Cargo Bikes
Browse used cargo bikes for sale from riders across the UK. These are load-carrying bikes and trikes built around a stretched wheelbase or a box between the front wheel and the rider, with payload ratings that commonly run from 80kg to over 200kg once you include children, shopping and tools. The category covers family school-run bikes, trade bikes and electric versions of both.
What types of cargo bike are there?
Three shapes dominate. Longtails such as the Tern GSD and Yuba Mundo extend the rack behind the saddle, ride much like an ordinary bike and fit through a standard doorway. Two-wheel front-loaders — the long john, such as the Bullitt or Urban Arrow, steered through a linkage rod running under the box — keep the load in sight but take practice at walking pace. Box trikes like Christiania and Babboe stand up unaided, which is what sells them to parents loading toddlers, at the cost of width and a genuine tipping point in fast corners.
Cargo bike or Dutch bike?
A Dutch bike carries a rider, a pannier and perhaps one child seat, upright and unhurried. A cargo bike is designed around the load first: longer wheelbase, stronger brakes, a lower deck and often a 20-inch front wheel to keep the box height down. Two children and a weekly shop need the cargo bike; a two-mile commute with a rucksack does not, and a hybrid with a rack sits comfortably between the two.
Do I need the electric version?
UK pedal-assist rules cap the motor at 250W with assistance ending at 15.5mph, which moves 100kg of load along the flat but says nothing about hills. Unassisted cargo bikes are fine on level ground and short trips. If your route has anything steep, or the bike has to work every weekday, the motor is what decides whether it actually gets ridden. Weight counts too: an empty e-cargo bike can pass 40kg, which is hard work to push home if the battery dies.
What wears out on a used cargo bike?
Load punishes everything. Hold the front wheel and turn the bars on a front-loader — vague, clonky steering means worn rod ends in the linkage, the most common fault on high-mileage long johns. Look hard at brake wear, because a loaded bike eats pads and can dish a rim or warp a rotor, and check the double kickstand's springs and feet, the box for cracks around its mounting bolts, and child harnesses for frayed webbing. On an electric model, ask for charge cycles and a range figure from recent riding; the battery pack is a large share of what you are paying.
How much should a used cargo bike cost?
Unassisted longtails and box trikes lose value slowly and are the sensible used buy, particularly from a family whose children have outgrown the box. Electric ones need the battery discounted into the price, since a pack well past 500 charge cycles will not deliver the range the seller remembers. New is worth considering for the motor and frame warranty, both of which take real punishment here. Compare against the rest of the city bikes before committing the storage space, because a long john needs the length of a car.