Nihola trikes are nice vehicles and quite rare in Holland but popular in Copenhagen, Denmark. For reasons beyond my comprehension the Danish prefer three-wheeled family transport bikes while the Dutch go mostly for two wheelers. I could write for hours on the subject but to make a long story short WorkCycles customers have overwhelmingly been happiest on two-wheelers so that’s what we sell unless a customer really needs a tricycle. A two-wheeler such as a Bakfiets Cargobike leans and rides like a normal bike. Trikes are always somewhat strange and unpleasant to ride, and that’s probably why we learn to ride on two wheels as young as possible and then almost never go back to three wheels. There are certainly valid reasons to need a trike, though:

In any case I put this picture up because it demonstrates a problem with some trikes: They can tip onto their noses when the center of gravity moves too far forward of the front axle. Usually this happens while kids are climbing into the trikes from the front.

On the Nihola its funny to see but really not a problem: Unlike most trikes the Nihola’s front wheels steer independently, as on a car. The frame is thus a single unit so the tail simply sticks in the air and the kids laugh.

However the Nihola is not the only child carrier trike with the front wheels well behind the front of the box. The Winther Kangaroo, TrioBike and Zigo Leader are also constructed this way.

I’ve never seen a Zigo but it appears, like the Nihola, to have independent steering via tie-rods. Reports from my colleagues that the Zigo’s turning circle is very large would tend to confirm this. The Zigo’s child carrying unit sits almost entirely forward of the front axle and the bike is very light so it will almost definitely tip forward when kids climb in the (only) front entrance, unless mom is attendant and holding the rear end down. Fortunately, like the Nihola, the Zigo’s tail will merely stick way up into the air. Annoying but probably not dangerous.

When this happens to the Winther and TrioBike its not such a humorous occurrence: These trikes have central, axle pivot steering, meaning that the trike steers by turning the front carrier parts of the trike in relation to the rear bicycle part. Thus when the nose goes down and the tail goes up… the rear part of the bicycle will rapidly fall to one side, perhaps tipping the entire bicycle, falling into a parked car or other bicycles, or even falling into the roadway. Both of these bikes have light aluminium frames so it really doesn’t take so much weight to tip them.

One can argue that a parent should always be present to hold the bike steady but that’s just not how it works in the real world: kids absolutely love playing on and in these bikes, regardless of adult supervision.

The photo of the Nihola I found in the flickr album of “andjohan”.

For more reading material about the TrioBike have a look at this earlier post where I used it as an example to complain about how ridiculous and inaccurate online “reviews” can be. The comments that follow get rather bizarrely heated and emotional.

Veel meer bakfietsen te zien bij Atelier Mara Berkhout.

Sometimes we build a special bike, send it off in a hurry without a chance to get photos and then we forget about it. Then sometimes we come across them later in advertising or political campaigns, in stores as props, or just on the street being ridden. This bakfiets has a good story behind it.

Under the motto “every square meter counts” nature defense organization “Natuurmonumenten” devised a campaign in which various famous Dutch folks would ride a bakfiets built into one square meter of nature throughout the Netherlands. Via this metaphor they generated lots of publicity though I doubt anybody ever saw the small WorkCycles logo on the tricycle itself.

This was based on one of our traditional bakfietsen. The timeless, old-world looks (and old-world quality reality) fit the project. We painted and powdercoated it in the right shades of green and those with intimate knowledge of such things handled the the lovely square meter of nature.

Here are a handful of the celebrities who rode one m2 of nature. Don’t worry if the names mean nothing to you; Being a rock-star in a country of 16 million people doesn’t necessarily guarantee worldwide name recognition:

We’ve got many more of these projects around the country so its about time to start collecting images and info. Here are some more images of the bakfiets in all its green glory.

Als BN’er (Bakfietsverkopende Nederlander, of ten minst legaal bewoner in Nederland) vind ik vele bijzondere dingen in mijn email inbox: o.a. aanbeidingen voor nieuwe software, aanbeiding voor interessante investeringen in de 3e wereld, aanbiedingen voor pillen om mijn mannelijkheid groter/krachtiger/langdurender te maken, en af en toe als ik gelukkig ben ook aanbeidingen voor bijzondere nieuwe bakfietsen.

Die laatste vond ik vandaag en wat een mooie bakfiets het is! Deze nieuwe bakfiets is niet zomaar nog een Chinese kopie van een Bakfiets.nl Cargobike of een Fietsfabriek Filibak/Christiania. Nee hoor, daar zijn re al tientallen van te kiezen! Als een leuk verassing is het een Chinese kopie van een Sorte Jernhest, de Deense bakfiets die met het achterwiel stuurt! Wow, een namaak van een fiets die al onmogelijk is te verkopen. Dit vond ik zo’n gewaagde actie dat het een BEM (nieuwe afkorting voor Bakfiets En Meer) blog post moest verdienen.

