This time we travel to Warrington to join Laura for the school run.
Her wonderful family shares some of the joys of their e-cargo life, including time-saving, hill-conquering & feeling safe.
Laura was a self-confessed e-bike sceptic and now she wants to convince others that she was totally wrong.
0:00 Intro
0:25 Buying an e-cargo on the cycle to work scheme
0:35 Being very sceptical of e-bikes until trying one
0:55 Shared family use of the e-cargo & family journeys
2:09 The steepest hill on the trip & hill power of the Estarli
2:22 Buying the Estarli e-cargo in winter & winter usage
2:40 The other e-cargo in town
2:55 Using the car a lot less & long term plan to drop down to one car & comparing the school run to driving
3:54 Sliding on ice but feeling totally protected by the Estarli family cage
4:35 Planning summer trips & riding in Warrington
5:17 Standing out around town & taking family friends for a spin & shopping after the school run
5:50 Final words of wisdom
let’s [Music] go you right G yeah I cycled a lot when I was a child but not really when I was an adult I’ve had the same push bike for about 15 years and used it maybe three times I’m Laura and this is Joseph and Lucy Lucy’s a bit shy we got it on the bike to work scheme it’s a reasonable outlay and doing on the bike to work scheme just made it manageable rather than purchasing the bike in one go it made it seem like a sensible choice I was really skeptical with electric bikes I thought that they were a complete con and my husband wanted to get this bike and I was sort of very well seems like a good idea but I’m not sure and then we went to try try one out and I was just completely converted I couldn’t get over how easy it was to ride so it’s me and my husband that used the bike probably me a bit more for doing the school run but we use it for the school run we use it for picking up from after school club we use it if one of us is taking them to a party or to Cubs or rainbows or something like that um so yeah we share it kind of equally and what’s great is that he’s so much taller than me but we can really set the bike up quite quickly um to sue both of us I think the person who rides the most is probably my mom and my mom is well very well clamsy what did you say to that Mom I saw on one of your videos that said it just it you know we want it to feel like a bike and it did so much so that I bashed into quite a few things cuz I’d forget I’d sort of like forget um so I’d say that was fair at the start after this it probably about 495 miles and I think we’ve had it about 3 and 1 half months so we’re we’re delighted really you think I’m just nipping the kids to school it’s a 5 10 minute journey and the mileage is just racking up really quick um so yeah was fantastic this is probably the steepest hill that we have um but it’s no problem whatsoever it doesn’t you don’t I don’t feel out of breath by the time that I get to the top so yeah so this is the steepest hill we’ve done isn’t it kids yeah when we got it we sort of Saw is this the wrong time of year to get it we’re heading into winter is it we live near Manchester at is an awful lot and but on the flip side the kids are only getting bigger so we wanted to make the purchase uh and we’ve used it all the way through winter it’s been fantastic um even when it’s raining the kids don’t seem bothered they’re quite happy to be on the bike there is another cargo bike around here we bump into them sometimes on the way home there’s another school here first time we were a bit like oh somebody else has a cargo bike we thought we were unique we use a car a lot less my husband’s car actually had to be serviced the other day because we barely used it because whenever we’re at home we’ll use one car and then we’ll use the bike yeah I mean our long-term aim is that eventually we’ll go down to to one car that’s our goal eventually yeah we hope you know when the kids get too big to to go on the back both of them obviously one can go on the back but our our long-term goal with the bike is that we’ll convert it to purely cargo and and use it for that so yeah we’re excited to go down to one car eventually just not quite now I guess they’re equal for me because this one I get a lot fresher but my ears get cold the car well I can’t really get any fresher but I can’t read my book what do you think Lucy Lucy talk to my Benny that that will help it’s good okay is that all you have to say yeah okay she says it’s good we had one little skirt we didn’t realize that it was icy and there was a patch of black ice on it and a piece of t around the corner and we we slid right across the road um and I was scraped upon my leg as you are from from biking injuries which do happen and but what was fantastic was the kids they just not scratch on them at all you know they were completely protected they didn’t even really know what had happened I sort of picked the bike up took them off and I walked home and they were just laughing and joking they didn’t it didn’t seem to be a problem for them um and and that really made me feel good it didn’t make me me feel nervous about getting on the B on the bike again because I knew that they in the event of an accident you know they are really well protected so this is a Cricket Club so uh that’s Friday night in the summer so I’m really looking forward to when we can just cycle down and um enjoy the Friday evenings down here there’s such a mixture of cycle paths and little cut throughs like these it it makes sense to have a bike you’re almost going out of your way if you’re you’re using a car boom eat be next up school station we can get up to like 22 M an hour I cycled on my normal bike down here the other day cuz I thought I don’t have the kids I’ll I’ll do it for the for the fitness and I was just exhausted by how goo we’ve got some like really positive feedback no one’s ever seen anything like it and yeah they all just think it’ll you how much fun it looks so we’ve taken a few of their friends rping yeah we’ve got basket on the front and we keep uh um morning we keep our school bags and our locks in there permanently and that’s perfect and then if I go shopping after the school run it’ll fit all my bits and Bobs in so if you just go over the cobbles and head towards the church it’s a bit bouncy on this spit I wasn’t sure I mean definitely go for a test ride I think you’ll be really shocked at how easy it is to ride how it feels like a normal bike not tried Electric before I think you’d be completely blown away with just how easy it makes [Music] riding I would recommend it to anybody and I certainly would say to people even if you think you live quite a long way away from school it really is comparable to using a car so I’d highly recommend it we love it that was fun it was fun on it that’s so like up