City Arrow FamilyNext Professional Overview: The Good Household Bike

How time flies. I first reviewed the unique City Arrow in 2020, when my youngsters had been 3 and 5. Again then, nothing delighted a few preschoolers greater than strapping right into a huge, motorized cargo bike and scooting round city, shrieking, with the wind blowing of their tiny faces. Alas, they’re now 8 and 10. Once I picked up my 8-year-old two days in the past, he crouched down within the field whereas sitting on the padded seats (with seat belts!) in order that none of his buddies would see him.

All this to say: My Tern GSD and I are nice buddies, however I want my youngsters had been 5 years youthful so I might’ve purchased the FamilyNext Professional as a substitute. City Arrow’s new electrical cargo bike has quite a lot of nice upgrades, is less complicated to trip than ever, and is much more helpful as my youngsters have gotten older.

Bounce Home

To the bare eye, the 2 largest upgrades to the FamilyNext Professional are a newly redesigned cargo field and suspension on the entrance fork. (It additionally is available in a really elegant, new sage inexperienced, however sadly, my demo bike was in black.)

The field seems to be completely completely different—my good friend requested if my bike had gotten longer by some means. It’s longer and slimmer, with rounded corners as a substitute of sq. ones, and there are actually headlights on the bike. It has shorter sides, so it’s simpler to get out and in. Not like different bakfiets, or field bikes, that I’ve tried, the field sits a lot decrease to the bottom. I can affirm that in my testing, each adults and youngsters had a simple time climbing out and in.

The field is comprised of expanded polypropylene (EPP) foam, which is initially disconcerting—it exhibits dings and bumps very simply. Nevertheless, City Arrow describes it as “an upside-down helmet,” and the froth cushioning did reassure me that even when I let the bike tip over, my youngsters or buddies wouldn’t simply instantly hit the pavement. You can too change the froth simply within the occasion of a crash or another unpleasant occasion.

The entrance cargo field now has a entrance fork with 60 millimeters of journey. I really love this. It truly is a security challenge while you’re going quick with 60 to 150 kilos within the entrance field. I used to be cruising alongside at 20 mph and hit a pothole, and I simply boinged proper out of it.