This Ebike Convinced Me I Don't Need A Car To Run To Costco

I've been a big fan of ebikes (aka electric bikes) and micromobility for quite some time now. My interest blossomed when, in the 2010s, I biked to the train every snow-free day while working in downtown Chicago. Since then, I have reviewed and test-ridden ebikes of every shape and size, but I never had one that I could use to go grab groceries.

Most of my Target runs during the spring, summer, and fall are with a car — they have to be. But if I'm just going to grab a single thing, I'll usually grab a backpack and an ebike and go with that instead. I probably drive my car 30% less during the warmer months, and it's great. I get a little exercise, and I get some fresh air.

But I've never had a bike that could handle those bigger shopping trips — the kind where I need to buy a few days' worth of supplies. So, when Urban Arrow reached out and asked if I'd be interested in borrowing one of their cargo bikes, I jumped at the chance. But somehow Target didn't seem big enough for a real test. Indeed, for a bike this large, there was one place to go — Costco. So, I headed out to my local warehouse club and went shopping to see if this bike could handle it.

Urban Arrow is a Dutch company that makes bikes all throughout Europe along with a few models in the United States. The one I borrowed is the Urban Arrow "FamilyNext." It's designed primarily for kids and cargo. According to the bike shop's website, it can hold — and this is a direct quote —"kids, ideally two; possible five." The bike has a massive cargo area in front with a seat and two shoulder strap seatbelts.

This bike itself is around eight feet long and weighs north of 100 pounds. Complicating matters is the fact that the bike shop is in downtown Chicago, and I'm in the suburbs — roughly 37 miles away. I had to ride this bike in two stages to make it home. Stage one was around 12 miles, followed by an overnight charge. Stage 2 was around 25 miles. 

With the battery in this build — the Bosch PowerPack 545Wh — the quoted max range is 40 – 85 km (approximately 24.86 – 52.8 miles). When my review period is over and I need to return it, I'll make the reverse trip. 

The bike is more on an upright-style vehicle with narrow handlebars and a wide seat. That seat is not particularly comfortable, by the way.

The ebike has a very unique powertrain from what you'll find in the U.S. It has an 85nm Bosch motor. I discovered Bosch motors when I rented an ebike in Paris last year and I adored it — same goes for this one. The bike also has a carbon belt drive and what amounts to basically a Continuous Variable Transmission, similar to what you'll find in cars. Unlike normal bike transmissions which has a series of gears, this is closer to one continuous cone shape.

The gear shifter rotates and doesn't have numbers. Rather there's an illustration of what kind of hill you should be approaching when in that particular gear. Also, counter-intuitively, you can only change gears when not pedaling, which is really hard to get used to.

Adam Doud/SlashGear

As for the motor, there is no throttle, making it a "Class 1" ebike (so you probably won't need to register this one with the state). Nor are there levels of assistance like what you'd find on something like the Segway Myon I reviewed a few weeks ago. Instead, there are modes like "Eco" and "Normal" and "Auto" which give you various levels of assistance.

With time, I'm sure I could grow used to this, but between the lack of gears and the lack of levels of assistance, I felt like I had little control over how much assistance I actually got. I found areas where I was comfortable, but I didn't feel like I chose it as much as I found it — that's a big difference.

Despite the bulk of the bike, it runs very well, and despite the discomfort I didn't dislike riding it. If this bike were in my garage all the time, it would be only used for trips to the store, and likely little else.

Of course the big story here is the cargo area for the bike, which is front-mounted. Steering the bike is accomplished by steel rods that extend under the cargo area to the front wheel of the bike. I've seen plenty of bikes like this used by delivery riders, but never holding children. I can see the appeal — keeping an eye on the kiddos while you ride would be preferable than keeping them behind you — it's probably better for the kids too.

The bike and the cargo area are both made of steel for durability, and the cargo area has steel floor, and tough foam around the cargo area for safety. I imagine that, as a kid, it wouldn't feel great getting thrown into it, but it wouldn't feel as bad as steel or wood. 

The seat does not flip up or adjust, which I felt was a bit of a miss — it would be better as a cargo area if it did. One other piece missing from this bike that would make it an easier ride would be a cup or bottle holder. Of course, you'd be free to add your own accessories.

Once it came time to make the trip to Costco, I picked the closest one to me that had the easiest ride to it. There are side streets and bike lanes for a majority of the trip. That being said, this bike rides smoothly. I rode it on several trails on the way out to my house. The bike is maneuverable enough in motion — but is a bit of a whale when not. I was surprised to find Costco had a bike rack — you wouldn't think a lot of people ride their bikes to a warehouse store, but I'll take it!

After a while in the store, I emerged with around $200 of supplies including a 35-can case of Coke Zero, a 45-pack of toilet paper, a large 90-pack box of fruit snacks, 400 band-aids, 12 packs of macaroni and cheese, a new t-shirt, and a bunch of other large-sized items. I loaded them all into the front compartment and hit the road.

Riding back home was no more difficult than the way there. I made the initial trip in Auto mode and the trip back in Cargo mode. Both trips took me about 45 minutes, give or take.

I definitely enjoyed this experiment. As a big fan of micromobility, anything that can keep me on two wheels, and off of four wheels is a win in my book. It's true the seat is not terribly comfortable, and the bike itself is unwieldy. It also comes with an extremely high price tag. As reviewed, the bike I tested sits one penny shy of $9,000 (ask your local bike shop). Put into context, that'd buy you four and a half Segway Myons.

This is an expensive bike, that's for sure, but it's well built and easy to ride, once you get used to not being able to see the front wheel. This bike is built differently than almost anything else I've tested thus far, so in that way, it's a breath of fresh air. 

Plus, it can haul, in a much more secure package than locking a Burley bike trailer to the back of an ebike. I'm not positive all that is worth this much money, to be honest. 

It's good to know that if I were to ever ditch my car and ride a bike full time, I could still carry a week's worth of groceries. I don't NEED a car to run to Costco, true. But unless this bike required a significantly smaller investment from the start, and there were some reason I wasn't allowed to use my car for trips to the grocery store, the cost-to-benefit ratio still falls in favor of my automobile.