Cargo Bike Interview with Shaun Moulds – Plus huge surprise!!

What a blessing it was to talk with Shaun in Sheffield, England, about his adventures of falling in love with cargo bikes, his life-changing journey, and being the one to give him the biggest cargo bike surprise!

Thank you to the bike fairy 🧚🏼, the cargo bike community for creating a wonderful place for people to land, and Shaun for being a champion in this space.

Follow Shaun on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/twisted.fish/

CHAPTERS:
19:30 The Surprise!

ABOUT:
A cargo bike mechanic supporting the cargo bike and family biking movement.👩🏻‍🔧

I owned a cargo bike shop and have worked in the bike industry for 20 years. More in-depth articles: http://cargobikelife.com

hello everyone I’m Arley and this is hergo bike life we are kicking off a video and podcast interview series with the legend uh Shawn molds from Sheffield England and Sean if you don’t follow him on social or part of any of the turn Facebook groups um Sean when I say Legend I mean it in here in the US we don’t use it that much but he is riding his GSD through all conditions and figuring out how to make it all work um and I love his background because it’s not a bike nerd um so Sean thank you for joining us I know it’s late where you are so thank you that’s all right nice to see you yeah I’m Sean I live here in Sheffield um a particularly beautiful part of the UK um sort of my background uh I I was a mechanic from uh pretty much leaving school um Range Rover Land Rover jaguar and that uh sort of ironically now um was a bit of a car nut for many years I had 10 cars in four years um which is kind of why I fell out with them uh went on to motorcycles uh I only had a motorbike for 10 years um then found myself with kids uh changed career join the ambulance service um and yeah things kind of I ended up being sort of set in the mindset that I’m going to be stuck with a car now because you know I’ve got two kids that I’ve got to carry around and all the stuff that goes along with kids and it never entered my mind to the cargo bikes were a thing really um I watched too much YouTube which is you know pretty much why I’m here um you know videos like yourselves and Propel and stuff like that and it’s like Ah that’s a good idea you know maybe that’s something I could do and um yeah so kind of took the plunge and bought bought a GSD um and and yeah it’s kind of the rest was history from there and that was within the last couple of years you know like I started seeing you on Instagram like two three years ago yeah yeah I think yeah so it’d be about two and a half years ago now I actually bought the bike in January um so my first rides were all in ice and you know salty roads we have terrible roads here for we don’t we don’t have really cold temperatures um we don’t have really hot temperatures either so it’s very temperate but it’s just yeah you get a a lot of sort of zero degree C sort of there or thereabouts uh so yeah actually got the bike in in sort of the depths of winter and kind of thought well you know if I can manage this then I’ll be all right and and then gets better from here yes yeah yeah yeah it gets better from here from there and um in fact it was the following sort of January uh after I’ve been riding the bike a year um there was a particular bad sort of downpour of snow um I work about sort of 12 km away from here and I come through the forest cuz the road are Just Deadly there’s no way that you would go down the road from where I live in deep car which is sort of north of Sheffield uh into Sheffield on the main roads it’s just too dangerous so I come through the forest um and there was feet of snow in places um and it was just fine um you know it was I always kind of treat my rides home when the weather gets bad or trees are falling and stuff like that to be a bit of an adventure um and yeah this was no difference it’s like so basically I I I rode back through the snow it didn’t take me much longer than normal every pedal was going underneath the Snow Line you know and it was just fine it just kept marching on through the forest and I got home and jumped in my car so I could go and play in the snow in my car um but then had the realization that’s like actually I think this is the first time I’ve used my car this month uh and last time I used the car it wasn’t for anything other than just playing really so uh I just it’s just too expensive to to run a big car you know I had a ex police Volvo sort of estate car so um it was quite a thirsty beast and yeah I I really haven’t looked back since you know really haven’t looked back since um is your car light now or car free so my wife has a car uh she’s the nurse in Sheffield um so with her hours and stuff like that it’s pretty it’s not really whaty fans is so we do have a little VW polo uh we are massive roof box and that kind of gets us on holiday and stuff like that when we need to um and we do like to do festivals and stuff we always just said well we’ll just hire a car if you know if it comes down to it we just hire one uh to get the stuff around so uh yeah yeah it’s been uh it’s been really good fun it’s it’s been eye opening as well and kind of it’s so cliche isn’t it to say life changing but it kind of it really is you know I don’t think until you’re into it like it feels cliche to like to say it from the outside but once you have actually experienc and you’re like no actually life is better this way and I take it all in and I’m less stressed yeah and so you know as I’m sure you know working for the the ambulance service it can be quite stressful at times and you kind of need half an hour to just sort of