very special segment of the population.
Shimano STEPS
Will the march of progress stop with the coming generation of electric bikes? Of course not. Will bikes play a bigger role in future transportation, or will they also make way for something like a lightweight, enclosed personal car with no pedaling required? I hope that’s not the outcome, but our individual choices will determine that.
There are many ways to haul cargo on bikes – a fact that was demonstrated daily on the streets of Copenhagen during the year we lived there. By far the most popular were Christiania bikes, which were used to haul various daily goods including kids and girlfriends. There were also quite a few bikes with extended front ends, which look a bit awkward but have the advantage of keeping your cargo in view.
With such a variety of hauling solutions, the one cargo bike I never saw in Denmark is the one I’ve focused on in this blog: the longtail bike. One might wonder why I haven’t broadened my scope a little.
The main reason is my readership. Although my blog is read in many countries, roughly 80% of my readers are in the United States and Canada. Since I’m most familiar with the transportation landscape in North America, I can offer suggestions and opinions that are appropriate here. My experiences in Denmark strengthen my conviction that transportation must be tailored to local circumstances.
There are three things that make a Christiania bike a better choice for Denmark than the U.S.: flat geography, advanced biking infrastructure, and higher expectations or education about bikes in general.
As I’ve often said, flat terrain is a huge advantage for Danish bikers. The Christiania bike is heavy and not very aerodynamic. I rode one once and it required some effort to push it through a stiff Danish headwind. I’m not sure I could pedal one up a Seattle hill, even without a load.
The bike infrastructure in Copenhagen enables a diverse ecosystem of bikes. For example, many bike lanes in Copenhagen are wide enough for one Christiania bike to pass another without impinging on car lanes. Contrast that with my own city, where some bike lanes aren’t wide enough to accommodate a single Christiania-sized bike.
Finally, these kinds of bikes are viable because Danes use their bikes differently than Americans do. They tend to ride relatively short distances at a relaxed pace. They are accustomed to seeing all kinds of citizens on bikes, including many senior citizens who are more comfortable on a tricycle than walking. Bikes of many shapes and sizes are optimized for diverse needs. Here’s a video that illustrates what I mean. Check out the guy carrying 4 kids, a kid’s bike, and a whole bunch of other stuff on his bike:
Bike trailers
Bike trailers represent another cargo hauling strategy that I rarely saw in Denmark. I’m guessing that’s because the added length, the extra wheels, and the location of the cargo farther behind you make a trailer difficult to maneuver in cozy urban settings. But I’ve been getting occasional emails from readers wondering about towing a trailer with an electric bike, so perhaps it is time to tackle the subject.
Before I start, I should say that I have never used a trailer, and I’m in the precarious position of expressing opinions that aren’t based on actual experience. I’m hoping that my trailer-towing readers (I know there are some of you out there!) will let me know if I say anything stupid.
From a price standpoint, a trailer-based cargo bike has some advantages. If you already own a bike, you can buy a nice trailer for about $500. If you were to add an electric motor and lithium-manganese battery for less than $1000, your outlay would be at least $800 less than the least expensive electric longtail bike I’ve described in previous blog posts. So how do they compare on features?
The trailer gets points for flexibility. When you’re not carrying cargo, you can enjoy a nice electric bike that’s a little more nimble than a longtail. It will fit on the rack of a suitably-equipped bus - not something most longtails can do.
Refrigerator on a bike trailer
The trailer can also carry heavier or awkward loads due to its longer cargo deck and lower center of gravity. For example, here’s a story of a guy moving a refrigerator using a bike trailer. That’s not going to happen on a longtail!
However, if you’re thinking of using your cargo bike for more common daily chores (carrying kids and/or groceries, for example), a trailer will be overkill. It’s not going to be as easy to pack or to ride.
Everything I’ve said so far might be obvious, so the real question is how the electric motor is going to perform with a bike trailer. Since it’s going to provide a significant boost to your leg power, the motor will
Decrease your effort
Increase your speed
Increase the amount of weight you can haul
Increase the slope of hills you can climb
The last 3 items on that list arouse some safety concerns. Since the wheels of the bike trailer don’t have brakes, the momentum of your cargo will add stress to your bike’s brakes without adding weight to your wheels. This increases the chance of skidding. As I discovered here, a skidding front wheel radically diminishes steering control. That would be a bad situation on a normal bike, but the bike trailer adds another complication. Unless you’re stopping in a perfectly straight line, the trailer will impart a sideways force to your bike during hard braking. I’ve seen enough jack-knifed trucks to be sure I don’t want to see a jack-knifed cargo bike.
