Cargobike recommendations and advice

Hi! I saw the title of your post while on my phone on the couch, read the first paragraph or so and jumped up and ran to the computer. I love talking about my bike!

I have an Urban Arrow Family, circa 2024 (not the newer model that seems sleek as hell). For me, a new bike was just always going to be better than the old 1990s steel frame road bike I had from college, pulling an old burley trailer. I used that bike, with a front/handlebar mount, for my first kid through babyhood before getting the trailer when they were old enough for it. The new Urban Arrow was purchased the week our second kid was born. We only have one small car, and bought the bike instead of another car. I waited until she was about 2.5 months old to put her in a NUNA car seat, with the car seat adapter. She's 16 months now, and today I hit 2,000 miles on the bike. The other kid is 5 years old right now.

We bike year round, in Minneapolis Minnesota. I have snow tires with the spikes, and getting those swapped in the fall and spring is my twice annual visit to the bike shop where they just check things over. I bike about every day, through the winter as well, though this last winter I took a month long break during our federal occupation. The bike does well in the snow on the streets, though you definitely move a bit slower out of caution. It's nice not having a chain or exposed derailleur, instead just a belt drive with internal shimano hub. But, the belt did break on one winter day. Both shops I engaged with (one was closer to me, the other was where I bought the bike) were flabbergasted, and the belt manufacturer called me for details, because apparently that very rarely happens so they wanted the details. It was under warranty and everything was fixed up once the new belt arrived.

We also have the rain cover for the bucket, so I've strung up little battery powered fairy lights inside to give some extra light during the winter. Then I bundle the kids up and pile a puffy blanket on them. I've never heard complaints about cold. The baby, about 9-12 months old at this point, frequently got her naps done in the bike and frequently was left outside in the bike in front of a coffee shop to finish up a nap while I got some hot brew. The "cafe lock" on the back wheel is excellent for this purpose.

I'm going to switch to bullet points otherwise this will be a novel. These are the points I bring up when talking to people about it, which happens several times a week-- people ask and I'm chatty about it:

Urban Arrow points

• When I'm doing preschool pickup and the kids are all muddy from playing in puddles, a lot of parents agonize over filthy kids in the back seat of their car....I don't. I just put them in the bike, muddy shoes and all, and by the time we are home the mud has dried, flaked off, and fallen out the bottom of the bike onto the road. Same goes for wet kids at the pool- let them air dry.
• At preschool pickup, the parents call my bike the "mobile playground". I've had 7-8 kids playing on my bike at once, hanging off the bucket, sitting on the seat, standing on each peddle....they love it. The little siblings (2 year olds) love to sit in it, too, and play with the buckles, the bell, the light.
• At preschool pickup, I pull right up to the door or bring it to the sidewalk near the play area, and don't have to worry about parking spots. In fact, you'll rarely think about parking at all, anywhere (sometimes you will, though). With my bike right there, I have my bluetooth speaker, snacks, easy drop-off of school crafts into my panniers.
• My kids love riding in it. I'm not sure if that's partly because they just expect it, or they actually like it. But my 16mth kid points at the backdoor in the morning until she is in it. She happily seats herself. When we are parked somewhere, she has no qualms just sitting in it either buckled or unbuckled. She has taken more naps in it than outside of it. It's easier to talk to my older kid, and point at things.

General points about e-bikes:

• It's so nice to be able to bike as far as I want without having to worry about the return trip. The assurance that comes from "I can just use some assist on the way back" means less mental overhead when planning or wondering if you should turn back mid-trip.
• I used to volunteer at a place, and on my old bike I was guaranteed to be sweating bullets in the summer months when I arrived. With the e-bike, I could more casually pedal and arrive with a dry shirt.
• I hear a lot of people say "but ebikes mean you aren't getting the exercise of a normal bike". But if e-assist means you are going to be on the bike much more often, you are still exercising more. And, any reasonable ebike will be pedal assist, and you can increase or decrease the level of assist on the fly with a button. 60-70% of my trips are "no assist", and the other 30-40% is split between the lowest and second lowest level of assist....very rarely do i touch the top two levels ("sport" and "turbo"), and almost always on accident. You can keep exercising as much as you want to, but you can go further than you normally would and be confident you'll be able to get back home.
• Don't worry so much about range, is the impression I've got. When buying an electric car, range is very important for many people. If it runs out of juice, you are boned. But with a pedal assist bike you can always just pedal home. It might suck, but you can do it. And, if you know you have a long trip ahead of you, you can wisely manage your power and really extend it. I think my highest mileage in a single day was about 38 miles, and I believe I came home with ~30% of battery remaining. A few times a week I do 12-16 miles a day and I don't even bother starting with a full charge or charging it when I get home. What I tell people is "you (or your kids) will get bored of the ride before you run out of battery". Edit: I just remembered that I talked to someone who took their 5 year old on an UA from La Crosse, WI to Wisconsin Dells, WI, a 100 mile trip, and had no issues.
• The assist is most useful for hills, and for "getting off the line" at a stoplight where you are with traffic. Doing the little "wobble" from stopped to going isn't a good idea when you've got cars around you, so having some power to maintain a straight line helps. But once you've got some inertia behind your 112lb bike (before kids/gear), it rolls nice.

Extra Bits

• We had the car seat adapter which worked well with a Nuna car seat. Keep the springs greased up, though, they can get squeeky which stinks if you have a sleeping baby. The car seat faces you from the front of the bucket. The older kid, 4 at the time, easily slipped her legs under the car seat. This was great because we could also have a third kid in there on the bench seat, too.
• We've moved to a "toddler" seat that straps to the normal bench seat, side by side with the now 5 year old. Unfortunately, this means we can't bring a friend with us. They do sell a "front bench" too, but we just aren't going to spring for it.
• I have two big pannier bags on the back. These are just nice for the extra storage but also organization. Keeps stuff safe for when muddy shoes are coming into the bucket, and I stored the puffy blanket and big-ass chain lock in it. Sidenote: I don't use that chain lock much, but keep it with me in case I feel it's needed.
• I recently bought a Schleptastic Tow Monster, for pulling a 20in kid bike. I haven't had much experience with it yet (I got it last week), but I had an unsupported rear rack but through emails with the owner of Schleptastic we figured it out. Jonah there was fantastically communicative and supportive.
• I have a Wonderboom bluetooth speaker that just fits inside my expandable water bottle holder, and I basically can't ride a bike without it.

closing

I recommend bikes. I recommend e-bikes. I recommend cargo ebikes. I recommend a bakfiets (front bucket). Our urban arrow has been good, but I'm sure they all are nice. One knock against it is that it is big. For us, in a single stall garage, it barely fits with our small car. But it does fit, and if we had bought another car we definitely would not have had enough room for both cars. We don't pay for gas. Or car repairs. We do pay for bike insurance to cover theft, but that's <$200 year.

The tagline I always tell people who ask about cost: "It's a very expensive bike, but a very cheap car".

Happy to answer questions!