YUBA SPICY CURRY

ALL-TERRAIN CARGO BIKE

 

Already renowned for their utilitarian, street-bound cargo bikes, Yuba has taken things up a notch with the introduction of their first dual-purpose carbon bike. The new All Terrain model adds a suspension fork and a Bosch Cargo Line Speed motor. Yep, a 28-mph, Class 3 bike designed for on-/off-road. 

The regular Spicy Curry is $500 less, with a rigid fork and a Cargo Line (Class 1) motor, but the All Terrain version is much more compelling and more versatile.

THE BIKE

The Spicy Curry AT has a 6061 T6 aluminum frame with a long ladder rear end that makes for a 55.71-inch wheelbase, but more important, easy to configure with a variety of Yuba’s own accessories. Like their other bikes, the AT is designed for hauling a lot of cargo and/or a couple of kids (or even an extra adult). It has a 26-inch front wheel that makes it easy to roll over bumps in the road or trail, and a 20-inch rear tire to keep the rear cargo lower. 

The Curry is available in one size only, but it’s capable of fitting riders from 5-foot-1 to 6-foot-4. To handle easy loading of cargo or kids, the kickstand is more of a center stand, which Yuba calls the Stand Alone. It’s spring-loaded for easy on, easy off.

THE PARTS

Everything on the All Terrain was chosen to handle heavy loads, and starting with the most important of all are the Magura MT32 hydraulic 4-piston disc brakes with big 180mm rotors. A Suntour XCR32 air fork takes out the bumps at the front, and a Cane Creek Thudbuster ST suspension seatpost provides damping of the bumps for the rider. Passengers looking for their own comfort can opt for Yuba’s accessory Soft Spot seat pads. 

A Shimano Deore 1×10 drivetrain is driven by an e-bike-rated KMC X10e chain. Thru-axles front and rear help keep the wheels on the bike going round and round.

ACCESSORIES

You can festoon this bike with all manner of great accessories, including their 2-Go cargo bags, Soft Spot seat pads for kids, monkey bars (handholds for younger kids), a rack extender to carry wider stuff, a bread basket for up front, a rain cover for the kids and much more. There’s a set of tabs in the back to affix a hitch lock to attach a cable and lock the bike to something, but unlike most of Yuba’s cargo bikes, it doesn’t go through one of the wheels. 

 

THE MOTOR 

Interestingly, Yuba chose not to go with a Bosch fourth-generation Cargo Line mid-drive but instead their Cargo Line Speed motor, which provides assistance up to 28 mph. Perfect for riding the bike lanes on the streets when you’re running errands, but likely faster than you’ll go on trails. It’s now up to 85 N/m of torque and up to 400-percent support. The bike comes with a 500Wh Bosch PowerPack (external battery pack) mounted on the downtube. It’s very easy to carry an extra battery (or more) to extend your range.

The AT use a Bosch Kiox display, which is one of our favorites. It offers a full color display and all the information you want about battery level, power mode, torque input and more, and it offers integration with some heart-rate monitors, as well as turn-by-turn directions on a map. There’s not a lot of detail, like street names, on the diminutive Kiox screen, but if it did have that detail, it would be harder to read. 

Mounting your smartphone next to it on the bars would make that setup better. The display can also be connected to apps like Strava, Komoot or Outdooractive to help riders discover new routes. The display records all kinds of data about your ride that can be transmitted to the eBike Connect app and can be evaluated on that app or through their online portal.

 

As a safety feature, if you take the Kiox display off the mount (it’s magnetic), the motor system is disabled until that specific display is re-inserted. That in and of itself won’t keep someone from taking your bike, so it’s still good to have a lock and cable setup, but it will disable the motor. 

WHO IT’S MADE FOR

Cargo bikes in general can be great for taking the kids out for a ride, grocery-getting or commuting with all your stuff. The Spicy Curry All Terrain adds to this off-roading capability and a Class 3 motor, making it incredibly versatile for people who want to go camping or on long trips, and even people who want to help out on trail maintenance to be able to carry the needed tools. With the ability to set the bike up via accessories means it can be configured for many different needs.

THE RIDE

This is a bike with a long wheelbase. So long, in fact, that it won’t fit most automobile tray racks. Hanging racks probably aren’t a good idea for transporting this bike, so you’ll need a vehicle with a big-enough interior or a pickup with a reasonably long bed to take it anywhere. But, if you have it based at home and use it for travel from there, you may not need another vehicle at all. 

 

It looks long, it feels long, but the honest truth is that Yuba has set up the geometry in such a way that it rides and steers like a much shorter wheelbase bike. It matches our experience with other cargo bikes from Yuba. 

Initially, we’d forgotten about the Class 3 motor and were surprised how quickly it accelerated to the mid-20s. The drop-off above 25 miles an hour is gradual but palpable, so expect to go 24–25 mph on flat ground most of the time. Cargo Line motors are tuned to help get a heavier-laden cargo bike going, which it does beautifully. 

 

We almost immediately took it off-road to some trails, and though it wasn’t laden with groceries and kids, it was still a very capable machine off-road. Between the Suntour fork, Thudbuster seatpost and the mixed wheel sizes, the bike climbed and descended hills well, and the knobs had a great bite in the loose Southern California dirt. The weight of the bike and low center of gravity make it feel planted in corners, and the bigger front tire allowed for easy steering. 

Loading it up with whatever we could find didn’t change the ride; it schleps cargo with aplomb! We packed it with extra batteries, water, Monster Energy drinks, a charger, a box of magazines and more, and it was the same fun riding experience. 

THE VERDICT

As an on-/off-road cargo bike, who’d have ever guessed the All Terrain would make sense? Apparently not just us, as the bike proved so popular that Yuba sold out their first batch immediately. It has a very sturdy build and so customizable that it could easily replace a car, especially in a multi-car family. It also would be a good vehicle for those who like to go bikepacking, because this could easily carry spare batteries and all the camping gear, and it rides really well. 

For riders who don’t want to assemble their own bikes, from Yuba’s website you can have your bike shipped to an authorized Yuba dealer near you and they’ll assemble it for $150.

YUBA SPICY CURRY ALL TERRAIN

Price: $5300 base

Motor: Bosch Cargo Line Speed

Battery: Bosch PowerPack, 500Wh

Charge time: 3–4 hours

Top speed: 28 mph (Class 3)

Range: 20–30 miles

Drive: Shimano Deore, 1×10, 11-46T

Brakes: Magura MT32 hydraulic discs, 180mm rotors

Controls: Bosch Kiox

Fork: SR Suntour XCR32

Frame: 6061 T6 aluminum

Wheels: DB-32 MTB Double Wall (26” 36H Front | 20” 36H Rear)

Tires: Schwalbe Smart Sam Plus 26×2.25” (f), Smart Sam K Guard 20×2.3” (r)

Weight: 60 lb.

Color choice: Black with red accents

Sizes: One size

www.yubabikes.com

---

Subscribe Or Renew Here

ELECTRIC BIKE ACTION MAGAZINE

For more subscription information contact (800) 767-0345