Mountain Bike Reviews Forum banner

The Yuba Mundo Thread

195K views 376 replies 72 participants last post by  derekageorge 
#1 · (Edited)
Yuba Mundo is now a fully established cargo bike with many owners worldwide. Let's share our experience from riding her, loading her and upgrading her. Here is mine with a fixie in a tow, with a 1940 vintage S&K velocipede, parked at home next to a coat rack, and a detail of her winter shoe. Mine is stock V3 with a front rack, Avid bb5 upgrade and few small things to make the ride for my kids more comfortable. Post pictures of yours, show us the improvements you made on her...
 

Attachments

See less See more
6
#327 ·
Mundo v5

I called my local shop to have them order a Mundo v4 for me, then just saw this video and had to call them back. The v5...



It has the features I wanted in the v4 (and more) and would have had to upgrade. Cromo frame that is 5 pounds lighter, 1-1/2" headtube, lock tabs, Yepp easy fit mounts, 10mm axle dropouts, hydraulic disc brakes, maybe a cassette instead of a freewheel, and Shimano components.
 
#328 ·
Yeah, I was a little aggravated that the new lighter Mundo came out a mere four months or so after I built my hi-ten steel v4.3 Mundo. The only thing I don't like is the paint. I'd prefer the option for a satin black like my current Mundo, as I've never been fond of bright showy colors for frames. Visibility is kind of a "meh" argument, especially in the daytime. Reflective surfaces, both in the daytime and at night make a lot more different I think than frame color. The shop where I bought my v4.3 frame wasn't even aware that the v5 was coming out, and thus had no idea what the price was going to be. I think my two biggest grips about the v4.3 frame was that they cut the steerer tube for their style of stem (wasn't enough height for me, as I had to install an extender), and the paint is really crappy and thin. They really should've powdercoated the frames. I use Ortlieb panniers and where they attach and rub against the frame, the paint has already come off. I'm going to have to repaint those bare frame paint rubbed areas then cover them with a heavy duty frame saver tape.
 
#351 ·
The only thing I don't like is the paint. I'd prefer the option for a satin black like my current Mundo, as I've never been fond of bright showy colors for frames. Visibility is kind of a "meh" argument, especially in the daytime. Reflective surfaces, both in the daytime and at night make a lot more different I think than frame colour. ... and the paint is really crappy and thin. They really should've powdercoated the frames.
I agree all the way with you there Velo Celt. The Yuba paint job is the worst of any bike I've bought and it really lets it down. If I buy another Yuba it will be stripped and powder coated before anything else.
 
#329 ·
Mechandy - I was trying to revisit your information about how you built your motor setups and can't seem to find any decent photos of the finished product. I wanted to see if I could find a good photo that shows most of how you set your rig up so that I could just save it to one of my files on mid-drive motor setups and design. I've been looking at a lot of commercially available stuff and am still not sure I like what I'm seeing. It looks like lots of mid-drive kits eliminate the ability to keep a triple or even double chain ring setup. I've been considering removing my largest chainring as I pretty much never use it but would like to retain my 38/28 chainring setup. Also, I like how your motor was mounted behind the seat tube and above the bottom bracket unlike most mid drives the Bafang which place the motor in front of and below the bottom bracket. I want to maintain as much ground clearance as I can, for future off-road adventures, so getting the motor into that dead area above and behind the BB seems like the best option. So, anywhere that I can find a link to good pics of your motor setups? Thanks.
 
#330 ·
Another question for Mechandy - since you installed Rohloff hubs, you only have a single front chainring, correct? Would a system such as yours still work with a double front chainring and an 8/9/10 rear cassette, or is the design of the motor and gearing reduction based on using only a 1x drivetrain setup?
 
#331 ·
I'm thinking about improving front light on my Yuba. Now I only have battery light. Bad thing is that its batteries have to be charged every day or two. That is sometimes really annoying. Also for bike touring for few days or even weeks accu light is not the best.

So I would like to improve my front wheel with a new dynamo hub. I have disc brakes and I also want to have the sturdy wheel as I have now (heavier spokes).

Can you recommend me some disc brakes ready dynamo hub suitable for Yuba Mundo? Can be there some problems?
 
#334 ·
I have emailed Yuba about recommended hub dynamo right with the answer in this forum. I'm waiting for an answer. But it's a good point with the new wheel from v5, I will surely ask.

Did you tested the front light on the new Mundo in the night? Is it sufficient?

BTW, I am not seeing the pictures in your second post. (I'm getting message: Invalid Attachment specified. If you followed a valid link, please notify the administrator)
 
#337 ·
Yuba Mundo v5 in Green

I've been riding the Green Mundo v5 for about a month + now. My 4 year old and I love it. The tow tray has allowed my little kid to go for longer bike rides now knowing that he and his bike can get a ride/tow back home. Our recent ride to the skate park was a blast. Carving the bowls on the Mundo is like a massive long board on two wheels :) The Mundo has been to the grocery store, errand runs, work commutes, snow rides, and country gravel road rides. Can't wait for the summer to try a short camping trip with the family. I really enjoy the front basket as it allows quick access to items instead of getting off the bike and rummaging through the panniers. I made a few modifications. At first I used some pedal power straps I had in the garage. Now I'm using my spd pedals. Also swapped out the seatpost for a black one I had purely for aesthetics. I also put on a narrower saddle. Lastly, I took out the rail on the monkey bar closest to the saddle as it was hitting the back of my thighs. Monkey bars still work and glad I got them as my wild child likes to surf and spin around backwards to wave at traffic from behind. Fun and functional ride! I've attached some pics ...
 

Attachments

#338 ·
Hello,

I am very seriously considering the purchase of a Yuba Mundo with the NuVinci Hub.

