2023 Frey Cargo bike
- Thread starter keithj69
- Start date
m@Robertson
Merciless (on the inside)
- Region
- USA
Thats a Frey CC with longer rear stays. Wait I think I just said what Limbojim said but I used their old name for that bike.
From what I have seen and heard in the cargo bike world, suspension on a cargo bike is a bad thing because when you do what a cargo bike does - load it up with stuff - it compresses the suspension at rest. On the front fork you also get differential compression and that makes the ride ... exciting. My Rockshox Bluto did this to a point on my Big Fat Dummy and the result was a death wobble on the back of the longtail frame at speed. When I swapped in a much higher quality Wren Inverted (the Bluto is not exactly a slouch) it was big/bad enough to handle the job.
As cool as this seems... it isn't. To make that rear shock have a prayer of working as you would want, Frey would need to use a coil spring so you can put on a super overpowered coil. I did that on one of my bikes (not cargo) and it did what I needed: Made the suspension work for a 250 lb rider. Mine is a Rockshox and the spring is a 550-lb'r
From what I have seen and heard in the cargo bike world, suspension on a cargo bike is a bad thing because when you do what a cargo bike does - load it up with stuff - it compresses the suspension at rest. On the front fork you also get differential compression and that makes the ride ... exciting. My Rockshox Bluto did this to a point on my Big Fat Dummy and the result was a death wobble on the back of the longtail frame at speed. When I swapped in a much higher quality Wren Inverted (the Bluto is not exactly a slouch) it was big/bad enough to handle the job.
As cool as this seems... it isn't. To make that rear shock have a prayer of working as you would want, Frey would need to use a coil spring so you can put on a super overpowered coil. I did that on one of my bikes (not cargo) and it did what I needed: Made the suspension work for a 250 lb rider. Mine is a Rockshox and the spring is a 550-lb'r
Hi m@Robertson, I have communicated your suggestions to the appropriate department at Frey. Their response is that they will take your proposal into consideration and have already relayed your message to the relevant technical department. Thank you for your input.
m@Robertson
Merciless (on the inside)
- Region
- USA
That is great to hear. I'm a pretty experienced cargo bike rider. I rode my newest build out to the Sea Otter Classic on Thursday. Did not see a Frey booth out there. I snapped the pic below outside of the Schwalbe booth while I was at the event. I hauled another 100 lb load of gravel home from Home Depot with that bike yesterday. Not to say your bike needs a a 100 lb rear wheel capacity or that 100 lb load is anything special. There is no suspension on this bike but under load it became flexible (frame is alloy), both through the oversized tires and the frame flexing under the extra load. Note also it is dual-motor awd.
Please note above that I was being rather polite as to the full suspension issue; especially since I was making general comments on an internet forum. You don't want rear suspension at all, I'm afraid. I don't think there is anything you can do to fix the rear ride under load. FS will be a great ride unloaded, but any kind of serious cargo on the rear will fully compress any kind of suspension from a standstill unless its used with the lightest of riders.
Front suspension will have to be beefed up as noted earlier. One solution for the wobbling of the rear caused by the front fork is a Cane Creek Viscoset, but you'll want to test that. Put your bike under load and then take it up to about 35 km/h on a straight, smooth and steady path to see if you can easily induce the wobble that is common enough a product like the Viscoset was created for it.
If you look around you will find the only serious - quality - cargo bike with rear suspension is the Riese & Muller Load series, and those are a totally different bike design. They have both a very high price point and level of engineering. With that said, the word I have heard from Load owners is they dislike its ride when its carrying a load.
I wrote this article on cargo bike types. Since it was written I have built a second Bullitt - also awd - geared for steep hills and plan to release the first of a series of articles on the build at the beginning of next month.
Thank you! Your proposal was excellent and provided us with valuable, experienced insights!
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