What does this have to do with the electric motor? Nothing, except that the extra power and speed provided by the motor will complicate emergency stops. A hard stop at 25 m.p.h. is qualitatively different from the same stop at 15 m.p.h. If my experience is any guide, it’s hard to resist the temptation to open up the throttle when there are no obstacles in sight. Unfortunately, it’s the obstacles you don’t see that lead to emergency braking situations.
My gut feeling (again without practical experience) is that bike trailers excel at transporting big loads at moderate speeds over relatively flat terrain. An electric motor would be helpful to get the load moving without shifting through all your gears. Your safety sense must be your guide in determining how fast you allow that motor to propel you.
I have one other concern. There’s a reason you don’t see a trailer hitch mounted on a Toyota Prius: the car’s drivetrain isn’t designed for it. Likewise, most bike motors weren’t designed to tow heavy trailers. Even if they work for awhile, the extra wear and tear may not be covered by the manufacturer’s warranty. Anyway, it’s something you might investigate before pursuing this course.
If you use a bike trailer, and especially if you’re using a motor, I’d love to hear about your experiences.
Today I was sitting in my mini-van, waiting in a pretty long line of cars for a left-turn signal to change. As I waited, I was excited to see an electric bicycle pass me. It wasn’t a cargo bike, but sightings of electric bikes are still rare enough to catch my eye. I watched as the cyclist moved to the front of the left turn line, and I was a little surprised. When I ride my bike to that same intersection, I take my place in the line just like any car would.
My surprise quickly turned to dismay. The rider slowed as he approached the intersection, looked both ways, and then made the turn while the light was still red!
I know that cyclists sometimes bend the rules a bit, and I can understand the temptation. Coming to a full stop at an intersection requires a lot of gear shifting and loss of precious momentum. Our leg muscles pay so much more for that momentum than cars do. But electric motors ameliorate that. I often execute a full stop/start without shifting at all, because my motor is powerful enough to get me going again in a high gear.
To paraphrase Spiderman (how long have I waited for this opportunity?) – “With great power comes great responsibility.” I honestly feel this when I’m riding my electric bike. I take extra care to obey traffic laws, because my life and well-being depends on others obeying those laws.
If the driver of a car flaunted the law so flagrantly, I would be tempted to whip out my iPhone and take a photo of his license plate. I don’t know what I would do next, but I feel like there might be some recourse. However, electric bikes exist in this gray area where you can travel almost as fast as a car on residential streets, but you don’t need a license. As a result, there is no recourse for someone who is annoyed with your behavior. They might be tempted to yell at you or crowd you with their car. That doesn’t sound like a recipe for peaceful coexistence on our streets.
Perhaps legal regulations will change as electric bikes become more popular. Not that I want additional barriers to electric bike adoption, but it may be inevitable. In the meantime, I want to demonstrate that electric bikers can be good citizens on our shared roadways, and that we deserve respect and consideration from drivers. As newcomers to streets that have been ruled by automobiles for decades, I think we have to earn it.
I’ve focused rather heavily on cargo bike brakes in recent blog posts (like here), so I thought it would be a good idea to round things out with thoughts on other weak links in my cargo bike hardware. After a year of biking in Copenhagen, and another year here in Seattle, the components that have required extra maintenance or occasionally interrupted my ride are these:
Brakes
Gears
Chain
Tires
The guy who built my Hammer Truck/BionX cargo bike knew that a flat tire would be challenging – especially if I had to change the rear tire under the cargo bags and with the added complexity of the hub motor. To forestall that scenario, he installed extra heavy-duty tires filled with puncture-healing gel. He wanted my tires to be “bullet-proof.” Although I had several flat tires in Copenhagen, I’ve had no similar difficulty with my cargo bike (knock on wood!) I haven’t even needed to top off inflation of the tires during the past year.
The drive chain was another source of problems in Copenhagen. Occasionally, it would stretch enough to start falling off my crank when I went over big bumps. I took it to a bike shop where a mechanic would re-tension the chain, and everything would be fine for a few more months. On my cargo bike, with a longer chain and heavier loads, I feared chain problems would be more frequent. Fortunately, that hasn’t been the case – no chain problems during the past year.
But alas, my gears have not been trouble-free.
