Additional photos by Cass Gilbert

One alarming statistic I’ve been tracking for a couple of decades now is the percentage of car trips under three miles in the United States. According to a 2021 Bureau of Transportation Statistics study¹, that number is a whopping 52 percent. It’s a snapshot of American car culture that often springs to mind as I’m getting ready to head out the door and run an errand around town.

More than half of my compatriots would opt to hop in their SUV and drive the mile or two down the road to return a library book or grab a burrito for lunch, and making such short jaunts by bike whenever possible is a point of pride for me. I’m sure many readers can relate. I find great joy in overloading one of my basket bikes with a precariously high stack of boxes for a post office run, but the humble Wald has its limits. Some scenarios, such as big grocery hauls, call for a little more capacity. Short of getting in the car, a cargo bike is uniquely positioned to bridge the gap.

When I first spotted it at Eurobike in 2023, MONoPOLE’s Toolbike No 01, which I’ll simply refer to as the Monopole Cargo Bike from here forward, captured my imagination as potentially the ideal cargo hauler for my needs. Namely, something that rides like a normal bike, doesn’t take up much space, and can handle everyday payloads—no need to haul kids or pets. Bonus points for bold colors and intriguing design decisions.

Fast forward a year, and one showed up on my doorstep in Colorado. Following a fall, winter, and spring of pedaling around town on countless errands and commutes, clipping in for speedy group rides, loading it up for overnighters, and cruising out into the mountains, read on for my in-depth Monopole Cargo Bike review.

Meet Monopole

Monopole was founded in Zurich, Switzerland, by Daniel Freitag (of Freitag bags) and Nicola Stäubli, lifelong bike commuters whose paths converged when they discovered a shared ambition to create the perfect tool for their day-to-day urban lives. Their unusual cargo bike won an award almost as soon as it was unveiled at Eurobike, taking home the show’s 2023 Start-Up Award. It also won a 2023 Design Preis Schweiz Award and the 2024 Monocle Award for Best Two-Wheeler, among others. Not bad for a debut model from a team consisting of just a handful of people.

Four key principles guide the small company. They go beyond marketing speak and can be seen reflected in their design language, focused product range, partners they select, and way of running the business.

Monopole Guiding Principles

1. We Cycle for Joy: For us, nothing feels better than the flow we experience when riding a bike. This sensation is the one we want all cyclists to feel with our Toolbike: lightness, agility, and freedom.
2. We create the one bike for all: With the modular design of our Toolbike, we master the essential transport needs of our core customer: the creative professional and the adventure seeker.
3. We produce consciously: We design and develop our steel frames in Switzerland. Handcrafted in France and equipped with premium components, our bikes offer high quality, durability, and low maintenance.
4. We are stewards for purpose: Toolbike AG was founded according to the principles of Steward-Ownership² and is committed to creating an environment where every team member is valued as a contributor to a shared purpose.

These straightforward tenets outline a strong and clear road map for the company to follow. They want their bikes to be fun to ride, have a vision of versatility, produce them in neighboring France with long lifespans in mind, and are committed to treating their employees fairly. By putting these guiding principles into action, the brand and its founders have earned my respect, and I’d love to see more companies outline and live by such an ethos. The (cycling) world would surely be a better place for it.

Monopole Cargo Bike at a Glance

The Monopole Cargo Bike is a compact front-loader that rolls on a 24-inch rear wheel and a 20-inch front wheel. It’s TIG welded from steel and sports a distinctive rectangular geometry. Rather than the metal steering linkage found on other front-loading cargo bikes, the Monopole utilizes a belt-drive system from Gates—the first of its kind in the space.

It has a swappable bottom bracket shell designed to take an electronic or mechanical Pinion gearbox, and it can also run a conventional 1x drivetrain. A modular bolt-on mounting system facilitates easy installation of different front racks to suit your hauling needs. Even among these many unique features, its short wheelbase is the real star of the show. More on everything below.

Frame Features

This is BIKEPACKING.com, after all, so let’s get the obvious out of the way: the Monopole’s enormous rectangular main… triangle is practically begging for a custom frame bag, especially on the size large I tested. That said, I ultimately opted not to run a frame bag of any kind. I decided against it in part because I find the uncluttered shape so pleasing to look at, and partly because I never once needed more cargo capacity. Still, a bag maker could have a lot of fun coming up with something to suit it.

