As we coasted down the 59th Street Bridge, my daughter let out a huge "wheee!" as we picked up speed, the East River hundreds of feet below us. Looking up, I saw the yellow girders of the bridge, while to the left, a Roosevelt Island tram passed by, its passengers waving.
But how did we get here in the first place? While electric bikes are all over New York, I wanted to see how well one of the best electric bikes would handle the city streets.
I borrowed an Urban Arrow Family bike — an electric cargo bike we reviewed a few years ago — from Propel Bikes in Brooklyn, and set off with some 30,000 other riders on the annual 5 Boro Bike Tour that would take us on a 40-mile ride from lower Manhattan up through the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, and then finally over the Verrazano Bridge into Staten Island.
The bike was surprisingly stable — but I still had to be careful
The Urban Arrow Family weighs 110 pounds and measures nine feet from front to back, so it's a pretty hefty ride. That being said, it was very stable for its size. On level terrain, I could push it around with ease, and while riding, I never felt unsafe.
That said, I did have to take some extra precautions. I had to take turns carefully, and I also had to be a lot more conscious about all the other riders around me.
You can't make any sudden movements, and you also really need to keep two hands on the handlebars. Since the bulk of the bike's weight is in front, it's much harder to control than a traditional bike if you're not using both hands.
While it wasn't difficult, it did take a bit more runway to get the bike going from a stop. I had to make sure there was a clear opening, lest I run into someone — or they me.
I didn't need to use the pedal assist as much as I thought
Considering the Urban Arrow Family weighs 110 pounds on its own, I was pretty sure that I would need to use its pedal assist a lot during the whole ride. However, I found that I could keep it on Eco mode — its lowest setting — or even turn it off for big sections of the ride, such as when traveling on level pavement.
In addition to the pedal assist, the bike also comes with a shifter, so you're not stuck with a single gear. It's a non-indexed shifter, so you simply twist the grip in your right hand until you find a gear that'c comfortable.
That knowledge really allowed me to conserve the battery, as I knew I'd probably need it later on in the ride, when my legs started to tire.
It held up to the weather
The weather forecast the entire day threatened rain, but fortunately, it held off — right until the very end, when it started pouring just as we were about to get on the Verrazano Bridge entrance ramp.
We can prepared with rain gear and ponchos, but the bike itself was going to get a bit wet, and I was going to have to pedal it on some rain-slicked roads.
The rain stopped after we were in the finish area, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that both my seat and the seat in the cargo area dried off quickly on their own.
The bottom of the cargo area also dried quickly, as its floor has a lot of dime-sized holes to let water drain quickly.
The bike's battery held up
The Urban Arrow's 500W battery has an estimated range of around 31 miles, but you can add a second battery to double it.
When I started off, the Urban Arrow Family's battery had a 90-percent charge; throughout the first three-quarters of the event, I had the pedal assist level set to Eco mode — or even turned off — but bumped it up to Tour or Auto mode when going up hills.
The last quarter of the tour, I used Tour and Auto mode more often, as I was getting tired, and it's a really long climb to the top of the Verrazano Bridge.
At the end of the Tour, I had 27 percent battery remaining. The range will vary based on what you're carrying and the level of assist you're using, but it looks like the company's estimates were pretty accurate.
We got a lot of compliments
I figured that most people who sign up for a 40-mile bike ride would be fairly literate on the many types of bikes out there, but I was surprised at just how many comments and questions I received on the ride.
To be fair, front-loading cargo bikes are still pretty rare — I only saw a couple others on the entire route.
Many were interested to know how it handled, and still more asked if they could switch seats with my kid, who was just soaking up all the attention.
Final thoughts
While I'm not out of shape, I'm not exactly in peak physical condition, so I was a little concerned if my body would hold up to hauling a 100-pound bike and a small child 40-odd miles through the city.
Apart from a bit of soreness in my shoulders and general tiredness — I didn't get the best night's sleep — I felt remarkably fine afterwards. The ebike's pedal assist made it easy to traverse all the hills and bridges I went over throughout the city of New York, so it felt more like a leisurely Sunday ride rather than the Tour de France.
Now, I get that electric cargo bikes aren't practical for a lot of people — they're large and they're expensive, so you need to have both means and space to own one — but they're certainly a fun way to get around, for both you and your kid.
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