Are you sure? https://www.r-m.de/en-us/bikes/load5-75/

I see loads of those around my neighborhood, usually ferrying kids.

At the same time, I don't need to go 5 miles for groceries, so you might be picturing using a cargo bike in sparse suburbs. If your built environment is car centric then almost definitionally using any other mode of locomotion is going to be subpar.

Maybe a dozen or so? But if you only have 3 bags of groceries you can just use a regular bike + basket.

We’ve moved the goalposts from “Food, beer, and cat litter would be too heavy for a bike.”

Also, my grocery stores are 0.7, 1.1, and 1.6 miles away, not that it matters. 5 miles is just not very much time at 20-28 mph. I think theft and weather/comfort are bigger obstacles to most people than distance.

But that is what we end up needing.

Is the goal post a few groceries you get for a few days?

I have never seen one of these ridiculous looking bikes in any city or anywhere.

Where do y'all live, a Dr. Suess book?

I will not bike them in the rain, With soggy bags and squishy pain.

I will not bike them up the hill, When every pedal feels like drill.

I will not bike them when it’s hot, With sweat that pours and cheese that rots.

> I have never seen one of these ridiculous looking bikes in any city or anywhere. > > Where do y'all live, a Dr. Suess book?

I saw them every day in Chicago. I see them every day in southern Ontario. I saw them whenever I visited Boston or NYC. Where do you live that you don't?

> I will not bike them in the rain, With soggy bags and squishy pain.

> I will not bike them up the hill, When every pedal feels like drill.

> I will not bike them when it’s hot, With sweat that pours and cheese that rots.

Given that other commenters have addressed basically all of these concerns (waterproof bags, electric assist, insulated bags) it seems more like you just want to be contrarian rather than cite specific problems and discuss if they can be solved.

I have an EV as well as an ICE truck. Powertrain is not a concern. It's the load a bike can carry vs a car overall. The bonus of having storage and rain cover is extra. Sure you can do a lite version but why?

I don't want to risk having an injury on a bike either. A car is much safer.

> Powertrain is not a concern. It's the load a bike can carry vs a car overall.

Sure, an automobile will pretty much always win out in raw capacity, but I'd argue it's a policy problem that makes us reliant on automobiles for day to day life. If people only needed a car for their weekly grocery trip but could bike to work or school or the doctor's office that would still significantly reduce our reliance on automobiles, with benefits in health and energy.

> I don't want to risk having an injury on a bike either. A car is much safer.

Also a reasonable concern, but again more of a policy problem: we prioritize cars over pretty much every other form of transportation to the detriment of everyone else in public spaces. If we had more protected walkways / bikeways then everyone would be safer.

In general I don't think we regulate the safe use of automobiles nearly as much as we ought to in the states. Leaving it as an individual concern makes it a race to the bottom, with everyone buying bigger and bigger cars in the name of safety, all other externalities be dammed.

It's ok! They're not for everyone. My contention is just that there exist bicycles perfectly adequate for the weight and volume of your groceries (and mine).

You moved the goalposts, but that also brings up another problem in the US: land use that forcibly segregates different things - like making corner stores illegal in newer suburban developments.

I didn't move a goal post, that is my reality when it comes to groceries.

You realize everyone has different needs right? I stated that in a GP.

IMO you don't see them in the US because they look, frankly, dorky to an American aesthetic.

The lifted truck is probably the most American vehicle that exists. The style police can rule on which is the greater travesty.

I don’t know how often you’re buying cat litter, but carrying food and beer in a pannier on a pedal-powered bike is perfectly reasonable, let alone an ebike

A beer run on an unpowered bike isn’t too bad. 2 six packs and a few snacks is just fine.

Important note: if you put a beer in the bottle holder, give that one away and take another for yourself.

2 six packs is 2 days worth of beer.

I buy 2x 24 packs every 2 weeks, not going to work.

But great, I'll bike that home then go back for groceries. Maybe the "snack" I can fit will fuel me.

Sure I could cut out something I love, my one vice. But that's not very American, a car that can fit all of my stuff is.

Yeah, that’s a heavy load. But hauling 48 beers would soon have you looking like Quadzilla if done regularly.

I live about 3 miles out of town, fortunately directly on a rail trail. I ride my e-bike in to town to get groceries weekly. I have saddlebags on the bike and I pull a kids trailer with the seat folded down and have never run out of room, or had issues with weight. Sometimes I'll even get a few bags of water softener salt. I have a fat tire ebike (aventon), it's pretty sturdy. I've got about 2k miles on the bike, I'd guess half those are from grocery runs.

Pleaser tell me that the bike trail is off road and unpaved.

indeed it is, its a former railbed, crushed gravel. the most dangerous part of the journey is the grocery store parking lot.

You don't think a family of four buys 'food' ? I also get beer occasionally, although sometimes I get it from the corner store a few blocks away.

I do get kitty litter with the car on the occasional trip to Costco because I'm not set on using the bike for every last thing. Just that the eBike makes a lot of things a lot more convenient.

I can get three or four days of food for my family of four on my regular bike with no problem (I also have a cat). I live somewhere where I ride past half a dozen super markets on my regular commute, so stopping at the shop is no big inconvenience.

For years we’ve been grocery shopping with e-bikes and a burley flatpack trailer. The trailer can hold 50kg/100lbs and we used to live up a steep hill. No problem at all. If it fit on the trailer we could haul it back. 52V e-bikes limited to 25km/h.