Old Cargo Bike– New Cargo Bike

Nothing says "serious cyclist" like a dinosaur horn

My old town bike.  It has no name- just “the dino[saur] bike”.

It was my first “real” mountain bike (a 1989 Marin Eldridge Grade), reincarnated as a load carrying, ugly-as-sin urban assault machine.  I bought at the end of summer in college- after painting houses all summer and saving my pennies.  Looks terrible, rides great.  I rarely bother to lock it, after all who would steal a rusty beat-to-hell, bike with a big basket and pink rack ($3 on closeout!).

Cargo bikes are all the rage now.  Only happy people seem to ride cargo bikes, merrily tooling along with their groceries or kids on the back.  I’ve had cargo bike envy for a while now and picked up a new Yuba Mundo at a charity silent auction.  I wasn’t really expecting to win, but I was the only bidder.  Half price cargo bike!

I can fit 3 bags of groceries on my old Marin town bike.  The Yuba Mundo can easily fit 6-8 bags of groceries, and a host of other weird loads.  As much as I try not to get attached to stuff, I just can’t bear to part with the old “dino bike” after 20+ years of riding it.  I did my first mountain bike races on it back in the 90s, and it’s been reliable for many thousand miles.

Here are a few pics of the old and new cargo bikes.  I’ve had the Yuba Mundo for a few months now and will post a complete review of it soon, as well as some how-to instructions.

The Dino Bike in action- with Daisy bike dog

The Dino Bike on it’s way to a backcountry trailhead to install trail signage in Tahoe.  Daisy bike dog is smiling, because she gets to run and swim soon.  I actually purchased the trailer just for Daisy.  Driving a couple miles to a trailhead so that I could take Daisy for a run seems ridiculous.  The trailer has since had lots of crazy loads of stuff, dog, stuff+dog, etc.

U-G-L-Y! But reliable.

Old and new. The Yuba is almost as long as the Dino Bike with a trailer

The Yuba Mundo can fit 6+ bags of groceries with both bags! The Marin can fit 3 bags of groceries and a springer spaniel!

Tagged as: bakfiets, cargo bike, utility bike, xtracycle, yuba, Yuba Mundo