Maxi bikes for kids and cones: cargo bike test met with a good response
Created: 09/25/2022, 18:13
By: Christina Jachert-Maier
The municipal councilors Martina Ettstaller (middle back), Laura Wagner (red helmet) and Marina Kaulfersch (yellow helmet) as well as the cycling officer Veronika Simon (pink jacket) also came to test ride.
© RP
The kids and the shopping on the cargo bike, which is surprisingly easy to ride as an electric model: that's the trend.
Twelve models were available for test rides at the Cargobike Roadshow in Gmund.
Gmund
- In order to find the best family pack donkey, Kathleen Hermsen (35) drove with her husband and two daughters, three and six years old, from Munich to Gmund for the Cargobike Roadshow.
Public, of course.
"We don't have a car," says Hermsen.
Instead, there are two cargo bikes in the garage, one of which is too small for the proficiently grown offspring.
The young family has a successor model in mind.
"But we wanted to try it out, and it wasn't available in Munich," reports Hermsen, while her husband and their two children set off for a test drive in the large parking lot in Seeglas.
Twelve electric models from twelve manufacturers are available there.
Price range: 3500 to 7500 euros.
Jessica Gnant, coordinator at Cargobike, is very satisfied with the response in Gmund.
"By noon we already had around 30 testers",
she says.
"That's very good."
Make you want to ride a cargo bike
The Cargobike Roadshow has been touring Germany since 2016.
The project is financed by the Working Group for Cycle-Friendly Municipalities (AGFK) and the manufacturers of the cargo bikes.
In Gmund there are also e-cargo scooters to be tested, developed and presented by Franz Zehnendmaier from Kreuth.
Otherwise, the scooters are not part of the Cargobike show.
Their team advises independently of the manufacturer, no bikes are sold.
The aim is to get as many people as possible enthusiastic about a cargo bike.
Compared to the beginnings, interest has grown a lot, reports Gnant.
Young families in particular now like to use cargo bikes to transport children and shopping.
Municipality of Gmund wants to create infrastructure
Fritz Joachim from Gmund, already retired, does not belong to the target group, but is interested nonetheless.
"Maybe I'll need a tricycle soon," he jokes.
However, he does not know where in Gmund he can even ride a cargo bike.
Even with a normal e-bike, this is not without risk: "The trucks will sweep you off the road."
Creating the right infrastructure for the maxi bike is a big issue, says Mayor Alfons Besel, who is also testing a few models: "We're working on it." In rural areas, he says, you can't do without the car entirely.
But every ride for which a bike is used is a win.
"And you take your bike when it's convenient." That means: when there are safe bike paths and comfortable parking spaces.
The municipality wants to take care of both – also with a view to cargo bikes.
Besel notes that more and more of them are now on the move in Gmund.
