I’ve had a Yuba Spicy Curry for coming up to about six years now, and done nearly 20,000 km on it.
It’s a joy to ride, and my daughter has loved riding to school on the back of it as much as I’ve loved riding it. The handling is just so predictable and stable that (when she’s not on the back) you can push it through corners safely way faster than a cargo bike has any right to go..,
Put it this way - we’re now reaching the point where she can ride to school easily enough on her own bike, but I’m considering keeping the Spicy Curry anyway because it’s just such a nice way to ride to work. Ride is rough as guts, but I believe they’ve fitted front suspension to the new models which should take some of the sting out of it.
A bit, yeah. The Short Haul is a much simpler bike (and light enough to put in a standard repair stand), so it’s mostly not a big deal. I Did Not Love that time the drive side pedal stripped out the threads on the crank and I realized it was a proprietary Tern part. And I Do Not Love either of Tern’s solutions to raise the chainline above kickstand height. Our friend with the HSD called me first for a flat rear tire as well, and that was genuinely too intimidating for me to attempt a field repair given the internal hub and belt drive under the circumstances — but after staring at it for a while, I think it’s achievable. As a roadie here, though: I have absolutely no idea how to maintain suspension components, and it seems a huge pain.
All that said, the GSD is on the shortlist of bikes I’d just buy without thinking too hard if a reasonably well cared for used model magically appeared on Craigslist or what have you.
Indeed they have! This is very good to hear. That Yuba is also on my shortlist of “things I’d just stop thinking and buy if someone listed a well-maintained used one nearby”. A few families in my neighborhood have Kombis and love them (though my household is committed to electric, for better and worse). They seem very sturdy and well-built.
We are likely to go electric, yeah. Though it is flat as a pan where we live, the other half will simply ride more that way — and that is worth a lot. Have you found an independent steering damper is necessary even with front suspension? Offhand, I’d considered a suspension stem or newfangled elastomeric headset as well, if sticking to something mechanically simpler (like the Quick Haul Long @caley_fretz is testing). Even at whatever my meager maximum speed is on the mechanical Short Haul, and with intentional tire pressure choices, that thing is h a r s h.
Another GSD owner here. We paid for it by selling our second car, and it’s been a perfect replacement. My son was twelve at the time and I gave him rides on it for a couple of years. I do 95% of all my shipping with it.
Yes, working on it is a pain in the ass. I did get a canoe lift that allows me to lift it up to work on it much more easily. I’ve gotten studded tires for winter riding and it handles great on snowy and icy roads.
I’ve got a Yuba Kombi with 2 kids. It’s not powered and it’s rad. It rides really good with 1 kid, with both of them on board you really need something in the front basket to get more weight over the front axle otherwise the steering gets way lighter and it’s less fun.
Within the monkey bars, it’ll just fit a Yepp seat at the back for a smaller kid with room for a bigger one in front sitting on the Yuba soft spot seats.
I have a Bike Friday Haul-a-Day, without any electric assist.
I like the form factor of the small wheels and a cargo bike that can carry 2 kids and still fit in normal bicycle spaces.
I’d definitely go with a Tern or more another more polished platform and probably electric assist if I was doing it again, but for me the Bike Friday was a good deal, and I was able to delete a bunch of parts that I was able to supply from my parts bin further lowering the cost.
I don’t mind the small wheels for my purposes. Sometimes it is annoying, with some weird handling and a bumpy ride, but I was able to fit in the normal secure bike cage at work and also it is easy to store.
The low centre of gravity is also great, especially as the kids got heavier. They now (9 and 12) are too big to ride together, but it’s still good for one, and also for big grocery shopping trips.
In sum, I don’t love it, but as a utilitarian vehicle it’s been a good set of compromises for me.
We have a globe haul Lt and love it. I’ve put about 1500 miles in it since we got it in April.
It’s super heavy, but surprisingly “playful” with its 20in fat tires and long wheel base. I leave it in the level 1 assist and it feels shockingly similar to a standard road setup in terms of speed and effort fully loaded. The class 3 motor is great for keeping pace with traffic on 25-30mph speed limit areas and the big 3.5” tires at 20ish psi smooth out the bumps enough for us.
I zip tied a big 24x16 collapsible crate on the front rack and have two hard sided front pannier buckets too. It has a pretty large road presence with these and the kid cage out back, but it kinda works for the bike. We’re generally given more space than I’m used to on my race bike with car passes.
One perk, is that the rear rack has the Mk plus attachment system, so the kid seats are on and off in 10 seconds and I can through a large storage bin in the space the kids go for big grocery trips, etc.
Part of my is interested in looking at a Petite Porteur and building one up to spec, but I think I’m mostly just trying to recreate the haul in a “cooler” package. Big fan of the large crate and panniers out front with the kids out back.
My wife and I can adjust the seat really quickly to share it too. Other things I’ve done with ours is strap the kids bikes to the back of the kid cage for 10 mile trips to a park. It just works. Way more convenient than any car or mini van in the city.
I’ve ridden a Big Dummy for over 10 years (since before we had kids) & still think it is my favorite bike ever for urban errands. I use a very upright position and a lot of saddle setback to move my center of mass back, and it has helped tame some of the handling quirks.