The phantom gear and the wedged chain
Last week, my kids returned to school, and my 4th-grader and I resumed our daily journey up the hill to his school. I have this deal with him: if he rides his bike twice during the week, I’ll give him a free ride on my bike on the third day. The other two days he walks.
A couple of days ago my son was riding his bike, and I was riding the cargo bike without motor assistance so that our speed and effort would match. To tackle the steepest part of the hill, I shifted into my lowest gear. It took me a moment to remember: I don’t have the lowest gear. This is part of the compromise I made when incorporating the BionX motor. The width of the motor precludes a full 8-gear cluster. My rear wheel has only 7 gears, but my shifter still shows eight.
My bike builder solved this mismatch by compressing the range of the shifter. This allowed me to select only gears 2 through 8. I hit a stop before I got to gear 1. That worked fine for awhile, but the tolerances were pretty tight. As time passed, there were other gears I couldn’t select. I took the bike to a different shop, and they brought back the missing gears by expanding the range of the shifter. Now there is no stop at gear 1; I just have to remember that there is no gear there.
When I temporarily forgot that important fact, the chain fell into the gap between my biggest gear and the hub motor. Unfortunately, that gap is just wide enough so the chain can wedge itself so snugly that it can’t be extracted without tools. It took me at least ten minutes to retrieve a couple of screwdrivers from my house and perform the necessary operation. I arrived at my son’s school late and with very dirty hands (cooking oil works great to loosen tough chain grease from your skin, by the way).
This was just the latest episode in my love/hate relationship with bicycle gears. I love the beauty and efficiency of this transmission system, but it still requires too much care and maintenance. Not too mention the fact that I often seem to be in the wrong gear at the wrong time. Even after two years of concentrated cycling, I don’t feel that I’ve mastered the art of smoothly shifting to precisely the right gear for the situation. If biking is going to achieve broader acceptance, more fool-proof transmissions will be required.
My bike in Copenhagen was superior in this regard. It had a 3-speed hub with internal gearing. Shifting was smooth and easy, and there were no fiddly adjustments or maintenance required. Three speeds were fine in the table-top flatness of Denmark. One gear would probaby have sufficed if it weren’t for some pretty stiff headwinds.
Hubs for hill-dwellers
Rohloff Speedhub
Hubs with more gears and wider ranges have been available for at least a decade. One example is the Rohloff Speedhub with 14 gears and an impressive 526% ratio between its highest and lowest gears. It provides low maintenance, smooth shifting, shifting while stopped, and very reliable operation. When you see the cut-away of the mechanism inside the hub, you’ll probably agree this is a miracle of engineering. Unfortunately, it requires a miraculous number of dollars to buy: over $1000 on Amazon last time I checked.
NuVinci mechanism
On the day I wedged my chain, I coincidentally stumbled on an announcement for a new version of the NuVinci hub. Unlike other hubs, NuVinci uses a clever system of balls rotating in oil to provide a continuously-variable transmission (with a 360% range) rather than discrete gear ratios. The main disadvantages have been weight and price, but the new version (NuVinci N360) has reduced both (less than 5.5 pounds and $350).
Shimano Alfine 11
When I asked a cargo bike dealer about the NuVinci hub, he gave it a thumbs’ up, especially now that the weight has decreased. But he was also getting quite excited about Shimano’s new 11-speed hub with a 409% range (Alfine 11). If it debuts at $419, as has been speculated elsewhere, this will also be a hub to consider.
Stuck with my gears
As you can probably tell, I would ditch my derailleur and gear cluster for one of these hubs immediately, except for one major problem: my BionX motor is mounted exactly where these hubs need to be! To me, this is the most serious disadvantage of a rear hub motor: you’re locked into the traditional bike transmission. If this is an issue for you, perhaps it’s enough to give bikes with a front hub motor (like the elMundo or Electric Ute) a second look.
In my opinion, a hub transmission on the Electric Ute would be a pretty interesting combination because of the Ute’s torque-activated assistance. To change your level of effort, you simply change gears, and the motor adds assistance depending on the level of torque you’re exerting on the pedals. On the elMundo, you need to choose both the gear and the amount of electricity to use. To my mind, that is one degree of freedom too many. When I start to climb an incline, do I lower the gear or increase the motor effort, or some combination of both? Perhaps some riders will find joy in mastering that art, but I have too many other things to think about.
