I
used to care about weight. I'm one of those OCD types who meticulously
weighed components out on my gram scale. I'm the jerk with the hollow
pin chain and all Dura Ace on his carbon fiber LOOK 595. I stripped my
mountain bike down to its frame, and replaced every. single. part. Every
one. All in order to shave seconds. I have strong opinions about
rotational weight, and when, exactly, you should take on water during a
race, if at all.
I mean, I weigh my damn clothes. Sure, it's a little weird, but talk to me on
mile 53 of Vineman, or
day two of the Epic at Bend's Big Fat Tour and see if you don't agree that I may have a point.
Yet today, my favorite thing to ride is a burly beast of a bike,
laden with as much gear as I can load on it. I want to stack as much
stuff as I can on there, and then ride it everywhere, all the time. I
want to ride it to the store and the bar and the park and the
playground. But mostly, I want to ride it into your heart. Because, see,
I'm a heavy bike convert. And like all converts, I'm kind of a zealot.
Which means I'm not going to be happy until you're riding some Magnus
Van Magnussen style contraption too. I want to see you on a cargo bike,
because you are so going to love it.
Meet The Cargo Bike
Let's say this up front: Cargo and utility bikes are the new fixies. They are
the in bike. They're positively trendy. Which, in all honesty, is a little off-putting. But there's a great reason for that:
they're amazing bikes.
They're practical, beautiful, and damn fun to ride. They can haul
everything from babies, to groceries, to large pieces of furniture. They
make moving gear through traffic-choked cities faster, and more fun,
than any pickup truck. I'm totally smitten.
After our daughter was born, we started looking around for a new
bike. We had performance road and mountain bikes, the kind you wouldn't
dare drop a rack on. Yeah, they're light and fast and can
drop down some serious Downieville shit.
But they're not very good for groceries, you know? We needed something
that could haul the kid, baby gear, our gear, and the extra stuff that
life often dictates you lug from place to place.
The obvious answer was a cargo bike. I knew one would get me where I
needed to go, but until I dove in, I had no idea how many sizes, shapes
and wonderful variants they came in. Here's a little bit about these
wonderful bikes, and why I love them so much.
Bakfiets-style Front Loaders
A Metrofiets cargo bike
Holland is awesome. Not only does it have the sense to legalize
prostitution and marijuana, but its flat terrain has spawned a massive
cycling culture. One bike that has really taken off in recent years is
the
Bakfiets, which has a large cargo
bay or platform for hauling gear or kids that sits just a few inches off
the street and right behind the front wheel. This front side cargo beds
keep weight low-to-the-ground and on balance. Not only are original
Bakfiets becoming increasingly common in the U.S. now, but they've given
rise to lots of other bikes made in a similar style, like that gorgeous
Metrofiets pictured above.
They're especially popular with parents—putting a kid in the cargo bay
keeps him up front where he can see, rather than stuck in a wagon behind
the bike with nothing but a view of your sweaty old dad ass. And of
course, they make a fashion statement. Many sport bold designs, with
lacquered wooden cargo beds and brightly colored frames. These are the
ultimate gee-whiz bikes. All the better if you're a gear head because
they are wrench heaven.
They're massively popular in Portland, where specialty shops and
garage manufacturers are cranking out gorgeous rigs. Even here in San
Francisco, where the hills are alive with the sound of cyclists gasping
for breath, there are already multiple shops specializing in these long,
low-slung, very heavy cargo bikes.
Photo by Mark Iverson
My favorite of these is probably the Cetma. Not only is it a
stunningly beautiful, exceptionally utilitarian ride, but as it proudly
boasts, "
CETMA IS
RUN BY ONE GUY IN A SIMPLE SHOP WITHOUT AUTOMATION, MECHANIZED ASSEMBLY,
ROBOTS, LASERS, SORCERY, SUPERPOWERS, OR PSYCHIC BEAVERS."
I mean, YES! Shouting aside, if you don't love that sales pitch, something is just wrong with you.
Here's a delightful video.
Long Tails
Long Tails are becoming so popular I fully expect to have one pants
me at any moment. In my Ocean Beach neighborhood, they are utterly
everywhere, often with a surf board in tow. On the beachside promenade,
and at
aprés surf spots like
Trouble Coffee, long tails very literally typically outnumber bikes with a more familiar geometry.
The Xtracycle platform really kicked this trend off. Xtracycle is an open source design, and several other manufacturers like
Yuba and
Surly
are building bikes to its specs, which means all the accessories—racks,
panniers, and more—will work on any of the bikes that follow its
guidelines. Xtracycle sells an extension called the
Free Radical that will turn just about any bike into a longtail, and a fully built bike,
the Radish. Both come in all sorts of configurations, to trick out however you need.
The Kona Ute
The biggest indication long tails are about to have a serious moment? Even Trek—a company that makes excellent-but-boring bikes—
has gotten in on long tails.
The Trek Transport
Cycle Trucks
The cycle truck typically has a 20-inch front wheel (and often a
26-inch rear wheel) with a frontside rack that's connected directly to
the frame—which means it doesn't turn with the handlebars. They're
lighter, and can't carry quite as much gear as a longtail. But man, do
they ride. Not only will they carry a ton of gear, but they'll also
accelerate quickly and turn on a dime. They've also been around,
approximately, since the dawn of man.
Okay,
that's an exaggeration, but they were certainly one of the first bike
geometries used as load-haulers. The Schwinn Cycle Truck, for example,
went into production in 1939, and was widely used as a delivery vehicle.
Many of them are still on the road today. They have
something of a cult following, even. And, look at this bike. How could they not start a cult?
This cycle truck that
James Black had custom made by
David Wilson
is a gorgeous example of the cargo bike trend, showing how it values
both form and function, and veers towards custom craftsmanship.
James Black's New Cycle Truck
When it came to buying a bike for our family, after shopping around, we went with a cycle truck,
the Civia Halsted.
It's fast and responsive and great on hills. We put a Yepp Maxi kid
carrier on the back, and even when we load the front up with cargo and
the back end with an extra 25 pounds of miniature human, it still rides
pretty much like every bike you've been on since you were a kid.
The author's Civia Halsted with a box full of junk in the front
And what's more, it makes me feel like a kid. It makes me feel alive
and powerful and like I'm in control of my own fate. I ride it almost
every day. I make up excuses to go do things. I can't get enough, I just
can't get enough. Simply put, it's a blast.
And So Many More
Madsen's take on the cargo bike puts the load in the rear
And, again, this is just a small sampling of what's out there. There
are so many different shapes and sizes and geometries. I mean, we
haven't even gotten into cargo trikes yet. Cargo trikes! How can you
ride one of those and not feel utterly childlike, even with the heaviest
load?
Wheelburro cargo trike
Look, I know, light bikes are fun, fixed gears are fast, and carbon
fiber is quite possibly the greatest material molded yet by man. I have
loved them all, too. But these fat functional bikes with their oblong
racks and their impossible geometries are fun in ways I'd never
imagined. You really need to ride one.
The Trek Transport
The cycle truck typically has a 20-inch front wheel (and often a
26-inch rear wheel) with a frontside rack that's connected directly to
the frame—which means it doesn't turn with the handlebars. They're
lighter, and can't carry quite as much gear as a longtail. But man, do
they ride. Not only will they carry a ton of gear, but they'll also
accelerate quickly and turn on a dime. They've also been around,
approximately, since the dawn of man.
James Black's New Cycle Truck
The author's Civia Halsted with a box full of junk in the front
Madsen's take on the cargo bike puts the load in the rear
Wheelburro cargo trike
