Review: Yuba Boda Boda (electric)

My goal as a dad cycling has always been to make it fun for my kids, and do be able to bring them along doing things with me. During the pandemic both of my girls learned to ride their bikes on two wheels, and my oldest in particular (turning 7 in September) has really taken a liking of it — she can keep up with me riding pretty fast! We have ridden many trails together and commuted quite a bit with me towing a burley trailer (on the ‘commuter’ Trek FX3 I purchased in February 2020…) but I never quite felt comfortable taking them on roads yet in San Jose, CA as pretty much everywhere there is very busy!

However, on moving to Eugene, OR in July, I immediately noticed that while things are closer, there are still some very busy roads between where I live and the bike trails. Enter the Yuba Boda Boda Cargo bike. Easier to get up and go from a trailer, and with e-assist, a much easier proposition for me to cycle 8 miles with them on the back instead of towing a trailer that they were already getting a bit too small for together.

Starting out

Our first ride after a couple around-the-neighborhood rides was 3 miles each way on a busy street to eat lunch. I brought a bluetooth speaker that they held or I put in my front basket and as you can see we had a moving “Frozen sing-a-long” on the way back! I did ok starting and stopping at crosswalks, but still haven’t found a graceful way to go forward when starting with the kickstand down. But the big thing was it was faster and easier than taking a trailer out of the shed, and the girls loved it as you can see by the looks on their faces!

But What Else?

Riding with the kids on the back is good, but my ultimate goal is to take the kids and their bikes on the 3 miles from our house to the truly amazing Eugene River Trail. From the river trail, I have no doubt my seven year old could easily ride the 5 miles to downtown Eugene and my 5 year old could ride at least 3 miles I’m sure (sometimes she gets distracted though with wildlife, rocks etc).

Possibility!

I joined a few facebook groups in order to meet like-minded folks including Yuba Bicycle Owners, Bicycle Touring with Kids, and Pedal Parents. Someone in pedal parents gave me the idea of using handlebar stems as a bike rack on the back of the ‘monkey bar’ cage that the girls sit safely inside. I purchased them and they even came a day early, which has been rare in Eugene vs San Jose! So one of my favorite things that brought me back a decade — working on bikes at night in the garage! I love just tinkering with things until they (hopefully) work and test rides in the dark ;-)

The Build

So, I ordered two handlebar stems to put on the back and serve as a bike rack! There was some tightening but they fit pretty well on the back of the Yuba Monkeybars. I then used a short bungee cord to ensure an upward pull on them. Fortunately the bikes are still pretty small and seemed to fit ok. Even if the stems shift downward, the bikes didn’t fall off because the bungee was holding them up.

First ride with the kids!

Our cat needed food and there’s a pet store a couple miles away. Most of it can be along residential streets which I don’t mind the kids riding (even if on the sidewalk) but some parts are on a busier street or for crossing streets, I like to err on the side of caution. So we loaded up and headed out! While loading the bikes on the kickstand, things were fine, but make sure you are sitting on the bike when the kids climb on afterwards or else the bike will fall backwards. Starting was significantly more difficult than normal so rolling starts are good… I felt kind of like a plane taking off, pushing myself with my feet before committing to the pedals. The e-assist definitely helped here. Once rolling I noticed the sweet spot of speed was about 12+ mph, and I don’t trust myself to go above 18 with the kids and bikes on the back yet. Still, at those speeds the bike was perhaps even more stable than with just the two kids. However, I will definitely say when the oldest was riding on her own and it was just the 5 year old and her bike on the back it was a lot more of a fun ride ;-)

Overall

While I still struggle a bit with the kids moving around etc, i’ve found that the bike Is stable enough to go on longer rides even with ‘stuff’. Recently I learned that the Yuba Rain cover is not good, so I am working on creating my own! I want to find a better way to get the kids bikes on the back, because on longer rides my current setup tends to sag a bit.

The kids asked me the other day if I’d sold the trailer, so I take that as a compliment! I’m keeping the trailer though until I can make sure I have something that will keep them dry in the rain for planned school drop-off’s. I’ve noticed my abs are more sore riding this due to the upright position and keeping things balanced, and my legs get a good workout when I turn off all e-assist too! Excited to continue to explore Eugene with this! (Planning to do the 8 mile each-way to church ride this weekend!)