Hello,
I live in Chimacum, WA, which is south of Port Townsend, across the water from Seattle. It's wet, hilly, and I live in a rural area of farms and forest land where things are far apart, and there are many logging roads, gravel roads, and steep hills.
I am currently borrowing a real wheel/ hub drive from a friend and I don't like the way it handles or how heavy the bike is. I was able to test drive a mid-drive/ crank drive and I love the way those handle. Like a bike! With extra power. I know I want a Bosc motor with the "speed" option --- not for the speed, but for the extra power getting up hills. Anything with the extra power boost. The only ebike store near me has a diagnostic reader for Bosc drives so that's why I want to stick with Bosc, mainly for maintenance support.
I am looking for a bike that can haul stuff, and kids.
I have never biked with a cargo bike before. I like them in theory, but I worry they're awkward to handle. Traffic out here is very light, I live in a very rural area, so my main concern is handling the bike itself with ease.
For kids, probably best to plan on using either of these two options:
* any bike I choose + burley trailer
* or an xtracycle style bike
* any other options I should consider??
My main routes at this time include gravel roads, logging roads, paved roads, <- a big hill on each of these, and a paved bike path. I think a trailer could handle all of that?
The mid-drive I test rode last week was at the only ebike store my town has: Trek. we landed on the Allant 7s, but that was mostly based on the limited stock they had. Not especially designed to be a cargo bike, but does have a rack, could have one child post, and haul a trailer. It had extra suspension/shocks on the front handlebars. I liked the way the bike handled, but I did wonder if there were more options I should consider -- then.... the internet delivers an overwhelming amount of options.
I was looking at the xtracycle. It does have a longer 'tail', cargo bike style, but I love how much it can hold, and ready for two kids - awesome.
Another friend of mine has a Tern GSD S00 which is a cool cargo bike, but I don't necessarily need a folding bike.
I'm sure there's even more options, and I'm open to hearing more, but the vast ocean of internet has been too overwhelming.
What other options should I be considering?
Mostly, mountain bike trails are just fun to use as shortcuts, and wouldn't be necessary terrain, although, it would be nice if I had a light load (only panniers) to be able to go on trails without having to have a whole other bike. Nothing for sport, just for variety.
On Using Trailers to Haul:
My friend made this trailer, oh, about eight years ago. I've used it on my old road bike and it can haul a lot of weight. I've never measured or tried to test its limits, but easily hundreds of pounds. I've loaded building materials, firewood, groceries.... It's primarily made out of bent aluminum piping. So, for very large loads, I can continue to use this one and stick to the main roads, though the commute may be longer in miles that way. The only modification I had to make to it to fit the ebike I've been borrowing is drill a wider hole in the trailer hitch because the axle on the ebike was bigger than my old road bike axle.
Using logging roads --- which are definitely bumpy terrain, but at least the roads are wide --- are sort of necessary, or I start to really add miles. And there's no way to avoid gravel roads, a lot of long neighborhood driveways around here are gravel, mine is gravel, my friends', the parking lot where I work.... but I've gone up and down them on the ebike I've been borrowing and it handles it all quite well. I haven't tried the ebike with this trailer yet but my land mate did just cut a wide path through the woods to give it a try.
It's sounding to me from only a tiny bit of research, and consulting with friends, that hauling kids in a smaller trailer would be the way to go if I didn't go with the xtracycle or a style like it. So I could keep this trailer for very large loads, and have another one for hauling kiddos.
I like the extracycle because it keeps the weight over the wheel, and it's ready to go to haul plenty of groceries etc. without a trailer.... but again, my concern is ease of handling, I've never tried a cargo bike before. I need to find a way to test ride one.... I'm a small person (115 lbs) and I worry about getting off-balanced.
Thanks for listening and offering your wisdom!
I live in Chimacum, WA, which is south of Port Townsend, across the water from Seattle. It's wet, hilly, and I live in a rural area of farms and forest land where things are far apart, and there are many logging roads, gravel roads, and steep hills.
I am currently borrowing a real wheel/ hub drive from a friend and I don't like the way it handles or how heavy the bike is. I was able to test drive a mid-drive/ crank drive and I love the way those handle. Like a bike! With extra power. I know I want a Bosc motor with the "speed" option --- not for the speed, but for the extra power getting up hills. Anything with the extra power boost. The only ebike store near me has a diagnostic reader for Bosc drives so that's why I want to stick with Bosc, mainly for maintenance support.
I am looking for a bike that can haul stuff, and kids.
I have never biked with a cargo bike before. I like them in theory, but I worry they're awkward to handle. Traffic out here is very light, I live in a very rural area, so my main concern is handling the bike itself with ease.
For kids, probably best to plan on using either of these two options:
* any bike I choose + burley trailer
* or an xtracycle style bike
* any other options I should consider??
My main routes at this time include gravel roads, logging roads, paved roads, <- a big hill on each of these, and a paved bike path. I think a trailer could handle all of that?
The mid-drive I test rode last week was at the only ebike store my town has: Trek. we landed on the Allant 7s, but that was mostly based on the limited stock they had. Not especially designed to be a cargo bike, but does have a rack, could have one child post, and haul a trailer. It had extra suspension/shocks on the front handlebars. I liked the way the bike handled, but I did wonder if there were more options I should consider -- then.... the internet delivers an overwhelming amount of options.
I was looking at the xtracycle. It does have a longer 'tail', cargo bike style, but I love how much it can hold, and ready for two kids - awesome.
Another friend of mine has a Tern GSD S00 which is a cool cargo bike, but I don't necessarily need a folding bike.
I'm sure there's even more options, and I'm open to hearing more, but the vast ocean of internet has been too overwhelming.
What other options should I be considering?
Mostly, mountain bike trails are just fun to use as shortcuts, and wouldn't be necessary terrain, although, it would be nice if I had a light load (only panniers) to be able to go on trails without having to have a whole other bike. Nothing for sport, just for variety.
On Using Trailers to Haul:
My friend made this trailer, oh, about eight years ago. I've used it on my old road bike and it can haul a lot of weight. I've never measured or tried to test its limits, but easily hundreds of pounds. I've loaded building materials, firewood, groceries.... It's primarily made out of bent aluminum piping. So, for very large loads, I can continue to use this one and stick to the main roads, though the commute may be longer in miles that way. The only modification I had to make to it to fit the ebike I've been borrowing is drill a wider hole in the trailer hitch because the axle on the ebike was bigger than my old road bike axle.
Using logging roads --- which are definitely bumpy terrain, but at least the roads are wide --- are sort of necessary, or I start to really add miles. And there's no way to avoid gravel roads, a lot of long neighborhood driveways around here are gravel, mine is gravel, my friends', the parking lot where I work.... but I've gone up and down them on the ebike I've been borrowing and it handles it all quite well. I haven't tried the ebike with this trailer yet but my land mate did just cut a wide path through the woods to give it a try.
It's sounding to me from only a tiny bit of research, and consulting with friends, that hauling kids in a smaller trailer would be the way to go if I didn't go with the xtracycle or a style like it. So I could keep this trailer for very large loads, and have another one for hauling kiddos.
I like the extracycle because it keeps the weight over the wheel, and it's ready to go to haul plenty of groceries etc. without a trailer.... but again, my concern is ease of handling, I've never tried a cargo bike before. I need to find a way to test ride one.... I'm a small person (115 lbs) and I worry about getting off-balanced.
Thanks for listening and offering your wisdom!
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