It’s been 20 years since I last used a bike every day. But I’m returning to cycling because I want to take my children to school and nursery without the horrible sense of guilt from dropping them off in the car, complaints about walking or the juggle of pushchair and public transport at rush-hour.

To replace my car on the daily school run, I need an electrically powered workhorse that will carry two smallish children and the bags of stuff that we lug around wherever we go.

The options, I’m told, are an elongated cargo bike that fits two children on the back, a detachable trailer, or a trike/bike with a giant child bucket on the front.

In an ideal world, it will be powerful enough that I don’t feel dragged down by 30kg of offspring while chugging the household around my hilly London neighbourhood. The longtail electric cargo seems like the best fit for this brief.

There are various “car replacement” bikes on the market with eye-watering price tags. The Tern GSD retails at £5k-plus at the top end. The model I choose to try out is a RadWagon, at the cheapest end of the market, though not actually cheap at more like £2,000 with all the necessary attachments.

My main concern is whether I can keep my wriggling cargo safe. I spend a long time poring over Google maps to figure out a route that avoids buses and sticks to cycle paths and parks as much as possible.

I also research parking, endlessly. And it seems this is one of the main disadvantages of a big, expensive bike. The advice is pretty much never to leave them unattended or on display for long. You can lock them up with as many locks as you like but nothing can stop a determined thief with an angle grinder – even in a public place in broad daylight. I decide it will have to be parked only at home, school or work.

Finally, I am ready to borrow the bike from one of the handful of RadWagon partner outlets in London. It has been shipped and taken a week to “build” – the lead time for an order is usually about 10 days. The bikes are extremely popular in the US and mainland Europe but have not been without their problems, including a recall over tyre issues requiring new kit that took some months to be sent. In the UK, there are more than 500 RadWagon owners, and a handful of service outlets in London.

Turning up at the shop, I admit I’ve never ridden an electric bike before and the assistant laughs, telling me the RadWagon is going “in at the deep end”. It is a beast, at 2 metres in length and 35kg in weight. But after a short trial round a nearby park, I decide to take the plunge and cycle 45 minutes home.

It is in turns both exhilarating and terrifying. At top speed, I am approaching the 25km per hour with little effort on my part. The electric motor makes cycling feel like you’re gliding along. A nimble turn of the “throttle” is enough to almost flatten most hills, with major physical exertion required for only the steepest climbs.

The tech is impressive. It has inbuilt lights that switch on with the electrics, a range of 55-88km a charge, an easy-to-read display and the ability to charge your phone on the go.

The first hitch comes, though, in deciding where to put it. Outside seems too risky and it won’t fit in the shed. I settle for the hall although this could not be a long-term solution given its bulkiness. This is really a bike for people with garage space or the nerves and insurance to keep it chained in the garden under cover.

When it comes to loading on my children, they give it a very positive review as comfy and fun. There are no complaints about the ride to school apart from when I take a speed bump too fast. I’m worried about fights breaking out behind me among tired passengers sitting close together, but they are too busy holding on and enjoying the ride for this to be a problem.

The RadWagon is built to fit two Thule Yepp Maxi child seats for the youngest riders up until the age of about five. They are also not cheap and can be tricky to find secondhand but lovely, durable seats and easy to fit. Older children can ride with legs astride the central seat pads if they are confident holding on. Its maximum weight is 54kg, which is equivalent to about two children up to the age of eight or nine.

Child-carrying cargo bikes are on the increase in London but they are not prevalent everywhere. The RadWagon attracts a lot of attention and compliments. A teenage boy stops to tell me I have “nice wheels” and I get curious looks from other parents. Several friends come round for a test. One who transports her children by non-electric cargo says she likes it but finds it a bit less responsive than her non-electric bucket bike. I still feel it is quite steady, if slightly cumbersome to wheel because of its size, with a low centre of gravity and thick tyres.

It’s time to return the RadWagon and I’m considering whether to buy one of my own. The pull factors are the ease, fun and speed of travel, and the fact the children love it. The downsides are the price, parking and hassle if things go wrong. It feels like this type of cargo cycling is the future in cities – I think this really could replace a car, and be more enjoyable as a vehicle, for most local travel. But on a mass basis, this is only really going to happen as the cost comes down further.