The frameset features 57mm tire clearance, front and rear fender mounts, super clean external cable routing along the non-drive side using in-house-designed clips, partially internal cable routing on the rear triangle, room for 180mm rotors, a custom nameplate on the seat tube, a kickstand mount, and a single bottle mount on the head tube.

Monopole doesn’t make a kickstand, but it’s possible to add one from another manufacturer—something I wish I’d done. Kickstands are especially useful on cargo bikes. And the single bottle mount looks good visually, but it’s a little lacking in the water-carrying department. Practically and aesthetically, I don’t know where else it would make sense to place another one on a rectangular frame—probably on the seat tube—but it seems like a problem worth solving. My frame didn’t have provisions for a rear rack, but I’ve seen other Monopole frames with them. There’s no routing expressly for dynamo wiring on the frame or fork, which I’d love to see in a future update.

Front spacing is 15 x 100mm thru-axle, and there are optional inserts for 12 x 142mm thru-axle or QR 135mm rear spacing for use with or without derailleurs. A split in the dropout insert enables running a matching belt drive in the rear, though mine came specced with a chain.

That Rectangular Feeling

Ride feel is already a highly subjective topic, but given how unconventional the Monopole is in nearly every aspect, I find it uniquely challenging to describe or compare to anything most readers would have ridden. How many bikes can you name with two head tubes, rectangular geometry, and a (mono)pole protruding out front to a 20-inch wheel?!

If I had to attempt a summary, the Monopole Cargo Bike has a playful nature that invites input from the rider, but it’s quite burly and stiff at the same time. I found myself taking more sneaky singletrack shortcuts and riding faster than I typically would on a cargo bike, but it’s still a cargo bike at the end of the day. It’s not springy, but it has a surprising liveliness unloaded.

Monopole Cargo Bike Geometry

The pedaling position is neutral and comfortable, though the dramatic saddle-to-bar drop on my particular build was a little extreme. I’d prefer a tad more stack and lot more steerer tube with the saddle and bars closer to level. The reach is optimized to work equally well with flat bars or drops, but flat bars feel more at home to me. I wasn’t tempted to run drop bars.

Don’t Call it Mini

During a call with co-founder Nicola before the bike arrived, he pushed back on the idea of the Monopole being referred to as a “mini” cargo bike. Having thoroughly put it through its paces in the time since, I see that he was right to do so. Far from the toy-like or unserious connotations of mini, the Monopole Cargo Bike is a highly capable tool, and its compact stance is a strength, not a trade-off or gimmick.

Its footprint is actually smaller than my hardtail’s, and it fit nicely in one of the wall-mounted bike racks lining my garage. It also fit on my car’s hitch-mounted bike rack with ease—a rarity in the cargo bike world. Hopping on the Monopole for the first time, I was expecting a learning curve to adapt to the handling, but it felt familiar from the first pedal strokes, just like a normal bike. Having ridden a variety of larger cargo bikes such as the Larry vs Harry Bullitt, Omnium Cargo, and Surly Big Dummy, I expected I’d need to be more mindful of where I pointed it and what the front and rear ends were doing, but there was almost no adjustment period.

With a bigger cargo bike like the Bullitt, there’s usually some calculation involved in terms of whether not not the intended cargo is worth the effort required to pedal it. Just grabbing a bag of beans from the coffee shop? Take the basket bike instead. No such calculations are required with the Monopole. Especially unloaded, it felt properly zippy, almost racy. Longtime contributor and friend Cass Gilbert was visiting at one point, and I let him borrow it for a sunset spin one evening. He couldn’t stop giggling and giving it full gas throughout the 15-mile ride, a beaming smile rarely leaving his face.

Modularity

There are two aluminum cargo racks available for the Monopole. The adaptable Platform Rack is the more broadly useful of the duo, and it’s the one I had installed about 90 percent of the time. It provides a mid-sized base for lashing on boxes, bags, or the included 40 x 60 centimeter Eurobox with two oversized Voile straps, also included. I found the Eurobox to be ideally sized for nearly all of my hauling needs, including hassle-free loading up for bikepacking. My main critique of the Platform Rack and Eurobox combination is that it’s not quite an exact fit, and it tended to shift around from time to time. The provided box itself is designed to quickly collapse by pushing in the sides, and the interconnecting corners would occasionally come apart when knocked. Still, in all, the Platform Rack is hugely utilitarian, pushing the Monopole well beyond basket-plus territory.

