Buying an electric cargo bike?

[Brainaddict]

I'm interested in an electric cargo bike with a front box. They are bloody expensive in the UK. The cheapest I've found is this Babboe Big-E at 3k.

I'm undecided on whether it should have three wheels or two.

There are some cheaper ones on alibaba and aliexpress, and I'd be willing to give them a go, but only if I can find some sort of review of them and feel like I'm not buying blind.

But also, I'm thinking about the cons of it. Difficulty of storage, finding places to lock up, constant maintenance. So I'm not decided yet, just trying to find out what's available, what people's experience is of them etc

 

[weepiper]

My pal that sells such things in Edinburgh is selling his Urban Arrow demonstrator from last year for £2450. That is a serious bargain.


Obviously you would need to think about shipping on top but Urban Arrows are widely regarded as the best two wheel box cargo bike.

 

[Brainaddict]

That does seem good value but I doubt I'll get my arse in gear quick enough to get it. I'm still thinking about the viability of it really. Like the only place we have to keep it is a short front drive open to the street. Actually the theft risk wouldn't be too bad if we chained it up as we live in a terrace and you can't lift a finger without people noticing, but then it's outside so we'd have to keep it covered unless we were happy for it to degrade faster - and it's an expensive thing to allow that to happen to.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

That does seem good value but I doubt I'll get my arse in gear quick enough to get it. I'm still thinking about the viability of it really. Like the only place we have to keep it is a short front drive open to the street. Actually the theft risk wouldn't be too bad if we chained it up as we live in a terrace and you can't lift a finger without people noticing, but then it's outside so we'd have to keep it covered unless we were happy for it to degrade faster - and it's an expensive thing to allow that to happen to.

It'll get nicked, thieves are now aware of the cost of ebikes and are having them away.

Not a cargo bike, but my ebike sits in my locked garage with a solid chain linked to a wall anchor on it. And even in my genteel town a garage locally was smashed in to and two emtbs taken, leaving it outside in London, well...

 

[BigTom]

In my limited experience training people to ride ecargo bike and trike, people who are regular cyclists tended to prefer the bike because it rides more like a regular bike, whilst little who didn't ride that regularly preferred the trike because you don't need to balance and it feels a lot safer as a result.

I really would suggest you test ride some to see how they feel.
Also there's a handful of councils and bike hire schemes / companies, have a quick search as you might be able to hire one near you and that might be preferable to owning.

I too would not leave it in the front garden. If you then get a ground anchor for it and a shed but that kind of calls out to thieves.

The company that make the cycle hoop do an on street bike hangar that will fit cargo bikes now so that might be an option depending on your council.

Definitely have it insured (and get liability insurance along with theft imo).

 

[Brainaddict]

Yeah, the bike/trike discussion will be between me and my partner, with me riding a lot and her not. She's already stated she prefers the idea of a trike.

 

[Brainaddict]

It'll get nicked, thieves are now aware of the cost of ebikes and are having them away.

Not a cargo bike, but my ebike sits in my locked garage with a solid chain linked to a wall anchor on it. And even in my genteel town a garage locally was smashed in to and two emtbs taken, leaving it outside in London, well...

Weirdly although we live on a 'bad' inner city council estate we don't see or hear about much crime in our street, which I attribute to the fact that we live on a narrow terraced street with dozens of overlooking windows and people who are awake at all hours. So generally it seems safer than a sleepy suburban front garden due to constant neighbour surveillance. But possibly a new high value target would change things.

 

[nemoanonemo]

Don't know where you live, but some London boroughs are involved in an electric cargo bike hire scheme run by Ourbike. This Lambeth page is bit out of date (OurBike community electric cargo bike share scheme) because they've changed from offering the first two hours of the hire for free to offering five hours a month for free. I've used it for taking stuff to the recycling centre - I don't have a car or need to use a cargo bike on a regular basis so a hire scheme fits my needs.

 

[BristolEcho]

It'll get nicked, thieves are now aware of the cost of ebikes and are having them away.

Not a cargo bike, but my ebike sits in my locked garage with a solid chain linked to a wall anchor on it. And even in my genteel town a garage locally was smashed in to and two emtbs taken, leaving it outside in London, well...