I have ridden a Novara Gotham with the NuVinci and it seemed, with the 700c wheels, NOT to have very good low "gearing".

I'm wondering, with the 26" wheels will the Nuvinci be alot-better on the "hill Climbing" setting?

Thanks, Paul
 
#339 ·
Hello,

I am very seriously considering the purchase of a Yuba Mundo with the NuVinci Hub.

I have ridden a Novara Gotham with the NuVinci and it seemed, with the 700c wheels, NOT to have very good low "gearing".

I'm wondering, with the 26" wheels will the Nuvinci be alot-better on the "hill Climbing" setting?

Thanks, Paul
You can always fine tune the Nuvinci hub to your liking with different cogs and/or chainring sizes. Check out this Nuvinci conversion thread on mtbr ...

http://forums.mtbr.com/internal-gear-hubs/nuvinci-n360-conversion-766464.html

There's a nice Nuvinci spreadsheet someone created on this thread comparing 700c to 26", cog/chainring sets, gear ratio, etc ...

Hope this helps and have fun building up your bike!
 
#345 ·
Warning regarding fork on older Mundos

EDIT: I see post 169 of this thread beat me to the punch. I guess it can't hurt to repeat the warning, and perhaps my engineer's eye added something to the discussion.

For discussion and photos of failed forks, see this thread on Endless Sphere:

https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=40902&hilit=yuba+mundo+fork

Yuba is using round cross-section forks on the new bikes. I know of no problem with these.

The issue is with the tear-drop cross section forks used on older bikes. Especially if disk brake is installed.

The teardrop cross section has poor resistance to the torsional load that exists where the fork blade transitions to the crown.

This area is further weakened by the distortion/slight collapse of the tubing that occurs as it is bent into shape. This is quite obvious on the fork I replaced, though I have no paint chipping or other signs of imminent failure.

The disk brake caliper reaction puts increased load on the left blade. Rim brakes still put substantial load on both fork blades due to braking forces. Contrary to the title of the ES thread, the load on the fork does not depend on disk diameter. If you can almost skid the wheel, you are putting maximal stress into the fork. A larger disk will do that with less lever force, and less fade, but the reaction at the caliper mount on the fork will be identical.

The teardrop cross section resists flexing of the straight section in the fore-aft direction with loads from bumps and braking, which concentrates stress at the crown bend.

Even though the "kid" I haul on my mundo has four legs, rather than two, I felt this was a very serious problem, and replaced my fork post haste. To be clear, I experienced no problem with the fork over more than a thousand miles...almost all on pavement, but with the usual curbs, bumps, potholes etc. I'm a Clyde, and the mudo is a hauler, so there was a substantial load for all of those miles...a 15# dog in the front basket most of the time as well.

Yuba has new, beefy round section forks available, listed at $80 I do not know what concession they might or might not be willing to make.

Surly Big Dummy forks are available at ~$100 and work fine. That is the option I chose. They come with a bit longer steerer, and I am tall. Maybe I'll get it painted orange to match at some point, but for now black is the new black.

Round section unicrown forks have a decent track record on MTBs. I don't worry about that.
 
#348 ·
Good to know. That is consistent with all my dealings with them. For those that don't know, selling bikes is how they support their mission to provide bikes to impoverished areas of the world. The Mundo has horizontal dropouts because they send single-speed versions for hauling freight on dirt paths.
 
#350 ·
Geez Andy, what a trip. That Vagabond Tour footage is damned inspiring. I picked up an eleven month 50,000k remote, regional and urban Australian tour in 2004, through NSW, Vic, SA, WA and the NT and took my family along for what was a blast. Mostly though I was doing smaller NSW or Vic or SA tours (and a couple of Tassies) so, thinking about a return to touring, before electric bikes were so affordable, I was thinking about a bike and train tour. I still think I might include train for parts but maybe not. Either way I'd love to do some bike touring.

Have you read up on the Schlumpf drive.

"Schlumpf Speed Drive, High Speed Drive, Mountain Drive

The Schlumpf Speed-drive works like two chainrings with a large difference in size.

With the additional transmisson ratio of 1:1.65 the gear ratio of the Rohloff SPEEDHUB 500/14, when used in conjunction with the Schlumpf Speed-drive, will be increased to 868%."

Once I've mounted my Rohloff (speaking of which I forgot to ask you about tensioners) and got my produce box design finalised, and a better chain and a few other things, I want to look into them. 868% is a pretty attractive proposition, isn't it?

https://www.rohloff.de/en/service/faqs/
 
#354 ·
I consider buying a new wheel for my Yuba Mundo V4 with a hub dynamo (for winter commuting without need for every day battery charging).

Now I have the original Yuba Mundo wheel (without dynamo) for 5 years without any issues so I'd like to find something similary sturdy.

Yuba offers this one:
https://www.yubaeurope.com/bikes-add-ons/add-ons/mundo-v4-lux-vorderrad

Do you have experience with this wheel?

Are the rims and spokes (the width) the same quality as on the standard Yuba wheel?

Does the wheel impact (decrease) original load capacity?

Or is it better to use the old wheel? :D

Thanks
 
#357 ·
do folks here think the CroMo version is worth double the "classic" with just steel? i there seem to be a number of other upgrades, involved, but i was thinking about going to a IGH anyway, so the drive train improvements are a bit of a wash.
Also, on the Yuba website the Lux (new v5 i think) is stated as capable of hauling 440 lbs, while the classic is stated to handle 440 plus the rider. The less expensive version can't have a higher load capacity than the deLUx version, right? they just didn't mention the weight of the rider for the lux?

thanks to all for the great thread. Lots of info here. I am trying to decide between the Mundo and a Big Dummy (and trying not to think about the big fat dummy:nono:) so all this has been extremely helpful.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top