In de bovenstaande afbeeldingen zien we deze stijvolle bakfiets, uitgevoerd met een onwaarschijnlijk combinatie van een soort doorzichtige zuurstoftent en BMX banden. Denk aan de mogelijkheden voor nieuwe types wedstrijden! Ik zie ook nog enkele interessante punten in de foto’s:

Over achterwielsturende voertuigen: Er zijn redenen waarom alleen maar speciale voertuigen zoals heftrucks sturende achterwielen hebben. Een fiets met meer dan twee wielen is al vreemd genoeg te fietsen, daarom hebben je ouders die zijwieltjes zo snel mogelijk erafgehaald. Een voertuig die met de achterwiel(en) stuurt is heeft even zo bizarre een stuurgedrag. Wat verwacht je als je deze twee dingen combineert? De perfecte fiets om je kinderen mee te nemen, natuurlijk!

Jij bent nu zeker benieuwd waar je zo’n bakfiets kunt kopen en wat het gaat kosten. De eerste ga ik je niet vertellen maar de prijs is (voor nu) €899, inclusief BTW. In het geval dat je een fietsenmaker bent is het ook handig te weten dat jouw inkoopprijs €575 is, zonder BTW. Jouw marge is dus 24% op een fiets die jij zelf moet monteren uit twee dozen van de allerkleinste stukjes en een chineestalige handleiding zonder afbeeldingen. Als je heel erg handig bent kan het in mischien één lange dag! Maar over marge hoeft de fietswinkel geen zorgen maken – deze fiets wordt toch nooit verkocht.

The transportfiets (transport bicycle) fans over at transportfiets.net have assembled this collection of 500 images of mostly Dutch transport bicycles spanning almost 100 years. Amongst them you’ll see tons of old baker’s bikes, but also butcher’s bikes, milk delivery bikes, industrial bikes, postal bikes, newspaper delivery bikes couriers bikes, modern child carrier bikes. Either thankfully or unavoidably there are quite a few of WorkCycles bikes amongst them… even a couple secret prototypes if you watch carefully.

The accompanying music seems a strange choice but who’s complaining when you can see 500 transport bikes in 5 minutes.

Vanzelfsprekend. Wat meer kan ik zeggen? Gespot in Utrecht, het is niet helemaal zeker of het ooit echt dienst zag of het een grap is… of gewoon een gemakkelijk manier om een gesloten bakfiets te maken. “Ja, ik had deze bakfiets frame zonder bak en deze doodskist zonder dode mens…”

Hier is een link naar de doodskistbakfiets.

We like building special transport bikes… at least when they’re useful, cool and we get to make them in series. Here are some photos of the latest version of the Workcycles Cargobike Delivery, based on the now famous Bakfiets.nl Cargobike child-carrier frame.

This is one of a series of five Cargobike Delivery bikes for London organic delivery restaurant Farm UK. Farm UK makes sandwiches, ciabatta rolls, bloomers, salads, drinks and cakes entirely from UK farm sourced ingredients. They’re apparently super “lekker” though I always thought a “bloomer” was something old women wore while playing tennis.

Regardless of what tasty bits Farm UK puts in their sandwiches and salads, they deliver them by bicycle. Feeding entire office buildings requires loads that normal transport bikes can’t dream of carrying, but getting through downtown London’s urban jungle on a three-wheeled delivery bike would be an exercise in frustration (though still not as bad as with an automobile). Thus we’ve built Farm these supersized Cargobike Delivery bikes.

The boxes are made from an extremely tough and water resistant treated plywood normally used for concrete molding. Its called “betonplex” here in the Netherlands. Its very hard and stiff so we’re able to keep the walls quite thin and light. The box has a hinged and locking lid to keep the goods safe and dry while Mr. Sandwich Salesman is making his deliveries.

Dom and Ben from Farm UK have promised to send pictures of their bikes in action, complete with their Farm UK livery. Perhaps this post will spur them on to stop being productive for a few minutes and get that camera out.

An acquaintance Todd Boulanger in Portland Oregon (USA) spotted a new “4 in one” bike called the Zigo at the Interbike trade show and sent a note with a mention that was like the “very nice European bike that does the same” but much cheaper. I’m not sure whether Todd couldn’t remember the name of this European version, or simply didn’t want to mention it.

Regardless its called the TrioBike and I’d almost forgotten it until Todd’s mail. The TrioBike is a Danish designed product and its something of a joke amongst my colleagues here in Holland. Some laugh about it but how such a horrible product has won design awards, gotten mountains of (internet) press and glowing reviews from around the globe is both puzzling and troubling. One more lousy bike on the market doesn’t concern me, but the power of armchair internet reviewers does. Then again there are hardly any TrioBikes on the road so maybe its only a matter of perception and annoyance.

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This morning, for the first time, I found a reference to the box of a Bakfiets Cargobike as the “bucket”. “Bak”, “box”, “bucket”… I’d just never thought of that connection before.

