Don’t feel that you need to work up to a full complement if you’ve currently only got one or two in the house, but Decathlon’s Velocargo F900E can carry three children at the front and another on the back. It comes with the front carrier as standard, as well as a rain protector and, rather more quirkily, a windscreen.
The F900E is not Decathlon’s first e-cargo bike. The R500 has been around for a while now. But where that one’s a longtail with cargo carrying space on the back, the F900E is your traditional long john style, with a big bucket on the front.
> Decathlon’s longtail e-cargo bike is now cheaper in the UK than in France
The front carrier contains a two-person bench and a one-person folding seat. All three seating positions have a cushion, a back rest and a five-point seatbelt.
The rain protector – which also covers the rider’s hands – slides away and remains part of the bike, even once it’s taken down. The front cargo area also features a storage compartment with a hatch that can be locked with a padlock.
The front bit’s rated for up to 101.5kg and you can then also fit a baby seat to the rear rack, which is rated for up to 27kg. The bike as a whole is rated to carry up to 184kg.
As we reported last year, the F900E is built around a potent-sounding Brose S-mag mid-drive, which offers a claimed 90Nm of torque. This is allied to a reasonably sized 630Wh battery.
Other features include built-in lights, a sturdy-looking kickstand and a frame lock.
It’s available in two colours: sunflower yellow and frozen brown (which we believe is a Stranglers B-side).
The bike also comes with a year’s worth of anti-theft GPS tracking, after which the cost of the service is listed as €2 a month.
We reported last week how Decathlon’s longtail R500 has been reduced to the extent that it’s now much the same price here in the UK as it is in France (newsworthy because it started off about £1,000 more).
Pricing for the Velocargo F900E seems a bit more conventional. It’s listed on the Decathlon UK site at £4,999 versus €4,999 on the continent.
That makes it about £800 cheaper over there, but also – crucially – you can actually buy it, whereas it’s currently down as being out of stock in the UK.
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