I live about 3 miles out of town, fortunately directly on a rail trail. I ride my e-bike in to town to get groceries weekly. I have saddlebags on the bike and I pull a kids trailer with the seat folded down and have never run out of room, or had issues with weight. Sometimes I'll even get a few bags of water softener salt. I have a fat tire ebike (aventon), it's pretty sturdy. I've got about 2k miles on the bike, I'd guess half those are from grocery runs.
I see loads of those around my neighborhood, usually ferrying kids.
At the same time, I don't need to go 5 miles for groceries, so you might be picturing using a cargo bike in sparse suburbs. If your built environment is car centric then almost definitionally using any other mode of locomotion is going to be subpar.
We’ve moved the goalposts from “Food, beer, and cat litter would be too heavy for a bike.”
Also, my grocery stores are 0.7, 1.1, and 1.6 miles away, not that it matters. 5 miles is just not very much time at 20-28 mph. I think theft and weather/comfort are bigger obstacles to most people than distance.
You don't think a family of four buys 'food' ? I also get beer occasionally, although sometimes I get it from the corner store a few blocks away.
I do get kitty litter with the car on the occasional trip to Costco because I'm not set on using the bike for every last thing. Just that the eBike makes a lot of things a lot more convenient.
I can get three or four days of food for my family of four on my regular bike with no problem (I also have a cat). I live somewhere where I ride past half a dozen super markets on my regular commute, so stopping at the shop is no big inconvenience.
I live about 3 miles out of town, fortunately directly on a rail trail. I ride my e-bike in to town to get groceries weekly. I have saddlebags on the bike and I pull a kids trailer with the seat folded down and have never run out of room, or had issues with weight. Sometimes I'll even get a few bags of water softener salt. I have a fat tire ebike (aventon), it's pretty sturdy. I've got about 2k miles on the bike, I'd guess half those are from grocery runs.
Are you sure? https://www.r-m.de/en-us/bikes/load5-75/
How many of those have you seen in the US?
None, because noone wants to bike 5 miles for 3 bags of groceries.
Maybe a dozen or so? But if you only have 3 bags of groceries you can just use a regular bike + basket.
I see loads of those around my neighborhood, usually ferrying kids.
At the same time, I don't need to go 5 miles for groceries, so you might be picturing using a cargo bike in sparse suburbs. If your built environment is car centric then almost definitionally using any other mode of locomotion is going to be subpar.
We’ve moved the goalposts from “Food, beer, and cat litter would be too heavy for a bike.”
Also, my grocery stores are 0.7, 1.1, and 1.6 miles away, not that it matters. 5 miles is just not very much time at 20-28 mph. I think theft and weather/comfort are bigger obstacles to most people than distance.
IMO you don't see them in the US because they look, frankly, dorky to an American aesthetic.
You don't think a family of four buys 'food' ? I also get beer occasionally, although sometimes I get it from the corner store a few blocks away.
I do get kitty litter with the car on the occasional trip to Costco because I'm not set on using the bike for every last thing. Just that the eBike makes a lot of things a lot more convenient.
The "food" was a catch-all. Pretty sure that was clear.
Beer and cat litter alone are the heavy items, and don't fit stable in a bike, especially in bad weather.
Plus 2 weeks of groceries, depending on what you need can really add up.
On a bike? Fah-get-a-bout-it. Guess I'd be biking my ass to the store every day.
Or I could live in the present and drive an actual car.
Clearly GP buys 1 day worth of food if he can bike groceries for a family of four.
I had Uber drivers struggle to bike 1 MEAL for my family.
I can get three or four days of food for my family of four on my regular bike with no problem (I also have a cat). I live somewhere where I ride past half a dozen super markets on my regular commute, so stopping at the shop is no big inconvenience.