Bike Gallery owner Jay Graves takes an employee (his son Simon) for a spin on a Madsen cargo bike at the kickoff event last night.
(Photos
(Photos
Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)
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I saw Jonathan’s at the VEER VIP screening last night. looks really awesome. not a bad price tag for a work bike, too. looks like you could be creative and come up with new racks/buckets for the rear as well.
i can’t wait to see someone fill the bucket up with ice and drinks this summer (boy that seems like a long way away!).
and yes, there are drain plugs at the bottom of the bin.
Why am I not impressed enough to replace my lowly $99 Wal-Mart kiddie trailer?
With the rain shell the bike looks like a pedal powered pope mobile.
Wow! Half the price of a Bakfiets! Now we’re talking. Looks fabulous.
Cool to see more cargo bike offerings. Even recumbent makers are getting into the act. Check out the Rans HammerTruck:
http://www.ransbikes.com/HammerTruck.htm
A little more money ($1995) than the Madsen, and more like an XtraCycle.
Now I can have a healthy lifestyle whilst my chauffeur sweats it out, going up west Burnside, enroute to my palatial McMansion in the west hills!
Onward Jeeves!
Is the jockey whip included?
That “employee” cargo Jay Graves is hauling is none other than his son, rising star mechanic Simon Graves who already can out-tune his Ol’ Pa on anything newer than an ’84 BMX.
thanks for the tip.. i didn’t realize that was Jay’s son… my how quickly they grow up.
How funny, I was just moments ago walking home from the coffee shop, and saw one of these for the first time ever, bumping up 51st, near Hawthorne. I was curious about the bike, got home, and lo and behold, here is the information I seek.
I got to ride one of these for about 6 blocks today. Fun and easy to ride! Couldn’t convince any of my friends to ride in the bucket though.
I saw one of these in the flesh at the office space I work at. I have to say that I was completely impressed beyond my expectations. I had seen the photos on this site, but man, in person, this bike is sick! I currently use an old bike wit a modified Burley trailer as my SUV, but now I thing I might move on over to Madsen.
I’m so happy to see so many cargo bikes coming out. The Bakfiets is just way too expensive, but this is prices just about right for a family with small kids.
Too bad my kids have outgrown such things!
Ian
Freakin Awesome! The more cargo bikes the merrier. My first feeling of the grass is greener as a Bakefiet owner. The benefits of a Madsen ( A Danish name FYI ) are a front disc brake ( nice ) and lower price tag. The Bakfeit has a lot going for it the Madsen lacks: Theft resistant, always ready hub lighting system. Room for 4 kids in front where you can see them, in the rain there is no road splatter and no brake issues, millions of tested miles and years of design perfection, integrated lock. You want a cargo bike to be like a car, grab the key and go! No worries about lights, trailer, clothing, or bike issues. I thought I might regret our Bakfiet purchase, but afterwards I wondered why I did not buy it sooner. It changes your life in so many good ways.
I had a chance to check one of these out today, and I must say, they are pretty sweet. Much easier to ride than one would think. It handles better than you would expect from something like this. I was quite surprised as to how it rode with a 200lb friend riding in the back. It took a little extra work to get up hill, but honestly, how often are you really going to haul 200lbs or more on something like this. Great bang for the buck!!! Go try one for yourself, you will probably be amazed.
pretty funny seeing Simon fit in the bin ’cause he’s one tall fella. awesome.
It was fun to see you and the girls biking by on Saturday, Jonathan, though I bet they would have liked a bakfiets-style rain cover…I look forward to the full report. I’m particularly curious about what you think of the cargo-in-front vs. cargo-in-back configurations.
Just got my own Madsen bike, have been giving kids rides around the neighborhood in the dark – they don’t want to get out! Was able to haul 4 kids, too much fun.
Ohhh. There is one more advantage in a bakfeit missing from a Madsen and that is the ability to shift while not in motion. The internal 8 speed can do a lot of things a deraileur and cog can’t touch. In other words, if you are hauling any load on a madsen it is hard and/or wobbly to start up on a Madsen unless you remembered to shift to an easy gear before you came to a stop.
This preview and your flickr pix got us so worked up we couldn’t wait for the full review … our detailed 1st week impressions are here
http://totcycle.com/blog/madsen-cycles-kg271-bike-review.html
I’m a big bakfiets fan, and were money no object, we’d probably have one. But the Madsen has a very nice thing going on. Hauling cargo in the back works great, but kids in front is more social for the driver (they have a blast either way, the more the merrier). And it really lends itself to a dual tube down low glow on the lower tube.
News update. As of July 7th the Downtown bike gallery has a sale on the Madsen. I was there the other day.
$300 off if my memory is correct.
Old price : $1300
new price : $1000
seems too good to be true.