Urban Arrow Family
The solution to those who want to go green and reduce their car use but still need a way to take the kids to school, do the weekly shop and much more
As everyone tries to do their bit to be more green, people are looking for alternatives to car and van use. Electric cars are one option but are still relatively expensive and not yet widely available on the second- hand market at more affordable prices. However, for the cost of a cheap second- hand petrol car there is another option – the Urban Arrow Family.
Cargo bikes and more especially electric cargo bikes are rapidly gaining in popularity in larger cities where congestion charges impact the cost of local deliveries via vans. Urban Arrow has been meeting the growing need for electric assist cargo bikes aimed at just this purpose for a few years and with the addition of the Urban Arrow Family, it is making the electric cargo bike that little bit more versatile.
With the Family the cargo box at the front of the bike has been replaced by a children’s seat and safety belts – rather than carrying boxes, in other words, this version of the Urban Arrow carries little people. If your small people are really small you can get a variety of seat adapters including one to mount a Maxi Cosi child’s car seat.
While this might seem like a novel idea only suitable for when the weather is good, it has the potential to be so much more through the range of accessories offered by Urban Arrow, including rain covers and ponchos. Add in the fact that there are mudguards to protect those on board from road spray and inbuilt lights to allow riding at any time of day and the Urban Arrow Family can be considered a serious alternative to a second car – especially with no insurance or tax to consider.
Okay, let’s deal with the elephant in the room: at 51kg unladen the Urban Arrow Family is going to be hard work to pedal, but then again there’s the Enviolo rear hub that provides seamless variable ratio gear shifts, which with the input of the Bosch Active Line 250W motor should at least make pedalling life a lot easier. The other good news is that the 400Wh battery should mean a decent range between charges too. ► £4,309 urbanarrow.com