A closer look at the Bullitt

There are a few different types of cargo bike, and for each type, many different manufacturers. We chose the Larry vs Harry Bullitt for a few reasons:

1. 2 wheels, not 3. We liked the fact that it would ride more like a regular bike, and that like a regular bike you can take it around corners at speed. It seemed to us that the 3-wheelers were more stable at low speeds, and 2-wheelers at higher speeds. 2-wheel cargobikes seem to all come with excellent stands, so there was no issue with the bike staying upright while being loaded or unloaded.

2. (Relatively) Lightweight, with no motor. There are hills in every direction from our place. It was important that the bike was as light as possible to help me pedal up them! We considered the alternative of an electric-assist bike but seeing as one of the points of having a cargobike was for getting exercise, we figured that was a bit silly. After all, we do have a car, and it has a motor. The main reason the Bullitt is light is its aluminum frame. Cheaper cargobikes are usually made of hi-ten steel, which is heavy.

3. High quality components. We knew we were going to use the bike a lot. We reckon we could potentially get at least 7 years of child-carrying from it. Lesser componentry might not last the distance. This should hold up well and also have value left if we choose to on-sell the bike after a few years.

4. Sporty geometry. We considered the more upright Dutch-style cargobikes but we're used to riding road bikes and the super-high handlebars just felt weird to us. Also, the Bullitt's more aerodynamic position means we can travel a bit further or a bit faster without extra effort, and since our place is 10km from the city we needed to make that kind of distance commutable.

What did we do to research all this? We attended a Cargo Bike Picnic where distributors of all the cargo bike brands in Melbourne were offering test rides. We hauled each other around the park to see how the bikes performed under load. We also talked to lots of people about their experiences with the bikes. Baudman and Barefoot, two cargobike owners from the BV Forums, have been inspirational in the way they've shared their day-to-day cargobike stories, and helped us envisage high usage being possible. Barefoot was actually one of the first local importers, and he spec'd out a low-cost cargobike from China and imported a whole containerload, back when euros were expensive and almost no-one was importing any kind of cargobike anyway. With the company, Cargocycles.com.au, he was quite the unassuming trailblazer! I test-rode Baudman's CargoCycle back in 2009. Dutch Cargo Bike Australia can thank Baudman for the cargobike marketing efforts he's made over the years, online and in person. I know he's insanely jealous of the Bullitt, and it's really thanks to him that we came to know about cargo bikes and saw that one would work as part of our everyday lives.


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