More cargo bike brands have Babboe's breaking problem; NVWA investigating: report

The problem of cargo bike frames breaking in half extends beyond the Babboe brand. The Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) is investigating reports of breaking frames involving multiple cargo bike brands, including Vogue, Cangoo, and Bakfiets.nl, RTL Nieuws reports based on correspondence from six bike owners who filed reports with the NVWA.

Two NVWA inspectors visited Ashley Wentink from Zwolle to inspect her Vogue cargo bike after she reported the break to them. “They said that they had already looked at several Vogue cargo bikes, all with broken frames,” she told RTL. “Because they were still investigating, they were not allowed to mention numbers, but they indicated that it was certainly not an isolated incident with this type of cargo bike.”

“There are multiple reports about different brands of cargo bikes being investigated by the NWWA,” watchdog spokesperson Bjorn Elsebrock told RTL Nieuws. He wouldn’t mention brand names or comment on the seriousness or scope of the investigations because they are still ongoing. It is unclear whether the NVWA investigations will lead to a recall or sales ban like with Babboe.

Vogue told RTL that the NVWA had “requested information about the technical specification of products and the way in which comments and possible complaints are processed.” The NVWA promised feedback in mid-September, a spokesperson said. “We are happy to cooperate with this important investigation.”

Cangoo told the broadcaster that it received ten reports of broken frames in the past seven years. The manufacturer is investigating the possible cause together with its supplieres. So far, they’ve found that one bike was used for professional transport of products. “We are currently still investigating what the cause of the other cargo bikes could have been,” Cangoo’s managing director Daniël Popal told RTL.

Bakfiets.nl director Jan Rijkeboer is not aware of any wrongdoing, he told the broadcaster. “The philosophy of Bakfiets.nl has been the safe transport of children for 25 years. The safety of children is always our top priority.” Bakfiets.nl has made over 40,000 bikes and frame issues occur very rarely, he said. “On average, we replace eight frames per year for various reasons.” Each replaced frame is analyzed, “and so far, we have come to the conclusion that we do not have to worry about the frame suddenly falling in two.”