Updated recommendations
It has been a few weeks since I published my last post comparing the elMundo, Electric Ute, and Transport+. I’m hoping that my somewhat breathless description of the Transport+ doesn’t leave the impression that I think it’s the “best” bike. That determination depends on what you want to haul, the geography over which you want to haul it, and who you are, physically and mentally.
For example, I’ve had a tendency to discount the Electric Ute because of its smaller motor and unimpressive performance on a steep hill. These are important considerations for me, personally. But if you have a longer, flatter commute, you might appreciate the Ute’s battery, which delivers 13 amp-hours compared to 10 for my (and Trek’s) BionX battery. With its less thirsty motor, the Ute might have a 40-50% greater assisted range. And at least one dealer I know of is selling the Ute at a discount that competes with the elMundo’s low price. When you consider the possibility of upgrading to a hub transmission (I would love to see that as an option from Kona!), the Ute is a bike that is difficult to say no to.
If you’re planning to carry heavy loads, you should still consider the elMundo, unless you’ve got hills that would make the extra 30-40 pounds of its steel frame an issue. I like the heavy-duty frame and the option of front and rear disc brakes.
With Trek’s Transport+, we’ve entered the awkward period between the announcement and the actual release of the bike. Since we can’t easily get our hands on one for the next couple of months, speculation is ramping up. One concern that has been hotly debated in cargo biking forums is the Trek’s weight distribution. Like my bike, the Transport+ carries its motor and battery in the rear. But the Transport+ battery is mounted waaay back (to incorporate the tail light) and quite high. The side racks extend farther behind the rear wheel than any other cargo bike I’ve seen. If you’re carrying a big load, will there be enough weight on the front wheel to steer precisely? Will you be able to control the momentum of heavy cargo back there during a quick turn? Of course, Trek claims this is not an issue, but time will tell.
It saddens me that I can’t include my Hammer Truck in this list of pre-built electric cargo bikes. I’ve written a couple of emails to Rans, asking if they have any plans to include a motor as an option on the Hammer Truck. I haven’t gotten a response, or even acknowledgement that they’ve received my emails. That’s too bad, because the crankforward design of the Hammer Truck is, in my opinion, a significant advance in cargo bike design. The lack of pressure on my hands, shoulders, and crotch make it more comfortable to ride than most bikes. I wish it were more competitive in this arena.
Dreaming of a maintenance-free bike
Shaft drive bike
It’s hard to imagine that any bike will ever be maintenance-free, but with heavy-duty tires, a hub transmission, and good brakes, it’s possible to reduce maintenance and breakdowns. The chain is the only item left in my list of trouble areas. There are several companies that offer bikes with a shaft drive instead of a chain (and internal hubs, of course). Nothing like that for a cargo bike yet, but perhaps that will be the next step in the evolution.
My family and I have been back in the U.S. for a little over a year now, after living in Copenhagen for a year. As I’ve mentioned previously, we didn’t have a car in Copenhagen – all our travel was accomplished by bike or occasionally, by bus or subway. When I saw this nicely-produced video of Danes on their bikes in all seasons, it reminded me how much I miss the bike-centric lifestyle there.
I’m not sure the video will have the same impact for anyone who hasn’t lived or visited there, but if you haven’t seen the rush hour in Copenhagen, it may surprise you.
If you want more, check out the other videos in this post from the Copenhagenize blog. Although it’s a little long, the travelogue showing Copenhagen in 1937 shows that the bike culture has roots going back at least three-quarters of a century. No helmets, lots of fancy clothes – both videos look quite different from biking in America.
To avoid developing brake monomania, I’m promising myself that this will be my last post (at least for awhile) on the topic of cargo bike brakes.
But I noticed something interesting during my emergency braking tests yesterday: my bike had approximately the same stopping distance when carrying 180 pounds of cargo as it did with no cargo. How could I explain the physics of that?
I think it’s because stopping performance depends on the friction generated between the tires and the pavement. On an unloaded bike, the front tire does extra duty as the weight of the rider bears down on it – just like the front of a car dips down during hard braking. In this scenario, the unloaded back tire can’t produce as much friction, and it’s easier to lock into a skid.
With 180 extra pounds over the rear wheel, the back tire carries more weight, and the job of slowing down the bike will be more equitably distributed between the two wheels. The greater momentum of the extra weight just about matches the extra friction exerted by the back tire, and stopping distances remain about the same.