“ditching the car for a car”?

How does that work, then?

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:
> It’s been 20 years since I last used a bike every day. But I’m returning
> to cycling because I want to take my children to school and nursery
> without the horrible sense of guilt from dropping them off in the car,
> complaints about walking or the juggle of pushchair and public transport at rush-hour.
>
> To replace my car on the daily school run, I need an electrically powered
> workhorse that will carry two smallish children and the bags of stuff
> that we lug around wherever we go.
>
> The options, I’m told, are an elongated cargo bike that fits two children
> on the back, a detachable trailer, or a trike/bike with a giant child bucket on the front.
>
> In an ideal world, it will be powerful enough that I don’t feel dragged
> down by 30kg of offspring while chugging the household around my hilly
> London neighbourhood. The longtail electric cargo seems like the best fit for this brief.
>
> There are various “car replacement” bikes on the market with eye-watering
> price tags. The Tern GSD retails at £5k-plus at the top end. The model I
> choose to try out is a RadWagon, at the cheapest end of the market,
> though not actually cheap at more like £2,000 with all the necessary attachments.
>
> My main concern is whether I can keep my wriggling cargo safe. I spend a
> long time poring over Google maps to figure out a route that avoids buses
> and sticks to cycle paths and parks as much as possible.
>
> I also research parking, endlessly. And it seems this is one of the main
> disadvantages of a big, expensive bike. The advice is pretty much never
> to leave them unattended or on display for long. You can lock them up
> with as many locks as you like but nothing can stop a determined thief
> with an angle grinder – even in a public place in broad daylight. I
> decide it will have to be parked only at home, school or work.
>
> Finally, I am ready to borrow the bike from one of the handful of
> RadWagon partner outlets in London. It has been shipped and taken a week
> to “build” – the lead time for an order is usually about 10 days. The
> bikes are extremely popular in the US and mainland Europe but have not
> been without their problems, including a recall over tyre issues
> requiring new kit that took some months to be sent. In the UK, there are
> more than 500 RadWagon owners, and a handful of service outlets in London.
>
> Turning up at the shop, I admit I’ve never ridden an electric bike before
> and the assistant laughs, telling me the RadWagon is going “in at the
> deep end”. It is a beast, at 2 metres in length and 35kg in weight. But
> after a short trial round a nearby park, I decide to take the plunge and
> cycle 45 minutes home.
>
> It is in turns both exhilarating and terrifying. At top speed, I am
> approaching the 25km per hour with little effort on my part. The electric
> motor makes cycling feel like you’re gliding along. A nimble turn of the
> “throttle” is enough to almost flatten most hills, with major physical
> exertion required for only the steepest climbs.
>
> The tech is impressive. It has inbuilt lights that switch on with the
> electrics, a range of 55-88km a charge, an easy-to-read display and the
> ability to charge your phone on the go.
>
> The first hitch comes, though, in deciding where to put it. Outside seems
> too risky and it won’t fit in the shed. I settle for the hall although
> this could not be a long-term solution given its bulkiness. This is
> really a bike for people with garage space or the nerves and insurance to
> keep it chained in the garden under cover.
>
> When it comes to loading on my children, they give it a very positive
> review as comfy and fun. There are no complaints about the ride to school
> apart from when I take a speed bump too fast. I’m worried about fights
> breaking out behind me among tired passengers sitting close together, but
> they are too busy holding on and enjoying the ride for this to be a problem.
>
> The RadWagon is built to fit two Thule Yepp Maxi child seats for the
> youngest riders up until the age of about five. They are also not cheap
> and can be tricky to find secondhand but lovely, durable seats and easy
> to fit. Older children can ride with legs astride the central seat pads
> if they are confident holding on. Its maximum weight is 54kg, which is
> equivalent to about two children up to the age of eight or nine.
>
> Child-carrying cargo bikes are on the increase in London but they are not
> prevalent everywhere. The RadWagon attracts a lot of attention and
> compliments. A teenage boy stops to tell me I have “nice wheels” and I
> get curious looks from other parents. Several friends come round for a
> test. One who transports her children by non-electric cargo says she
> likes it but finds it a bit less responsive than her non-electric bucket
> bike. I still feel it is quite steady, if slightly cumbersome to wheel
> because of its size, with a low centre of gravity and thick tyres.
>
> It’s time to return the RadWagon and I’m considering whether to buy one
> of my own. The pull factors are the ease, fun and speed of travel, and
> the fact the children love it. The downsides are the price, parking and
> hassle if things go wrong. It feels like this type of cargo cycling is
> the future in cities – I think this really could replace a car, and be
> more enjoyable as a vehicle, for most local travel. But on a mass basis,
> this is only really going to happen as the cost comes down further.
>

