Interbike: Yuba's For All...

One of the booth's I have spent considerable time at, this Interbike, has been that of Yuba Utility Bicycles. In the past I have often gone on about Claremont being the perfect sized city (as are so many others) for taking care of a wide range of daily business by bicycle. Many of these errands can be done by smaller bike, but there are certain things requiring a greater capacity, and this is where bicycles such as the Yuba Mundo come to the fore. The Mundo is capable of carrying two tykes to school (it will accommodate two seats), or a full load (say six bags) of groceries. 

I show the above photo for a reason. Yuba, of course, had fully built out models on display as well (you can check out their website for those), but we had started talking about weight, and I was shown these two. The orange is the older model, while the black is new and lighter. By refining the design, removing certain aesthetic and unnecessary structural elements, Yuba has been able to bring the overall frame weight down, without negatively impacting performance, rigidity, carrying capacity. I don't remember what the weight saving number was, but was significant. Maybe I can get someone to chime in with that information. Anyway, the rep admitted that the Los Angeles area market is a tough one to crack, which is a shame, since so many of the outlying areas, but heck, even the city core, are perfect for bikes like these. Judging by the numbers I have seen, I suspect this is typical of all makers of similar, larger capacity utility bikes. I think there is a clear place for them, they are just not widely visible to the general public. Yet. He also bounced the idea of using cicLAvia as a showcase for them - maybe a tent set up at one of the rest areas. A whole lot of people would see them, that is for sure. I recently posted about ICargobike in San Clemente, they sell Yuba Utility Bicycles, as does (I believe) Flying Pigeon, a little closer to home, in Highland Park.