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Anyone who starts the NC4K is a legend in my book, but to do it on a cargo bike 🤯 Hopefully www.youtube.com/@jamesbicknell4706 or Ceri will see this comment!

Thank you!

For a long john cargo bike of this quality, the price is really great! It'd be cool to be able to save a bit of money and just have the bare box, that's a good idea. I'd imagine that if you live in a hilly area and are carrying heavy cargo often that it'd make sense to go for the electric version, but I certainly understand the appeal of the non-electric one as I also have a non-electric long john cargo bike!

James' Bullitt is dialled!

I agree! Thanks for watching 🙌

There's certainly a lot of advantages to having an internal geared hub setup, especially in the city where bikes get knocked about in bike racks a lot. Maybe they will do one in the future!

It's certainly a great point over a typical mid-motor setup where the motor is often not serviceable!

That's what I love about cargo bikes, they come in all shapes and sizes and all of them have their uses!

@@RobRidesCargoBikes , i really like to test the SBB cargo long john, the design and idea looks great. the mtb tires on some models look awesome, where can i find this tires? And it is possible to order the bike in green/yellow?

I believe the MTB style tyres are made by Vee Tire Co and are a collaboration project with Super Bicycles so aren't available to the public (yet). They look the same as the kids MTB tyres that Vee do, but they have thicker sidewalls and different casings designed for the heavier cargo usage. I know you can order the bike in yellow, though the green colour in the video isn't on their website currently. You can test ride them from their shop in Berlin (Mollstr. 1), or drop them an email on their website (tell them I sent you!).

That's an interesting observation! Why do you think that they'll have to do that?

@@RobRidesCargoBikes it won't handle the load on the long run. Every rod actuated cargo bike end up like that. (I'm also in cargo manufacturing)

@@Manetty6 Ah interesting! I'll have to check back on further iterations and see if they make the update, interesting stuff! What kind of cargo manufacturing are you in (if you can say)?

@@RobRidesCargoBikes mastiff cargo bikes

@@Manetty6 Oh cool, I follow Mastiff on Instagram! Let me know if you'd like to send me one to feature on the channel 😉😅

Yes absolutely! We discussed a lot about their design process and iterations off camera (as you can see some of the test bikes and prototypes in the background of some of the shots) and they've really given their designs a lot of thought.

The colourful bags are from a company called Lumabag - No association, but here's their website: lumabag.de/ Thanks for watching!

I also hope they’re successful and pave the way for lower cost cargo bikes but without compromising on quality, especially with the motor serviceability that they’re promising. I know they have plans for more models in the future - you can even see some of the prototypes and test bikes in the background of some of the shots in the video! Their first batch of bikes sold quickly and they are certainly gaining steam so I hope their success continues. Yes for us heavier folk (I’m at about 105kg at the moment) it’s quite easy to get to the system weight limit for cargo bikes with a big heavy shop or with a load of drinks. In terms of value, I think trailers are very hard to beat and taking the step to getting a cargo bike is certainly a bit of a lifestyle choice. I recognise it’s not for everyone though (especially considering the high cost of entry), and the benefit to using a trailer is that you have a normal bike for when you don’t need to carry anything. I’ve been tempted by trailers in the past, but then I got on a cargo bike and immediately fell in love with them so my fate was sealed I think! Thanks for watching!

Danke! 🙌

Same here! Andi also mentioned that a lot of the current batteries from many of the big brands don't yet conform to these new standards so it looks like we'll see a change across the board soon.

They are a lot of fun! Hope you can find a solution to getting on in the US 🤞🤞

Thanks for watching! 🙌🙌

Thanks, glad you like the bikes!

Thanks Michael, glad you enjoyed the video! The last 10% on any bike (regardless of type) is always personal preference, so I’m glad you found a solution that works for you with your handlebar setup. I’m not a member personally, but if you’re on Facebook, it may be worthwhile to check out this Urban Arrow group to see what other owners are doing and if there are any other useful modifications you can make to your bike: facebook.com/groups/UrbanArrow

Thanks Malcolm, hopefully you’ll get a chance to take part in a race soon, we’d love to have you! Thanks for watching!

@tconnolly9820 Thanks, glad you enjoyed the video! The price is certainly a bit difficult to look past, especially when you compare it to similar setups from other brands, but it is cool and distinctive and that's enough justification for some folk. But I agree that pricing is wild in general and I think it's the main thing holding cargo bikes back from being more widely adopted. I've seen top spec Riese & Müller and Ca Go models advertised for sale for over €11k!

