My wife's major complaints are:
- The bike was unstable with our daughter (with or without weight in the basket).
- The bike was hard to ride on. (With a child carrier in the back, you can't throw your leg over to ride the bike.)
So I spent some time to search for bikes with the following criteria:
- Can carry our daughter (about 40 lbs curently) easier than Surly Troll. Troll is a great bike, but with a child on the back, the bike felt hard to handle.
- Can carry groceries and other items easier. We put a large basket on the front of Troll, but that made the bike handling really unstable. Even with Velo Orange's stabilizer, my wife was really unhappy with the bike's handling.
- Has a lower top tube to allow easier step through.
- Steel is preferred as the material. (Just my personal preference.)
- Preferred price range: $1000-$1200
By the way, we own a bike in Japan that pretty much covers all the criteria (except it is aluminum) and it costs less than $500 (child carrier and basket are not included in the price). https://www.bscycle.co.jp/greenlabel/totebox It has a 3-speed internal gear and a dynamo hub + head light, both of which are not the greatest things, but do the job for most of the casual rides.
Unfortunately, in the US, options are pretty limited and the price range is much higher. What I came up with were:
- Xtracycle Edgerunner 2016: $1999
- Surly Big Dummy: $2,099
- Yuba Mundo $999
- Yuba Boda Boda $1,499
- Kona Ute: $1,499
- Trek Transport: Discontinued
- Bike Friday Haul-a-day: $1,250
Among these choices, Yuba, Kona, Trek Transport and Surly Big Dummy just felt too big for us. We live in a small apartment and put the shopping bike and my commuter bike in the landlord's garage. We have been invading this space more and more, and I felt like getting one those bikes might be the tipping point. Edgerunner seemed like a good option, but the price was pushing our limit.
So we were torn between Yuba Boda Boda and Bike Friday. Our local bike store had a red Boda Boda on the floor and we were seriously considering. But at the end, we decided to go with Bike Friday for the following reasons:
- We just didn't want a red bike. (I have a red Eddy Merckx, and my wife says the only red bike in our house should be Merckx.)
- We like small-wheeled bikes. We ride them when we visit Japan and we are comfortable with them. A smaller rear wheel would put the child carrier lower, and lower the center of gravity, which makes the handling of the bike easier. I also had a suspicion that our daughter would love it, too, because she would be able to climb to the seat by herself (and I was right!).
- It's a steel bike made in the USA. What's not to love about that?
So we decided to get the Bike Friday. My favorite local bike store didn't carry them, but the owner was happy to take the order. All the details of the bike were submitted to Bike Friday directly through the online form on their website and follow-up emails (I had some strange requirements e.g. no saddle, no derailleur, and no pedals), but overall, it was a smooth process. It was supposed to be a 2 month wait, but luckily, there was a cancellation or something and they delivered the bike within a month. And this (mostly) is what we received:
So it's been about three months and it's been pretty good. My wife is definitely happier riding it than the Troll and my daughter seems happier on the seat, too. Here are my overall observations. I start with the positive ones.
What we like about the bike about:
Stability -- The bike is very stable, even with a lot of loads. The basket amazingly does not affect the handling of the bike, because it is attached to the frame. Which is probably the best thing about the bike.
Ride -- The bike rides nicely, even with the small wheels. I owned a regular Bike Friday for a bit but we didn't like the ride. The frame and wheels felt so stiff. This bike feels much better, probably because of the long wheel base and small-diameter tubes in the rear stays. I chose 2.0 inch Schwalbe Big Apple as the tires, which should help the ride, too. Oh, I also put Brooks B17 Flyer saddle (the one with springs) and it is the most comfortable saddle on earth (at least for me), so maybe that is just that.
Step-through -- As I said above, Being able to step-through the bike is a really nice feature, when a kid is on the back of the bike. This bike probably has the lowest step-through among the cargo-bikes around.
What we are not sure about the bike:
Rack -- This may be a bit personal, but the rear rack would have been better if it 1) were a bit lower and/or 2) accommodates Yepp child carrier directly. Putting Yepp is a pretty common use case with cargo bikes and some brands offer direct compatibility. Looking from the side, there seems to be enough clearance to put the carrier directly, and I really wish I could do that, to save the weight and to lower the center of gravity.
Top Tube Connection -- The connection of top tube is secured by two screws. After about 2 months of riding the bike, I realized the bike started handling a bit funny. I thought the head set was loose, but it wasn't, and I couldn't tell what was wrong. Later, I realized that the saddle swung to the side while turning, and realized that it was those screws being loose. I tightened them and the problem was gone. Just like the problem with the stand (below), it is probably just a thing that you need to pay attention when it is assembled, but it is something every owner should be aware of.
Top Tube Connection -- The connection of top tube is secured by two screws. After about 2 months of riding the bike, I realized the bike started handling a bit funny. I thought the head set was loose, but it wasn't, and I couldn't tell what was wrong. Later, I realized that the saddle swung to the side while turning, and realized that it was those screws being loose. I tightened them and the problem was gone. Just like the problem with the stand (below), it is probably just a thing that you need to pay attention when it is assembled, but it is something every owner should be aware of.
What we didn't like the bike about:
It is slow -- The bike is slow. There is no way around it. I think it is mostly the weight and the position. (The bike is setup for my wife, who prefers a much higher position than me.) And maybe the drag by the child career? (But I didn't notice the difference when I was riding the Troll.) My commute is 7 miles in NYC, which is mostly flat with some rollers including a bridge. It takes about 30mins with my single speed bike (with really slow puncture resistant tires), but it takes at 35-40mins with this bike.
Shifter -- We chose 1x8 as the set up, and it came with Microshift's grip-shifter, which was super crappy. It required a lot of torque to shift every time and it sometimes got stuck in the middle. It was too annoying and dangerous, I immediately replaced the shifter with a simple thumb shifter, and the difference was night and day. (I also changed the grip while I was at it... 😄)
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Stand -- The bike comes with a stand but we had three minor annoyances with it: 1) The rubber caps on the tip of the stand came off immediately after we started riding. I think by day 2, we lost them both. The stand is reasonably wide (which is a good thing, I guess) and I feel like those tips naturally get hooked by many things, so some extra device is needed to secure the rubber caps. 2) The legs can be separated with screws. It is probably just the screws were not tightened enough originally, but one of the legs came off when I hooked to something while pushing the bike, just on the 2nd day. It is nice that they are adjustable, but I feel like there could be a securer way to accommodate that. and lastly 3) The stands are pulled up by a rubber band and I don't think it is pulling the stand well enough. I need to push the stand up with my food every time I push it up. So the rubber band is there so that it won't come down, while you are riding, but not really to pull it up. It is probably by design, but I feel like there could be a better way.
Conclusion
In general, we are happy with the bike and my complaints above may be moot points. I would recommend the bike to anyone with a similar situation but would bring up the observations above.
In general, we are happy with the bike and my complaints above may be moot points. I would recommend the bike to anyone with a similar situation but would bring up the observations above.
Also if you don't mind a bigger wheel and prefer a cheaper price, Yuba seems like a good option. On the other hand, if you prefer the small rear wheel / low step-through and don't mind a higher price, Edgerunner (or Edgerunner Swoop!) seems like a great option.