The other existing rack option is the Shopper Rack, which has a more niche application of holding two side-by-side shopping bags. I don’t tend to know exactly what I’ll end up with when I leave the house on my bike, so I find the catch-all style of the Platform Rack and Eurobox far more practical. That said, I could see the Shopper Rack meeting the needs of folks who haul more predictable cargo.

Both racks are officially rated to haul 30 kilograms (66 pounds) and install in minutes using two sets of jumbo bolts on the frame. The total system weight capacity is 160 kilograms (352 pounds) including the rider. I don’t doubt that you could easily get away with hauling more weight safely and comfortably, but I never pushed it beyond that. According to Nicola, they’re working on a third standard cargo rack with a load capacity of 50 kilograms (110 pounds), designed with optional child seat integration in mind. Given the simplicity of the four-bolt mounting system, I would love to see some DIY third-party racks developed for various creative interpretations and pursuits. Note that if you need to ferry kids or oversized boxes around town, the size of the Monopole’s existing platforms might be limiting. A full-size cargo bike could be a better option.

Pinion Predicament

Having experimented with other drivetrain arrangements, the Monopole team eventually landed on a native Pinion gearbox integration. It’s a reliable, low-maintenance, precisely engineered system that easily facilitates manual or electronic configurations, but it also comes at great expense. Buyers building a Monopole from the frame up can expect to pay around $1,500 for a C1.12 Pinion gearbox alone, not including the shifter, belt, or cog.

Design-wise, the Pinion system fits almost seamlessly into the Monopole’s clean styling. Its no-fuss, no-mess user experience makes sense for a bike you might depend on for transportation and bring into your urban apartment. The C1.12’s range was more than adequate for everything I encountered during my six months with it, including some sustained unpaved climbs. The slightly sloppy feeling inherent to the Pinion takes some getting used to, but it’s far less noticeable when commuting, as opposed to riding trails (see my Tout Terrain Outback Xplore II review for further thoughts on the Pinion off-road).

Impressive as the Pinion may be from an engineering perspective, it’s still something of a mysterious black box that comes at a substantial cost. For my money, I’d build my Monopole with the BSA bottom bracket adaptor shell and a wide-range 1x drivetrain with a good old-fashioned derailleur. I’d do this for both cost and familiarity reasons. Especially for a bike I’d mostly ride around the city, a 10,000-kilometer (6,200-mile) service interval isn’t a real selling point. Maintenance is love, and I don’t mind doing it regularly.

Belt-Drive Steering

One of the Monopole’s most unexpected touches is its Gates belt drive steering. I was initially skeptical, and the choice had me scratching my head, but their execution of the system is damn near perfect. Monopole’s goal was to “transfer the unmatched riding sensation of a traditional bicycle with a handlebar, fixed directly to the front wheel, to a cargo bike with an offset front wheel,” ³ and they nailed it. Feedback is almost instantaneous, and the steering is predictably smooth.

Is it a night-and-day difference from the metal steering linkage on my Omnium? No, but it does impart a noticeable zippiness and precision to the handling, further amplifying the Monopole’s “normal bike” feel. The belt looks like it’s at risk of falling off—the usual question from folks first seeing it—but it’s securely held in place thanks to tension from a clever eccentric bearing cup. Dual security blocks act as an added failsafe to prevent the belt from slipping. Even under extreme fork flex from heavy braking, it’s not going anywhere.

I didn’t need to adjust (or even think about) the belt-drive steering during my time with the Monopole, and they say it’s rated for 200,000 load cycles. Once set correctly, it should provide years of trouble-free handling. A few seasons of riding later, I’m a convert. Belt steering seems much less like a novelty and more like a highlight of the Monopole experience.

Cargo Camping

Since the first time I met someone riding a fully loaded cargo bike as a touring rig, I’ve loved the idea of chucking everything into a big box, kitchen sink included, and pedaling out from my front door. Camp chair, deluxe coffee setup, and cozy change of clothes? Coming with. No need to make sacrifices or figure out what might fit where.

