A Dutch Cargo Bike in North East Adelaide
I've been looking at cargo bikes for at least a year, as a way of reducing our car dependence (maybe even replace a second car), encouraging an active lifestyle for The Boy, and just because they look like fun.
Adelaide should be an ideal place for cargo bikes - our climate suites riding, and our terrain is mostly flat. You don't see them around much though. My guess is this is due to sprawl and limited cycling infrastructure1.
There's another issue: cargo bikes are hard to get hold of in Adelaide, and Australian prices for electric cargo bikes are high. Dutch Cargo Bike import a decent range, but they're in Melbourne, so you'd have to purchase without going for a test ride. You'd be looking at AU$11k for an Urban Arrow, North of 13k for a Riese and Müller Load, $10k for a Larry vs Harry Bullitt. 99Bikes have had the Cube Cargo listed as coming soon for 6 months so far, from $8k.
It's a big up front investment if you and/or a significant other is unsure whether a cargo bike can really replace a car. Indeed, the Load 75, kitted out with kid seats and other accessories, is more than double what we paid for our second car. Especially since you don't see them much around here - are you willing to risk being one of the the only people crazy enough for a cargo bike in Adelaide?
So I kept an eye on Gumtree for months, to see whether any kind of cargo bike would appear.
The Gazelle Cabby
Eventually, this Gazelle Cabby appeared, and I grabbed it. We don't really see Gazelle much in Australia, but they are one of the biggest Dutch bike companies. The Cabby is a non-electric front loading cargo bike with a twist. Where most cargo bikes use a wood or EEP foam box, the Cabby has a removable soft walled box that folds. This makes it take up less room when stored and probably also makes the bike a bit lighter. It has a bench seat with 3x seat belts for children, comes with rain and shade covers, and even has points for a Maxi-Cosi capsule, if that's important2.
I say "a bit lighter" but it's still a chunky 38kg. On the flat you don't really notice - being Dutch the setup is for easy cruising of flat terrain. That would be fine for most of Adelaide, but the North-Eastern suburbs have a few ups and downs. Low gear isn't quite low enough to get up the hills around here without a struggle, and the highest gear isn't quite high enough for pedalling downhill. The roller brakes, which I had never heard of before, don't have quite enough stopping power. The 13km ride home from the previous owner in Norwood was pleasent along Linear Park, but quite the workout towards the end.
But so far, it's a lot of fun.
And can it replace a car?
The goal for the moment is to use a car less. The fact is that most car trips are short - easily doable by bike and sometimes even on foot. Almost half of all car trips are less than 5km3, which is kinda crazy.
Our local shops and childcare are both less than 1.5km from home. Getting to Tea Tree Gully Library and the playground at Civic Park is a nice casual ride through Edinburgh Reserve. These kinds of trips are easy and safe by bike. Even a Bunnings run is trivial.
The uphill struggle on this bike is real though. But there's a solution for that, which we will get to soon: ELECTRIFICATION!
Notes
- More on that later
- Is a baby capsule on a bike technically legal in SA? The only info I can find states riders need to wear a helmet. But a capsule designed for high speed car travel is surely incredibly safe at the 20-25km of a cargo bike? Maybe a gap in the law because nobody foresaw this being a thing? They don't make bike helmets for infants!
- Yeah the best stats I could find are from NSW and are a few years out of date. Any links to some SA data?