Review
It’s been a while since I introduced the Globe Haul LT – if you missed what this 90+ pound behemoth is all about, give the first piece a read here for some basic info about the brand and the bike. In short, Globe is a quirky-branded offshoot of Specialized and sells a short and a long version of the Haul, a hub-motored cargo bike with an array of accessories designed to help you replace car trips with bike trips, no matter what you need to carry.
What I’d like to do in this series convince you with a financial argument that you should own a bike like this because the world needs more people driving less. But first, let’s cover what living with the Globe Haul LT is like and the day-to-day practicalities of it.
It’s basically a minivan at this point, in form and function. Spotted in the background: traffic. Remember, you’re not in traffic, you are traffic.
I treat urban bikes very differently than their non-motorized relatives – while my bicycles get regular cleaning and maintenance, careful tuning, and a watchful eye and ear for any issues, if there’s electric power it gets treated like the appliance it is. My stand mixer doesn’t need maintenance, I just expect it to work and make me bread or ice cream on demand. Fortunately for me, the Haul LT has been trouble-free in the past 12 months, requiring nothing more than the most basic maintenance*. The rare wash, a couple sets of brake pads, clean and lube the chain every now and again, and the bike has more or less run like a (very heavy) top, delivering the rider and associated goods or passenger(s) where they need to go as I expect all my appliances to perform.
*The motor-controller and some other parts were replaced under warranty – this was covered in the first piece and there have been no additional issues.
The Haul got me to and from the hospital to have my cast and then staples removed after my Sender CFR crash. I was not alone, and the hospital’s bike rack was nearly full.
Riding the Haul
While the Globe has done everything it needs to do, there are some aspects of it worth discussing as I pull you into thinking about a car-lite lifestyle, one ride at a time.
First off is the motor. I’m someone who doesn’t particularly enjoy a motor on my mountain bike, so writing a review where the initial discussion is centered around a motor pains me somewhat, but it’s one of the biggest variables to consider when you’re dropping thousands to replace car trips with a cargo bike the the Haul.
The Globe’s hub motor delivers power to the tire directly, rather than through your “traditional” drivetrain like a mid-motor setup. This has upsides in cost and efficiency, and the motor on the Haul is a big one, but it also means the motor is effectively a single-speed. There’s no way to multiply the motor’s torque through gears, which impacts how the bike performs on steep grades. On hills over ~12%, you’ll need to work reasonably hard to maintain good forward velocity, especially if you’re loaded. Like all but the lowest-end ebikes, power delivery varies with your input torque, and the Globe exhibits very limited ghost pedaling; power delivery is intuitive, albeit sometimes a bit more would be nice as wheel-speed drops on steep climbs.
One of a couple hills I encounter regularly – my average speed with a trailer and passenger is roughly half that on the Globe, and despite the lack of heartrate data here I promise you I’m trying really hard.
But we need to try and contextualize this – using the ~12% grade I hit regularly on the way to kindergarten drop-off as a benchmark, I’m still going 19-20kmh uphill with a passenger; it feels glacial and I’m working moderately hard, but that’s roughly double the speed I can carry pushing 350-400W on the same section of road on my gravel bike with a trailer and the same passenger. Once things hit 18%, it feels like you’re not getting any assistance, but the reality is that even though you’re going slowly, it’s MUCH faster and easier than the same hill would be on a non-motorized bicycle, especially one that weighs as much as the Haul.
A mid-motor setup is likely to be easier on your heartrate on the steepest parts, but the tradeoff here is the Globe’s drivetrain is still in great shape after a few thousand kilometers, as it only sees power from pizza and beer instead of the wall socket.
The mid-motor Tern Orox Deniz reviewed earlier delivers power through your chain and gears, resulting in a very different feel when pedaling up steep grades.
Otherwise, riding the Haul is a breeze – literally. I’m usually cold, as I’m going faster than I’m expecting to and at significantly lower heartrates; my clothing choices are based around years of blood and sweat powering by bikes, not electricity, and I dress incorrectly for the much lower-output required to ebike.
Looking at the nuts and bolts of the Haul, shifting isn’t great. I’m not sure how much is the Microshift drivetrain and how much is the VERY long housing, but I’m willing to blame most of its mediocrity on the housing. The brakes are powerful enough, which isn’t always the case for cargo bikes here around all the steep hills, although we’ve gone through quite a few sets of brake pads for the mileage. The q-factor takes some getting used to, unless you grew up riding Clydesdales; it’s incredibly wide.
Cowboy friendly q-factor, and some crank wear that shows the low bottom bracket (blame the 20″ wheels) is occasionally a concern.