That was comforting to me until I realized that the bike’s center of gravity is also an important consideration. I carried my heavy containers of water relatively low. If I were carrying a passenger on the cargo deck, the center of gravity would be higher, and once again a lot of that weight would be loaded onto the front wheel during hard braking. Stopping distance would probably lengthen.
Trying to stop on a downward slope would also increase the load on the front wheel. For some combination of slope, speed, weight, center of gravity, brake type and condition, and road slickness, there will be safety issues.
Skidding
As my experience shows, things get dicey if your tires begin to skid. A skidding rear tire isn’t too bad, except that it might indicate less-than-optimal weight distribution and diminished stopping power. There’s also a slight loss of maneuverability; it’s easier to steer the bike if both wheels are rotating.
A skidding front tire is another story. It’s nearly impossible to steer when your front tire is skidding. If you try, the tire is likely to catch the pavement, at which point your handlebars will be wrenched from your hands or you will be removed from your seat. The outcome of that situation is up to God’s mercy.
Moral of the story
The main thing that motivated me to write about this topic again is the realization that emergency stops with human cargo may be riskier than heavy loads with a lower center of gravity. Especially if you’re carrying kids, you should practice a series of quick stops at progressively higher speeds until you find your comfort limit, and then you should stay below it. Holding on during quick braking is good practice for your kids as well.
In addition, you should be extra, extra careful on hills or wet streets.
With kids on board, I am planning to reduce my speed and rethink my transport strategy in wet weather.
Regular readers of my blog know that I have been worried about cargo bike brakes for the past several months. Yesterday my wife and kids left for a multi-day camping trip, and I decided this would be the perfect time to do some braking experiments with a loaded cargo bike.
In my mind, there are two kinds of braking I’m asking my bike to do: long, steady descents where I just need to keep my speed in check, and quick emergency stops. I have a lot of experience with the former category – practically every weekday I pick up my kids from the school at the top of our hill and carry them down the steep slope.
On the other hand, I’ve only made a couple of emergency stops during the past year, so I haven’t been as confident in the ability of my brakes to stop a heavy load. This morning before dawn, I loaded our mini-van with the bike and containers of water weighing a total of 180 pounds. My destination was the parking lot behind the Seattle Museum of Flight. I was looking for a long stretch of flat pavement that would allow me space to accelerate and skid to a stop.
And now I’ll cut to the chase. When it comes to the Hammer Truck’s emergency stopping power, the big news is that there is no big news. The bike stopped a combined weight of 420 pounds (180 pounds of water, 160 pounds of me, and 80 pounds of bike) travelling at 20 miles per hour, and it brought me to a complete halt in about the width of a parking space (less than 10 feet). That wasn’t significantly longer than the stopping distance for the unloaded bike. For that matter, it was on par with the stopping performance of our mini-van, and that’s comforting given the frequency I have to ride in mixed traffic. However, I caught the unmistakable whiff of hot brakes and skidding rubber with the increased load. The brakes were definitely working harder, even though they still felt solidly in control.
With considerable relief and bolstered confidence, I decided to repeat the experiment on a patch of wet pavement that had been moistened by the museum’s sprinklers. That turned out to be a mistake. The tires locked and I went into an uncontrolled skid, followed by an awkward low-speed crash. I ended up on the ground, chain torn off the crank, and front wheel turned backwards. Fortunately, neither bike nor rider was injured (but I was grateful there were no spectators at that hour of the morning).
This won’t come as a surprise to experienced cyclists. Braking on wet pavement is a completely different story, and adding a heavy and somewhat badly-balanced load makes things even worse. Perhaps I haven’t given slick pavement the caution it deserves during our damp Seattle winter – now I will.
How applicable are my results to cargo bikes in general? My concerns about emergency braking have been mostly mitigated by these experiments, but with disc brakes on both wheels and the BionX motor assisting with regenerative braking, my bike is probably near the top of the class. It’s possible that less favorable results would occur if you tried to stop a heavier load travelling faster with less capable brakes. Don’t let my unscientific results make you over-confident in your brakes. I recommend doing your own experiments to give your equipment the opportunity to earn your trust.
Finally! It has been months – even years – since rumors of an electrically-assisted Ute cargo bike first surfaced on the web. Kona recently posted its 2011 catalog online, and there it was: the Electric Ute in all its beauty. At $2599, Kona has allowed the Yuba elMundo to keep its low-price crown ($2297 including tax and shipping). However, the Ute and the elMundo are such different bikes, price should be among the last factors to consider if you’re choosing between them. There have also been changes in the elMundo since I last wrote about it, so there are good reasons to take another look at both these bikes.
