The sight of whatever the collective noun for a group of cargo bikes is — a dazzle? a gaggle? — parked up at my local primary school gates at 8.55am deeply pleases me.
As an early adopter of a bike with a ginormous bucket on the front — traditionally used since the early 20th century by tradespeople to lug around deliveries — I attracted bemused looks when I first started transporting my kids around in it. Now, it’s the de rigueur way to do the school run, with the kids in the back.
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It's not only practical (you’ll zip from Weetabix-encrusted breakfast table to school gates in mere minutes, without having to carry your kids as you sprint the final furlong), but it’s fast become the most stylish way to get to school. Yes, really.
On my east London school run the TV presenter and entrepreneur Laura Jackson drops her kids off from her Benno electric bike. And over in west London, the stylist Harriet Haskell-Thomas takes her two boys on a Rad Runner. “For me the cargo bike is about ease of getting around. I can get from home to school, and then the office, in a tenth of the time it takes in the car or on the Tube,” she says.
Ben Jaconelli, founder of Fully Charged, an electric bike shop in London Bridge, says there’s been a huge surge in cargo bike sales lately. “In 2018, family cargo bikes were less than 5 per cent of our turnover. Now, they account for over 50 per cent of our £6m business.”
Jaconelli puts that down to schools promoting less car use, more generous cycle to work allowances and newer models – including ‘longtails’, which allow kids to ride on the back instead of in a bucket at the front. He calls these “less intimidating for new riders.”
So which is E-cargo bike is the best?
I initially had a Raleigh Stride bike, but — such is the curse of London life — it was stolen from outside my house, despite my AXA motorcycle lock. Since I first looked, the market has exploded.
Fully Charged offers great in-store advice, but you can also book test rides or borrow a bike overnight for up to a week (a fee comes off the sale price).
With children of his own, he has put them all through their paces. His top picks for families include the Tern GSD (£5,200, fullycharged.com), which Jaconelli describes as a “great all-rounder: practical, compact, weatherproof, and the first serious longtail in the UK.”
The front-loading Urban Arrow Family (£4,699, fullycharged.com), which carries three to four kids, is a “solid ride,” according to Jaconelli. While the very stylish Moustache Lundi 20 Open (£4,299, fullycharged.com), which has the “lowest step-through, and is a great price for premium model.”
My first test ride was another that Jaconelli recommends: a Riese & Müller MultiTinker (£6,139, fullycharged.com) which I borrowed for three weeks.
I was keen this time to have a longtail (I liked how sleek and chic I felt cycling around), and they’re very adaptable. I could carry two children, or one larger passenger (up to 65kg), plus it has a front shelf where you can strap on a bag.
It charges quickly and has a really helpful control panel to allow you to pick the mode you want (dictating how much electronic assist you get), as well as displaying how much battery you have left. Its low centre of gravity meant that with one of my children on the back, we felt sturdy and secure — but with both of them we were approaching the weight limit and felt wobbly.
The Multitinker comes in at an undeniably high price tag, but Jaconelli says it's “excellent value from the most sustainable brand out there.”
Next I tried the Linton Cargo Bike (£5,500, arccbikes.com) and I really fell for it. The basket can hold up to 120kg (three children or one adult).
Designed and built by the bike experts ARCC in Cambridge, it is incredibly lightweight (24kg). It has a 100km range and automatically detects hills (on other E-cargo bikes you have to change gears), and it fully charges in 35 minutes.
It’s a joy to ride with my two girls — stable and low to the ground. We collectively feel it’s a serious upgrade from the front-bucket bike they were in before (which the near-tween probably wouldn’t be seen dead in now).
There are cheaper — sub £4,000 — models around, such as the the Estarli Longtail (£3,450, estarli.co.uk), which Fi Hemming, a PR who lives in Beaconsfield, recently bought for her three children.
“Every morning with three kids feels like a military operation, so I needed a bike that I could get two of them on and off of quickly and without drama or negotiation,” she says.
“The EStarli is really easy to get them to school on and to get myself to the train station. I’m not particularly tall, so its lightweight feel and manoeuvrability made it much more manageable and fun to ride than some of the other over-engineered E-bikes I’d tried before,” she adds.
Meanwhile Tom Cattanach, a photographer based in east London, had a solid recommendation from a biking friend for TREK Fetch+ 2 (£3,299, teamcycles.com), which he bought over a year ago to transport his two children under five to nursery.
“It’s a bit bigger than the Tern, with a removable battery, which is useful for charging purposes, and it’s great value,” he says.
One of Jaconelli’s best budget picks is the Tern Quick Haul Long (£3,500, fullycharged.com). “It’s an entry-level option from a trusted brand,” he says. “It’s chain drive, which requires more maintenance, plus there’s no suspension — but they’re reliable and affordable.”
How to pay for your E-cargo bike
There’s a good “try before you buy” scheme that operates across most London boroughs (peddlemywheels.com), where you pay a subscription fee for a set number of months and select a pre-used or new bike (price varies per bike). Then you can apply for council-backed vouchers (for example Camden gives residents a 50 per cent discount). But the E-cargo bike options are limited, and not all councils offer vouchers.
Though Waltham Forest even has a community cycle loan scheme, which include E-cargo bikes (walthamforest.gov.uk).
Some retailers have finance partners that allow you to split the payments — including Estarli and Fully Charged – with no interest, or you can ‘buy’ your bike through the Cycle to Work scheme (cyclescheme.co.uk). You’re able to do this even if you are self-employed as a limited company.
It’s worth bearing in mind, says Jaconelli, that many of the bikes — especially Riese & Müller — “retain 50 per cent of their value after a year, so if you’re a higher rate per cent taxpayer and buy through Cycle to Work, you’re offsetting depreciation.
“We have customers upgrading every year for under £1,000 in real cost, and others buying one-year-old bikes for half price,” he adds.
E-cargo bike accessories and locks
Once you fall down the E-cargo bike rabbit hole, there’s a whole world of accessories you can buy to customise your ride, from baby seats to rain covers to safety guards for little legs (called sidekick wheel guards, something that’s a good idea even for baby seats on push bikes).
But the main thing to consider is what lock to buy. “We recommend two locks ideally: one anti-grinder option like Hiplok or ABUS,” Jaconelli says.
Arcc Bikes suggest the Abus Bordo Granit XPlus Folding Lock (£160, decathlon.co.uk).
You have to consider battery theft, too. “Brands like LockRide and CatFix offer fantastic battery security solutions,” Jaconelli says.
It's worth considering separate bike insurance too: while you might be covered on your house insurance, it can push up your premium if you have to claim.
Estarli has an innovative security package that includes GPS install and tracking plus E-bike recovery or replacement.
Once you’ve picked a model, set up your accessories and purchased Fort Knox-worthy locks, it’s time to enjoy the ride. Having cycled a cargo bike for the last three years, I can’t see many downsides. They are expensive, yes, but they’re environmentally friendly; teach your kids about the joy of cycling; and honestly — they’re just good fun. Which for a Monday morning school run, is high praise indeed.