process the day and sort of shut down and leave that at work um and there’s no more beautiful way to do that than going through War Cliff Woods um for you know 20 odd minutes of my 30 minute ride is through the woods um and I know this sounds really silly but just seeing how the forish changes every day you know every day the forish changes and every season the CH it changes even more uh and I just really enjoy that and yeah you can’t do that on a motorbike uh either so you know it’s not just a case of it scratches that motorbike itch which it does which I don’t think a manual bike would do um but yeah because I like to go a long way as well you know and I like to be out all day on the bike when I you know before I had this and I had motorcycles before kids um it would be I’d go and spend eight hours out in the Peak District and go find new routes and find green lanes and do some off-roading and yeah I never know where I was going when I set off and by the time I got back I’d found somewhere new um I can do you just did something like that right you had like a really far off commute like um oh yeah a few weeks ago so so um we have quite a few training facilities all over sort of Yorkshire um um so if I go to Doncaster then I just take the bike and the last one was in Wakefield I’ve never ridden to W Wakefield before uh I think it’s 20 something miles each way um and obviously first thing in the morning pedaling getting there you know doing me training there and then on the way back it was yeah we we have something called the trans penine Trail in the UK um which goes Coast to Coast over the penines but luckily for me goes straight through where straight through where I live um and it’s like a it sort of forms a big sort of box uh around this part of Yorkshire so I just follow that I just follow the signs I get lost UMES you know I’ve got an evening doesn’t doesn’t matter how it takes me and I find the most amazing little places little little old bridges that you know old pack routs and places uh places of cargo bik definitely has not been before which and that’s actually a good mention you know Sean shares a lot of his epic bike service um you know you definitely are are testing where a cargo bike can go but also just you you figure it out which is great and then you share it along the way yeah so um so although S I was originally a mechanic by trade um I like mechanical sympathy I’m told um so I did when I well basically when I started out on push bikes uh mechanics are similar car mechanics but it’s a different ball game you know I have some of the tools but only half of what you actually use on a push bike and things are just so different even to motorcycles it’s just a totally different game and when I started off it was sort of you know things would break and I’m like I don’t know how to fix this but now I’m going you know because initially I was just keeping the bike in the house as well I think that’s probably actually one of the most important things that’s sort of got me into the bike in sort of so quickly and so effectively was the fact that I found it so much easier to kick my leg over the bike and start the car up you know um it’s it’s kind of a bit of a town that we live in so everything’s sort of weighing sort of 5K of here that I need so you know if I want to go and pick up pizza or something or I get to the shop just KCK my bike over in the hallway and away I went so I did most of my fixing after the kids went to bed in the kitchen um and I just put put out a big sort of duve so I didn’t scratch the tiles and yeah put the bike on its end and and just crack on and you know like initially I started having sort of I was overheating the brakes which since I put my bike on a way Bridge after doing the weekly shop I kind of realized why I was burning the brakes it’s it’s very hilly around here as well so and you have two kids yeah I got two kids uh you know I carry a tra you know I’ve got a secondhand uh trailer um so they go in there and then I put all the shopping on the back um yeah some of the hills are 20% around here in gradient so it’s uh yeah so all that sort of tinkering and stuff like that just learning a whole new sort of skill really of uh bite mechanic you know just did it in the kitchen just trial and error really so yeah you know one of the questions that I had asked early on was you know kind of um what advice you have for folks and and you know you said just kind of figure it out as you go and don’t lose confidence yeah yeah so when you start out and I think most people get this um they it can be very easy to be sort of disheartened by um little things going wrong like you you’ve worn the wrong clothes or you’re a bit cold this time or worse worse for me is when you get hot especially when you got waterproof sun and then you you seem more sweaty on the inside than the outside I mean there’s the say that there’s no bad weather for cycling there’s just bad gear um and bad gear choices uh but it just comes to you um and the other thing is like because it’s an ebite you get a bit of range anxiety when you start out and you think oh can I make it there or is it going to get me there and I remember one time like the first time I went to Doncaster on it um I didn’t sleep very well the night before because I was like oh am I going to get there I’m going to be able to charge it when I get there and stuff and and then you do it and it’s fine it just works out and it’s just fine you know um or next time you do it it’ll be fine or like now I’m at the point where I wear shorts all year I get wet I dry out when I get home and it’s you know I don’t really worry too much about it anymore so