Pedal Powered Supermarche with bamboo box in Minneapolis, MN – After seeing all the Copenhagen bike commuters with their babies strapped in while I was biking around as a tourist on an off day I knew when we had our first kid, we needed a similar bike setup so we didn’t get into a rut of driving everywhere spring, summer, and fall. We also wanted something more secure that allowed the use of a car seat for added protection and wanted something more stable than a long tail cargo bike should we fall. We were also looking for something more maneuverable on city streets and more visible than a tow behind kid trailer, hence the bakfiets choice.
Our 9-month-old son is strapped into a forward-facing car seat with a five-point harness. Car seat rests on an ottoman cushion and the back of the seat is cushioned by a bunch of towels. The car seat’s mounting straps are attached to the bamboo boxes’ mounting slots and we also have a tie down strap around the base of the car seat and bike frame as redundancy. We plan to change over to the already purchased bamboo seat with 5-point harnesses and a helmet on him a year from now.
First ride was short and our son couldn’t avoid the early spring sun in his eyes. He was very quiet on the ride probably due to the sun in his eyes. A pair of sunglasses solved that issue and now he’s very chatty on the subsequent rides around the neighborhood which leads us to believe he’s having a great time on the ride.
Us parents are having a ton of fun biking around vising different neighborhoods, checking out different parks. While we’ve only been on three rides so far, our longest ride was an hour long, and I powered through one of the steepest hills in the area and the bike handled it no problem thanks to the low gearing on the first chainring.
We plan to continue to expand our radius to go to outdoor concerts this summer, grab a bite to eat at local restaurants, grabbing pastries and coffee, visiting friends’ houses, and going for biking adventures with friends. I’m thrilled that this bike will massively expand our radius without having to use our car and we get to have some fun biking (and some exercise in the process). Basically, a huge lifestyle upgrade over taking a stroller walks to a couple closer destinations and this bike will allow us to spend more time outside this summer.
Pro’s:
– Hydraulic brakes work great! With my kid on board, the bamboo box, and the bike itself, we’re pushing ~ 100 lbs with me helming the bike at ~165lbs. Feels very safe and stable slowing down on the downhills.
– I really like all the tie down areas on the bamboo box and natural bamboo grain looks beautiful. The bamboo box feels a lot safer for my son should we get into an accident over the open loader fabric box despite the weight penalty over the fabric setup. No issues with noise from what I can tell but that may have to do.
– Despite hitting some wet roads and some sand on a turn down hill, the tires kept us upright. Fenders also did their job on keeping me dry while biking on wet pavement.
– The components shift well despite being on the low end of the Shimano spectrum.
– While U-turns feel a little suspect and the turning radius requires this to be carefully planned out, turning the 8’ plus long bike is starting to make more sense on right turns and I’ve started to lean more into turns and it feels good how quick this learning curve was.
– I normally bike with toe clips on a road bike which feels more secure over platform pedals but was pleasantly surprised how stable and planted my running shoes feel on the pedals the bike came with.
Neutral:
– Handle bars feel a little wide for me but I have a slimmer build and am used to riding a road bike with my hands on the hoods or the flats. I plan to adjust the stem down from its near vertical position that the bike shop set the bike up. This will lengthen the handlebar distance from the headset. Hopefully this will make the bike feel more stable and less twitchy when I’m signaling turns with only one hand on the handlebars since I’m riding on a lot of gridded neighborhood streets and have to signal my turns at intersections around drivers.
Minor Con’s:
– The saddle is too soft for my taste and will be replaced with a spare saddle I have. I think my wife will like the saddle on her Bianchi. Not a big deal.
– The kick stand should only be used on flat or on an uphill. I parked the bike on slight downhill and the kickstand felt a little unsteady like it was about to disengage which would have caused the bike to tip over with my son in it. Something to pay attention to when parking but not a huge deal.
– Don’t love biking on a white framed bike due to the symbolism there (ghost bike). The new model is grey though which looks sharp.
Verdict:
Very happy with the bike, would repurchase 10/10 times and am excited for the summer!

I bought my pedal power supermarche in 2018 to ride my daughter around and I can’t imagine life without it, it my favorite bike now. Since she was 8 months old, I’ve been strapping her car seat into the bamboo cargo box, putting down about 1000 miles per year with her. Once she was big enough, she’s been using the bench seat. The cable steering makes it handle just like a normal bike (no slop in the steering) and the super low center of gravity make this bike excellent in the winter. You pretty much can’t fall over on this thing, if the wheels slip on ice you just kind of fishtail and slide. I ride it all winter. The canopy has been an essential accessory, with some modifications. Keeps the sun, wind and rain off of her and I put some string LED lights inside for riding in the dark. I sewed in some Velcro to roll up the back of the canopy for really hot days, and sewed a reflective cloth in the top to keep the sun out. We turn heads wherever we go. The only way this bike could be better if if Yuba we’re to make a heads light mount for the front fork (really splitting hairs here). Thanks Yuba!

I love this bike, it’s light and responsive, after riding another front loader for work I am very happy with this one. Strangely I feel much more confident ridding this bicycle around than my road bike or my fixed gear crit bike (I raced my crit bike for a few years and spent quite a bit of time on it). I would recommend this to anyone who doesn’t want to spend their time sitting in their car getting out of shape when running errands. I’ve been ridding it around and I live in Dallas, Texas so if I can ride it in Texas you can ride it anywhere there are roads (and place there aren’t roads within reason).

I have been using my YUBA Supermarché for 4 months now. I love her!
It took me only about 30 seconds to get used to the steering system with the extended wheel up in front. The best advice that was given to me was: “don’t look at the wheel when you drive, just look ahead and “feel” the turns”. From that moment on, it was super easy to carry even very heavy loads and not feel unbalanced at all.
I don’t have an electric version, so although I did rides of over 1 hour long, and over steep hills, I now mostly use her for the local rides, such as going to the grocery store, the coffee shop, etc. She has a heavy (and strong) frame but the gears are such that if you are patient enough, you can climb any hill. I really like the disk brakes as I feel super safe going downhill.
It’s funny that riding the cargo bike made me belong to a new “tribe”! Many people along the way will wave at me, because they love and approve the lifestyle that choses to bike instead of driving. This is exactly why I got the bike, so I am very happy to meet like minded people along my daily rides!
Now, if you get a YUBA, you’ll have to get used to people saying “I love your bike, where did you get it, I want one just like this”! haha. Because I love mine, I am always super happy to share the good tips!
I also own a VW van, and just that my van, there is something about the YUBA that just makes me smile when I get on it! I suddenly have no hurry, take my time, enjoy the moment, look at the world and smile. First time a bike does that to me!
Basically, I highly recommend it.