Good quality lock, two if you can carry them, clear police markings and insurance pretty much covers this though.

I lock my bike all over Bristol and surrounding areas in quite dodgy places. I've only had it nicked once and I managed to get it back as I knew someone who knew the thief. My bike is quite distinctive though and I do wonder if that sometimes puts them off.

Of course there's always the risk but that's what the insurance is for. I wouldn't let it out me off tbh.

 

[BigTom]

Yeah, the bike/trike discussion will be between me and my partner, with me riding a lot and her not. She's already stated she prefers the idea of a trike.

I would definitely go towards a trike if she feels that way, it'll be less of a thing for you to get used to actually needing to steer with a trike and not being able to lean than it will for her to feel comfortable riding with a load on two wheels (imo obviously).

 

[Brainaddict]

I was eyeing things like this on alibaba, only 1.2k dollars. 350w Shimano 8 Speed Lithium Battery Mid Drive Passenger Cargo Ebike S - Buy Passenger Cargo Ebikes,Mid Drive Passenger Cargo Ebikes,Passenger Cargo Bikes Product on Alibaba.com

But it's hard to know how good it is, that one doesn't even show the weight I think.

 

[weepiper]

I was eyeing things like this on alibaba, only 1.2k dollars. 350w Shimano 8 Speed Lithium Battery Mid Drive Passenger Cargo Ebike S - Buy Passenger Cargo Ebikes,Mid Drive Passenger Cargo Ebikes,Passenger Cargo Bikes Product on Alibaba.com

But it's hard to know how good it is, that one doesn't even show the weight I think.

Honestly I would caution you to avoid that like the plague. It describes itself as a mid drive motor but the picture shows a trike with a rear hub motor, which means it's got an 8 speed freewheel on the rear wheel which is a) often difficult to find to replace when it wears out and b) will wear out faster than you want it to because it's going to be ridden around in the smaller sprockets in high torque because the motor is doing all the work for the rider. Derailleur gears are also problematic on a cargo bike because you have to be pedalling to change gear. Generally cargo bikes have a hub gear with a wide chain so that you can change gear when the bike is stationary or only moving slowly (heavy loads make this much more likely) and because the drivetrain will cope with the extra stress of all the weight and the motor. If you buy a bike with a derailleur system be prepared to spend a lot of money replacing bits of it all the time. The other reason not to buy one off AliExpress is who is going to fix it for you when something goes wrong with it? If you buy a bike with a Bosch or Shimano motor system any decent large bike shop will be able to do system updates or warranty work on it if something goes wrong. If you buy a bike with an unnamed Chinese brushless motor system (it doesn't even appear to be a Bafang one, or they would have said so in the description) you're opening up a world of pain in terms of trying to source spares or even diagnosing problems.

 

[Brainaddict]

Honestly I would caution you to avoid that like the plague. It describes itself as a mid drive motor but the picture shows a trike with a rear hub motor, which means it's got an 8 speed freewheel on the rear wheel which is a) often difficult to find to replace when it wears out and b) will wear out faster than you want it to because it's going to be ridden around in the smaller sprockets in high torque because the motor is doing all the work for the rider. Derailleur gears are also problematic on a cargo bike because you have to be pedalling to change gear. Generally cargo bikes have a hub gear with a wide chain so that you can change gear when the bike is stationary or only moving slowly (heavy loads make this much more likely) and because the drivetrain will cope with the extra stress of all the weight and the motor. If you buy a bike with a derailleur system be prepared to spend a lot of money replacing bits of it all the time. The other reason not to buy one off AliExpress is who is going to fix it for you when something goes wrong with it? If you buy a bike with a Bosch or Shimano motor system any decent large bike shop will be able to do system updates or warranty work on it if something goes wrong. If you buy a bike with an unnamed Chinese brushless motor system (it doesn't even appear to be a Bafang one, or they would have said so in the description) you're opening up a world of pain in terms of trying to source spares or even diagnosing problems.

Thanks, that's really useful.

 

[BigTom]

All of that plus cheap Chinese batteries are a massive fire risk.

You really need to spend a good amount of money on this, cheap options are generally bad.

 

[likesfish]

a lot of councils are doing grants for cargo ebikes £400,000 of funding made available for businesses by the eCargo Bike Grant Fund