@@RobRidesCargoBikes Thanks for the reply and I really didn't know about the €11k R&M. Ouch! I just bought a Cube Kathmandu One as a commuter and as a "lite" cargo bike and to use with my existing pretty large trailers I have been doing all the same with for several years using an ordinary hybrid bike. I'm in Ireland and a mostly rural area so infrastructure is not what you are used to but I persist. Just on e-bike pricing and affordability. Compared to car manufacturers, companies like R&M, Cube, Urban Arrow are literally garage startups in scale. We need a major manufacturer/s to literally build by the millions, just like Toyota, Ford or Volkswagen a variety of well made e-bike models at more affordable prices that will be reliable and endurable over the long term. That means also repairable and upgradeable with easily obtained parts and components for the future. Replacing individual battery cells or the BMS controller instead of buying a whole new battery pack. Individual components any bike motor mechanic can obtain. Making their motors more water resistant for a start. Water ingress is one of the biggest killers of e-bike motors currently. That is just not good enough for something so expensive. Currently it's still small scale and companies like Bosch (and others) are very protective and anticompetitive about their spare parts and repairs. They want to sell you a whole new €900+ battery pack instead of a replacement component for a BMS. This is definitely an area where Brussels needs to make legislation guaranteeing right to repair AND guaranteed availability of parts and components. Sustainable micro mobility is supposed to be one of the EU's major ambitions, isn't it? The Chinese brands are selling cheaper products but in 5 years time, will you be able to get any replacement parts for any of these bikes? Assuming the EU doesn't put tariffs on them to protect the overpriced European manufacturers? Just like they are doing with the Chinese cars which are undercutting overly expensive European e-car manufacturers right now. Currently the buyer is getting very little for too much cost especially for cargo bikes. Sorry for the rant but I'm not working today and this is one of my biking bug bears that really annoys me. Bike security and preventing theft is another one but that's for another day. Easily solved but no one gives a damn. Great video and keep up the good work 👏👏👏

I just looked again, it’s been reduced to €9500 now, bargain😅: max-cargobike.de/collections/unser-sortiment/products/riese-muller-packster-70-automatic Nice, hope you’re enjoying your Cube! I used to live in a village in North Wales so am very familiar with rural infrastructure 😂😂 The bike industry is crazy for proprietary parts and designs. I’ve been riding all my life, mostly mountain bikes, and it’s insane how many incompatibility issues there are or manufacturers not selling service kits for parts and deeming them replaceable if you blow a seal or tweak something in a motor. I’ve recently had to replace a whole Shimano Saint brake caliper due to a cracked piston because Shimano won’t sell brake pistons or seal kits separately, how is that sustainable? I’ve also lost count of the amount of stories I’ve heard of folks having to replace 3-4 motors in a warranty period on an ebike. I wonder how many of those could have just been repaired if the brands would allow it. I’d welcome some regulation on ebike motor mount standardisation and would also like to see a right to repair on ebike motors and batteries as you mentioned. I don’t know enough about the import tariffs and laws around Chinese manufacturing to comment with any authority, but I’m currently working on a video with a brand that makes no bones about the fact their frames are made in China and they are doing very well. I also spoke to several brands at Eurobike this year about the established Chinese motor companies (Bafang etc) gaining popularity and the brands I spoke to were certainly open to using them. It seems one of the big problems is getting consumers to see the quality and to quash the stereotype of bad Chinese quality. Some brands even mentioned that they could reduce the cost of their cargo bikes by over €1000 if they specced a Bafang motor system instead of a Bosch, but that they wouldn’t be able to sell them very well because of the Chinese quality stereotype. Ha ha, no need to apologise for commenting, I love that this little channel sparks debate! 🙌

@@RobRidesCargoBikes The very best quality and the very worst quality both come from China. Bafang and Engwe and others are as good as you will get. It's the long term availability of parts and components I would be more concerned about. A few years ago neighbours bought a pair of matching generic e-bikes for occasional leisure riding. Less than two years later they were both posh recycling. But that example of one consumer having to replace the motor several times within the two year warranty period is diabolical. Not because the manufacturer honoured the warranty and replaced the whole unit each time possibly for just a repairable fault. But because this seems to be a persistent fault within that particular motor and when this fault happens again outside of the warranty, the poor customer is probably going to have to face the choice of replacing the entire motor themselves at their own expense or scrapping the entire bike and buying something else to cut their losses. Quality control leaves an awful lot to be desired. E-bikes with all of their faults and reduced longevity AND lack of independent repairers and availability of components makes them much more expensive in the long term than their positive self promotion likes to make us all believe. But when everything works the way it should, they really are a middle ground for the average cyclist between an ordinary bike and a car. And despite my cynicism, I've just got my first one a few weeks ago. Which actually came with a few faults I'm having to get sorted out with the battery cover and the derailleur through the local shop I bought it from. There's a lot to be said for buying from an actual bricks and mortar local seller. And Cube lack of quality control? 🤷‍♂️ That's me done. I'll leave you in peace.

