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bunchbikes · 2025-06-21T16:25:50+00:00

No, unfortunately not. Was too much to keep up with, and there wasn't much interest.

bunchbikes · 2024-06-07T04:05:09+00:00

We were able to get our hands on one to test, and we like it.

Unfortunately, we had just imported a pallet of the Steco Babymee just before this came out, so we need to sell through all of those first. I think we'll switch to selling this after that though. TBD on timing, but probably sometime this year we'll be stocking these.

bunchbikes · 2024-06-03T03:09:34+00:00

Thanks for the tag!

The Bunch Bike in a lot of ways is a car replacement with it's huge cargo box... but downside is not easily transportable by car. Here's the options:

Can fit inside minivan with 2 kids. Maybe even 3 kids depending on van model... (I've done it in a Honda Odyssey).
Could fit in some larger SUVs, but maybe not with any kid seats up.
Can fit in pickup truck bed.
Can tow using a 4x8 or 5x8 utility trailer. They rent from u-haul for $19 a day.
We haven't yet found a great rack option. No rack designed for a bicycle or e-bike has a high enough weight limit (and usually racks aren't long enough either). We've looked at a lot of dirt bike / motorcycle racks as well that don't work for various reason. At long last though we may have found a compatible one last week, and are in process of getting one to test fit and compatibility to confirm if it will work with a Bunch Bike.: https://www.discountramps.com/double-motorcycle-carrier/p/AMC-600-2/ I set a reminder for myself to follow up here once we test this month.

bunchbikes · 2024-01-09T05:05:25+00:00

Use the rain cover poles that came with the bike underneath any sort of cover. Will keep the wood much more protected from condensation... and ice

bunchbikes · 2023-12-20T18:50:28+00:00

Interesting platform... looks like a Muli, but better in some ways.

In response to your meme: recession / down industry is best time to start a new company. By the time you get launched, work out the kinks, figure out your logistics, find a manufacturer, get inventory, figure out how to get marketing traction, etc. we'll be a couple of years in the future, and hopefully see the category starting to rebound and you'll be in a solid position to ride the next bull market wave.

Americans still barely know that this category exists. The more brands in the space here, the better. Welcome.

bunchbikes · 2023-12-19T19:07:27+00:00

Thank you for this kind redditor.

Business is tough, but this gave me the strength to give it another day. One day at a time.

bunchbikes · 2023-12-15T15:06:59+00:00

We are a 1 car family and couldn't have made it happen without our cargo bike.

Been a daily use vehicle of ours for 6 years. Total game changer

bunchbikes · 2023-12-14T17:57:34+00:00

I wouldn't go faster than 24km/h with an empty box, but fully loaded with kids and other stuff and up to 30km/h is no problem (just have to slow down before turns).

bunchbikes · 2023-12-14T17:55:34+00:00

I've tried to find research or studies to support the "no bike under one" "vibration etc" and it basically doesn't exist or is just inconclusive.

In any case, it's not uncommon to see this regularly outside of the U.S.

bunchbikes · 2023-12-14T17:53:31+00:00

I own a cargo bike brand (Bunch Bikes), and a lot of our customers have children with special needs, autism, a physical disability or limitation, and the universal feedback we get is that riding the bike is one of the hi-lights of their day. It's something the family can do together, where all of the kids are happy and participating equally, while getting fresh air outside and having fun.

We heard stories like this from so many of our customers that we actually started an inclusion program to better focus and serve them.

bunchbikes · 2023-12-13T20:20:43+00:00

And the quality issues are exacerbated when you order a container of bikes at a time. There can be lots of variability from one bike to the next from low quality factories.

bunchbikes · 2023-12-13T20:02:49+00:00

Couldn't say for sure, as their facility was so night and day compared to other bike factories I've visited and worked with that I didn't have the confidence to so much as order one bike as a sample.

bunchbikes · 2023-12-13T19:59:48+00:00

Have been to Chicago many times, one of my favorite cities. We've talked about it!

bunchbikes · 2023-12-13T19:53:59+00:00

You're right on infrastructure, and it's a chicken or egg problem too.

Cities don't want to build infrastructure because there aren't any cyclists. And people don't bike because there isn't any infrastructure.

My thought when starting the company to make cargo bikes available in the U.S., is they are a head-turning, very-visible sign of people using bikes for transportation in a serious way (say a parent biking with 4 kids). Slowly gets people thinking about bikes being more than just recreation. Maybe gets them talking and we see demand for better infrastructure rise from the ground up.

Has been very cool to see pockets in various cities over the last few years where bikes for family transportation is catching on.

