[kyleg]

We received our Workcycles Cargobike Long (Bakfiets) back in May and finally got the go-ahead to take our 10-week old out for a ride last week. We’ve been out three times now and he even took a nap on the last, longest ride. I’d love to hear how other parents have installed infant carseats in their baks. We’re using the Workcycles mounting block (essentially a wooden platform bolted through the floor) with a cushion pad on top and the carseat LATCH base strapped on top of it all. It holds the carseat securely, but I’d still like to minimize the vibration a little more. (Of course, the imminent re-paving of the 15th Street Cycletrack ought to help immensely).[ATTACH=CONFIG]3627[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]3632[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]3633[/ATTACH]

[kyleg]

The asking price is now $75.

@kyleg 54452 wrote:

We just got a cargo bike, so it’s time to sell our Croozer Cargo trailer. It’s a few years old and has signs of use, but it’s still capable of carrying 66 lbs.

I’ve used it to haul (separately, of course) 3-4 cases of beer, a christmas tree, a bbq grill and cooler, etc.

Price is $90 and we’re in Logan Circle. It’s also posted on Craigslist: http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/doc/bik/3854526580.html

[ATTACH=CONFIG]3061[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]3062[/ATTACH]

[kyleg]

Well, we’ve got one case left now.

It was quite impressive to watch Dirt strap the bag onto his Big Dummy and pedal off into a tropical storm this morning! Do we get pictures?

[kyleg]

@Meganomics 49441 wrote:

Kyleg, I would LOVE for you to come to the ABC’s of Family Biking and hang with the Show & Tell to discuss your experience trying out various bakfiets-style bikes. We can make you a special sign and hang it around your neck or something.

We’re planning to come on the early side, maybe 11-noon. I’d be glad to learn and share. Just don’t make it a “kick me” sign, please.

[kyleg]

@jopamora 49436 wrote:

Seems like box bike maintenance would be like any other bike, right? Would you take it to The Daily Rider or BicycleSpace for bigger jobs or your favorite LBS?

Maintenance should be pretty straightforward and could be handled by your LBS. The only mechanical difference from a typical bike is the steering linkage and the only moving parts to it are a ball joint and a pin. Of course, there are two head tubes – one for the handlebar and one for the fork – but they’re both based on traditional designs. The big issue would be whether the LBS has the proper workspace. Workcycles uses a pulley system to hoist bakfietsen toward the ceiling vs. clamping them to traditional workstands.

[kyleg]

Yeah, we placed our order about two weeks ago and expect delivery in June. I’d be interested to hear how things go with Rolling Orange if you go that route. It does seem to be the real deal.

Workcycle’s car seat adapter is pretty simple and meant to be universal… it’s essentially an extra wood floor plate (maybe 2’x2′) bolted to the box with two nylon (seatbelt) straps that loop over the point where the carrying handle meets the body of the carseat. There’s also a 2-3″ thick weatherproofed piece of foam to help level the carseat and provide extra protection against vibration. We plan to use it with a Chicco Keyfit. They guarantee that it will work with a Maxi-Cosi Mico, since that seems to be the odds-on favorite carseat in Amsterdam.

The Steco Baby Me carrier offered by bakfiets.nl looks like it could be a good solution, too. (In a bakfiets… NOT on the back of a rear rack as shown on their website!)

[kyleg]

Dasgeh, glad I could help. I looked at Rolling Orange and almost stopped by on a recent trip to Brooklyn, but never made it to the store and it wasn’t clear to me at the time whether they carried bakfiets.nl or just mentioned it on their website. If it’s true that they carry the bakfiets.nl for a price in the $2,000s, then I’m about to get buyer’s remorse. As long as it’s the real deal (bakfiets.nl’s Van Andel design licensed to Azor for manufacturing) then that sounds like it could be a great deal. As I understand it, the modifications that Workcycles makes for US export is to add beefier brakes and the Nexus 8 hub. Most bakfiets sold in NL only have 3 speeds, I believe.

I’m also having Workcycles install their version of the infant car seat holder.

[kyleg]

I’ve recently completed a box bike shopping adventure, so I thought I’d share a few things I’ve learned so far.

I’d ridden a rented bakfiets.nl a few times in the past and was highly impressed with it. When the time came to purchase a kid transporter, the bakfiets.nl was the gold standard. But I wanted to perform due diligence and try all of the long john/box-in-front bikes available to me in the current market.

