Cargo bike are all about fun, adventure and efficiency…but they’re also about kid comfort. If your children aren’t comfortable, your trips will be limited. In the summer, this means sun protection.

In this post I’ll cover both DIY and out of the box sunshades for box bikes and longtails.

Out of the Box

The rain cover on my Babboe Trike doubled as a sun cover. When the rain cover was rolled up, the top portion was solid and still provided protection from the sun. Though Babboe has now imploded, I will say that their rain cover was the best of the box of the ones I tried. I didn’t need to do any DIY elements to this cover for rain or shade — 10/10!

Most box bike companies offer some type of rain cover, and some also offer a shade cover. Unlike my Babboe cover, bike manufacturers often have really poor designs for the passenger protection.

Most rain covers have a clear vinyl top which make them useless in the bright sun. That being said, if you already have the support poles for your rain cover, you can usually fashion your own sun cover pretty easily, even if you don’t have any sewing skills.

Here’s the dimensions for the Bunch shade to do a DIY version. The CPP E-Bike Lending Library offers a Bunch Trike, so I was able to grab these dimensions in between loans.

If you don’t have sewing skills, you can always use jersey fabric (which doesn’t fray when cut). Head to your local thrift store and look for jersey/t-shirt bedding and then snip away.

The Yuba Pop Top is poorly designed and leaks — though it can be fixed with modifications (I’ll put those modifications at the bottom of the page in case any disappointed Pop Top owners make it to this post).

The Pop Top frame, however is awesome. It is very sturdy and I often grabbed it when I was backing the bike or putting it on/taking it off the kickstand to give me leverage when both of my kids were on the back. If you have passenger bars on your long tail, you could likely use the Pop Top frame (though, don’t take my word on it because I haven’t actually tried doing this!).

I did not take dimensions of the cover I made for my Spicy Curry, and have since sold the bike, but I made a rectangle from two layers of fabric and included tie straps in the corners to attach it to the frame. As I mentioned earlier, you can always use jersey fabric if you can’t sew — then you can simply cut to size and tie on.

I’ve seen examples of folks securing bed sheets to Urban Arrow Rain Cover support poles and many folks modifying what they got out of the box to better suit their needs in sunny conditions.

Kayak/Bike Canopy

I just fashioned my own sunshade for the Urban Arrow from a kayak shade cover. I got the idea from the Urban Arrow Owners Facebook group, and after using it since the start of summer, I have to say that I’m quite pleased!

It totally beats the equestrian sun visors that we tried using in the summer of 2023, which would fly off the kids’ helmets tilted their faces up.

This is how I installed the sunshade on an Urban Arrow — I could see this working on most box bikes — bakfietsen and trikes, with some minor modifications. I think it could also work on a longtail, too.

The supplies I used are: a kayak canopy (the canopy comes with support poles, cover, three bungee cords, and three plastic clips), electrical tape, three 1′ cargo straps, and three carabiners.

My original plan was to stick the back support poles behind the bench, but I quickly realized they would fall through below the foot well because of the gap on the bike floor.

Instead, I doubled up the bottom of the support pole, wrapped it completely in tape so there were no exposed holes of the pole (to prevent puncture wounds), and placed it just a few centimeters behind the back seat.

I had already loosened the screws on the bench so that I could slide it forward. This step might not be necessary now since the poles are not going very far behind the bench.

I used the blue cargo straps in the picture to secure the poles to the back corners, and used the included bungee cord for the kayak shade to keep the fabric behind the passengers from being pulled forward. The included bungie cords end up being way longer than you need so I cut some of the extra length off.

In the front I attached the orange bungee to a third cargo strap.

This sun shade does not fit under the Urban Arrow Rain Cover, so I recommend using carabiners at the three attachment points (one in the front, two in the rear) so that you can remove the sunshade relatively quickly should you need to swap it out for rain protection.

The kids don’t even feel the poles of the canopy behind the bench— being set that far in the corner means their bodies don’t even touch them. There’s some flexibility to the support structure so once on a windy day it bent a bit, but snapped back into place easily. My child was startled, but there wasn’t any risk of injury.

Overall, I’m VERY pleased with the shade. The one from Urban Arrow costs $400. All in, this DIY version cost me $69.20. While the shaded area is not as extensive as the Urban Arrow cover, honestly, I don’t really care. This is good enough and much more economical 🙂

The only other con I will point out is that I can’t see my kids in the bike when this shade is on. I’m considering making a window from extra window screen I have lying around, but my kids are old enough now that I don’t need to see them on the bike. But I could see how this might be frustrating for parents with younger children.

Other Sources of Shade

In various Facebook groups, I’ve seen all sorts of strategies for beating the summer sun. These include an Ikea bed canopy and a stroller shade. Probably the most popular DIY option is the Radio Flyer wagon cover which folks use on both long tails and front loaders.

If you search for ‘Power Scooter Sunshade’ you can also find pricier options that might work well on a longtail if you have a little bit of a DIY spirit. If your child is still in a Yepp Seat you can attach a smaller car seat shade* directly to the seat itself.

*This is just an example – I don’t have experience attaching these things together and I don’t know if this specific shade would work on a Yepp seat.

What shade options have worked for you on your cargo bike? Please share below!

*Fix Your Yuba Pop Top So It Doesn’t Leak

If you are here because you’re annoyed that your $250 Yuba Pop Top leaks out of the box, here is how you can fix it! The issue is that the top of the cover is vinyl, and it sags under the weight of water. The water then leaks through the seams of the ill conceived vinyl top.

Your first order of action is to reinforce your seams. I used this:

Next, you need to add a brace to your frame to create a convex top. I used an H bracket because I had one hanging around from a lawn sign. I did wrap my frame in clear packing tape underneath the H bracket to prevent excessive scratching. I then wrapped the ends of the bracket around the Pop Top frame, ziptied it in place, and covered the ends in electrical tape so they weren’t so pokey, and voila! It worked great.

After these adjustments I was leak free! I kept my sunshade up year round, and then just put the rain cover on top of it in the winter or when it rained.