As a cargo bike aficionado, I’m living in some pretty good days with everyone from Trek to Puma putting out car-replacing offerings. Interbike, the bike industry’s annual trade show, is this week and with it the roll out of some new products.

First, cargo bike maker Madsen has come out with a new and improved version of their long tail bucket bike. From the video, it appears they’ve addressed a lot of the issues I mentioned in my review of their initial product.

With these improvements, I think the Madsen makes a pretty compelling choice for those with kids.

On the other end of bike, quality commuter bike brand Civia is dipping their toe in the cargo bike pool with their bike truck design, the Halsted. Bike trucks like the Halsted and Puma/Biomega Mopion use small 20″ front wheels and lock the front rack to the frame rather than the turning fork for stability. I think of bike trucks as pint sized cargo bikes with nearly the carrying capacity of larger cargo bikes like long tails and bakfiets. There are limitations to how much they can carry, and at heavy loads, they get a bit squirrely (as opposed to bakfiets which seem to get more stable the more weight you to the cargo box.)

Bicycling Magazine did a short interview on the Halsted here.

Click to Play | View Details