William Mulyadi began Virtue Bike in San Diego, CA as a distributor of “lifestyle” bike accessories and a handful of inexpensive steel bicycles while he earned his MBA at UC San Diego. Their flagship Virtue One — a coaster brake singlespeed chromoly diamond frame with detailing like a riveted leather saddle — remains a popular model.
I haven’t really followed Virtue in the past because, frankly, the name of the product is off-putting to me. I don’t ride to be holier than scofflaw motorists, to save the planet or to protect our children and our society. I acknowledge these benefits, but I ride because I enjoy riding.
Their 2014 offerings, however, caught my eye. Virtue launches into the truck bike and cargo bike market with several models.
The basic Virtue Truck shown above is designed for hauling and delivery. Features include Shimano Acera 7 speed derailleur with thumb shifter, Tektro front and rear V-brakes, Kenda K-Rad 2.125″ wide tires (20” front and 26” rear), Wellgo platform pedals, Velo suspension comfort saddle, Porteur alloy handlebars, and Velo stitch grips. The welded steel heavy duty front and rear flat crate racks ((20×14.5 front and 14.5×20) can carry up to 55 lbs each. Available in flat black and green, retails for $599.
The 2014 Virtue School Bus front compartment has removable bench seats perfect for two kids. Remove the bench seats, and there’s lots of room for dogs, grocery bags, bags of mulch from the home store — the load capacity is about 300 pounds. The bike comes with a Shimano drivetrain, Sturmey Archer front drum brake, and Promax rear V-brake and levers, Shimano thumb shifter, and Kenda K-Rad tires. At 31 inches wide, this box trike will fit standard American door widths. The box can carry up to 110 lbs over the weight of the bike.
The School Bus comes in a standard and electric model. The 145 lb electric School Bus+ retails for $1,499; the standard School Bus (126.5 lbs) lists for $999. Available in gloss black.
Virtue also released a two wheeled box bike for 2014 — the electric Gondoliere+ (250W hub motor, MSRP $1,399) and non-electric Gondoliere ($949).
The Gondoliere bike comes with Shimano seven-speed drivetrain, Joytech front internal brake hub and a Promax rear V brake, and Kenda K-Rad tires.
Virtue Bikes are available through their dealer network. San Francisco Bay Area dealers include Tread Bikes in Campbell, Bikes 4 Life in Oakland, Pleasant Hill Cyclery, Treat Street Bicycles Works in San Francisco, Bicyle Express in San Jose. Virtue also lists The Bicycle Shop in Santa Cruz as a dealer, although I didn’t realize they sold new bikes or that they were even in business anymore.
That bakfiets looks suspiciously like the cheap Chinese knockoffs. Do they actually MAKE the bikes or just distribute re-branded low quality cargo bikes?