I’m a big fan of front loaders, so it’s great to see another one on the market! CETMA is officially taking orders for their new front loading separable cargo bike. These bikes are handmade in these United States from Eugene, Oregon. So when you buy one, you’re supporting a great cottage industry business.
The beauty of the bike is that it is highly customizable. It has all the braze-ons for disc-brakes if that’s how you roll, or cant-studs. They have built versions with both SRAM drivetrains as well as some with the NuVinci hub. The bike can break apart and be nestled into itself to fit in a box that can be shipped via UPS anywhere in the country. Another future feature of break-apart design, is that you will be able to swap cargo beds (tentatively named “Largo” and “Margo” for their large and medium sized bed) for specific loads.
The cost of the bike is comparable to those of the Dutch Bakfiets, but it has advantages in that the components can be better modified for hillier terrain.
Another great thing about the CETMA cargo is that currently, their build time from order to completion is about 3 weeks! How awesome is that. No need to wait months for an awesome front loader.
I personally haven’t ridden it, but I’m hoping to ride it some time this spring or summer when I’m in the NW again. Lane and I briefly talked about doing a cargo bike tour down the coast to show what these bikes can do.
With these tough times, there’s no better time to sell the car and replace it with a stout cargo bike. So it’s great to see that CETMA is another option among the slowly growing list of cargo bike builders.
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