Christmas Tree By Cargo Bike 2025

After moving to Mallorca last year, many of you wondered if we’d be able to keep up our annual tradition of getting the Christmas tree by bicycle. A tradition that started when we were living in Paris, continued as we added daughters, and then upgraded to a cargo bike once we moved to Amsterdam. Of course, Mallorca isn’t exactly as daily-bike-focused as Amsterdam (though, does have excellent road cycling). And that set aside the entire issue of actually finding a real Christmas tree to pedal home.

But, as you saw, we did indeed manage last Christmas. Sorta. I suppose it depends on your definition of ‘riding’. What’s a bit of ‘hike a bike’ between friends?

One of the challenges was that the Urban Arrow we had simply couldn’t get up the 17% hills that lead to our home. Things that did not exist in Amsterdam. Even empty, it barely made it up, not due to lack of e-assist power, but because the underlying free hub was giving out with the weight. In other words, while the bike and I could barely manage to deliver the watts, the wheel’s internals simply gave out with the load.

So last spring I worked with Enviolo to get an upgraded internal hub, effectively a heavier-duty one. That mostly allowed us to get up the hills with two kids, but there just wasn’t enough power for three kids and the 17% hills. So, long-story short, we got a loaner Riese & Müller (R&M) Packster2 70  to try out a few months ago. More on that in a separate post. That had a more powerful motor, that might push us over the edge.

And off we went, with both bikes – just in case.

As with last year, there’s a German Christmas market about 8KM away that we could pedal to, and they had Christmas trees there.

There isn’t a vast selection, so picking out a specific tree isn’t too hard. From there, the lady quickly wrapped it back up in netting to make it viable for transport in a bike:

After which, we added a string of battery-powered lights and then loaded up. Now, you’ll notice we’re back in the Urban Arrow. The reason is simple: The tree very much did not fit in the R&M. Especially not once we added kids. In theory, removing the cover would have made slightly more space, but that’s a tool-required endeavor, and honestly, wouldn’t have solved much.

Also, per the policy of my middle daughter, *ALL KIDS* must be in the bike with the tree. So…she has spoken.

Obviously, this meant the 17% hills were still going to be an issue. But hopefully with the new hub, at least some of the kids could stay in the bike. Last year, they all had to get out of the bike and run up the hills in order to make it home. Oh, and last year I also had to push the bike up the hill.

In any case, off on the flats we went. Easy-peasy with all three kids on the bike. These days they’re 6/8/9 years old, but all of them still fit with ease (and not even using the rear seat either). Two up front, kinda relaxing on the tree, and one standing on the center beam.

As is tradition, we make a couple of stops along the way. Sometimes playgrounds, sometimes photo stops, sometimes food stops. No points are awarded for a fast and efficient journey.

Including one stop along the desolate beach:

From there, it was time to tackle the hills. There are essentially a few sets of them in the 12-15% range, all culminating in a final push up a 17% incline. It’s this 17% incline that last year required tossing all kids overboard. However, this year it became clear at the first 12% climb, that at least one child had to be ejected, as I couldn’t make it up that.

So with the little one transferred to the backup bike, I tackled the hills with the two larger Peanuts and the tree. And surprisingly, we just barely made it over the final 17% hill to get the tree home.

Ultimately, I’d love to find a way to retrofit the Urban Arrow with a 105Nm torque motor (currently has a 65 or 75Nm), which I think would give me the power I need to get all three kids up the hill. Right now, on the R&M (which has an 85Nm motor), with two kids, it shows me pushing about 650-700w in order to make it over the 17%. But the basket on the Urban Arrow fits the three kids better, though the extras on the R&M are pretty sweet. In any case, different things for a different post!

With that, thanks for reading! Oh, and you can look back at all 13 years of Christmas Tree By Bike here! And, if you celebrate Christmas – have a Merry Christmas! And if not? Feel free to binge-watch all my YouTube videos on the 25th instead. :)

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