Cargo Cycles

Gary recently took over the Cargocycles business from Tim and Bec after finding himself in need of a cargobike. For those who don't know, Cargocycles is Melbourne based bicycle store specialising in Cargo Bikes and Electric Bikes.

Gary has bikes in his blood having been on two wheels since not long after he get the whole two legs thing happening. Growing up in a family where building a Raleigh Chopper Tandem was seen as a quick project, Gary has spent more years building, riding and maintaining two wheeled vehicles than he can actually remember. He blames his parents...

By the way, if anyone has seen this tandem my dad would love to know where it ended up. Last seen circa 1980, Kidderminster, UK.

Tim Paton is a mechanical engineer with experience in the shipbuilding, publishing, air conditioning and automotive industries.
Since getting his first BMX at age 7, he has rarely been off a bike. A recreational mountain bike rider by preference and transport cyclist by choice, Tim has commuted by bike (at least occasionally) to every school, university and workplace he has attended; in Sydney, Perth, Canberra, Ballarat and Melbourne.
Tim has been an active contributor to the MTB-OZ email list for more than a decade, where he has a reputation for critically analysing all technical cycling matters - known as a "Timgineer". He is also a frequent poster on several other cycling forums, lists, newsgroups and websites.
Tim's first job was delivering prescriptions for the local pharmacy - on his bike.

Bec Paton is a secondary school teacher, specialised in physics, chemistry, environmental science and global issues. Following the birth of their daughter Sarah in 2006, and her subsequent diagnosis with Pallister-Killian Syndrome, Bec has worked as a full time mum and carer. With the addition of Hannah to the family in 2007, Bec now cares for their two daughters.

Bec and Tim became interested in cargo bikes when evaluating the options for carrying their young children by bike, especially considering Sarah's disabilities. As there were no suppliers of suitable bikes in Australia, they sourced and imported their own.

The cargo bike has proven to be useful in so many ways, they decided to establish Cargo Cycles, supplying affordable, high quality cargo bikes in Australia.

The Patons' personal bike fleet includes four mountain bikes, a tandem, three city bikes, a road touring bike, a trailer... and a cargo bike.

Cargo Cycles Environment Policy

Cargo Cycles is committed to minimising our environmental impact. Our bikes can help customers reduce their environmental footprint by replacing short car trips with human powered transport, and we try to bring them to you with as little environmental impact as practical.

Low-impact transport

Moving objects around the world costs energy. Surface transport (ship, rail, road) is far more energy efficient than air freight.

We use only sea freight to import our bikes, and regular (non-express) surface freight for deliveries, to minimise environmental cost as well as financial cost.

The less freight is rushed, the more efficiently it can be handled. If an express road transport carrier has a choice between sending a half empty truck or missing a "next day guarantee" deadline, the truck will run half empty (probably following another half empty truck up the highway). Having a cargo bike delivered is exciting, but it's not time critical. Regular road transport is usually just as fast as express, but may occasionally slip a day in transit. We appreciate your patience.

We'd prefer to send our bikes out on the train rather than a truck, but unfortunately, rail freight is not a viable option in Australia at the moment. We hope this changes in time.

Paper-light business systems

Wherever possible, we conduct our business by email or phone. Invoices and other documents are sent electronically in PDF format, rather than wasting paper and consuming energy moving dead-tree documents around the world. Documents can be printed by the customer if required for record-keeping.

Solar power

The Cargo Cycles workshop and storage facility has a 1kW grid-interactive photovoltaic array installed on the roof.

Comments and suggestions

We welcome your comments, questions, and suggestions of how we could improve our business to be more environmentally friendly. Use the contact us page.