The Xtracycle Hopper kept my kids and me safe in a crash, but it’s still a few features short of a five-star review

Xtracycle has been in the cargo bike business for over 25 years, so its safe to say the company knows its way around long-tail bikes. Since it began prior to the e-bike era, early designs didn’t have motors or e-assist features of any kind, just pure pedal power. It now offers three different models, two of which use mid-drive motor systems, as well as the Hopper, which is positioned as a slightly smaller, more affordable, rear-hub powered alternative. Xtracycle sells the Hopper with several included accessories that allow it to be ready to ride out the door. For this test, the company also included some extra cargo bags, which were extremely helpful and made it easy to grab groceries on the way home or bring along additional supplies while testing out the bike on family adventures.

Design and Construction

The Hopper’s list of features is vast: it includes a Suntour suspension fork, a dropper post (making it simple to swap between riders of different heights), a quick-start throttle and both a front cargo rack and a rear passenger rail system. Like many long-tail cargo bikes, the Hopper is available in only one size, designed to fit a wide range of riders from roughly 5’ to 6’5” (152 cm to 196 cm). The frame is made of aluminium and is designed around an integrated battery, a pedal-based torque sensor, and a Shimano eight-speed drivetrain. The bike has a total carrying capacity of 500 lbs/226kg (including the rider), with a 750W rear hub motor and a 720Wh battery.

The Hopper has a relatively short wheelbase for a long-tail bike at 1225mm, which helps with manoeuvrability. It can be stored vertically if needed, though I found it a little bit cumbersome to actually do so. Hydraulic disc brakes and integrated lighting handle stopping and visibility, and the 20” wheels are specced with Kenda tyres, which measure about 2.35” in the front and 2.45” in the rear. The bike also has full-coverage fenders/mudguards, which is super helpful. The cargo area, which is designed primarily for kids, has enough space for two children, either both sitting and holding on or one sitting and one secured in a rack-mounted toddler seat with a 5-point harness.

The bike is designated as a Class II e-bike (capped at 20 mph), and the frame and fork have a five-year warranty. Xtracycle works with a network of bike shops for distribution and assembly, so that customers don’t need to assemble the bike themselves, which could pose issues for an inexperienced mechanic.

Xtracycle also offers a variety of add-on accessories, including front and rear bags available for purchase separately.

Specifications:

• Frame material: Aluminium
• Sizes: One size, fits riders 5’ to 6’5”
• Price: $2499.00
• Motor: 750W rear hub motor with torque sensor
• Weight: 85 lbs
• Colour: Blue Grass
• Range: up to 60 miles
• Certification: UL 2271 certified by SGS

The Ride

Early on during testing, we experienced the ultimate bike test: a crash. We (myself and our two children and I) were en route to school in the morning, riding partway around a traffic circle when a driver turned abruptly in front of us, travelling the wrong direction around the circle. I yelled, skidded, and laid the bike down to avoid colliding with the car at speed. We were lucky to escape the situation with only scrapes and bruises and made it to school a bit shaken, but otherwise OK.

This experience illuminated a few things: one, the passenger rail system Xtracycle calls the Hooptie (this is the handholding area/perimeter cage securing kids on the back seat) and cargo footrails do a very good job protecting passengers and keeping them in place, even when you slide along the tarmac. And, two: there’s no such thing as going overboard when it comes to being seen on the roads. Even with lights and reflective clothing, a careless driver can miss you, and there’s not much you can do about it.

Since then, I’ve been even more cautious around cars while riding, prioritising the safest possible routes and assuming every driver is incompetent and/or looking at their phone while driving. It’s too bad, but that’s the current reality in North America, even in “bike-friendly” cities like Seattle.

It wouldn’t have helped in this particular situation, but implementing rear radar systems into cargo bikes seems like a no-brainer. After this incident, I took a more critical look at the lights on the Hopper, and while they’re adequate, they could be better. The handlebar-mounted front light has limited output and can be obscured by control lines or front cargo, and the rear light is tucked into the back of the bike on the fender, so it can only be seen from directly behind the bike. It's also not very bright. I added some additional lighting, both front and rear, to increase visibility for the rest of the test period.

For regular upright riding, the bike performed very well. At around 6 foot/181 cm, I am near the upper middle of the sizing range, and felt like the bike was proportioned appropriately for me. For riders closer to 5’, the bike may be more difficult to manoeuvre. The shorter wheelbase makes it feel responsive and familiar, and the Shimano one-by drivetrain worked flawlessly.

The rear hub motor has a lot of juice, so much so that I preferred to keep it off the highest e-assist level with kids on the back. But having a throttle is hugely helpful for getting started from stops. One quirk of the battery and motor setup is that the Hopper has a battery-saving, or sleep, mode that engages after 72 hours of inactivity. This helps maintain the charge but prevents it from restarting as usual. Restarting requires pressing a special button located on the downtube, which isn’t a big deal as long as you know about this step ahead of time.

My primary complaint about the Hopper is the design of its front end. The frame uses a standard 1 ⅛” steerer tube paired with a threadless stem and BMX-style upright bars. This setup allows for very easy adjustment and a comfortable riding position; however, the bars and stem are not robust enough to comfortably manoeuvre the loaded weight of the rest of the bike. The flex in the handlebars creates some instability in the front end. Even at a riding weight of 150 lbs (68kg), with approximately 110 lbs of cargo (two elementary-age kids), the front-end flex is immediately noticeable, disconcerting, and even alarming at speed. Our combined weight is nowhere near the supposed upper limit of 500 lbs that Xtracycle has listed. This is something Xtracycle needs to remedy, either with a stronger bar-and-stem combo, or, even better, a longer head tube and a larger-diameter steerer tube, in addition to a different bar and stem.

In the same vein, the kickstand could be wider to help support the bike as small passengers clamber in and out. It’s rare we park on a perfectly flat, level surface, so leverage here makes a big difference. I appreciate that the Xtracycle kept us safe when it mattered, and we had a fun time exploring as a family, but there are a few things that could improve the bike’s performance.

Value and Conclusion

It seems apparent that Xtracycle designed the Hopper as a direct competitor to some of the newer direct-to-consumer bike brands currently offering kid-friendly cargo bikes. Brands like Lectric and Aventon offer similarly feature-heavy bikes with hub-based motors that appeal to people looking for an affordable car-replacement bike option. The Aventon Abound (previously tested here) is listed at $1,899 and the Lectric XPedition2 listed at $2,543 are both good comparables to the Hopper with a similar list of parts and capabilities.

I think perhaps Xtracycle might have been better served by streamlining this bike somewhat—the cargo-hauling and kid accessories are excellent, but the cockpit, suspension fork and dropper seatpost could be eliminated or improved to meet a similar or possibly lower price point without losing performance.

Xtracycle did a good job choosing performance where it matters, namely in the drivetrain and braking systems, as well as wheel and tyre spec, but is let down by the weak front end's performance characteristics.

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