@@tconnolly9820 It’s not just the one consumer I’ve heard of having to replace that many motors, it’s quite a few! Admittedly it’s in the mountain biking world where arguably the motors take a bit more of a beating than a cargo or city bike, but still ridiculous. I think that regardless of personal opinion (and there are MANY passionate folks out there on this topic!), that e-bikes are the future of cycling and they open up cycling to so many who otherwise wouldn’t be interested. I think it’s a net gain for all cyclists as it’ll increase infrastructure spending and prices of bikes will eventually fall. However, the growing pains we’re seeing now with a lack of standardisation, brands being very protective over repairing and servicing motors and the increasing pressure from legitimate Chinese manufacturers bringing good products to market but being shunned by many established Western brands isn’t really helping progress. I often think about what happens to older ebikes that have become uneconomical to repair or that have been rendered obsolete because of a lack of serviceable/replaceable parts. In the case of a mid-motor bike, I’ve seen homemade solutions where people have replaced the motor with a bottom bracket adapter plate so at least the bike can live on as a useful bike. I do think though that we’re approaching a time where earlier generations of ebikes are going to start failing more regularly and I’d love to come up with a mass-produced solution to at least adapt them to be regular bikes, but I don’t have the time or resources to go down that rabbit hole! Then let’s not get started about the whole Vanmoof smart ebike company going bust leaving all their bikes basically unusable until someone open sourced a controller to make them work again! Quality control is certainly an issue also. A family member recently bought a gravel bike for almost €2k and it’s been back to the shop several times already for a recurring derailleur issue. It’s a concern that often bike shops aren’t able to repair or properly diagnose issues, and adding the complications of sophisticated motors and electronics isn’t going to help there either. I understand that things get knocked about and bent during shipping, but it’s not very heartening to know that a manufacturer pre-delivery inspection and a shop pre-sale inspection can both miss issues like this. Sorry to hear you’re having problems with your Cube, hopefully they can be rectified quickly!

Looks like I'm going to have to make a visit to Soulcycles when I'm in the UK at some point!

Absolutely! It was great to talk to him and his partner Ceri for the evening, an inspiring couple!

This is the kind of crazy thing I will never do but what a great guy and I'm pretty sure he (and Ceri) are having a great time.

@@tconnolly9820 They are both great people! We spent most of the evening talking after the sun had set and they make doing such epic rides sound way less daunting and more achievable so don't count yourself out yet 😉

@@RobRidesCargoBikes No, I know my limitations. I'm way too creaky for anything like that. Not to mention disorganised! Something much more sedate and moderate for me I'm afraid. Which to be fair, is still more than most. Keep on pushing one pedal in front of the other! 😎🚴

@@tconnolly9820 Sounds like you've got a good idea of your limits, I respect that! And yes absolutely, keep pushing those pedals, it's all we can do!

You'll be waiting a while, and that's just for me to start the ride, let alone finish it 😅😅

Are you coming with us? 😉

@@RobRidesCargoBikes im in fck yes

@@Samsderbilly Yes! Ok, let me just take 2 years to plan it and I'll get right back to you 😉🤣

@@RobRidesCargoBikes can we make 3 years of it!? That i can get in better shape whit my Bullitt 😅😅😅

@@Samsderbilly Yeah sure, I could also do with getting into shape 😅😅🤣

I love the enthusiasm, thanks for watching! 🙌

Thanks! I've had it for over 2 years now and I still get excited when I swing a leg over it!

Come on over! It's not the easiest to travel with a cargo bike, but the community is fantastic and you'd likely find a way. You might even be able to borrow a bike from someone! We're lucky that these races are run by some very passionate folks as without them, the race scene would be pretty limited.

This is the muscle class so none of the bikes have motors. There is a pedelec class for street legal ebikes (up to 25kph assistance), then there is also an open class for non-street legal bikes.

Thank you Nils!

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!

Thanks Tom, I thought you'd appreciate the hat reference!

