A popular bike at Cycling Electric’s Lee Valley Demo Day experience was the Veloe Multi Lungo longtail, and while this is not a full review, we too managed to bag some first ride impressions of this Italian-made cargo bike.
Before we share those, if you’re shopping for a bike like this, bookmark our guide to the best Longtail Cargo Bikes for further reading.
Veloe Multi Lungo review: the headline details
£3,699 to £5,499 | View stockist
Pros
Highly capable carrier
Low step frame
Saddle has handle to move static bike
Lots of room for kids, foot protectors over rear wheel
Cons
Dual wheel size means two tube sizes to keep stock of
Specifications
Stated weight: 26kg
Stated range: Up to 100km
Frame material: Chro-mo steel
Motor: Shimano EP6 / Bosch Cargo Line
Battery: Bosch Powerpack 545Wh
Drivetrain: Nexus 5E / 3X3 / Enviolo HD or Automatiq
Brakes: Shimano hydraulic discs
Saddle: Selle Royal cargo specific with handle
Tyres: Schwalbe Pick Up 20″/24″
Suspension: None
Included accessories: Extended tail, mudguards, lighting, adjustable height stem, double kickstand
Veloe Multi Lungo: The build kits
As you’ll quickly notice, the price brackets for this bike are quite wide at a near £2,000 difference between the basic and top spec.
This is accounted for by differences in the motor, which can be specced as either a cheaper 85Nm Shimano EP6 with a 400% assist support, or a more premium Bosch Cargo Line, now with a 100Nm torque behind it, plus a 400% support.
Another spec sheet gap is filled by the gearing options, for which there are four distinct options, ranging a Shimano Nexus 5E, the internal gearhub 3X3 system, an Enviolo HD or Enviolo Automatiq, the latter two being a continuously variable gear system with no individual gear shifts, rather one gradual incremental shift.
All of these gearhubs let you change up and down at standstill, which you cannot get with a derailleur geared e-bike. Another benefit to doing things this way is that the gearing is all sealed away from the elements and as such is less vulnerable to road grime, and the need to clean and maintain the drivetrain as much.
Finally, there are versions of this bike that have a ‘mullet’ style wheelset, as seen in this Veloe Multi Lungo first ride review. What that means is that there’s a smaller rear wheel, in this case a 20-inch wheel, and a larger front wheel. There are also non-mullet setups, but either way this is a mid-tail cargo bike (somewhere between a short tail and a long tail).
First ride review impressions
With its dual-size wheels, the ride feels agile, yet with more control up front as the larger wheel compensates better for road noise, as does the choice of the industrial-grade Schwalbe Pick-Up tyres, designed specifically for heavily loaded electric cargo bikes. That smaller back wheel means that your passengers have more room to get comfortable and their weight is lower down, further benefitting the ride feel.
On that mid-length tail, you can build the e-bike as you see fit, for example, placing a padded seat and protective cage, as is seen here, or converting the back end to carry cargo with various bags and boxes. As with all cargo bikes, these are sold separately and will influence the final price. That said, once you customise a cargo bike to your lifestyle needs, then you’ll without doubt be more inclined to use it more regularly, thus replacing more car trips and saving money. Plus, your kids will enjoy the school run much more. On that note, it’s always good to see foot protectors over the rear wheel to make accidents impossible.
Before you get going, there are some really excellent details to be aware of, none more pleasing than the Selle Royal saddle with its molded handle. Cargo bikes are heavy; there’s no getting around that, so having this purposeful handle to move the static bike is very welcome and often overlooked by manufacturers. That said, at only around 26kg, the Veloe Multi Lungo is actually one of the lower-weight electric cargo bikes we’ve tested.
Other details that are worth noting are, first of all, that the front light is sensibly positioned so that even if you have loaded up the custom cut Veloe cargo rack, the light will still reach down the road, rather than being obscured by whatever you are carrying. The ride positioning adjustment is nicely managed too, with a quick-release mechanism under the handlebars to raise or drop the front end, alongside the quick-release seatpost clamp under the saddle.
As standard, this bike comes with a 504Wh battery, which is a pretty decent base capacity, though you can upgrade if you think you’ll regularly be heavily loaded, or just riding longer or hillier stints.
The best bit about the Veloe experience is that there are stock colours, but if you don’t like them, then a custom paint option is available too and that can be organised via your local stockist. In London, where we tested this bike, that’s Butternut Bikes.
