Snow Fr8
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Rick Wilson of Café Vélo in Portland, Oregon sent me this pic of his snowy WorkCycles Fr8. Its one of three Fr8’s in the USA, and was actually the very first Cross-frame made. The other two Fr8’s are at Clever Cycles (possibly available to purchase).
Rick writes:
“In accordance with proper snow driving guidelines i added some ballast to the frontal load area of the Fr8 to ensure the front wheel had plenty of traction.
The Fr8 handles wonderfully in the snow with the Fat Franks and the bakfiets tracks well, but U turns are a bit tricky on slick snow covered pavement as would be expected. Would not want to be under the FR8 if it goes down, however ;-)”
I’m assuming Rick is referring to the Bakfiets.nl Cargobike in the photos above, and not his giant, three-wheeled Classic Dutch Bakfiets a.k.a. “Café Vélo” since that one would be a snap on snow and ice… unless the road surface turns downhill.
Rick seems to be quite a fan of our bikes considering that his family has four of them, or rather his family and business have four of them.
So, anyhow, a lot of people are asking why the Fr8 isn’t to be found on the WorkCycles site yet and that’s a perfectly reasonable question. There are a few reasons:
But we’ve now got the design details sorted out and we’re ramping up production to vastly improve availability of Fr8’s in Spring 2009. In fact we’re even building a special, little factory to build the Fr8 and its future brothers and sisters. I’ll let you speculate just what those will be.
Fr8 pages on the WorkCycles site are finally in the works, and as you’ll note on our dealer page our network is expanding.
In the meantime a few teaser photos…
December 16th, 2008 at 15:32
ahhh… good to see some FR8 photos from Portland in the snow! I had no idea there were only 3 of these in the U.S.
Rick! We could have used some Cafe Velo at Peacock Lane the other night!
December 16th, 2008 at 20:52
We basically wanted to sell the FR8 locally to get user feedback, work out the last design details, and ramp production up. Thus we sent just a handful out to dealers outside Holland in 2008. At the same time we’ve sold quite a few here in Holland: for child transport, industrial use, delivery, and a few just to guys too big for normal bikes.
The FR8 has now been through a number of subtle updates so you could say we’re up to about version 1.6 now.
December 24th, 2008 at 21:48
Henry,
How big a guy is too big for normal bikes? I’m 6’6″ 270lbs. and I’m trying to decide which WorkCycles bike is right for me. The models I’m considering are the Oma, Transport and the FR8.
I particularly like the FR8 for the it’s step through design. Same for the Oma.
Is there one you’d recommend for a guy my size?
Can you tell me about the subtle design updates you mention? Are they much different than the models currently at Clever Cycles?
Thanks and best regards,
David
December 24th, 2008 at 22:08
David,
You could ride an Oma, at least one of our 2008 onward models with the ridiculously strong wheels. Still, I think you’d be happier on a FR8 and it would feel much more solid and last longer too. You’re around the limit for seatpost length on the FR8 universal frame though if 400mm isn’t long enough you could have a post made from steel: its 31.8mm which is 1 1/14″. A FR8 Cross frame would be ideal as it has a longer seat tube.
We’ve some really Dutch guys (and they grow ’em big here) on both FR8 and various city/utility bikes. The most extreme example I can think of is an inch or two taller than you and 60lbs heavier. He actually has both a FR8 and a Kruisframe and hasn’t done any serious damage to either. He did break a crank off one bike after a couple weeks but I haven’t heard of any problems since.
The design updates are all details: the fenders and stays have grown 5mm wider, the lock mount has been improved, we’ve streamlined the wiring, the seatpost is now black, the rims are slightly stronger, a couple frame tubes have been made lighter, new graphics etc etc. Lots of changes but nothing earthshaking.
February 9th, 2009 at 17:23
Hello,
How mutch it will be for a Fr8 in our days ?
Black with white tyres, and if possible with white handgrips.
Thanks,
Tiago
February 9th, 2009 at 23:54
Tiago, Please contact WorkCycles for specific bike info and prices:
https://www.workcycles.com
[email protected]