The family cargo bike

E -bikes aren’t a substitute for cycling; they’re an alternative to not cycling. They make possible or more practical the cycling journeys that many people couldn’t or wouldn’t otherwise do. That’s especially true of e-cargo bikes because they will tackle the trips we’re told you need a car for: the school run; the weekly supermarket shop; a visit to a DIY store. 

A fit enough and keen enough cyclist can do such trips by muscle power alone, using a trailer, tandem or unpowered cargo bike. Most cyclists won’t, however, let alone most people. To really move the dial in terms of shifting car journeys to cycling journeys, there has to be an easier option. E-bikes are, at the very least, part of the solution. Particularly e-cargo bikes. Here’s why…

NAAKESHA MICHL 

Part-time barrister and full-time mum, Leeds

As cyclists in our lives before children, finding a way to combine family life and cycling was a no-brainer for us. That said, when we got the opportunity to borrow an e-cargo bike via a local university trial, my husband was of the view that, regardless of how they performed, they looked ‘too hideous’ to use. 

Fast forward one month and we were both in love with e-cargo bikes. We borrowed a box-style cargo bike. My husband loved the front box and the ease at which he could strap our son in, throw in his bags and go. I found it hard to manoeuvre and much preferred the longtail style of cargo bike. 

By this point our son was one and we were expecting our daughter. In the interim, I used an e-bike with a rack-mounted seat. As our son grew, it got harder to get up steep Yorkshire hills, and I felt it would be impossible to continue cycling with two children.

We decided to buy the Tern because it is essentially a standard-sized bike with a motor and space for children. It can be stored easily and behaves like a normal bike. We use the bike for the nursery commute, then going on to work, and also for local journeys. Most of our trips under five or six miles are done on the GSD, including the shopping. We love the Clubhouse and the Storm Shield, which offers protection from the elements, and like using fairy lights to jazz up the bike and make it feel safe. 

The e-cargo bike makes otherwise boring trips an experience. We see and feel things in a way you can’t in a car – we’re aware of dogs, overhead planes and the weather. We notice the changing seasons as we lose our layers going into the spring. We play music and sing along. We’re able to say hello to friends we pass on the way home. 

I can’t in all honesty think about a disadvantage to the Tern, other than the high cost that prevents many from trying an e-cargo bike as a mode of transport. That said, we save money on fuel and the use of a car, and easily manage with one car alongside the bike. 

I would advise anyone wanting to get into using an e-cargo bike as a mode of transport to give it a go. It gives the whole family a sense of freedom and independence, and it enhances bonds that can’t be built when driving a car!

HANNAH DOBSON 

Managing editor of Singletrack World, Calder Valley 

I got the opportunity to test the Benno Boost E in a spell between the death of one car and the purchase of another (which would also, inevitably, die). It made it possible for me to take a child or teenager to school and after-school activities, and do the supermarket shop in my semi-rural and maxi-hilly area. 

My husband can’t drive in the UK (yet, he says!), and the cargo bike gave him the ability to travel beyond the limits of the train line, and help out with child ferrying. He pushed the range to its limits – once running out after 42 laden miles, with five left to go – and even used it to shuttle his mountain bike to the local bike park. In one summer we put 700 miles on it, along with a few additions. It was too useful to say goodbye to so we bought it. 

Key things we added were a dropper post for easy saddle height adjustment between users, some BMX pegs as foot rests (cheaper than the official ones), and a derailleur guard. It came with a rear and front rack and panniers. I have become a collector of straps and bungees in my quest to carry as many improbable loads as possible. A recent roadside find of two rolls of lead flashing defeated me. After lashing 55kg to the rear of the bike and another 20kg to the front, I pushed it off the kickstand – and toppled it over into the road. That’s the only time I’ve tipped the bike, despite an array of precarious cargo. 

My husband competes with me in cargo carrying, with more bike park trips (including up the rough access track!), and even, once, a supermarket shop and a roll of carpet from the town five-plus miles away. Does that beat the giant potted rose and wisteria I carried nearly seven miles? Does length trump height?

Even though I am now the owner of a (touch wood) reliable motor vehicle, I still reach for the Benno whenever possible. Three and a half years on, there’s now a total of 6,600km on the clock. My 14-year-old is still within the rear rack’s weight limit but the 16-year-old is, strictly speaking, too big to ride pillion. Not that it’s stopped us… when her friends aren’t there to see. 

A recent bonus use has been added: the 14-year-old can now legally ride the Benno to run errands. Tasks like nipping down the (20% grade) hill for milk can now be delegated, and the novelty of riding the cargo bike makes the chore fun. A whole new level of parenting win has been unlocked! 

Riding the Benno is like having a puppy: someone always wants to know more about it, and I’m always happy to tell them how great it is. It makes every errand easy, and time on a bike is always a mood lifter. It is one of the greatest things I’ve ever bought.

RICHARD SCRASE 

Producer/writer, Oxford 

In autumn 2022 we moved to Trondheim in Norway for two years. My wife had a job at the university, while I continued to work online for my job in the UK. We hardly used our car in Oxford so we sold it before we moved. To begin with I took our daughter, Freya, to school by bus in Trondheim. I was a bit apprehensive about cycling on snow. 

After a few weeks I spotted a secondhand Riese und Müller longtail e-cargo bike for sale. We’d had electric bikes before so I knew its Bosch battery and motor system were reliable. This model also had an Enviolo hub gear that required no maintenance – another advantage in snow. Most importantly, the bike came with huge 70-litre panniers. The family I bought it from had used it to take their two boys to school for some years but they had outgrown it, so it was ready to be passed on. 

