This post is in relation to "Mini-bikepacking trip with mini people"- By My mate Dave.

Good day to you all, my name is Dave, father of two and all-round adventure dad. As a family we have recently made the leap into the world of E-cargo bikes, mainly to remove any need to use a car in the city. There is a whole world of options out there and we chose the Benno. We arrived at the Benno for a few various reasons, which I will go into later, but mainly above all competition, we thought it had a good spec for adventure.
Last weekend I met up with my mate Dave, (not all of my friends are called Dave, but it does keep things simple) and his son. Our challenge was to take the Benno on a wild camping mirco adventure with our two kids, under 5 in the mountains of the UK.
My adventure starts in Bristol with my daughter Agnes, the first challenge was to get a train to a town, in the heart of the mountains! This seems a small step, but the bike is a little longer than your average (not by much) and the cargo rack on the front doesn’t turn with the handlebars, which just made for a little extra manoeuvring. All in all though, both directions to and from Bristol went off without a hitch. The bike is 30kg unloaded and with the larger wheels, getting on / off the trains was fine. It did get a little cosy in the lifts (English for elevator) when I had to change platform, however, it was really easy to get the bike onto the back wheel, if needed on the extra cosy lifts.
Once in Abergavenny, both kids were loaded onto the back of the Benno, plus all of our camping stuff! This was achieved through a mix of the Benno seat pad and a Yepp seat (which is super easy to get off and on plus large rear panniers.

ready to go by David Somerset, on Flickr

The rear pannier rack can load up to 60kg and the front rack 20kg, so I had plenty of space to shove everything two kids under 5 might need, including tent, sleeping bags, food and all the spare cloths such an adventure would warrant.
Loaded up this much, the performance of the bike was little affected compared to empty, this was a great surprise and a massive benefit as the bike handles really well and the larger diameter 24” wheels makes the bike ride over the various pot holes and puddles less bumpy for the kids. The tyres were also great, making short work of grit, gravel, mud and grass.
The motor still pulled well also, which made the steeper hills, including the final accent of 20% gradient over 1 km achievable. The bike slowed to 5mph in turbo mode for the climb, but managed to get up the entire way!

vista by David Somerset, on Flickr puddle by David Somerset, on Flickr

I only have a single 500kWh battery fit, but found with clipless pedals in touring mode, that the range was good (about 24 miles). Its worth noting that the Benno comes second battery ready, so if you want to add the other one to help with any range anxiety, this can be readily done.
All in all, our adventure was a success, I got home with 17miles of assistance left in the battery, which considering the 1,400ft if elevation we climbed and the rough terrain, was pretty good! The round trip was 14 miles and the kids loved it too! So, if you have a spirit for adventure, look no further than the Benno!

hot chocolate by David Somerset, on Flickr packed up by David Somerset, on Flickr cruising by David Somerset, on Flickr sun rise by David Somerset, on Flickr

A very interesting read that, thank you. Big compliments for taking the cargo bikes on the train. As you say, rather less wieldy than yer normal MTB. Bristol to Abergavenny presumably involved a change at Newport? It must have been quite challenging shifting the bikes to the other platform whilst also keeping an eye on the kids.

But for the children, a trip on the train is a far far more memorable and educational experience than the car, especially if they're involved in all the ticket buying, planning etc. And that's even before the actual adventure on the bikes themselves. I took two 14 year olds on a 2 day train trip to Machynlleth many years ago and I remember how challenging that was never mind yours ages!

<doffs cap>

Thanks! Yes the train was "interesting" but completely doable. I only had one of the kids, so made the journey more manageable. The bike wouldn't fit in any racks on the train, but was easy to pop it on / off the train at stops if people needed to get on/ off.

The Newport change was fun, I had to stand the bike up in the lift to change platform, but again this was okay as the bike wasn't fully laden at this point.

I'd recommend giving it go and I've not been put off by the train. The bike is long, but not that much longer than a normal bike, so platform attendants were fine. There are definitely some teething issues to work out for next time, but most importantly, there will be a next time.

PS> any chance of fixing the photos above?

Are they working now?

Sadly not .

Not sure who else uses google to host. Bit of a flickr fan meself...

SomersetDave wrote: ↑Thu Sep 16, 2021 3:14 pm Are they working now?

Nope. Opening them in another tab just results in a large grey block.

Do you know how to obtain a URL link from Flkr?

Try this for generating links to Google Photos:
https://www.labnol.org/embed/google/photos/

There's also a fair bit of advice in this thread:
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=5584

Should be fixed? thank for the help everyone!

Was going to mention Flickr2BBLite but you're all sorted. Marvellous photos!

How come Bearlegged is still Bearlegged? Special dispensation obviously .

Because I made a genuine request, and asked nicely.

That looks absolutely brilliant fun.

Im a shameful world of ditching kids in front of xbox and YT, taking kids in that adventure has made me really happy.

Well done all, top Dadding!

Ian

Loved all of that - cargo bike definitely makes sense for these adventures if you have one, especially when you have gear to carry for two kids!