Christiania (*not a long john, but still box-in-front): It was surprisingly easy to tip the three-wheeled bike without carrying anything in the box. Obviously, this would be less of a problem with a child providing weight up front, but still a scary thought. I could imagine a trike being a good solution for short, local trips at low speeds.

Larry vs. Harry Bullitt: Like others mentioned, I just. could. not. ride. it. I’ve had stints with road racing and mountain biking in the past, but I just couldn’t get comfortable with the steering and braking of the L vs. H. I think it certainly fills a niche, but it’s probably more for cargo transport than child transport… and that’s what most of their promotional material seems to imply anyway. I wouldn’t mind having a fleet of these if I owned an urban delivery company.

Gazelle Cabby: The ride was upright and comfortable – like a Dutch bike should be – and the steering was responsive without being awkward. It rode very much like the bakfiets.nl – perhaps a little faster and jauntier. My two concerns were that it is (I believe) made of aluminum and the sides of the “box” are fabric. Yes, there’s a “roll bar” that holds up the fabric, but if it came down to a choice between a bakfiets.nl and a Cabby I would prefer to carry my child in a concrete-impregnated wooden box. On the plus side, the fold up sides and roll bar allow the bike to be squeezed through narrow doorways, etc. Aluminum scares me on a bike that is probably going to take a lot of abuse.

bakfiets.nl/Workcycles Cargo Bike: Most recently, I test rode (for a total of three experiences) the bakfiets at Adeline Adeline in Manhattan. The design has been slightly changed since I first rode a bakfiets in 2008. The primary difference is that the seat angle is even more relaxed now (by about 9 degrees). This makes the bike feel a little more like a recumbent and may irk some people, but in my opinion it wasn’t too relaxed. Otherwise, balancing is simple and the steering (like the Cabby) is very easy – it just takes a minute to get used to it. It can take a lot of spinning to get moving, but once the bike is up to 10-15 mph, it just keeps going.

I decided to go with the bakfiets.nl and crunched the numbers. Ordering from Adeline Adeline, Clever Cycles, or any other American shop outside of DC would entail shipping charges in the ~$500 range. In the end, I went directly to WorkCycles, which is the Amsterdam shop that exports bakfiets.nl bikes to the US under the WorkCycles Cargo Bike moniker. Modifications for the US market and shipping from NL will cost 800 Euros, which is admittedly steep. But the list price for buying the bike from NL was significantly cheaper, which more than offset the higher retail price and shipping cost from an American dealer. I’d prefer to buy from an LBS, but the cost savings and hassles were too significant to ignore for the bike I wanted. In the end, I won’t pay the 20% Dutch VAT, but I will pay an 11% import duty when it comes through customs.

If you have access to a large car/van and the time/interest to drive to New York to pick up a bakfiets, it could be cheaper to buy from Adeline Adeline than to have one shipped from NL, but we wanted to avoid the hassle of pickup.

Sadly, the bike won’t arrive in time for the ABC’s, but I’d be glad to share advice with anyone who might be considering a Dutch bakfiets.

[kyleg]

Amtrak is exactly the reason why I’ve kept a folding bike in my stable for the past few years.

Back in 2006/2007, a bike commuter on the Keystone Line in Pennsylvania named Dave worked very hard to get clarification on Amtrak’s folding bike policy. (BCGP used to link to a version of the text, but the link seems to be broken). His hard work paid off when Amtrak changed the wording in their conductors’ handbook spelling out that folding/collapsible bike were allowed on all trains at all times. I used to carry a copy of the updated handbook text in my wallet in case I ever got any guff but most of the NEC conductors don’t even bat an eye at folding bikes anymore. Thanks, Dave!

[kyleg]

This is on my (and my wife’s) daily commute. It’s been up for nearly two months now. I asked one of the guards on the afternoon shift (Secret Service, I believe?) if it was temporary. He shrugged his shoulders and said that somebody on another shift just started putting up the tape. Now many cyclists choose to ride the whole length of the block on the sidewalk while I prefer to beat up my wheels by hopping the curbs (panniers and all) right next to the guardhouse. Either way, it’s a lose-lose for cyclists. I’m not sure if there was an incident with a cyclist getting injured on one of the moving bollards or if the guards just felt like closing the entrance, but I’m tempted to race to the finish line and break the tape with my hands raised one of these days!

In any case, this needs to be addressed since it is right on the VERY busy 15th Street Cycle Track. The tape causes more harm than good by forcing cyclists to ride (illegally) on the crowded sidewalk. I wonder if WABA or DDOT have raised the issue with the Secret Service?

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