Kona Electric Ute
Kona Electric Ute - Click for larger image
Despite its workman-like name, the Ute gets my nomination for most beautiful cargo bike. Kona has paid attention to the details, and the electronics are nicely integrated. The Ute approaches my ideal of a bike and motor that were designed together. Unfortunately, Kona’s marketing is a little coy about what their design target really is. For example, the website introduces the Ute with this sentence: “The Electric Ute is a battery-assisted version of our very popular Ute, a long wheel base bicycle designed to carry loads of up to 100kg-perfect for transporting goods in the urban environment.” [their emphasis]
This might be an accurate statement in a superficial sense, but it deserves some careful disection. If you live in an urban environment that is relatively flat, and if you can fit your load into the comparatively small Ute side bag, the Ute will be perfect for you. On the other hand, if you manage to load 100kg (over 200 pounds) of cargo on the bike (that might require some creativity), you’ll find the motor is not powerful enough to help much on even moderate inclines. During my test drive (see my in-depth review here), the motor shut down while climbing a short, steep hill of about 15% grade – no load, medium assistance level. At first, I thought the failure was a battery issue, but now I’m pretty sure the controller was temporarily disabling the motor to prevent overheating. If you live in Seattle or San Francisco, you may have to pedal up the steep hills without assistance from the motor, just when you want it the most. I also have concerns about the ability of the front rim brake and rear disc brake to safely stop a heavy load in an emergency.
Kona’s description of the Ute ends with this: “Serious power for carrying heavier loads. Ditch the truck, people.”
I’m not a marketer (and thankful for that), but is it really necessary to hype the bike past the point of reasonable expectations? I mean, the Ute is a great bike for commuters who have some extra stuff to carry. It feels more like a normal bike than its bigger and heavier competitors. Maybe those facts aren’t sexy enough for the marketing department, but this is a bike that could satisfy many customers. The big question is how it will compare to Trek’s bike which will be released late this fall. I’ll talk about that shortly.
Yuba elMundo
Yuba elMundo - Click for larger image
The elMundo has quietly undergone some changes since I corresponded with a company representative in late spring (here). The only clue that the bike has had another transformation is the addition of “v3.0″ to the bike’s name. Photos on the website have not been updated.
Yuba has ditched its 750W motor from Aoetema and now uses a 500W motor from eZee instead. The fact that Yuba mentions the brand of the motor on its website is progress, but I still have a question. The only motor I know of from eZee is rated for 400 watts nominally, and about 800 watts peak. Is the 500W figure quoted by Yuba fudging a little? Not that I’m focused exclusively on the wattage of the motor: even at 400W, the geared eZee motor might deliver more power when it’s needed than the Aoetema motor. But the effort to be scrupulously accurate on these specs would be a welcome development in the cargo bike market.
I would love to know what inspired the motor change, but I have a couple of guesses. First, the eZee motor uses internal planetary gears, which should help deliver higher torque at low speeds for climbing hills. The elMundo is a big, heavy bike (due to its high-tension steel frame), and it really needs a high-torque motor. Yuba is also calling attention to the disc brake mount on the motor. Although the standard elMundo comes with a rim brake on the front wheel and a disc brake on the rear, I would encourage anyone who intends to descend hills with a loaded elMundo to invest in a front disc brake.
Interestingly, Yuba has removed any mention of cargo weight capacity from its descriptions of both the Mundo and elMundo. The company previously claimed an absurd figure of 400 pounds, plus rider. Although the frame may be able to handle that, it was hard for me to imagine the brakes (and perhaps the tires) would be capable of stopping that load in a reasonable distance. If my complaints helped motivate this change, I am pleased.
As before, I must add a huge caveat to my descriptions of the elMundo. Although I’ve read blogs and emails from people who are very happy with their Mundo bikes, I’ve never ridden one or even seen the bike in person. The scarcity of Yuba dealers in my area makes that challenging.
The elMundo is also likely to have a competitor in the upcoming Trek bike, so I’ll move on to that.
