Published April 24, 2023 7 Min Read
5 Essential Features for Sharing a Cargo Bike
By Laura Belmar, CEO of Integral
Yesterday I shared how my husband and I bought and then had to sell multiple cargo e-bikes because we couldn’t find one that felt stable and comfortable for me.
I’m 5’4” and my husband is 5’11”. How much of a difference could 7 inches really make? When it comes to a family cargo bike, A LOT!
Fortunately, if you’re planning to share your cargo e-bike with another rider, the right feature set can mitigate huge differences in height, strength, and biking experience.
Here are 5 essential considerations for sharing a family e-bike:
1. Consider a 3-wheeled cargo bike
2. Look for a cargo e-bike with 20 inch tires
3. Check the height of the rear rack!
4. Avoid cargo e-bikes that have the backup battery attached to the seat post!
5. Low Step through Height
**BONUS: Double telescoping seat posts
1. Consider a 3-wheeled cargo bike
At Integral Electrics, we knew our first e-bike actually needed to be an e-trike because having three wheels stabilizes the experience of cargo biking like nothing else. Kids and pets can hop right in without you needing to stabilize the bike. And unpredictable mid-ride wiggles from the cargo area won’t be a factor.
Our three wheeled design is so good looking, that most folks don’t even realize it’s a trike. If you have more than 2 kids, or just want to cruise stress-free, front-loading trikes are the way to go. But they do take up more space, so if you have 2 kids or less, or have space constraints, the next 4 considerations become really important!
2. Look for a cargo e-bike with 20 inch tires.
This is truly the “make or break feature” for any couple sharing a family e-bike. I only know of one household for whom this has not been a concern and mom was 5’10’ and played college basketball.
So unless you and your spouse are both pretty tall, assume that your cargo e-bike should have 20 inch tires. Period.
The reason for this is that the height of the tire is the biggest (but not the only) factor in determining the height of the rear rack. The rear rack is where your passengers or cargo will situate themselves, so the lower that height, the more stable you will feel with that weight.
I really cannot overstate how essential tire size is, AND YET I have never seen another cargo bike brand get straight with consumers about this feature. You must typically dig to the bottom of the product page, maybe even be forced to download a SPECs pdf to find this information.
In our opinion, anyone selling cargo e-bikes to families ought to be shouting this information from the rooftops or else they’re liable to sell a very expensive item to a ton of consumers who will never truly feel at ease.
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3. Check the height of the rear rack!
You’ve narrowed your search down to e-bikes with 20 inch tires, but wait! There’s more: check the height of the rear rack. Hopefully it’s another inch or two above the tire. A rear rack height of 22” to 23” is ideal.
You will be surprised how many bikes with 20 inch tires still manage to have high rear racks. When we were designing our family cargo bikes, we fought this battle with our factory on multiple fronts. First they put the rear rack much higher because that was how everyone else did it…and then because they didn’t want to get creative about where to put the backup battery (more on this later)!
Again, the height of the rear rack is where your kids or cargo will sit, and this will drive the center of gravity for the whole bike, making or breaking whether you feel in control behind those handlebars. Don’t overlook this dimension and be prepared to have to scour a spec sheet as most brands don’t really understand how much this matters for females and shorter folks.
4. Avoid cargo e-bikes that have the backup battery attached to the seat post!
The back of the seat post is the most logical place to put an additional battery, but unless it’s an extraordinarily short and stout battery, this means that the seat post will have to be taller….and that means that shorter riders may not be able to get the seat adjusted low enough to feel truly comfortable! You can check the minimum seat post height to see if this would be an issue for your family. Again be prepared to go to the spec sheet for this info.
5. Low Step through Height
This is the height your leg has to clear when you step over the down tube of the bicycle to mount it. Most e-bikes place their primary battery on the down tube, and that can raise the step over height significantly. Our e-bikes use batteries that are integrated into the down tube to keep our step through height as low as possible!
Safety Tip:
Double telescoping seat posts
If you and your partner are similar in height, this won’t be that critical, but if you do have a big height differential, this is an essential criteria for you. This means that you can adjust the saddle in two places instead of one for 2x the height.
"I have ridden many cargo bikes before and this cargo eBike is spot on for stability and control. While on other bikes my kids felt unstable, riding this bike makes them feel safe so that we all can enjoy the ride!"
Jamie
Sources:
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2. Zipify Pages is an ecommerce landing page and sales funnel builder that seamlessly integrates with your Shopify landing pages and sales funnels is as easy as just a few clicks. After selecting a template, it’s easy to customize it to fit your store by using our drag-and-drop editor. You can choose from our collection of conversion elements, or blocks as we like to call them like featured products, countdown timers, social proof sections and more.
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