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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Wow, they’re growing so fast!
Happy Festivus to you and Bobbi!
Love this tradition lol
Enjoy these moments with your family.
Merry christmas to you, your family and everyone reading this comment :-)
Merry Christmas everyone!
Happy holidays Ray.
Amazing, enjoy those precious family time!!!!
Happy holidays. Happy 2026. :)
NOW it’s Christmas.
Thanks, Clan Maker!
Wow your family seems nice. Merry Christmas!
Merry Xmas 🎅🏼 🎄 🎁 🛷
Merry Christmas to all of you!
Merry Christmas to you all! And nice to see the beachfront road I was just walking and running a month ago!
I always look forward to this post. Happy Holidays! You guys look bundled up more than I expected, but just checking the wx it looks like it’s chillier there than I thought it would be. We’ve been in the 70s here in Denver, CO, so go figure.
Is that Des, in one of those photos? If so, he is from CO, why is he bundled up so much?
Have a happy holiday.
While Des was here then, it was determined it was going to be a tight fit in the cargo bike with him in there, and he already hates riding up the 17% hill, and was unwilling to also be kicked out and run up it. :)
So, no Des in these photos.
Our Cycling Without Age chapter uses a Triobike Taxi, and we are upgrading the Enviolo hub to an Extreme to increase the safe weight capacity.
I’ve upgraded (then reverted) my Belt Urban Arrow with Nuvinci to a Rohloff, I figure I’ll share my notes in case it’s useful to you: link to docs.google.com
I did a single test run on Enviolo vs Rohloff on 2 routes, a mostly flat ride (27.4 mile), and a hill climb (1250ft, 4 mile). Weather was similar, assist was on Turbo. Wheel diameter is very similar, but the tires are very different types, one was 30x700c (~682mm diameter) and the other 2.4×26″ tires (~681mm diameter).
Rohloff+30mm:
hill – 26% battery, 20:35, I put out 156W on average.
flat – 47% battery, 1:28:15, I put out 145W on average.
Enviolo+2.4″:
hill – 31% battery, 23:00 climb time, I put out 160W on average.
flat – 45% battery (lights accidentally off 1/2 time), 1:31:51, I put out 147W on average.
After testing I switched back to the Nuvinci wheel, because my Rohloff is pulled from another bike and the gearing+efficiency difference only appeared when climbing.
To be fair, gearing can *really* matter on climbs, between hub efficiency and lower gearing you need half the power on a Rohloff to go up the same grade on a Enviolo.
Thanks – interesting stuff for sure! Yeah, I’ll be looking at gearing more closely as one option. Good stuff!
The Enviolo lowest ratio is about the same as the 6th gear of a Rohloff hub. Lowest gear ratio of the enviolo hub is 0,5. THe lowest gear ratio of the rohloff hub is 0,279. So if you manage to stay upright, you can ride much slower with a rohloff hub.
Also, almost every Enviolo hub in real life will start having problems after about 10.000 to 15.000km. Either slipping gears, or only shifting when not pedalling, and they are not designed to be serviced. Rohloff hubs are not perfect, but my oldest one is still working without problems after about 110.000km, of which most in a loaded cargobike with two kids.
I love this post and am also wondering if you have had to get a car in Mallorca. I wasn’t sure if it lends itself to a bike only existence sufficiently.
Sadly, at least for us we still need a car here. I think in rare pockets you could get away without it in Palma proper, or, without kids in many other places.
The challenge we have (aside from the ~10KM each way school commute, which we often do with bike), is more daily logistical with things like kids class birthday parties and such. With three daughters each in different classes, statistically speaking there’s almost always at last one if not two birthday parties each weekend. Sometimes we can get others to carpool, but many times birthday parties are in downtown Palma or beyond, which can be a solid 25-minute drive, or like an hour each way in the ebike.
And that sets aside swim team practices, sailing, other practices, etc… Most of the time they are within bike range (30mins on eBike), but sometimes pools close for whatever reasons and they have to go further afield.
Whereas in Amsterdam, it was virtually unheard of to have a birthday party more than a 15-minute cargo bike ride from school, and everything else in our life was within that 15-20 minute pedal in all but the rarest of cases.
I love the combination of a Christmas tree and palm trees on the beach on the latest photo!
I love the full family bike outing to get the tree!
While I love the moxy, something will have to give in the coming years, logistically.
By next Christmas, each of those younglings will be at least 10 lbs heavier. If you’re pushing 700 W now, up that hill, imagine what it will have to be with 30-50 more lbs!
I’m looking forward to Ray publishing his “Xmas Tree Training Plan” for December 2026 to squeeze out some extra watts.
This wins the annual award of “most wholesome thing on the internet” for the entire year.
Again.
Have a great Christmas and New Year!
I really thought at first (and second) glance that I was looking at a new e-bike with a sidecar from the main picture with the two bikes next to each other!