Wear & Tear
While the Globe has performed relatively flawlessly, it’s showing some wear and tear. Part of this stems from its size – it’s just easy to bang the wide, long bike into things. It’s also been crashed twice on ice and once in heavy rain; the pavement hasn’t been kind to the corners, however the running boards and front rack mean the rider has come away basically unscathed each time.
The frame paint isn’t holding up particularly well, with a ton of chips. If this were a mountain bike, I’d be incredibly disappointed, but as it’s an appliance (and the frame is aluminum), I find myself not caring about that or the wear and tear from carrying a large chain lock around on the back. The front light housing bent hard enough to crack around the mount, but it still works just fine. One of the running boards cracked at the back corner when someone (ahem, me) might have been tailgating the Globe on their gravel bike when it stopped rather abruptly out of nowhere. The list goes on, with dings from bike racks, odd shaped cargo, and scraping past poorly-placed concrete barriers but this is all just part of life with a large cargo bike and thus-far all the wear and tear is superficial.
The paint isn’t holding up particularly well, and I’ve yet to determine what’s actually causing these dings. It’s clearly something that happens with regularity, but I don’t know what.
“Someone” may have tagged the back corner with their gravel bike in a bit of an incident. But, in that person’s defense, the only way to keep pace with the Globe on a real bike is drafting pretty closely.
It’s obscured by the new raincover, but the back end took a beating from a chain lock before it was relocated to a new storage position. I really should get a lock that bolts to the two accessory mounts back here.
What can you Haul?
Anything, really. But perhaps the better question to try and answer is, “What trips can I reasonably expect to replace with a bike like the Globe Haul?”
Anything within reason. So let’s talk about what’s reasonable.
Biking to get groceries > driving to get groceries.
Biking to get beer > driving to get beer.
Some things are pretty easy to haul – short trips, nice weather, small loads. Once you start trying small grocery runs on a bike, you’ll wonder how you ever did it any other way. No more looking for parking, loading/unloading carts in the lot, just pull right up close to the door, lock it up, and wander in. As most parents are aware, dropoff at school is often a complete clusterf*ck driving, trying to find a spot to park, etc. No such worries if you’re biking, we can park a mere meters from the classroom door. Conveniently, it also takes the same amount of time, every time, as traffic becomes a non-issue and getting places when you want to becomes more straightforward than guesstimating how long it’ll take to drive somewhere at what part of the day.
Loaded up on the way to school pickup.
Prior to the rain cover, this is how I hauled a small bike with room for one passenger.
The rain cover is from Tern – another cargo bike manufacturer – and fits the Globe well. It has significantly increased passenger comfort.
The Globe’s front (optional) and rear racks use the MIK standard, so baskets, small kid seats, and other accessories snap on and off quickly. We also have the optional front cannier attachments.
You’re limited (somewhat) by weight, but mostly by imagination and how many straps you own for what you can haul with the Haul LT. Everything from a quick b-double-e-double-r-u-n to a family of three headed to the beach fits without issue, although in the latter case you need to be a confident cyclist as everything is heavy. One adult and two kids is easy – two adults changes the COG significantly for the worse.
The simplicity of the canniers* coupled with drop-in tote bags is great for moving things around, and even with a passenger the rear cargo bags are incredibly cavernous. It’s easy to click everything on and off to adjust to the task at hand, and with the running boards and passenger rails the possibilities for strapping thing to the Haul are plentiful.
*trash-can/pannier portmanteau
I’m tellin’ ya, it beats driving. The Globe’s light is bright at all settings, and adjustable from a button on the handlebars.
Conclusions To Date
I didn’t need to be convinced cargo bikes are the best way to move things around the city, I want to convince you. The Globe Haul seeks to bridge a bit of a gap in the market between five-figure brands like Tern or Riese & Müller and “cheap” urban ebikes like Radwagon. While it’s not what anyone would define as ‘cheap’, the Globe is much less expensive than many others, and retains basically all the functionality of something that costs double (or more). But, if you think the Globe is an expensive bike, next time we’re going to dive in deeper to the cost of ownership as a vehicle replacement – don’t compare the Globe to a bike, compare it to it’s competition. A small city car.
Specialized Globe Haul LT – 4,300 CAD / 3,799 USD
Even when it’s not a nice crisp, dry fall day cruising by the river, biking beats driving every time when the distance and load are reasonable. The Haul LT means greater distances and greater loads are reasonable.
Elder millennial, size medium.
Reformed downhiller, now rides all the bikes.