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It's got to be seen as A Good Thing when a big bike manufacturer starts making cargo bikes. These are straight up car alternatives, and bringing them ...
By stwhannah
Get the full story here:
https://singletrackmag.com/charged/2023/02/trek-launches-fetch-range-of-electric-cargo-bikes/
That 2+ looks like a strong competitor to the Tern GSD (though without a belt drive option). Very interesting seeing things coming from the mass market. Hopefully change is slowly afoot.
Looks great, but I'm very disappointed not to find a single Mean Girls reference in the article.
Nice to see this sort of thing coming to the volume manufacturers, but they're still very expensive compared to some of the stuff out there. Do Tern have a patent for the stands on the back of the racks that let you stand the bike on its tail. That space saving must be a real benefit of you lack a garage.
As a noob to eebs.... how does assistance work on these- is it proportional to effort, or is the full power for the assistance level provided as soon as you start a pedal stroke? I'm guessing that pedalling doesn't really do. much, is this correct?
As a noob to eebs…. how does assistance work on these- is it proportional to effort, or is the full power for the assistance level provided as soon as you start a pedal stroke? I’m guessing that pedalling doesn’t really do. much, is this correct?
I ride a Tern GSD pretty regularly (it's not mine, it's a community bike, I'm one of the delivery riders).
The Bosch mid-motor gives 400% assistance (up to 15.5mph) so it's pretty effortless. Never ridden the Trek but the Tern weighs about 35kg and on full turbo mode, it'll leave road bikes for dead uphill, even with a load on board.
The solid "bucket style" panniers on the Trek look good - much as I love the Tern, the canvas panniers are sometimes a bit of a pain to cinch down properly, they need careful loading so as not to bulge awkwardly. Specialized have similar solid plastic "panniers" on their Vado range of e-bikes.
Ergh duplicate posts
The 4 looks nice but is really expensive. My cabby was £1500 new 4 years ago and has a pretty similar basic featureset (Inc rain cover) apart from the electric assist. The geo looks like it's going to be iffy for taller riders too, with the difference between seat and "head" angle meaning you'll be really stretched out
Zero chance of you getting 4 school sized kids in a bucket either, maybe 2 year olds at max.
As per my recent thread on electic mopeds as a way of ferrying kids in a city, even the Trek reps acknowledge these are diabolically expensive. No way 4 kids fit in that bucket.
Edit. The pricing is based on salary sacrifice making it palatable.
As attractive as full power with minimal effort might sound, I guess % assist based delivery is necessary to keep it controllable.
Edit. The pricing is based on salary sacrifice making it palatable.
Though as we recently discovered when buying our Tern, both of us had a £3k cycle scheme limit! So for many it might not help.
They look like wonderful bicycles.
100% behind e-cargo bikes. This is what the tech should really be getting pushed for. Great stuff.
I like the look of that 2+. The extras are often hidden costs when you look, you don't realise what you do and don't get so by the time you spec it to be a practical form of transport (mudguards, bags, stand etc) the price can go up for a few hundred
The more cargo bikes the better, they really are a fantastic form of transport
Nice, but yeah they do seem expensive. Raleigh do a box bike for £3400 which has a Bosch Cargo motor and reviews well. Battery is a little smaller, but heck, you could buy a whole second one and still have a enough left over for locks and accessories!
I don't want to be that guy, but the Raleigh is £4,400 and two seats for it will set you back another £200.
Not to be That Guy, but the Raleigh is £4,400 and two child seats for it will set you back another £200. It's cheaper (Raleigh and Babboe are owned by the same parent company) but it's not half the price.
How odd, so it is. I wonder if I was looking at a cached page earlier. Well £2800 is still a truck load of change.
A Raleigh stride is £4,400 and two child seats will set you back another £200. Not as expensive but not half the price either...
The Raleigh also has a very poor reputation, lots of reports of cracked frames is you hunt about.
Great to see more options becoming available. I love my R&M Load 75. Hardly used the car for local trips since i bought it.
Yep, it is