same with the breakdowns and stuff as well exactly that was what I was gonna say yeah just kind of figure it out yeah and that’s always a good thing about a cargo bike is like it doesn’t matter if you carry a pump and a spare tube and Patch repair stuff and stuff you know things like that but to be honest with you I’ve done in fact I just clicked over 13,000 kilometers earlier today with uh picking my daughter up from Nursery actually um and not once have I been stranded anywhere you know and and I’ve hammered that bike as you well know I’ve hammered that bike but yeah yeah I mean I think it is wor of saying that is when if you use a bike like how I use a bike they’re not low maintenance they take a lot of work um it’s a lot of tinkering and uh and you just can’t plan for a lot of things um in terms of I mean for example like I went out you know when I went to W field it hammered it down all the way there and it was all it’s all gritty we we have we have grit Stone here which is fantastic for climbing terrible for bikes and brakes and chains and stuff like that and I checked my pads and I had like 20% on them and then by the time I’d gone there and come back they were gone you know um and I think the only thing to prepare for that is you have a spare set you know they’re 1020 for a full set of breaks you you just keep it keep some on the shelf and and just throw them in when you get home you know it’s it’s a five minute job when you’re used to it about the first time it first time I did breaks I about spent an hour doing it yes um you know and I did a little video the other day I did them in four minutes so it’s um yeah you know just get used to it and I think it’s you know you if people have been following you you’ve been bringing them along the way of like you figuring it out and and what’s nice is it’s when you first start out it’s like a car like you don’t have to know anything you know and then something happens you ask you know get on the Facebook groups or on Instagram or or even call your bike shop and ask them and then you know for the next time and it’s knowledge building versus like having to know everything when you first begin absolutely absolutely you know start with changing breake pads uh you know you don’t need any tools for that and you’ll figure it out you’ll do it the wrong way first time and it’ll be really awkward and hard and then the second time you do it you’ll think oh yeah I know if I do this it’s a bit quicker and then when you’ve done that you know oh change a chain you know get a little chain breaking tool which will probably break the first time you use it and you know trying to find quality tools is a bit of a mind field when you start out in this field I think um and yeah like I I was really lucky that I um I bought my bike from Avon Valley cycy and the guys there just so helpful just you know you could just ring them up and just ask and they’ll just give you the information they’re not trying to sell you out either which is unusual for but it’s certainly unusual for the motor trade you know it’s like everything’s behind a locked door in the motor trade you know you can’t get the manuals you can’t get the information I mean I’ve even been stuck in and you know you helped me out in the past you know no end and and the sort of Facebook Community is fantastic for that uh and I think it’s fair to say that I wouldn’t be here with no car if I didn’t have that sort of support group as well yeah completely I agree you know and I think um that’s why I started you know and switched gears to Cargo M life where I was like okay we need more of this we need more sharing and and feeling like we’re part of something bigger um yeah it’s quite an exciting thing that you’re doing I’m really really can’t wait to see how it goes I mean oh me too oh my I if somebody can just figure out a search function for like I can’t even find my own posts on Facebook it’s nightmare yeah and you’re going to hear from me because what I’m going to start doing is going through and start asking like hey can I pull this you know and and repurpose it with you know you mentioned because you have to know that the Facebook group exist and you have to know what to search for and all those things um and that’s one of the reasons where I was like I don’t want any of this information hidden I want them to be able to Google it and find it um and it doesn’t have to have my name on it um yeah I’m that’s the other thing when you’re on like a bit of a corporate page as well you know there sort of like you can’t always be sort of you got to be careful what you say sometimes you feel and it’s it be nice to just have somewhere where you can just like oh this is what I’m doing I know it’s wrong but it’ll be fine I’ll figure it out you know I’ll have you post that yeah yes but but I think it’s you know um I do feel when I started out I felt like oh everything had to be done right things needed a service schedule uh and that’s not wrong you know if if you’re new to biking and you don’t have the facil sort of do these things yourself in a rush you need to sort of figure out how long these things are going to last and and get on top of it because the last thing you want is to be without your bike once you’ve got rid of your car because especially around here then you depended on public transport and you don’t want to be do I mean personally we were L lucky enough that my wife bought a well we got a second hand ha SD so um if if I want to take my bike off the road to do something you know like change a hub or something like that because you know I’m not that good I can’t do I can’t lace wheels or anything like that yet so it’s still weak