March 2024
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CargoBikes

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Spokes is keen to see more cargobikes in Edinburgh and the Lothians towns, to demonstrate that environmentally positive methods of transporting goods (and children) are possible – and are coming! We are therefore offering grants to organisations, and occasionally to households, to help with the cost of purchase.

Spokes Cargobike support grants for organisations

Thanks to generous donations from our members we are pleased to offer grants to local community organisations (and very small businesses) based in Edinburgh/Lothian to assist with the cost of buying a cargo bike.

Recently the Galashan Trust kindly boosted our grants, so we can now offer up to £3000 towards the cargobike cost if the organisation is a registered charity or SCIO, and up to £2000 for other voluntary/community organisations or micro-businesses.

We may consider second applications from an organisation which has already received a grant, but see see the criteria in the information sheet (below).

Help publicise our grants for community groups by retweeting our tweet.

How to apply
  • Read our information sheet  [pdf]
  • Complete the application form [rtf format, so it can be completed in most WP packages].
  • Email the completed form to   spokes AT spokes.org.uk
  • Suggested artwork [pdf] for credit on cargobike.  If used as a sticker, then, depending on desired final size, this can be printed on A4 adhesive vinyl to produce 2 stickers 216 wide by 102mm deep.  High quality stickers for use on vehicles are available locally here… fhmcdsigns.co.uk

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Spokes Cargobike support grants for households

The above offer to organisations is ongoing, but there are also occasional one-off offers to assist households in Edinburgh/Lothians to purchase a cargobike, so that more cargobikes are seen being used in our area.  The grants are sometimes only open to households who have been Spokes members for a certain period such as 3 months, so join now if you might want a grant in future. We always publicise the offers in member emails and sometimes on social media.

How to apply
  • Read our Step 1 form [pdf or Word] and check you can meet all the criteria. If so, complete the form and email it to spokes@spokes.org.uk, with subject line ‘household cargobike application’
  • We will reply probably within a week or two. If you are successful, and once your purchase is arranged and imminent (this may take you some time!), complete and return the Step 2 form [pdf or Word], along with a copy of the shop invoice.
Household grants completed [most are in the picture gallery below]

[2024] Thanks to sales of Spokes maps we are helping 4 Spokes member households with the cost of a cargobike

[2023] Spokes summer competition Prizes included £1000 towards a cargobike and £200 towards an ebike

[2022] Thanks to sales of Spokes maps we helped 4 Spokes member households with the cost of a cargobike

[2022] Spokes Summer Competition Prizes included £750 towards a cargobike and £100 towards an e-bike

[2021] Spokes Spring Competition Prizes included £500 towards a cargobike and £100 towards an e-bike

[2019/2020] Thanks to a very large kind donation, we were able to provide support grants [page2] to several Spokes members towards a family cargobike or e-bike

[2019] Spokes Summer Competition As one of the prizes, we offered £500 towards a family cargo bike.

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Cargobikes – background info, contacts, etc

Cargobike storage
  • Potential use of the Cyclehoop Bike Hangars – see this tweet
  • Open air storage – interesting email from a Spokes member, though with cargobikes becoming more commonplace perhaps this will become less safe …

Storage is a very good question in Edinburgh city centre where bike theft is common and very few people have lockable garages or similar.  We looked into insurance for our cargo bike but found it to be costly in relation to the value of the bike and therefore uneconomical.  We lock our bike to a sturdy post using two locks – a heavy duty motorcycle chain and another, slightly lighter chain.  The post is on a spacious area of pavement outside some shops on a busy residential street which is brightly lit at night.  We can see the bike clearly from our second floor flat, opposite.  We’ve been storing cargo bikes on this post for more than five years (our current cargo bike, and a previous one which we replaced) without any theft or vandalism.  The cargo bike is protected (and made less obvious) by a large black motorcycle-style cover.

