Description
Looking for a cargo bike that looks and rides like a normal bike?
The Veloe Multi is a compact Italian electric cargo bike that carries two children on the back and takes up about as much room as a normal town bike. It is the one we bought for ourselves, and it is the one we ride.
Who are Veloe?
Veloe are a small Italian company who design, weld, paint and assemble their bikes at a factory near Milan. Doing all of that in Italy is unusual at this price, and you can see where the money went as soon as you look at the welds and the paint.
They build one idea in two lengths. The idea is a family cargo bike you would still choose to ride on a Sunday: a low step-through frame in chromoly steel, hub gears and a belt drive so there is nothing to maintain, ordinary wheels you can get tyres for anywhere, and a long rear rack that takes child seats, footrests, panniers or a grown-up passenger.
The two lengths are the Multi and the Multi Lungo. They share a front end. The Multi runs 24 inch wheels front and rear and comes in at about 1.8 m, which is roughly the length of an ordinary town bike. The Lungo keeps that same front end, stretches the rear and drops to a 20 inch rear wheel, which lengthens the rack and sits the load lower down.
What the Multi is like to live with
The short answer is that it behaves like a bike. At 1.8 m with 24 inch wheels at both ends it steers normally and slots through traffic normally.
Load it up and it stays settled. Two children and the shopping on the back, and the steel frame and the low rack keep the weight where you want it, so the bike still goes where you point it. The handling you get on the test ride is the handling you get on the school run.
We bought one ourselves. Not a demo the distributor sent us, an actual family bike we paid for. That is the most honest thing we can tell you about it.
How many children fit
Two on the rear rack, and a third on a front seat if you need it. We have several customers running all three every day.
Veloe’s own literature says “up to 2 children on the rear rack”, which describes the rack and is where the confusion comes from. If your two passengers are getting tall and you want more room across the back, the Multi Lungo has the longer rack for exactly that.
If you are carrying one at the moment, this is usually the bike we point you at. One on the back leaves plenty of room spare, a front seat covers a smaller passenger when the time comes, and the bike keeps up with the family rather than needing replacing.
Someone up front
Both Veloes will carry a passenger on the front. Veloe sell a jump seat for an older child, which is the part kids ask for by name, and a front baby seat takes a passenger from around six months old.
Having them in front of you changes the ride completely. You can talk to them, you can see what they are up to, and they get the view instead of the back of your coat. For a small child it is a far nicer way to get around town.
It fits in a council bike hangar
This is the detail that sells it in Crouch End. The Multi fits inside an on-street Cyclehoop hangar, which most longtails cannot manage. No garage, no side return, just a hangar space? That single fact can decide the whole thing.
Why we sell them
It gets ridden at weekends
A Veloe reads as an ordinary bike with a long rack, so it comes to the pub and the park as well as the school gates. Plenty of cargo bikes do the school run and then live in the shed until Monday.
It survives a London winter
Hub gears and a belt drive have almost nothing exposed to the weather. Locked up outside all winter, it still shifts properly in March.
We look after it here
We are a Veloe dealer and we service what we sell, in our own workshop on Crouch Hill. Parts come from Italy and we order them regularly.
It grows with you
Child seats front and rear, footrests, feet covers, rain covers, loadspaces, panniers, safety bars and family packs. Start with a bare bike and add as the family changes.
Builds and prices
Hub gears need almost no maintenance. The Gates belt runs in place of a chain, so there is no oil, no rust and nothing on your trousers. Every build costs the same on the Multi and the Lungo.
| Motor | Gears | Drive | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shimano EP5 | Nexus 5E hub | Chain | £3,299 |
| Shimano EP5 | Nexus 5E hub | Gates belt | £3,599 |
| Shimano EP5 | Nexus Di2 electronic | Gates belt | £3,849 |
| Bosch Cargo Line | Nexus 5E hub | Chain | £4,499 |
| Bosch Cargo Line | Nexus 5E hub | Gates belt | £4,799 |
| Bosch Cargo Line | Enviolo HD stepless | Chain | £4,699 |
| Bosch Cargo Line | Enviolo HD stepless | Gates belt | £4,999 |
| Bosch Cargo Line | Enviolo AutomatiQ | Gates belt | £5,499 |
Swipe the table sideways for the full list.
Which motor? The Shimano EP5 is what most people go home with, and it saves around £1,200 over the Bosch. It has the power for a loaded bike on our hills. Choose Bosch Cargo Line for the bigger battery, the Bosch app and the wider service network behind you, and if you are carrying a full load up a hill every single day.
Which gears? Nexus 5E is the low-maintenance default. Enviolo is stepless, so you slide through the range with no gear steps at all. AutomatiQ changes gear by itself, which is genuinely lovely on a loaded bike in stop-start traffic.
Can you actually get one?
We normally keep a bike or two in stock in the popular colour and motor combinations, so there is often one in the shop you can ride away on the day.
If you want a particular build, or a colour of your own, we order it from the factory and it takes two to three weeks to arrive. That covers the custom paint as well, so choosing your own colour costs you the £100 and no extra waiting.
One left from the old range. We have a single Shimano EP6 in green, Nexus 5E with a chain, at £3,750one only. Previous motor generation, replaced by the EP5. Good bike, and when it is gone it is gone. Pick it from the motor options above.
Any colour you like, for £100
This is the bit people fall for. Veloe will paint your frame in any RAL colour you choose, at the factory near Milan, for £100. It is a proper factory paint job. We won’t have your colour sitting in the shop, so it is ordered from Italy with the bike, and it adds no extra waiting.
Bring us a colour, a Pantone, or a photo of your front door.
A Multi in custom green, with the child seat painted to match. Yes, we checked, it really is that colour.
Come and ride one up the hill
There is a hill directly outside the shop. Ten minutes on a loaded bike going up it tells you more than any spec sheet, and far more than a lap of a flat car park. We keep a Veloe in for test rides, and we own one ourselves, so we can tell you how it lives day to day.
143 Crouch Hill, Crouch End, N8 9QH. Available on all the usual Cycle to Work schemes.
