Riv guy and bakfiets guy here. I’ve got a lot of experience with cargo bikes and trikes, rear and front loading, as well as carrying kiddos. A bakfiets is the ideal way to carry kids; you can see and talk to them, and they’re more stable. I have a Frankenstein’d Human Powered Machines long Haul (HPM is now defunct but was based in the also defunct Center for Appropriate Transport in Eugene OR). I put 750w mod drive on it almost two years ago and it’s a game changer, a total car killer. I have considered eventually going to a Bullitt or a CETMA.
The Clydesdale is a great product, though relatively limited for heavy loads since the platform isn’t independent of the steering. On Thursday, July 25, 2024 at 10:31:25 PM UTC-4 Michael Morrissey wrote: > Hi everyone, > > I've been riding around with my little one on my Rivendell on a Yepp Mini. > With the Tosco handlebars, it's perfect. However my little one is getting > bigger each day and I think we're going to need something bigger. I love > talking and singing with my child on the front, and I just don't want to > move them to be behind me looking at my back (which is where I was when I > was on the back of my mom's bike when I was little! There has to be a > better way now!). > > I really really want a front-loader cargo bike. Has anyone gone from a > Rivendell to a front-loader? I passed up a broken 10 year old Urban Arrow a > few months ago for $400 (unavailable electric motor parts and roller/drum > brakes kept me away). I'm eyeing Larry vs. Harry Bullitt's around $2250 on > Craigslist. Does anyone have any advice or experience with them? > > I should note that my neighborhood (Queens, NYC) sucks for biking. With my > little one, I mostly ride on the sidewalk at 3 MPH. There are tons of SUVs, > big trucks and vans, and angry drivers. There are no bike lanes for the > first 2 miles of my commute. Other neighborhoods (Williamsburg, Sunnyside) > are much better for biking. I'm worried that even if I get a front-loader > it won't be as practical as "underbiking" on the Rivendell. Or should I be > the change I want to see in the world and bike unafraid? > > I'm leaning toward a regular pedal-powered bike that I could put a Bafang > electric motor on in the future. I'm worried about an electric-only bike > having proprietary parts unavailable in 10 years (hello Urban Arrow Daum > motors, hello Cake Osa). Mitch Hedberg once said, "An escalator can never > break: it can only become stairs." A converted electric bike with broken > electric parts would also still just be a regular bike. > > Thoughts? > > Michael > > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/e66153ca-c623-42e6-ba3a-b7da2256a1ban%40googlegroups.com.