"Technically" - I'll take it 😅😅😂😂

Right?! 😅😅 It took a few takes to get one good enough to post 😂

Thanks! I'd definitely recommend entering a cargo bike race if you can, they are so much fun!

@@RobRidesCargoBikes I’d love to, but I don’t have one, and I live in Tokyo, and I’ve never found a shop that sells them.

Oh wow, that's a bit out of my wheelhouse! I'd love to be able to help, but I don't know of any distributors for cargo bikes in Tokyo. I did see this Instagram post from Larry Vs Harry not too long ago, perhaps you could reach out to them and ask if they know of any cargo bike shops in Tokyo? instagram.com/p/C0OIYAZRB-j/?hl=en

@@RobRidesCargoBikes thanks, I’ll look into it.

What didn't you like?

Thanks Celo, glad you enjoyed it!

Hi Olly, glad you liked the video, thank you! I got the rubber feet from Amazon, though I imagine any place that sells wheelchairs, walkers and zimmerframes etc will have them. You'll need the 25mm tube diameter version, ideally with a metal washer in the bottom so you don't wear through it really quickly.

@@RobRidesCargoBikes ah thanks for your reply, that's super helpful. Much appreciated!

Thanks Ron, glad you enjoyed the video! 🙌

I had a lot of fun on it during my short time with the bike!

I just priced up an Iumentum as cheaply as possible and got it down to €2289 for a complete bike (without a stand though)! I'm not going to deny these prices are quite high, but when you consider that you could spend almost €11,000 on a Riese & Müller Packster or Ca Go FS200, I think it shows there's a market for it and it brings some prices into perspective a bit.

Well below the average usage for an ebike! As I mentioned in the video though, I was over the motor assistance level quite a lot, was in the lowest assistance mode the whole time and even had a tailwind for most of the day so all that definitely helped a lot, but still impressive nonetheless I think!

@@RobRidesCargoBikes yes it's very efficient. on the city bike with similar conditions i get about 3 when i'm in the mood to pedal pretty hard to help the motor, at 25 km / h average maybe 300 metres elevation every 100 km, rider weight 70 kg, bike 25. going much under 3 i think is road bike territory

@@markifi Yeah it's certainly impressive for a cargo bike, especially as I weigh just over 100kg and I had fairly decent load with my camera stuff, food and drinks.

It was a tough one to swallow 😣🤣 Thanks, glad you were able to discover a new brand!

Thanks Sam!

Ok that settles it, Döner party when I get to 1000 subscribers 🤣

Ha ha thanks, I'll keep it in mind! I can't pay much, but the kebab will be on me 😉

Yeah the inability to safely carry another person bigger than a toddler is probably the biggest minus point for me about the bike, otherwise it's great! You'd likely save a bit of money over the e-version getting a non-motorised one and converting it yourself too, though I can see it may be a bit too much work for some folks to do a DIY conversion. Maybe a topic for a future video!

Thank you! It's probably for the best we didn't stop, we'd have had less riding shots after a greasy lunch break anyway 😬😬

Emotional damage 😥😥🥙

Hi! Great you’re enjoying your bike, good to hear! I’m not sure exactly what rear hub spacing is on the Clamber Cheetah, so you’d need to measure that, as well as what axle type it is (though it looks like a QR axle I think). Then it’s a case of finding something in your budget that suits. I’ve not had many problems with Shimano hubs over the years and a lot of their stuff gets specced on city bikes and ebikes so they should have plenty of options to suit your hub spacing and axle type. If you wanted to spend more, then you could look at Hope hubs from the UK (though also available from the US), or perhaps a Spank Industries complete wheel if the hub spacing and axle type is available.

@@RobRidesCargoBikes thanks Rob I will try the Spank wheel I see lot of German Bullitt owners used that brand wheel.

Great choice! Just watch your dropout sizing and you should be fine. Yes, they're a popular aftermarket wheel over here for sure.

If you buy a brand new bike then you will be able to get a new motor under warranty if it breaks, but a new motor needs to be programmed with a dealer login that isn't publicly accessible. Once you're out of warranty then it can still be done but it will be quite pricey. My Bullitt has the E6000 motor which has a different motor mount to the current EP6/EP8 motors (and the older E6100/E8000) motors so I really don't know what I'd do if my motor broke. E6000 motors are still available to buy from some corners of the web, but I wouldn't be able to program it so I don't know if it would even work. I think the only way to truly safeguard yourself from a broken motor rendering a bike useless is to get a mechanical bike and convert it with a DIY kit, but that's a whole other can of worms with many pros and cons.