--
Spike

QUOTE:Finally, I am ready to borrow the bike from one of the handful of RadWagon partner outlets in London. It has been shipped and taken a week to “build” – the lead time for an order is usually about 10 days.ENDS

Thanks to Brexit, what's left of the UK car industry has massive lead times due to a huge shortage of "just in time" car components. 10 days is a doddle.

On 20/06/2023 01:46 pm, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:

> It’s been 20 years since I last used a bike every day. But I’m returning to cycling because I want to take my children to school and nursery without the horrible sense of guilt from dropping them off in the car, complaints about walking or the juggle of pushchair and public transport at rush-hour.

I didn't know you had any children.

Or is this another example of your failing to attribute someone else's
work, thereby falsely claimg it as your own?

[SNIP a further forty-one lines]

On Tuesday, June 20, 2023 at 4:33:17 PM UTC+1, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:
> QUOTE:Finally, I am ready to borrow the bike from one of the handful of RadWagon partner outlets in London. It has been shipped and taken a week to “build” – the lead time for an order is usually about 10 days.ENDS
>
> Thanks to Brexit, what's left of the UK car industry has massive lead times due to a huge shortage of "just in time" car components. 10 days is a doddle.

Going down to zero!

Brexit shutdown slashes UK car production by 45%

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/2BDA/production/_107162211_car.output-nc.png.webp

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:
> QUOTE:Finally, I am ready to borrow the bike from one of the handful of
> RadWagon partner outlets in London. It has been shipped and taken a week
> to “build” – the lead time for an order is usually about 10 days.ENDS
>
> Thanks to Brexit, what's left of the UK car industry has massive lead
> times due to a huge shortage of "just in time" car components. 10 days is a doddle.

Shipping container difficulties due to covid, well broadcast at the time,
and ditto with the chip producers in Taiwan, also well broadcast at the
time, seem to have by-passed you - but don’t let car manufacturer
difficulties throughout the world as a result of these put you off blaming
the problems on Brexit.

You lost, get over it.

--
Spike

JNugent <jnugent@mail.com> wrote:
> On 20/06/2023 01:46 pm, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:
>
>> It’s been 20 years since I last used a bike every day. But I’m returning
>> to cycling because I want to take my children to school and nursery
>> without the horrible sense of guilt from dropping them off in the car,
>> complaints about walking or the juggle of pushchair and public transport at rush-hour.
>
> I didn't know you had any children.
>
> Or is this another example of your failing to attribute someone else's
> work, thereby falsely claimg it as your own?
>
> [SNIP a further forty-one lines]

One wonders from where the sense of guilt arises.

Why should the person concerned feel guilt over an everyday activity?

--
Spike

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:

> Brexit shutdown slashes UK car production by 45%
>
> https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/2BDA/production/_107162211_car.output-nc.png.webp

I just love suppressed-zero graphs - the standard refuge of the
intellectually bereft.

--
Spike

There is no hope for Britain’s car industry … or at least no hope of maintaining the scale and productive capacity that this bedrock of the UK manufacturing sector could boast before the Covid-19 pandemic.

It’s downhill from here.

Brexit is an issue – whatever the business secretary, Kemi Badenoch, says – because being inside the single market and sitting at the top table in discussions about the industry was always going to give the UK more heft when the inevitable Europe-wide carve-up over electric car factory locations happened.

