cargo bike selection

[mc chatt]

I was hoping to get some opinions on cargo bikes I'm considering. We have a really good bike shop in town and a passionate shop owner who really believes in his products, but I'm wanting some other opinions. I bought 3 ebikes from him and my wife and I enjoy a biking life, but we live up a very steep hill and she was just diagnosed with MS. Thus, she often doesn't feel like biking, so I want an option where I can put her on the back of a bike with me and we can still enjoy biking together on the days she doesn't feel like expending that energy.

So, I'm really looking at the cargo bikes and my main important features are:
- comfortable seating options for passenger
- really strong electric motor so that I can receive some considerable assistance getting close to 400 lbs worth of human flesh up some fairly steep hills (between my wife and I). I bike a lot and go up and down these hills with relative ease, even as a big guy, but throwing my wife on the back is another topic.

Thinking about the Felt Bruhaul, the Radwagon, the Pedego stretch, the Yuba Spicy Curry....

Since I understand more than the basics about electric bikes and bikes in general, I'm really posting this because I don't understand how the Radwagon can be so much cheaper than the other options, based on the incredible reviews. Yeah, it's heavy, but so am I. What else am I missing? Longevity? Ease of operation? Any professional opinions out there?

 

[Sonoboy]

Have you looked at the Riese & Muller Packster 80 cargo bike? Your wife could be seated ahead of you, which would allow you to remain attentive to her needs. The flat cargo floor offers a wide latitude for mounting many types of aftermarket seats, similar to whats found on many motorized scooters. The widely spaced outrigger type kickstand system would allow ease of loading to avoid tip-over, and you can get this with dual battery support, so even if you're always in turbo assist mode the range is still pretty good. Here's a review by Court:

 

[mc chatt]

First off Sonoboy, thanks a lot for the input. It's an awesome looking bike and I'm trying to find the seating options for a 140 lb adult. I feel like she would feel like part of the groceries based on this configuration sitting in the front, so I'm going to assume she'll nix that option, but I'm going to check it out. She actually bikes quite a bit, so she doesn't really have "needs" per se, but some days her fatigue level is so high that she just doesn't feel like biking.

Thanks again for the advice...

 

[Sonoboy]

Sorry, I hope I didn't offend you with my thoughts. I was kind of focused on 'cargo' bikes as you had mentioned it as a style you were considering. How about a tandem bike for those days when she feels like assisting you? Like this:

(Link Removed - No Longer Exists)

I have seen it mentioned where they can replace the Bosch center drive with a more powerful version, but beyond that I have no other details.

 

[mc chatt]

No offense taken at all... really appreciate the advice.

 

[Dewey]

Worksman trike, side by side seating, independent pedals, the 500w (750w peak) direct drive motor has a reverse gear (3mph). Low top speed (10mph) but you don't want to corner quickly on a trike. Short range (12 miles) but heavy weight capacity (600lb). A reviewer said it can handle moderate hills with pedaling.

 

[Antia]

I have a radwagon, live half way up a very steep hill (20%) and regularly carry my two kids in the back of the bike and up that hill. The bike in its stock configuration was fine for most purposes, but I found it was not quite strong enough for me to get us all up the hill. I could make it with one kid but not with both. For context, I am not a super strong cyclist and averagely fit. The great thing about the radwagon however is that it has a great frame and its ebike components are pretty standard and thus can be exchanged quite easily. What I did is I installed a mid drive motor (bbshd) which is ideal for hills and situations where a high torque is desired. I substituted the hub motor wheel by a normal wheel and moved the original wheel to a different bike. With the bbshd the bike is just perfect as a cargo bike and has no problem getting us up the hill. Another a nice thing is that the drag is greatly reduced compared to the original direct drive motor. The conversion is straightforward and you can use the original battery from the radwagon. A bbshd is $670 at Luna and a bbs2 is $400, so the total cost is still in the $2000 range. So, one possibility for you would be to get the radwagon, see if the stock motor is enough and if not, proceed to a conversion. Of course not everyone wants to tinker quite that much

 

[mc chatt]

Hey thanks to you guys for the posts. The local bike shop owner let me borrow his BruHaul for a couple of days and I am blown away by it. We have some major Hills here and I have gone up many of them with my wife on the back and it's almost like I'm not trying. Don't even have to work at it if you put it in a low gear. Really amazing system! My wife has a Pedego Electric cruiser bike, which is basically a moped with pedals - very heavy, but she loves it. I have 2 bikes with Bionix systems and they are great, but NOTHING like this Bruhaul. I immediately ordered one. Should get here in a couple of days and I'm pretty excited. I have to customize it a bit so that an adult has a nice comfortable seating arrangement with some sort of handle grip so that it feels more secure back there.

 

[Sonoboy]

The cargo bike looks very good！ And I have found another wonderful bike for you！

ButButBut... I Vant to go this 15 MPH!!! You leave me lossless!!! I'm verclammpt!!!

 

[mc chatt]

Eileen... looks like you might be a rep for this bike, so I wish you luck. I think based on my needs for a cargo bike, you might be on the wrong thread. I could pack about 8 of those bikes on the back of my Felt Bruhaul and take off down the road at 20 mph, so your bike might not be the most efficient "cargo bike" in the market. I'm fairly sure that your seat post would disappear somewhere into my never regions if I tried to get on that bike....