I want a cargo bike for obvious reasons but also so I don’t have to buy a second car for the snowtime. I’m fine with suffering through the cold and muck but even with spikes the freeze-thaw mooncraters are simply not doable on 2 wheels.
Unless you buy something really expensive, i.e. “could buy and keep a beater car running for quite a while” money, so many of them are limited to 100kg on the seat. I get they’re all unisize and there’s quite the leverage on the seatpost going on due to this, but fucking 100kg MAX? That’s well within “normal” BMI weight for tall people and not exactly terrible far off if you pack on a few pounds. or like want to use a backpack.
They’re conservative with the weight ratings for liability reasons. I wouldn’t fuss about going ~20% over, but your risk tolerance may vary.
The problem is I’m above 6 feet and most if not all of these tricycles come in unisize from 1,60 - 1,90m. There is actually quite a lot of leverage on the seatpost at full (“legal”) extension plus all the weight. Overall weight I wouldn’t care, but the seatstay ripping isn’t exactly far fetched honestly. The conservative estimate here in euroland is usually around 120kg
Like a tricycle?
something like this, yeah
Ah I think I’ve seen one but they’re probably not common cause they don’t handle hills well
Urban arrows (and similar) are more common, but it sounds like you’re not looking to splurge that hard lol
there’s cheap long johns where I live but that doesn’t really cover my “I need to drive this through the snow” need like a 3 wheeler would. It’d suck ass, still, but at least it’s doable without me eating shit
Totally makes sense
They recently went bankrupt.
I think that these are generally overbuilt, and the 100kg (220lbs) limit is an overly conservative rating for liability reasons. Generally speaking, there’s an absolute dearth of options for front-wheeled cargo trikes. Maybe look at some of the aliexpress options? They’re a lot cheaper, but I have no idea if they’re good or not.
I tried a tadpole trike in the winter years ago, and ended up selling it during the springtime. There was a lot of extra rolling resistance through the snow (since you’re cutting three paths instead of one), and it felt weird whenever I lost traction. It gave me a lot more appreciation for how much control over your own stability you have on a standard bike (more than you’d think).
I wonder if a delta trike (cargo and the two wheels at the rear) would be a good compromise? Same stationary stability, although not as good in turns.
I wonder if a delta trike (cargo and the two wheels at the rear) would be a good compromise? Same stationary stability, although not as good in turns.
Oh yeah probably except those cost even more money
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I guess it’s because they’re expecting you to load the bike up with more than the recommended weight so don’t want to be liable in case it splits in half…
They usually give different ratings for overall weight, seat weight and cargo box weight. I.e. overall is maybe 200kg (excluding the bikes own weight) where you can put 25kg on the rear rack, 75 in the box and 100 on the seatpost. Overall system weight I’d chance honestly but not the long lever on the SPOF
sounds like CYA to me, the first I thought of was the yuba supercargo and they list the same number
Urban Arrow goes up to 125 kg I can’t find it right nu but the Larry VS. Harry bullit tales something like that too if I remember correctly.
If balance is the issue in winter, could you just add training wheels? Then you could pop them off in the summer.
It’s a novel idea but the problem isn’t so much balance it’s that you get your shit swept out from under you due to ice on and such. I mean flat ice is fine with spikes but the freeze-thaw edges I don’t think training wheels would help. Basically I’m not afraid of tipping over, I’m afraid of my bike tipping out under me for a lack of better words.
I only tried to ride my bike on ice/snow once and my tires seized up when the space between the tire and fenders got full of snow.
My experience is limited. Hope you find something that works.
if you’re diy minded you could replace the front wheel with a ski and/or the back wheel with snowmobile track and have a lot of fun in a straight line
