The Bike That Wants to Replace Your Car... and Your Hardtail

I spend a lot of time thinking about the "N+1" bike problem. It’s the playful justification for owning a fleet of specialized tools: a road bike for speed, a gravel bike for long mixed-surface days, a hardtail for singletrack. But I’ve always felt there's a missing category, one that I'd call "U+1"—the "Utility" bike. This is the bike for the rest of life: the grocery runs, the hardware store trips, the rides to the park with a kid. The problem is that most utility bikes are just that: utilitarian. They're heavy, ride like a bus, and aren't exactly "fun." You’d never dream of taking one on a proper adventure.

This is why I’m so endlessly fascinated by the emerging category of "midtail" cargo bikes, and this new Bombtrack Beyond+ Midtail looks like a near-perfect example of the concept. It seems to be asking a compelling question: What if your utility bike was also your adventure bike?

At first glance, it’s a cargo bike. The "midtail" name refers to its extended 580mm chainstays and the beefy, 60-centimeter-long integrated rear rack. This isn't just a rack bolted onto a frame; it's a core, structural part of the bike. Bombtrack says it's ideal for a pair of child seats or four panniers. This is the "utility" part, and it's a serious proposition. It’s a bike designed to haul significant, life-sized loads without flinching. It even comes with a kickstand.

But then you look closer, and the "Beyond+" DNA—Bombtrack's adventure-touring line—is everywhere. This is not just a beefed-up commuter.

The frame is suspension-corrected for a 120mm to 130mm fork. The tire clearance is massive, fitting a full-on 29" x 3.0" tire. It has boost spacing and a UDH, making it compatible with any modern mountain bike drivetrain. It has internal routing for a dropper post. The build kit includes a Shimano Deore 4-piston front brake. This isn't the spec you put on a bike that's just meant to grab milk. This is the spec you put on a bike that's designed to be ridden, loaded, down a bumpy mountain descent.

What I find most compelling is how Bombtrack has apparently synthesized these two opposing design philosophies—cargo hauler and off-road explorer—into a single, cohesive frame. The downtube is quadruple-butted, making it incredibly stiff at the headtube junction to manage all that front-end load, whether from a suspension fork or a loaded-down rigid fork. And the mounts... my god, the mounts. There are three-pack mounts on the fork, on the downtube, inside the main triangle, on the back of the seat tube, and even on the rear rack stays. This thing is a blank canvas for the most imaginative bikepacker.

The geometry and build kit tell the rest of the story. The headtube angle is a stable 68.5°, and the bottom bracket is a very low 80mm drop. This is a bike designed to feel planted and secure, not twitchy. The drivetrain is a complete, no-fuss Shimano Deore 12-speed group with a massive 10-51T cassette. This is a crucial, practical choice. Bombtrack knows you’re going to be hauling 50+ pounds of gear (or kids) up a steep climb, and they’ve given you the climbing gear to do it.

So, who is this bike for? It seems to be for someone like me—someone who wants to integrate a bike more fully into their daily life but refuses to give up the call of the trail. It’s for the parent who wants to drop their kid off at daycare and then keep riding right onto the singletrack. It’s for the round-the-world tourist who needs to carry four panniers and tackle rough fire roads.

At $3,299.99 for the complete (or $1,279.99 for the frameset), it's a significant investment. But when I think about what it's designed to do, the price seems rational. It's not just a bike; it's a platform. It's a car-replacer that can also replace your hardtail. With only 100 frames in the first batch and a February 2026 delivery, it’s also going to be an elusive one. More than anything, the Beyond+ Midtail feels like a definitive statement: utility and adventure don't have to be mutually exclusive.