Cargo bikes are a useful as cars

Bicycling is fun if you live by the beach or are still in junior high, but grown-ups need a car. That sentiment, or something like it, seems to me more or less a fixture in Los Angeles, where many people believe using a car is a necessity.

No matter how expensive gas, parking, maintenance, and insurance become, the car is what economists call an inelastic good, something we will pay for no matter how much we have to pay.

But what if a bicycle could replace a car?

Let’s bracket for the moment habit, infrastructure, social pressure, and other reasons one might not bicycle and focus on this simple practical issue. A bicycle just can’t do what a car can do, can it?

Of course, almost any bicycle can replace a car for things like a trip to Downtown Culver City for dinner, drinks, and a movie. Add a basket or some panniers and you are set up to commute to work and maybe run some light errands.

A bike trailer adds even more capacity. However, if you upgrade to a cargo bike you can get something that will replace your car for the vast majority of the trips you take.

Cargo bikes are the SUVs and station wagons of the cycling world, but without the obscene gas prices and accompanying carbon footprint. For decades cargo bikes have been used in Europe and Asia for transportation and delivery, often carrying loads that would appear staggeringly inappropriate to the casual observer.

But those in the know realize such duties are easily and conveniently accomplished with the right bike. These days, cargo bikes are versatile enough and practical enough to do almost anything, and there are many versions that are ideal for urban use.

“Bakfiets” encompass a few different types of cargo bikes, several of which look something like a bike with a wheelbarrow affixed to a frame. These bikes can hold a good deal of cargo, and can take accessories that include seats and rain covers, should you decide to use the bike to shuttle your children around or take a friends to the movies.

“Metrofiet”-style bikes are still used to carry loads around major cities in Europe, where the small, cramped streets of medieval cities make even small cars impractical.

Xtracycle is a company that makes a frame modification—the Freeradical—that can turn almost any bike into a “longtail” cargo bike by extending the wheelbase and attaching heavy-duty panniers and a sturdy deck.

For several years I used an Xtracycle Freeradical on a cheap $50 Craigslist bicycle. However, having found it useful enough that I was telling curious neighbors that it “changed my life,” I eventually upgraded to a Surly Big Dummy, which is a dedicated frame made to Xtracycle specifications. The Yuba Mondo and the Trek Transport are similar designs by different companies.

The advantages of the longtail-style bikes are substantial. The most noticeable benefit is that they feel and ride like a normal bike, something that is not necessarily true of Bakfiets and other more unusual frames. A longtail bike corners, accelerates, stops, and handles in a manner very, very similar to the bike you learned to ride on.

My current rig can easily carry my two daughters—though these days they prefer to ride their own bikes—along with two weeks of groceries, and seedlings from the Farmer’s Market. I’ve carried my surfboard and gear to the beach, lumber from Home Depot for various project, bundles of firewood for the backyard fire, and many other things. My next goal is to do a full camping trip in the local mountains by bike, with the children in tow, from Culver City.

There is a co-op of cargo bike enthusiasts in Portland who gather together to help people move on weekends, and you can find pictures online of a small swarm of cyclists carrying boxes, dressers, beds, and all manner of other possessions from home to home. It’s astonishing what one can accomplish with one of these bikes with a bit of ingenuity.

You may never move house by bike, carry lumber to a construction site, or take a long bike-camping trip (and if you do, you can always consider one of a number of electric assist components for your bike); but the point of these examples is simply to suggest that your bike can do much more than you suppose.

About half of the time we leave our home it is for a trip of two miles or less; however, ninety percent of those trips are made in personal automobiles. Bicycles cost less to buy, less to maintain, use no fuel (other than what you are already eating), are easier to park, contribute to your health, and, as I’ve just suggested, can accomplish almost everything you’d want to do in your car.

Take a look at some cargo bikes, if for no other reason than to stretch your imagination. You can always start easy by throwing on a backpack and taking your existing bike the next time you need to run to the market or meet friends for dinner downtown.