The kids are getting heavier, so we shopped for an electric cargo bike this year. My wife and I didn’t love the handling of the longtails we tried, especially the Tern GSD with how over the front wheel you feel when riding it. It is truly an amazing design with how compact it is for storage, but it is not for me. If the price had been lower though or if we had less storage space I would have bought one. So, I guess my advice is to test ride as much as possible.
We probably would have bought a Surly Big Easy, but it was impossible to find one to test ride and my wife fell in love with the electric Bullitt. And the Bullitt is a wonderful experience riding around with the kids, especially when they are in the rain bubble, and it blocks most of the rain for the rider too. On the other hand, locking it up in the city or storing it is absolutely annoying.
Just to be clear*, steering damper I am talking about is a spring between back of the fork crown and the underside of the top of the down tube. Stopped the front wheel flopping when unloading cargo and also helped to settle down the noodley steering that the ute had - it was alloy so nowhere near stiff enough when loaded heavily. Never had suspension, didn’t need it with the big wheels.
Kids however kept growing and the storage space it required was very very real. Replaced it with a cannondale cargowagon and have been ok with that as a replacement. Smaller footprint/etc but I do miss the massive cargo capabilities of the urban arrow.
I’ve been running a Trek Transport, modified with an Alfine 11 speed and a bFang mid drive, since 2010. Kids are grown. But it’s made many runs to the grocery store, farmers market and picking up dog food. Also running the dogs with the “walkie Dog system” , and many runs to the microbrewery. I’ve done a few other mods. Last year I put on a Red shift stem and seat post. Next is new tubeless rims and go from 1.5 very heavy built proof rubber to 2.0 “endurance” rubber
I’m another R&M Multicharger fan. Been using it >2x/day on average for 5 years and never regretted the choice. I tried smaller wheel options, Tern GSD specifically, trying to keep it small-ish and still haul 2 kids and/or a few bags of groceries. I much preferred the big(ger) 26” wheels, plus the option for a class 3 “speed” motor. Bigger wheels for better handling/comfort but also higher-up passengers, which I/they prefer despite higher center of gravity, especially for the occasional adult passenger. Chain/derailleur option was better/cheaper and hot-waxed chain keeps drivetrain from wearing out too fast. I live on steep hill in hilly city so I increased brake rotor size & quality, plus I switched to a stem with some reach. My now 8 & 10yos still both fit, with their backpacks on, to school, practices, events, shopping. It’s cozy now that they’re bigger, but still their favorite form of transport. And mine. And when-needed I transport it with a 1.25” hitch mount 1Up regular Quik Rack
I have twin 6yo girls, who ride bikes a lot with me. But we picked up ‘16 Felt Bruhaul in September, to all go to soccer practices, around town shopping, etc on. It’s fantastic. It has just about every accessory - seats on the back, passenger floorboards, passenger wheel protectors, panniers, and a big cage around the back/passengers. It also has large wheels, which I very much enjoy on crappy New England roads. Motor might be a bit unrefined compared to current motors, but it’s powerful and has been doing the job well. Battery life slightly low? Again, may be due to the year, but it’s decent, so manageable. 100% recommend this direction in life.
We have a Tern GSD S10 gen2. It’s my favorite bike, and the best purchase I’ve ever done. Bought it as a car replacement, and have since got a son who’s soon turning three. He also loves it. I use the clubhouse all year around, and put on the «tent» in winter. We have the standard panniers, since they fold flat. That makes it a bit more versatile than the Strombox.
I use it all year around. Down to -20°C and heaps of snow during winter. My only problem is a busted display/controll from to much rain. Covered under warranty.
I change out the chain and brake pads at the same time I switch from/to studded tires. Other than that I haven’t done anything major. Still on original cassette and chainring after almost 6000km!
Since I don’t have any service centers nearby I do everything myself. My feedback sports HD stand can actually hold it if I remove both batteries! Just need a bit of work getting it mounted.
Most service tasks is best done with it in vertical parking mode(the only thing I use that for).
I feel like I’m rambling here, but I simply can not recommend that bike enough. It has made my life easier. And my son has already learnt that biking is the supreme form of transport.
I’ll pipe in as a negative vote on the Spicy Curry. I have the v2 purchased 2018, 9k miles mostly hauling 2 kids that are now 8 and 5. While the design is nice, Yuba’s engineering is not good. The accessories are finicky, rattle and rust. Most of them are designed to fit multiple Yuba bikes so it means there’s always extra bits (that can fail) and the fit is just not very clean. I’ve gone through 3 different style of kickstands that all suck in their own way. At the end of the day, it gets the job done, but if disappeared today, I’d be looking to replace with a Tern.
Probably my favourite topic on here. So good. So thanks everyone. Love all the photos of the cargo set ups too
I’m looking at a Tern GSD vs Yuba Mondo. We’ve got a 4 and 2 year old to cart around and with a 6 week old now - it won’t be long until we’re trying to carry 3 on the bike. It seems like this might be a bit of a squeeze on the Tern, but maybe a tad easier on the Mondo.
any advice or opinions would be great!
Also we’re in Australia, so unfortunately it doesn’t look like I’ll be getting a surly big easy
Dog on a bike! My cat would not like that. But very cute. Thank you for this. The rambling is appreciated. GSD is one of the couple models we’ve committed to test. Maybe I’ll write up “review” thoughts after testing and add to thread when done.
What kind of maintenance “schedule” are you on for the front suspension?
