Living in Montreal I’ve gotten to the point where I only ride my own bike when I’m transporting paniers of stuff or doing an overnight trip. I installed a double kickstand on my old bike and its worked well until today when my old frame kicked the bucket. I realized that what I basically want is a slightly long tail cargo bike. A rack that’s big and built in, not electric, normal sized wheels and straight handlebars. The weird thing is, I can’t find this product. I’d assume it would be a popular choice for people touring with a lot of kit, but almost everything I’ve found seems to be for electric urban cruising with a couple of kids on the back. Has anyone else looked for this product and encountered a similar gap in the market?
The Yuba Mundo Lux is probably as close as I’ve seen, but has anyone done a few full days on it? It’s probably too much to spend if it can’t handle a few days on tour.
Edit: I’ve decided to dabble with a cheap second hand aluminum Kona Ute, because I live in a salted road winter an aluminum frame is good to have around. If I like it, I’ll probably invest in an electric option for the other 3 seasons.
It’s probably the same thing or nearly so. Pretty much all bikes are contract manufactured by one of 4 companies all within a stone’s throw of each other in Taiwan. The only one of these companies you will have heard of before is Giant.
I’m a former Buyer from a chain of bicycle shops, so this was my wheelhouse for many years. Personally, I’m a hardcore roadie, and not a fan of anything with a upright steering geometry like a hybrid bike. I like traveling distance at speed and prefer as compact of a wheelbase as I need for the weight I’m carrying. I can handle these kinds of bikes just fine, but I don’t like the wobbly feeling they tend to have at higher speeds, and the upright position feels unfulfilling to me in terms of a real workout. I’ve thought about getting one for groceries in the past, but never had a good opportunity. The 3 shops I managed were focused on high end road and XC, so I never stocked these directly. I did order a few Surly’s for employees personal bikes and I’ve putt around on a few at Interbike ages ago, but there is not much to say about that experience; it’s not memorable against the background.