We think our cargo bike(s) have been safe here as the area is busy during the day and brightly lit at night.  The locks are also good.  And it is a fairly safe neighbourhood.  In addition, we’d heard that cargo bikes tend not to be stolen in the UK as they are rare here and there is such a small market for selling them on.  I think probably most Edinburgh bike theft is opportunistic whereas cargo bike thieves would need to be more specialised/organised in terms of the theft/transport/selling on of the stolen bike.  I think such an operation would be obvious to the police and so cargo bike theft in the UK is rare/unlikely.   I know a few cargo bike owners in Edinburgh and all store their bikes outside, well locked up and under covers, and I’ve not heard of any problems.

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Spokes posts/events related to cargobikes

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Spokes-supported cargo bikes: pictures, grant amounts, user reports


2023: £1800, Farr Out Deliveries, eBullitt cargobike [Report pic2 pic3 pic4 pic5 pic6 pic7 STVinterview]

2022: £1500, Claire family’s Urban Arrow family cargobike [Report pic2 pic3]

2023: £2000, Nicolas Compagnion, Local Plumber and Heating engineer, Riese and Muller Transporter 75 cargobike [Report lovely logo! pic8 pic2 pic3 pic4 pic5 pic6 pic7]

2023: £1090, MG Handyman services, Radwagon 4 [Report, photo]

2023: £1200, Fiona & Alasdair’s Radwagon 4 Cargo bike [report, pic2]

2023: £1000, Bike Storage competition prizewinner .. Rosanna’s Veloe cargobike & trailer [report, with more pics]

2023: £1500, Gavin & Gill’s Urban Arrow [report; more pics p1 p2 p3]

2023: £1300, Cycling Gardeners of Edinburgh, electric cargo AM
Trike [report; more pics 1 2; tweet]

2023: £2000, SW Edinburgh 20-min Nbds, Urban Arrow for free public loan & community use [report; more pics 1 2 3 4; tweet]
2023: £750, Shopping by Bike competition prizewinner .. Robyn’s Veloe Multi family cargobike [report; more pics 1 2]

2023: £1500, Gaetan & Cristina’s Urban Arrow [report; more pics p1 p2]

2022: £2000, Dower House Cafe, Tern Quikhaul cargobike [report; more pics 1 2; tweet]

2022: £1500, Woodland Learning Adventures, Riesse & Muller Load 75 [report; pic2; tweet]

2021: £1000, Julia’s Nihola family bike [report; more photos: 1 2 3 4]

2022: £1500 Charlotte’s Veloe family bike [report; more pics 1 2 3] [full year report; pics 4 5 6]

2021: £1000, Kirsten’s family Urban Arrow [report, 2nd photo]

2021: £1000, Rosanna’s Bergamont E-Cargoville [report; more photos: 1 2 3 4 5 6]

2021: £1000, Tupiniquim.co.uk, Urban Arrow [application extract]

2021: £1500, TheEcolarder.com, Urban Arrow [application extract]

2020: £1500, Lauren’s family Long Steps cargobike at Cramond [report]2020: £1000, Untitled Oats, Urban Arrow XL [report]
2020: £1000, Lothian Cycle Training – returning from a Dr Bike session [report]2020: £1500, Josie & family Urban Arrow cargobike [report]

 

2020: £1493, Joanna & Miles’s Christiana cargo bike  [report]

 

2020: £1500, Veronica & Casey’s Urban Arrow cargobike [report]

Green Team cargobike 2020: £1500, Green Team Nihola cargobike [report1] [report2]

 

2020: £1117, Eddie & Vicki’s Helios tandem with cargo conversion kit fitted [report]

 

2019: £500, Bikes for Refugees, Urban Arrow cargobike – for travel to bike repair workshops, previously done by van or taxi

2019: £500, Hazel with Nihola family cargo trike
2018: £500, Hearty Squirrel cargobike – for food transport to stalls at Edinburgh University campuses and outside events.
2018: £500, Food Sharing Hub…  Urban Arrow cargobike for Tyred of Food Waste project to collect/distribute surplus  supermarket food  [report]     BBC-TV video

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