If you have ever put a seven year old on the back of a longtail, you know the move. They put a hand on your shoulder, swing a leg up and over, then duck their head and shoulders under the safety bar like they are getting into a tent. Some kids give up halfway and wait for you to lift them on.
We have redesigned the Crew Cab so they do not have to do that.
What the Crew Cab is, if you are new here
The Crew Cab turns the Evamos rear rack into a safety cage. It gives kids who are past a child seat something solid to hold onto, and something solid between them and the road. We recommend it on every Evamos carrying kids, and it is in the accessory bundle for that reason. The backrest comes with it. Seat cushions are separate (also in the bundle).
The bars were never the problem. Getting a bigger kid past them was.
The gate
This is the part we are proud of.
One side of the Crew Cab now opens. Your child steps in, sits down, and you close it behind them, the same way they would get into a car. No ducking underneath, no scrambling, no lifting a bar out of the way with one hand while you hold the bike upright with the other.
It shuts with a bolt: a big handled screw that you turn by hand, so there are no tools to find and nothing to lose in the bottom of a bag.
It sounds small written down. In practice it is the difference between a kid who can get themselves onto the bike and a kid who needs you for it every single time. On a school run, in the rain, with two kids and a set of lights to catch, that is worth more than almost anything else on the spec sheet.
Two positions, because a four year old and a nine year old are not the same shape
The bars mount in two places on each side, inner and outer.
Inner for smaller kids, so there is less room to slide about and the bar is where a short arm can actually reach it. Outer once they outgrow that, so a nine year old is not sitting with their knees pinned and their shoulders against the bars.
Moving them is a five minute job: a couple of bolts and an Allen key. Worth saying because it means this is not a decision you make once at purchase and live with. You change it when they grow.
One thing worth knowing before you order: if you are running a Thule Yepp 2 Maxi child seat, you use the outer placement. The seat needs the room. So a typical Evamos life looks like outer bars while there is a child seat on board, inner bars for a few years once the seat comes off and they are still small, then outer again as they grow into it.
Why we bothered
A longtail is the cargo bike that grows with a family. That is the whole argument for one.
A rear rack that suits a four year old and frustrates a nine year old undercuts that argument quietly, right at the point the bike should be proving it was worth the money. Two positions and a gate fix it for the cost of some thought at the design stage. We would rather spend it there than have you work around it for the next six years.
The Evamos Crew Cab is $169 and fits the Tribe Evamos Longtail. All mounting hardware is included. It also comes in the Evamos bundle.
If you have questions, email hello@tribebikes.com.au.