Trek Transport+
Trek Transport+ - Click for larger image
The entry of bicycle behemoth Trek into the electric cargo bike market is huge news. Trek’s annual sales are at least 100 times those of Kona, and I couldn’t even find sales figures for Yuba. If Trek decides to put any weight into the marketing and support of their bike, other cargo bike manufacturers are likely to become asterisks in the margins, at least in the U.S. for the next couple of years. Besides my bike, I’ve never seen an electric cargo bike being ridden in my city. At this point, I’ll bet the first one I see will be a Trek.
With an MSRP of $2679, the Transport+ has the Ute squarely in its sights. Like the Ute, the Transport+ includes a bunch of accessories at the base price: folding rear load racks, front rack, Bontrager Transport cargo bag, fender, wide-stance kickstand, front and rear lights. With the front rack, rear side racks, and bigger cargo bag, the Transport+ appears to be more serious about hauling cargo than the Ute.
These features alone could justify the extra $80 for the Transport+, but Trek’s choice of motor is an even more compelling reason. It comes with a beefier 350W motor which is essentially the same direct drive BionX motor I have on my bike. This motor offers superior load-carrying and hill-climbing capabilities compared to the Ute. It is quieter, the pedal activation system works a little more smoothly (in my opinion), and it offers regenerative braking which takes some of the load off your brakes. The advantage of direct drive (as opposed to planetary gears) is that the BionX motor is very, very quiet. The downside, as I’ve mentioned in earlier posts, is that motor assistance starts to fade at speeds below 6 mph, and this can be a challenge when hauling a heavy load up a steep hill.
BionX has incorporated additional features since I bought mine a year ago. When you turn the console light on, the lights in the front and rear of the bike turn on too, powered by the same battery. On my bike, I have to flip at least 4 switches to turn lights on and off, and I have to keep all those separate batteries refreshed. This is a welcome advance!
Trek explains their “Ride+” motor technology in a series of videos available here. One of the videos mentions a 250W motor, but that’s a less powerful version than the one Trek is using for the Transport+.
Another feature I like about the BionX system is the integrated battery/controller. If you compare the photos of the Ute and the Transport+, you’ll see the latter doesn’t need the extra black box mounted near the cranks on the Ute. The console for the BionX also gives better feedback about the level of assistance requested and received from the motor.
It’s always easy to get excited about a bike when it’s merely a photo and a set of specs, so I’m trying to temper my enthusiasm for the Transport+ until I can actually ride one. There are still opportunities for Trek to misstep. But with an attractive bike, good technology, a large dealer network, and marketing muscle, it seems like this is Trek’s game to lose. But we’ll all be winners if this bike helps bring cargo biking into the mainstream.
Big year for cargo bikes
A year ago I was shopping for an electric-assisted cargo bike. None were available pre-built from a manufacturer. The state of the art was an XtraCycle like the Surly Big Dummy driven by a Stoke Monkey, but it wasn’t easy finding a bike shop that wanted to build one for me.
Today we have ready-made electric bikes from two manufacturers, and the biggest U.S. bicycle company is about to enter the market. I’ve been riding my bike almost daily for 11 months. There have been few problems and virtually no close encounters with cars. My blog receives over 1,000 unique visitors per month from all parts of the world (but mostly U.S. and Canada), indicating an encouraging level of interest in this transportation alternative.
Sometimes the pace of change seems slow, but looking back, a lot has happened this year. I wonder where we’ll be next year about this time?
I recently received the following email from a reader:
I was researching cargo bikes and just kept seeing your blog pop up. I am very interested in doing a similar set up as yours. I also was interested in elMundo initially. A sidenote on the weight of the elMundo: they are now selling it with the electric components already attached and the shipping weight of the bike and box was 100 lbs. which seemed like a lot.
My question is pretty simple. I haven’t tested a Rans Hammer Truck in person since this is just the planning phase. I read the height of the bike had a 31- 38 inseam. I am 5’5″. I wondered about the comfort of the frame. And if your wife was shorter than you and found the Hammer Truck comfortable… ? Also just to pick your brain (and thank you very much in advance) how did you like the Hammer Truck handling without the electric assist? You mentioned you test rode it for a day…
My plans are just like yours, I want to use it to take my 2 kids to school and errands and fun – reduce car use in general. The kids are 6 and 4 and the bike trailer is just not cutting it these days.
Oh yeah! one more question. I read your post worrying about brakes. Currently with the bike trailer I often hop off and just walk up the hills. My question is, is a cargo bike easy to walk with when it’s carrying about 50- 60 lbs.? Or very tippy?
