Hiring a cargo bicycle

Text: an original contemporary personal account-style practice extract.

Before hiring a cargo bicycle for a week, I appreciated being allowed to try it in the yard without paying for the hire first. I also liked the adjustable saddle, which meant my partner and I could both use the same bicycle. The front box looked enormous beside my usual shopping bag. Riding it took practice, especially when turning, and the hire shop did not suggest otherwise. We brought it back after the trial knowing more about our journeys than we could have learned by looking at its photograph.

From the extract, give two arrangements or features the writer appreciated before hiring the bicycle.