My couple of campouts were high points of my time with the Monopole, and I found that it rode its very best with the Eurobox fully loaded. The extra weight calmed down the snappy handling, and I could happily ride no-handed, steering with only my core. The weight felt planted over the 20-inch front wheel, and the Monopole’s generous tire clearance meant the knobby two-inch tires ate up chatter and sailed over loose sections of gravel mountain roads.

With the Monopole weighing in at a little over 44 pounds (20 kilograms) unloaded, I was always working harder than my camping companions, especially on the climbs, but that extra weight was more than worth the effort once I unpacked my luxuries at camp. Plus, the bike flew down big descents, gloriously banking around turns and feeling exceptionally stable and confident.

I picked up one of Ortlieb’s new 60L Duffle Lites to replace my trusty 15-year-old OR duffle for travel earlier this year, and it just so happened to fit perfectly inside the Eurobox. I loved having all of my camping gear easily accessible and protected from the elements, and packing and unpacking were a breeze. Cargo bikepacking is one of my new favorite things.

Nicola’s Personal Build

The bike loaned to me is Nicola’s personal rig, which is set up to meet the needs of his everyday life in Zurich. It features several fancy bits that push the build well into boutique territory, but I understand wanting to ride a flashy model as the brand’s co-founder. The PAUL hubs and Swiss-made 612 brakes were particularly glitzy touches. I assumed the narrow handlebars were a practical decision to fit through doorways, but Nicola said it’s just an old habit from what was in vogue during his ’90s childhood. I rode it exactly as it arrived, only adding pedals and a bell. It’s worth noting that Monopole’s complete builds feature more sensible specs, though still at a cost. See the complete build kit below.

Custom Build Kit

• Frame/Fork: MONoPOLE No O1
• Gearbox: Pinion C1.12
• Crankset: Pinion Forge 2018
• Shifter: Pinion DS2 Rotary Shifter
• Cog: White Industries
• Front Wheel: Paul hub laced to Sun Ringle Rhyno Lite rim, 20″
• Rear Wheel: Paul hub laced to Sun Ringle Rhyno Lite rim, 24″
• Front Tire: Schwalbe Billy Bonkers, 20 x 2.0″
• Rear Tire: Schwalbe Billy Bonkers, 24 x 2.0″
• Headset: Chris King NoThreadset
• Handlebar: SimWorks
• Stem: PAUL Boxcar
• Grips: ODI
• Saddle: Brooks Cambium C17
• Pedals: Wolf Tooth Components Ripsaw
• Seatpost: Thomson
• Seat Clamp: Salsa
• Brake Levers: 612
• Brake Calipers: 612
• Rotors: 612 (180mm)

Price and Availability

It will likely come as no surprise that a small-batch, Swiss-designed, French-made cargo bike isn’t cheap. Framesets cost $2,680; mechanical builds are $4,780 with a Shimano Alfine 11-speed, $5,380 with a Pinion C1.6, or $5,780 with a Pinion C1.12; and electronic builds are $6,880. The Platform Rack and Shopper Rack add an extra $260 or $240, respectively. Shipping to North America costs a further $290 for a frameset and $380 for a complete. All in, you’re looking at about $3,230 for a frameset and Platform Rack shipped to the United States, not including import taxes/tariffs, depending on the news of the day. Not an insignificant amount of money by any stretch. Note that the electronic version can’t be shipped to North America at this time.

Frames and completes are available in sizes small, medium, and large, which are designed to fit riders from 5’3” on up to 6’5” tall. They’re offered in three standard colors based on frame size, but buyers can choose from an assortment of custom RAL colors for a $180 upcharge. Monopole includes a five-year warranty on the frame and fork, regardless of options.

• Model/Size Tested: MONoPOLE No O1 (Large)
• Actual Weight: 44 pounds, 9 ounces
• Place of Manufacture: France
• Price: $2,680 (frameset)
• Manufacturer’s Details: Monopole.cc

Sources

1. US Department of Energy Vehicle Technologies Office
2. Monopole: Steward-Ownership
3. Monopole: Belt Steering

Further Reading

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