Thanks for the blog. I am surprpised the Yuba people haven’t offered to let you test drive their bike. Surfing I ran across another cargo biker’s blog who actually bumped into the founder/owner while on a bike tour in Europe and had a very good impression of him and a good talk with him.
Thanks again. Happy biking! I am so happy I stumbled across your blog.
Best,
Jessamin
Thank you, Jessamin. Your email reminded me that there are still a few things I can say about the Hammer Truck. For many months, I have felt a bit uncomfortable about my bike’s relatively high cost, and I have been researching less expensive bikes that might appeal to a broader market. That has been an interesting project, and I intend to continue doing it for a while. But I don’t own these bikes or ride them on a daily basis. My real expertise is my particular bike, and answering your questions gives me an opportunity to return to familiar territory.
To answer your question about bike height, my wife rides the Hammer Truck very comfortably. At 5’4″, she is a little shorter than you. As you can see in this photo, the seat stem for the Hammer Truck is angled at approximately 45 degrees. When you lower the seat an inch, you also get an inch closer to the handle bars. This seems to scale well for most body types.
Hammer Truck seat stem
While you’re looking at the seat, I will also mention that the inclination of the seat is adjustable. When I first started riding the Hammer Truck, I had the seat almost parallel to the ground, like a normal bike. However, the Rans web site shows their seats tipped forward, so I tried it. It feels a bit like standing and leaning against a wall. Tipping the seat puts a little more weight on your feet, and that’s what you want when you’re riding. The slight curve of the seat back allows you to dig in for a little extra leverage when you need it. These are all helpful when you really need to crank!
The Hammer Truck worked fine without the motor. If we still lived in Denmark where it’s notoriously flat, I wouldn’t have needed the electric assistance. I’ve spent so much time on this blog bemoaning the hills in our neighborhood, I decided I really needed to show you what I mean. Yesterday afternoon, I put my 9-year old son behind the camera, and he took a video of me pushing my daughter up the hill, riding without assistance, and riding with the motor providing maximum assistance.
As you will see, this hill is a monster. When I write about heating issues with my motor and brakes, you need to understand that I’m pushing both to a limit that most people won’t encounter. Despite my occasional complaints, it’s pretty amazing that this bike can handle this kind of challenge. (Note: the scraping noises heard in the video aren’t the bike — my son was balancing the camera on a mailbox to keep it level, and scraping as he pivoted the camera.)
You can also see from the video, pushing the bike uphill is possible, but not fun. The side bars that carry loads so well are approximately where you want to put your feet, so you have to lean over a little. It might be hard to see in the video because I’m already leaning against the hill so much. It’s not as tippy as I thought as long as both hands are on the handlebar. It would be almost impossible to do one-handed.
You might notice my slightly hunched posture when I’m riding in this video. With the Hammer Truck, you generate power by pulling back on the handlebars, engaging the same muscles you would for rowing. In my case, I can produce more cranking force this way than I would standing on my pedals on a traditional bike. It’s more of a full-body workout, especially when I turn the motor off. However, this might not be a good idea for people with fragile knees.
Speaking of cargo bikes on hills, this is probably a good place to mention one of my favorite web pages: Cargo Weight Calculator. The calculator which gives you a rough idea about how much weight you can expect to haul up hills of varying steepness. Another page on the same site shows you how to measure the grade of a hill. Every time I turn off my motor and I’m reminded how hard it is to climb a hill with a load, I return to this web site, punch in the numbers, and I’m assured that there are real, mathematical reasons why it’s difficult. It’s not because my motor is making me lazy.
Sometimes I get distracted by all the details of this project: the specifications, the prices, the compromises. My blog is kind of heavy on that sort of thing. I occasionally need to remember that there is an emotional and even inspirational side to cargo biking, and my favorite blend of practicality and inspiration comes from the Couch Potato to Full-Time Cyclist blog. If you haven’t seen it, check it out — it’s really a great counterpoint to what you read here.
) Granted, this video is promoting a bicycle race, but that’s my point. Many Americans think of Lance Armstrong and Tour de France when they think of biking, not going to pick up their groceries. We’re gradually changing that perception, but it hasn’t happened overnight, and it probably won’t.
As I’ve often said, flat terrain is a huge advantage for Danish bikers. The Christiania bike is heavy and not very aerodynamic. I rode one once and it required some effort to push it through a stiff Danish headwind. I’m not sure I could pedal one up a Seattle hill, even without a load. 
