Family bikes & Cargo trikes

We carry four styles of cargo bike, all suited for different needs. Here's a short description of each of them:

Utility bikes- An electric utility bike is to us is any bike which has a rear rack, and a frame mounted front rack. These bikes are best for someone who doesn't need to carry a huge amount of stuff, but still wants the ability to carry significantly more than you usually could on an a regular bike. 

Midtails- These bikes are a step up in size from utility bikes. They can usually carry a full grown adult or one or two children on the back, whereas the utility bikes generally you need to have a child seat and can only carry a smaller child. Despite this, Mid-tails still feel and ride much like an ordinary bicycle since the overall length of the bike is very similar.

Longtails - Like an ordinary bike but with a really long rack on the back. They ride much like an ordinary bike but have the ability to carry big loads of stuff or up to three children depending on the model chosen.  They also grow as your family grows, since they are just as capable of carrying a full grown adult as they are of carrying toddlers. Date night anyone? 

Front Loaders - These bikes have a large cargo bay or box between the front wheel and the handlebar. Great for loading kids or gear into without needing to strap things down. They generally have an optional rain cover, allowing all weather riding while keeping your precious cargo dry and warm. This style of cargobike is particularly popular in Europe and is becoming much more familiar in New Zealand.

For more information about the different styles of cargo bike that we carry, click here.

A cargo bike is simply a bicycle designed to carry more than one rider and their light baggage, this may be a full week’s shopping, a couple of kids, building materials, a lazy friend, or a combination of all of them. Generally, they are designed to have such high carrying capacities that they can truly act as car replacements in an urban or suburban environment.

Most of our full size cargo bikes can carry up to 100kg of cargo weight in addition to the rider, so likely your legs will determine how much you can (or want) to take with you. Our team is always happy to chat and discuss how you can carry the loads you’ve got in mind for your new cargo bike. For a more detailed post about cargo bike load capacities, click here.

Cargo bikes are put under very different loads than standard bikes and ours are all built to withstand this heavy use. However, when it is time for a tune-up it’ll be important to make sure you use a mechanic experienced with cargo bikes and that they can get the proper replacement parts for your ride. Items like brake pads, chains, and wheels come under considerably more strain than on a conventional bike and should be selected specifically for this task. The team at Bicycle Junction is always about to help you keep your cargo bike running tip-top. For more information about how often you should get your bike serviced, click here.

Absolutely. With a bit of practice and time, all our cargo bikes are very achievable to ride and a lot of fun. If you're unsure about whether you'll be able to handle a fully-loaded up cargo bike, we made a post adressing this specific question here.

The best way to see for yourself whether you'll be able to manage one of these bikes is just by taking them for a test ride. If you want to book a test ride for one of our bikes, then you can do so here. If you're unsure of what you should test ride first, then either pop into store or give us a ring and we'll work from there.