When a brand specializing in folding bikes launches a cargo bike, it gives… a folding scooter! This is what DaHon, one of the leaders of the folding bike, dares to offer in 2024 with its Cargoe T5. Scooter, folding, but also equipped with electrical assistance which would make it suitable for being really loaded… A real five-legged sheep which deserves to be dissected on Weelz!
A folding electric scooter? We see compact SUVs…
The cargo bike is good, but the bulk, thank you! This observation, shared by many people, is opposed by a number of bicycle manufacturers. This is evidenced, for example, by the proliferation of compact cargo bikes in catalogs in recent years.
In this little game, some manufacturers are more cavalier than others and try experiments that could seem improbable. At DaHon, a Californian manufacturer of folding bikes, we approached the problem of compactness from another angle.
Its “compact” cargo option is actually a large electric-assisted three-wheeler called Cargoe T5. No sparing in terms of loading volume and useful weight: 200 kg please. The new 2024 product from the Californian brand boasts a strong utilitarian vocation. So, what makes it original? Well the scooter in question benefits from DaHon’s know-how and is therefore foldable.
DaHon Cargoe T5 scooter, 35% more compact when folded
Concretely, it is the rear part of the DaHon Cargoe T5 which folds up with a quick manipulation. Take a look at the video above, which gives an idea of the cinematic. The three-wheeler would thus lose 35% of space if we are to believe DaHon.
Articulation on two axes would limit the length of the bike without increasing its width, which would be a great feat. The manufacturer thus announces a length contained at 127 cm (instead of 203 cm unfolded) and an unchanged width of 94 cm.
The idea is to make the Cargoe T5 less bulky once you arrive at your destination, but also to make it easier to handle in small spaces such as elevators. A jockey wheel-style castor, to be deployed with the tip of the foot, allows the folded bike to be maneuvered like a cart. At least on a flat surface. However, don’t imagine carrying it alone up the stairs, unless someone helps you lift the 50 kilos of the set.
Detachable from the frame, the transport box is not foldable. The brand explains that it is possible to accommodate the rest of the disassembled bike there. Rather interesting on paper, this proposal involves mechanically dismantling the bike, with the right tools. A situation that we will not come across often… Too bad, because the DaHon Cargoe T5 stored in its body thus becomes transportable in the trunk of a station wagon.
A rather entry-level mechanism
With its obviously low center of gravity, its large section aluminum single-beam frame and its 24-inch wheels at the front, the DaHon Cargoe T5 scores points in terms of maneuverability, even if only a test drive will be able to decide the question. In any case, we hope that reliability will not leave much to be desired as we have seen recently with certain manufacturers.
The electric assistance is based on a central motor stamped DaHon but of unspecified performance, “standard” power of 250 Watts aside. The 20 Ah and 48V Samsung battery (thus equivalent to 960 Wh) would ensure a range of 125 km. The five-speed SunRace derailleur coupled with the disc braking system from an unknown brand betray a somewhat entry-level mechanical equipment.
The payload of 200 kilos includes cyclists, and will be concentrated on the front axle. To this end, the link steering is also designed to be electrically assisted.
Price and availability unknown in France
Even if the height of the saddle and handlebars are adjustable, the size of the cyclist at the controls must fit within the minimum 145 cm and 185 cm maximum specified on the technical sheet. Big limitation for the northern European market and overall for the physiques of basketball players…
As expected, DaHon is planning a series of accessories, particularly for transporting children: child seats and a canopy protecting them from bad weather will be offered for sale.
It remains to be seen where and if the DaHon Cargoe T5 bike will be available in Europe, something the brand is not communicating about at the time of writing. Some DaHon models have been announced for several years without showing up at dealers, so it’s better not to get carried away. Same observation for the price of the beast, which remains unknown.
About DaHon
Nothing to do with Honda in verlan… DaHon was born in 1982, under the leadership of David Hon (Da. Hon, have you got it?), a Doctor of Physics. The scientist complains every time he has to load his bike into his car when he leaves his California campus. While the Bromptons were making their first rounds on the other side of the Atlantic, he imagined his first folding bike. His brother Henry, an industrial engineer, quickly joined the business and financed the first factory.
If the DaHon brand is based in California, the bikes are, as is often the case, manufactured in Asia in the brand’s factories. The folders sold in Europe come from a Bulgarian factory. Note, on the distribution side in France, after a few years of sluggishness, the company seems determined to bring the brand back on the roads of France.
The bicycle definitely seems to be part of the Hon family’s DNA since Joshua Hon, David’s son, launched his own brand of bicycles a little later: Tern. A brand often cited on Weelz! For its compact cargo bikes, the Taiwanese brand also offers folding bikes.
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