Cargo e-bikes

What a cargo e-bike is

A cargo e-bike is a vehicle replacement rather than a bicycle upgrade. The two common shapes are the longtail, which extends the rear to take panniers, a child seat or both, and the front-loader, which puts the load in a box over the front wheel where you can see it. A cargo trike adds a third wheel for stability at low speed, at the cost of a much larger footprint when parked.

Length, weight and parking decide more than the motor does. A longtail is roughly the length of a tandem and will not fit through a narrow side gate; a trike needs a flat, firm place to stand. Brakes have to stop the bike, the rider and whatever is on board, so hydraulic discs are the sensible minimum and the payload figure in the specification is worth reading before you plan the weekly shop.

Who a cargo e-bike suits

• Replacing a second car for the school run and the weekly shop.
• Trades and deliveries in a town where parking is the enemy.
• Carrying a child seat, a dog or a week of shopping without a trailer.
• Anyone whose shortest useful journey is the one a normal bike cannot quite manage.

What to check before you buy

• Payload rating, and what it includes. Some figures count the rider, some do not, and the difference is a child and a bag of shopping.
• Overall length against your gate, path, lift and parking space. Measure the route the bike will actually take, not the garage.
• Child seats and their fittings. A seat designed and rated for a cargo bike is not the same thing as a standard seat clamped to a long rack.
• Brakes and a stand. A two-legged stand that holds a loaded bike upright is not a luxury on a bike this heavy.
• Where it lives. These are not bikes to carry up steps, and most need a ground-floor home with a door wide enough to wheel through.
• Service access. A cargo bike is a big object to get to a workshop, so ask who will look after it before you buy rather than after.