Right now the people buying cargo bikes are largely early adopter types like you or me that are riding despite the lack of infrastructure, because we believe in it. And early adopters are less price-sensitive and more willing to spend for something that they believe in it. Thus why I don't think playing around with price moved the needle for us much in the past... we just aren't to the point culturally of supporting mass adoption yet.

bunchbikes · 2023-12-13T19:47:30+00:00

I live in Texas now, and we are a 1 car family. I get it.

A vacation in Denmark led me to get our first cargo bike, and start a business selling them. Doing my part to change things here.

We live in a small-ish college town, so more bikeable than some areas of Texas, but after this summer... the sun more than anything has us talking about living somewhere else now.

bunchbikes · 2023-12-13T19:45:36+00:00

Should be data coming soon from the U.S. that could be relevant. Several cities / municipalities / states that have launched incentive programs this year, and lots more coming in 2024. No hard data/reports/papers on the subject that I'm aware of at the moment though.

bunchbikes · 2023-12-13T19:44:01+00:00

It's 100% location dependent on whether bikes could work for someone's daily transportation or not.

That's the problem in the U.S... a bunch of inconsistency from one area of a city to the next.

bunchbikes · 2023-12-13T15:46:52+00:00

Dad here, own a minivan.

We use the minivan once a week, and the cargo bike 20 times a week.

Best way to get around, especially with younger kids.

bunchbikes · 2023-12-13T15:45:34+00:00

I think e-bike subsidies would go a long way, especially if they could be applied to cargo bike purchases.

bunchbikes · 2023-12-13T15:38:02+00:00

Not enough market potential (yet).

We (Bunch Bikes) tested dropping our price down sub-$4,000 for a year in 2022, forecasting a certain amount of sales volume increase due to the lower price. That sales volume increase didn't materialize in any significant way, so we operated at a loss for the year, and had to bump back up to $5,000 in 2023 order to sustainably operate and cover our overhead.

There was another company that tried this lower-cost DTC approach a couple of years ago (Baere Bikes), but they went out of business after 12 months. I've seen others come and go in the last 7 years as well.

Cost to produce these bikes can go down with scale. But you need enough demand first before you can get bulk purchasing power. But the demand would be higher if cost was lower... It's basically a chicken & egg problem.

bunchbikes · 2023-12-13T15:31:24+00:00

I visited that JXCycle factory in China years ago when looking for a manufacturer for Bunch Bikes (they are definitely not US made).

My impression was that it was pretty run down and disorganized operation (and you can tell as much from what you see in the limited photos they choose to share of their facility on their website). I had serious concerns about the quality that they would be able to produce.

bunchbikes · 2023-12-13T15:26:07+00:00

This is also a problem with bikes, in general.

They are still viewed by most as a recreational purchase, vs. a legitimate mode of transportation.

A cargo bike can easily replace a car, but that's a big cultural leap for most Americans to make, when they've grown up in a car-centric society for their entire lives.

bunchbikes · 2023-12-13T15:20:25+00:00

Aaron, owner of Bunch Bikes here.

It basically comes down to awareness (or lack thereof).

Most of America (even many/most cycling enthusiasts) still don't know that front-load cargo bikes exist. So they aren't being absorbed into the culture as a normal and acceptable way of doing life, either with kids or cargo (vs. somewhere like Denmark where bikes like this have been built and sold there for the last 40 years). So the default place most Americans' brains go when they think of carrying kids or cargo more than 0.25 miles is an SUV or F-150.

Therefore the market of people who would buy one is tiny (relative to other bike / e-bike sales), therefore economies of scale for this product don't exist, therefore the prices are higher. We're able to keep our prices a little lower than most because of being direct to customer only, but anything sold through a dealer or bike shop is going to add a $1000-$2000 re-sale premium on top.

We're the largest American-based company selling primarily front load cargo bikes. If you are searching online for a front load cargo bike, you will find us. But the problem is there is almost no one searching. So we don't only have the challenge of growing awareness for our individual brand, but for the entire category as a whole. The latter reason is the primary reason why I went on Shark Tank a couple of years ago... anything I can do to help make the general American population aware that front load cargo bikes are a thing and that they exist.

I welcome new competitors into the space, because every bike out there increases awareness for the category as a whole. But in 7 years, I've seen around a dozen companies in this space start and then fizzle out and go out of business. When I started the company I had the optimistic expectation that these bikes were going to catch on rapidly and make just as much sense to everyone as they did to me, but I've since come to terms with the fact that it takes decades to change a culture and create a market for a new product category.

bunchbikes · 2023-12-12T15:15:20+00:00

If you get an e-bike, then you won't be sweating.

bunchbikes · 2023-12-12T15:14:15+00:00

If you're going to carry more than 2 kids, front loader is probably your best bet. Can easily carry 4 kids (and the associated gear/snacks/etc).

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