It came with winter tyres fitted, plus another pair of tyres for the summer. Soon I was taking Freya to school on it, relishing the climb up to the view of the fjord and the snow-covered hills beyond. The panniers swallowed school bags, ice skates, violins and all the rest. Freya usually sat with her feet inside the bags to help keep warm. We cycled throughout both winters, even when temperatures dropped to -20ºC. Trondheim has 200 kilometres of cycle track kept pretty clear of snow. They’re part of a city transport strategy that aims to have 8% of journeys made by bike all year around. 

It was such a nice bike that we decided to bring it back to Oxford at the end of our stint in Norway. There is a good car club here (Co-wheels) for when we do need a car. The Riese and Müller, now 13 years old, is still going strong, and does the local child transport and shopping, plus many other daily trips. It’s done around 4,000km since we got back to the UK. 

Good as it is, the Rise und Müller is not suitable for off-road riding. Last summer we decided to ride Cycling UK’s Traws Eryri route with friends. I was able to borrow a Tern Orox cargo bike for this. This super machine allowed me to carry all our camping gear and tow the children up the many steep, long hills on the route (see bit.ly/scrase-tern-orox). The route would have been beyond us without the Tern Orox taking the load. 

If you have cycled before, changing to a two-wheeled cargo bike is pretty straightforward. I prefer a longtail with the load behind me to a bike with a box or similar in front. However, I think the social interaction with your children if they are in front of you is better.

KIERA JONES 

Data systems lead at Global Canopy, Stroud 

We’re a family of three, two adults and one five-year-old, and we’re the proud owners of a first-generation Tern GSD. We bought it three-and-a-half years ago. It felt like a bit of a risk, splashing the cash on an eBay purchase of a bike we’d never even test ridden, but we have no regrets and it’s totally transformed the way we get around as a family. 

We use it most days and it has so many advantages: it gets you out into the fresh air rather than being stuffed in a metal box; maintains basic fitness; is cheap to run; it makes you feel part of a community... I could go on and on. Perhaps the most important advantage is that it makes travelling with kids much more fun. 

When deciding on which bike to go for, the first question was: box bike or longtail? With a two-year-old (at the time), and no plans for any more kids, a longtail felt more flexible and future proof. It also rides much more like a normal bike, and I wasn’t a particularly confident cyclist at the time. Because we live in Stroud, where the hills are many and steep, an option with a good mid-drive motor was essential. The Tern GSD was top of the range and got the best reviews, but was pricy. So we kept an eye out for secondhand options – and eventually got lucky. 

Our GSD was nearly new and came with a bunch of accessories. As a longtail used for carrying small people, it’s essential to have a seat and surrounding ‘cage’ on the back – the Clubhouse in Tern-speak. The front rack is surprisingly useful, and we also bought a Storm Shield or, as our daughter calls it, ‘her tent’, which is great for keeping her dry and protected from the wind when the weather’s bad. 

I feel proud of the fact that for my daughter, hopping on the back of a bike is her default mode of transport. If we leave the house, she always expects that we’ll be either walking or pedalling, and getting in the car is often met with complaints. Being on the bike is her happy place, and even if she’s in a grump at the start of a journey, chances are she’ll be calm, happy and singing to herself within moments once we get going. On the occasions when we take one of her friends with her, the happy chattering and giggling can crescendo to ear-piercing levels! 

Our car now mostly sits on our driveway. With the bike and an active decision to use public transport wherever possible, we’re now only doing around 3,000 miles a year in our car, mostly for holidays and weekends away. We’re debating whether the car is worth keeping. 

My main tip for e-cargo bike riding? There is no shame in using turbo mode! Think of the bike as a mode of transport, not as a piece of fitness equipment.

JAMES PALSER 

Programme manager for Cycling UK’s Inclusive Cycling Experience, Stroud 

When we had one child, cycling with a child seat on a normal bike was possible, although not overly pleasant in a town where hills are inevitable and steep; our school run has a 20% incline. 

When child number two came along, we purchased a Tern GSD S10. One of the reasons we opted for a cargo cycle, and this one specifically, is that my partner and I are a similar height, so we can both use it easily – including on sections of the NCN and canal network, which have access barriers that are negotiable on the GSD as it’s not much longer than a standard cycle. 

We have the Clubhouse and Storm Shield, as well as a front rack for bags and Lockstand Extensions for more stable parking. These add-ons raised our costs by over £500 on what was already an expensive bike. I am fortunate to work for an employer (full disclosure: it’s Cycling UK!) with a very good cycle to work scheme, which enabled us to spread the payments over a couple of years. 

Two of the most useful extras were quite cheap, however: two fabric pouches, designed for bikepacking handlebars, which we have installed at the back of the bike. The kids use them for soft toys, bottles, a Bluetooth speaker and (on one memorable occasion) a week-old banana peel! 

It’s not been completely trouble free. Our Bosch motor had to be replaced after two years due to water ingress. Other users have reported similar experiences. We’ve now fitted a mudflap to the front mudguard to prevent this happening again. We also broke one of the Storm Shield poles, which was replaced under warranty. 

In the two years we’ve had the GSD we’ve done over 4,000 miles of local journeys to school and back. The nursery and school run distance is halved by using a bike rather than driving. The cargo bike is also more reliable in terms of timing and enables us to get right up close to where we’re going. We still own a car, but generally use it only for journeys that can’t be made by bike easily 

There’s a feel-good factor riding an e-cargo bike. There are around 10 people who now cycle their kids to our school on cargo bikes. The cyclists all wave at each other and the kids will wave from the back of the bike. 

I found that sitting one child behind the other on our GSD sometimes led to hair-pulling and arguments. The solution has been to sit them face to face so they can chat. If they’re both in a mood, which is rare but does happen, I sit them back to back so they can’t reach each other!