6,000 km

There was (and still is) something very enticing about the extreme practicality of the Omnium range of cargo bikes. Their other bikes look amazing, too,but don't have the same allure as the cargo bikes.

It was a long burn. I was underemployed when I first got wind of the bike, so absolutely could not justify the cost. I had bikes. Then my Kona Unit developed a crack, and finding someone to repair it was surprisingly difficult, unless I paid new-bike money for the repair.

Suddenly I was down to a Dutch Van Andel bakfiets, an impractical carbon road bike, and a slightly less impractical dual suspension mountain bike.

I tried to win one in a comp. I did a few test rides. Every day became leg day as I rode the bakfiets everywhere.

Then I landed a job. A real turn-up-every-day-and-we-will-just-pay-you-without-complaint type of job. Suddenly the MiniMax was much more attainable. I dropped a deposit, saddle, and handlebars off to the good folks at Treadly in Norwood.

I've spent just over 6,000 km in the saddle of the Omnium MiniMax v3, in varied ways, so I think I'm ready to spread some opinions about it.

I guess the summary or abstract is that it's magnificent.

It handles like a normal bike at low and high speeds. This is in contrast to the Bakfiets that handles pretty oddly at low speeds, with a very sweeping front end. If you've ever driven a truck or van where you sit in front of the front axle, you'll probably understand what I mean when the front end feels like it sweeps left and right at low speeds. At higher speeds it was fine, until it developed terrifying wobbles above about 45 km/h.

The 40 tooth front ring that it comes with is probably too big if you plan on riding it away from standard flat-ish terrain. I tolerated it for about 3-4,000 km at which point I bought a 36 tooth. I would have gone for a 34, but they're hard to find outside of the "exorbitant" price bracket in 5-bolt 110 BCD. If I was going to do this again knowing what I know now, I would probably do a custom build and get a 2-by.

The stock saddle did not work for me. At all. YMMV.

I had Surly Moloko bars left over from the Kona Unit that I had fitted from Day 0. The only downside here is that they encroach a bit on the cargo area. And on the subject of the cargo area, it's not quite as practical as the Bakfiets. You can't just chuck some shopping bags in the box (because there isn't a box). I've settled on a Tip Top bread tray, and that works very well.

If I had the money I would get a titanium one. They're about 3 kg lighter, which is quite significant if you're touring on it. I think my current bike is 19 kg, not counting bags or crate or bits or bobs.

Love this bike.