Government policy – or, more accurately, the almost complete lack of it – is probably a much bigger factor when the survival of the entire sector is at stake, as it clearly has been since the Brexit referendum..

And the car industry itself is a problem, especially the dominant players in the UK, which have too often preferred to play chicken over subsidies with a government that lacks a plan and is incapable of making more than incremental, piecemeal decisions.

Things have come to a head after a row with Stellantis, the world’s fourth largest carmaker, which was created when the US-Italian combo Fiat Chrysler merged in 2021 with the PSA group, better known as the owner of Peugeot and Citroen. The group, which also makes Vauxhall vehicles, employs more than 5,000 people in the UK, including 1,000 at its electric van factory in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, and 1,200 at its Luton plant.

The company has warned that a commitment to make electric vehicles in Britain is in jeopardy unless the government renegotiates its Brexit deal with the EU to maintain existing trade rules until 2027. Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has said much the same. So has Ford.

Like a billionaire shopping at Harrods, every car company wants lots of free stuff before they commit to expensive investments. Nissan secured an undisclosed government bung when it recommitted to north-east England before the UK left the EU at the end of 2019. JLR has since secured financial government support, as has Stellantis.

At the heart of the dispute, say the car firms, is the trade and cooperation agreement (TCA) between London and Brussels. It was signed in 2020 and includes “rules of origin” that require 40% of an electric vehicle’s parts by value to originate in the UK or EU in order for it to qualify for trade without tariffs. Most batteries come from China, so it’s a struggle to satisfy the rules. When the threshold rises to 45% next year and 55% in 2027 it will be impossible, carmakers say.

Brussels officials could reasonably blame the car companies and individual governments for a lack of readiness, or at least those that have so far failed to invest.

It looks like JLR and Nissan could end up being the only mass carmakers still operating in the UK five years from now

As an early adopter of electric vehicles, France’s Renault is not making any waves about the new EU rules. The country’s president, Emmanuel Macron, is an enthusiastic supporter and last week welcomed the Taiwanese battery maker ProLogium to Dunkirk, where it will build a large factory, bringing to four the number of gigafactories planned for a stretch of northern France being called “battery valley”.

The billions of euros on offer dwarf the puny sums seen in the UK. Stellantis is believed to have received about £30m to support its stay in Cheshire. The company secured €7bn from the Italian government in subsidies.

It shows that while Badenoch is wrong to say that car firms’ struggle to source batteries “isn’t to do with Brexit”, she would be right if her answer put more stress on the lack of an industrial strategy and meagre amounts of cash on offer.

Ministers also made the mistake of backing lame horses in the race to secure battery production facilities. The ill-fated company Britishvolt was on course to build a gigafactory factory in the north-east worth £3bn with a slug of government money – until it collapsed owing £120m.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that UK manufacturing’s house is on fire, even if the superstructure is burning slowly.

It looks like JLR – now being offered subsidies – and Nissan could end up being the only mass carmakers still operating in the UK five years from now. Toyota’s Burnaston plant near Derby makes hybrid cars and the boss says an assessment will be made at the end of the year about its future. Battery supplies are crucial, he says. Honda has already closed its Swindon plant and Ford and Stellantis may soon up sticks and quit as well.

When the value of an electric car battery can be 50% of the whole car’s worth, the decision about where batteries are produced and whether they fit your vehicle is crucial to future production.

It should be remembered that British factories built only 775,014 cars during 2022, the lowest annual figure since 1956. Production fell 9.8% from 2021, and declined 41% from 2019. The government is to blame for torching the industry far more than Brexit, but quitting the EU has played a part.

On 20/06/2023 08:09 pm, Spike wrote:

> swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Brexit shutdown slashes UK car production by 45%
>>
>> https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/2BDA/production/_107162211_car.output-nc.png.webp
>
> I just love suppressed-zero graphs - the standard refuge of the
> intellectually bereft.

+1.

They've been reading Darrell Huff's "How To Lie With Statistics".

