To give a synopsis of my project, I started with sheet aluminum and rivets, moved to fiberglass, then moved to Kevlar. Joined the navy as an Aviation Metal Smith (AMS) in 1991, did fiberglass and aluminum repair aboard an aircraft carrier, loaned my Kevlar tools to the HMS Invincible (the Sea Harriers use Kevlar) . And the girls designed two new cargo bikes of the cycle-truck variety
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So, in my estimation, the difference between a cargo bike and a touring bike is that the cargo bike has the front cargo platform mounted to the head tube, and it does Not rotate around the headset, whereas the touring bike has its fairing (plastic box) attached to the handlebars.
Something could be said for each approach. The handlebars mounted fairing can have nacelles for each hand to protect fingers from windchill. The head tube mounted box exerts downward force against the steering axis and gives the bike a tendency to stay in a straight line.
Now , the catch is, I have no control over the geometry which is welded into each bike. I am now making Coroplast fairings specifically for each bike receiving the fairing. I was naive to assume manufacturers would continue making a specific model bike, and as it turns out, that is not the case. So I would end up making an aftermarket fairing for a bike that is out of production.
Anyway, the cargo version got stolen before I could make a mold of the fiberglass, and that’s the main reason I went back to my 3rd prototype, only in cheap Coroplast instead of fiberglass.