in the shop yeah um but it’s uh you know it’s nice to have that sort of backup but obviously that’s been an expensive way around it but I mean to be honest with you you know the amount of money I’ve saved on getting rid of the car I just get a taxi you know for the for the one week a year that you might need in total to get taxes it it still works out B you know yeah and you know feel a bit Greener about it as well which is nice yeah totally and and you know that it’s only a week and you get on with just like if you had to borrow a car because yours is in the shop yeah yeah I mean I did um um I did my special ops training recently and I was in leads and I I was up for the ride but the fitness test was at the other side of it so I didn’t fancy riding there and then doing a fitness test and then riding back so I just hide a car and you know it cost me Pence yeah I was quite surprised how cheap it was I’ve never actually done hide a car before and it’s just so much cheaper than you think it is uh and easy you know and again it feels like a faf to start off with you know trying to find the right places but once you’ve done it you it just works out in the end so that’s brilliant as well you mentioned riding through the forest and you know uh turn released a bike designed for that they did yeah I feel like they designed me a bike and then they uh and then they tested it in the Peak District like literally over there I I was surprised they didn’t ride past my house and never mentioned it there we go well you know Sean one of the reasons I wanted to record this is um you’ve inspired a few people in the turn gstd groups and someone has gifted you in orox me completely serious yes genuinely uh their bike I’m supposed to call them bike fairies um but you uh you have a orox with your name on it over at Avon Valley really that’s amazing oh my god wow your your stories have inspired so many so oh that’s fantastic wow huh I could I’m already thinking of all the trails I’m going to go down that’s unbelievable yes I uh I couldn’t imagine a better person to deserve this yeah oh that’s fantastic oh my gosh thank you them whoever that is oh my gosh that’s amazing yeah yeah I say it’s just it’s like you know it is a it’s like somebody designed me a bike uh for what I do on my on my bike and you know and what I do with my kids and stuff and and the things that I want to do as well you know like camping and things like that it’s h yeah the whole Adventure cargo bike Niche is definitely you you know and I’m excited to see what you do with the bike um yeah so after this I’ll I’ll hand you off to Luke because he’s also in on this but um is yeah brilliant brilliant yeah I I need some parts from him as well so I need to give him a call add it to the yeah yeah the um it was uh yeah it’s been a team effort to make it happen but it was one of those that I was like I want to see this through even if I’m not with turn so I was like all right I need and I was already thinking about starting this podcast and I was like all right this is the first one this is perfect that’s oh I don’t know what to say now it’s all right you’re you’re going to uh share all the photos I’m very excited to see them oh I will they’ll be a lot of photos people are going to be sick of my Facebook that’s for [Laughter] sure so Sean actually I think folks should follow you if they’re on Instagram for sure um what is your handle over there and I’ll also put it in the description it’s twisted fish uh I think it’s twisted do fish um yeah not not very good at managing my own socials I’ll be honest but uh yeah my Instagram’s where all my sort of the photos that I like to share um and I find it’s a much nicer platform to to share stuff as well people like so follow me I got have a new adventure absolutely been time for hopefully we’ll get some summer as well but if not we’ll get some M so either way it’s going to be good one that’s amazing and the charger is different just to prepare you but um oh yeah you’re going to love the new smart system and it yeah the bike was designed for you so I’m very excited to see it really was it really was I just some bigger Wheels oh my gosh some bigger Wheels that’s all I need because I mean the the the GSD I’ve always I’ve always said to my wife like it’s always the wrong bike for what you want but it’s the only bike that does everything yeah it’s it’s it it if you’re going off road of mountain bike’s better if you’re going on the road a road bike’s better you know if you’re carrying a lot of weight then maybe a front loader is better but nothing does everything like a turn does and that’s why I I I really sort that’s why we bought another turn that’s why I’ve been sort of looking at the oo so much just because it’s like it’s everything that’s great about a GSD but with real siiz Wheels well it it does what you need really well you know to your point like I think like the GS is like an everyday cargo bike you know kind of um appeal but for what you do it definitely um orox is a de much better option yeah yeah definitely definitely yeah maybe I’ll be spending less time in the shed bearings and stuff but yes yes well awesome well I will probably Circle back with sha once he’s got the bike and you can share some of your adventures with us um I’m super excited for you yeah lots of range as well yes yes it is a much bigger battery um and everybody listening if you’re interested um go check out the show notes over at um carobel life.com and if you’re watching thank you so much thanks for joining along in the journey and and getting to to watch the exciting news with Sean oh thank you so much it’s it’s it’s been absolutely fantastic I say my