On Tuesday, June 20, 2023 at 8:22:17 PM UTC+1, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:

> QUOTE:
> It looks like JLR and Nissan could end up being the only mass carmakers still operating in the UK five years from now. ENDS
>
NEITHER OF WHICH IS BRITISH - HOW SAD FOR THE GAMMONS.

On 20/06/2023 08:09 pm, Spike wrote:

> JNugent <jnugent@mail.com> wrote:
>> On 20/06/2023 01:46 pm, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:
>
>>> It’s been 20 years since I last used a bike every day. But I’m returning
>>> to cycling because I want to take my children to school and nursery
>>> without the horrible sense of guilt from dropping them off in the car,
>>> complaints about walking or the juggle of pushchair and public transport at rush-hour.
>
>> I didn't know you had any children.
>> Or is this another example of your failing to attribute someone else's
>> work, thereby falsely claim[in]g it as your own?
>>
>> [SNIP a further forty-one lines]
>
> One wonders from where the sense of guilt arises.
>
> Why should the person concerned feel guilt over an everyday activity?

Good question...

On Tuesday, June 20, 2023 at 9:09:34 PM UTC+1, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:
> On Tuesday, June 20, 2023 at 8:22:17 PM UTC+1, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:
>
> > QUOTE:
> > It looks like JLR and Nissan could end up being the only mass carmakers still operating in the UK five years from now. ENDS
> >
> NEITHER OF WHICH IS BRITISH - HOW SAD FOR THE GAMMONS.

Still - they have their own shit in their own rivers now - hurrah!

On 20/06/2023 09:09 pm, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:
> On Tuesday, June 20, 2023 at 8:22:17 PM UTC+1, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:
>
>> QUOTE:
>> It looks like JLR and Nissan could end up being the only mass carmakers still operating in the UK five years from now. ENDS
>>
> NEITHER OF WHICH IS BRITISH - HOW SAD FOR THE GAMMONS.

Thank you for answering my post of 21:05.

Even though your reply is yet more of your usual gibberish.

> Still - they have their own shit in their own rivers now - hurrah!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FzF8UQDWcAEFUz5?format=jpg&name=small

On 20/06/2023 09:28 pm, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:
>
>> Still - they have their own shit in their own rivers now - hurrah!
>
> https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FzF8UQDWcAEFUz5?format=jpg&name=small

Thank you for answering my post of 21:21, even in the gibberish you
employed.

Thanks for correcting your hilariously silly Subject line, in the first
post you made after I pointed it out to you in a post you didn’t see due to
your very own Google Groups Kill File.

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tuesday, June 20, 2023 at 4:33:17 PM UTC+1, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:
>> QUOTE:Finally, I am ready to borrow the bike from one of the handful of
>> RadWagon partner outlets in London. It has been shipped and taken a week
>> to “build” – the lead time for an order is usually about 10 days.ENDS
>>
>> Thanks to Brexit, what's left of the UK car industry has massive lead
>> times due to a huge shortage of "just in time" car components. 10 days is a doddle.
>
> Going down to zero!
>
> Brexit shutdown slashes UK car production by 45%
>
> https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/2BDA/production/_107162211_car.output-nc.png.webp
>

--
Spike

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tuesday, June 20, 2023 at 8:22:17 PM UTC+1, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:
>
>> QUOTE:
>> It looks like JLR and Nissan could end up being the only mass carmakers
>> still operating in the UK five years from now. ENDS
>>
> NEITHER OF WHICH IS BRITISH - HOW SAD FOR THE GAMMONS.

I see the Gammons have stopped swivelling.

If needed, I can post a link to a web site where you can get more Gammon
swivels - just let me know.

--
Spike

On Tuesday, June 20, 2023 at 9:28:35 PM UTC+1, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:
> > Still - they have their own shit in their own rivers now - hurrah!
> https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FzF8UQDWcAEFUz5?format=jpg&name=small

Just the thing to add your Farage gin - which is a Dutch drink anyway.
Perfect for your racist Uncle.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FzH3AOnX0AQbnDD?format=jpg&name=medium