The usage of these Dutch words is a constant source of confusion for English speakers and even with Dutch being my second language it’s amazingly irritating to constantly read about a “bakfiet” or an “omafiet”. Thus I’ve decided to set it down in electrons, once and for all. I’m no pro in the world of etymology, but here’s at least an overview of the correct usage and some of the most obvious Dutch-English language connections surrounding our beloved fietsen en bakfietsen:

Bak (pl: bakken)
Translation: Tray, pan
Related English words: Box, bucket

Bakken
Translation: To bake
Related English words: Baking

Bakker (pl: bakkers)
Translation: Baker
Related English words: Baker

Fiets (pl: fietsen)
Translation: Bicycle
Related English words: none, roots disputed
It’s critical to note that “fiets” is the singular form thus “fiet” is not a word. Nor is there an “omafiet”, “opafiet” or a “bakfiet”, for that matter. One fiets, two fietsen. Please remember this and 25 million Dutch speakers worldwide will thank you.

**Update 21-02-2012: Finally after over a century of mystery a pair of Belgian linguistics professors (Yes, Flemish and Dutch are very close cousins) have figured out the mysterious origins of the word “fiets”. It seems that when the bike was first invented Germans called it “vice-pferd”, meaning “replacement horse”. This was shortened to Viez, pronounced in English or Dutch as “fiets”. You can read the article here.

Gebak
Translation: Pie, as in “baked in a pan”. A pan is, after all, also a sort of box. So the “bak” refers to the process of baking but the Dutch word “bakken” for baking stems from the same roots. Confused?
Related English words: none
If you visit the Netherlands it’s important to know about gebak since you’ll spend much time in cafes here and appelgebak is almost universally the only treat available in a Dutch cafe.

Gebakken
Translation: Baked, fried, sauteed (it’s all the same, dutch is not a language of cuisine, just like English only has one word for snow.)
Related English words: none

Thus some of the myriad combinations we can make with the above words…

Bakfiets (pl: bakfietsen)
Translation: tray bike, box bike, bin bike, bucket bike; The bakfiets traditionally has 3 wheels but plenty off Dutch refer to heavy-duty two wheelers as bakfietsen too. Bakfiets is a subset of “transportfiets“
Related English words: none

Again “bakfiets” is singular and “bakfiet” doesn’t exist, not even in Dutch fairy-tale land. Bakfiets also happens to be the name of the company that made the bakfiets popular again as a family vehicle, but anybody can legally call their pedal-powered load carrier a bakfiets.

Bakkersfiets (pl: bakkersfietsen)
Translation: Baker’s bike, subset of “transportfiets”
Related English words: none

Baker’s bikes (and similar butcher’s bikes) were once very common throughout northern Europe, generally ridden by the baker’s or butcher’s son. Archive photos from the 1930 though 1960′s show swarms of them on the streets of Amsterdam, all the boys in neat white jackets.

(photo from transportfiets.net)

Transportfiets (pl: transportfietsen)
Translation: Transport bicycle, carrier bicycle, freight bicycle
Related English words: none

Transportfiets is the umbrella term for all load carrying bikes, particularly those intended for commercial use. In principle classic and modern bakfietsen, baker’s and butcher’s bikes and industrial bikes all fall under this heading. But in “street terms” the Dutch think of the classic baker’s bike when they hear “transportfiets”.
In this post I wrote all about my own, lovely old Yankee bakkersfiets.

Thus you should now understand clearly that the bakker (or at least the son of the bakker) rides a bakkersfiets, which could be but is not necessarily a bakfiets. It could even be a fancy “banketbakkersbakfiets” with a display if we’re talking about a pastry and cake baker. Regardless it is definitely a transportfiets. There is certainly a bak on either a bakkersfiets or a bakfiets, and its quite likely that gebak will be transported in or on the bak of the bakker’s fiets. That gebak will, in any case, be loaded on TOP of the bak to make sure it doesn’t get smashed.

But really all I want you to remember from this lesson: THERE IS NO FIET, BAKFIET OR OMAFIET!!! Thank you.

Mark Stosberg in Richmond, Indiana, USA sent a kind note asking a couple relevant questions worth public answers. The photo below I blatantly stole from Mark’s blog. It seemed appropriate.

Mark

Hello Henry,

Thank you for your blog which provides a unique glimpse into Dutch bike
culture for westerners like me who haven’t been able to visit yet.

As a new bakfiets owner in Richmond, Indiana, I have a couple things
I’ve curious about, which I think would make interesting topics for
future blog posts.

1. Accessories. In the photos I see of Dutch community bikes, there is a
noticeable absense of several accessories: Rear view mirrors, bike
computers, and water bottles.

If I had to guess, the answers might be:

– Rear view mirrors would be stolen (assuming they are detachable)
– For the bike computers and water bottles, perhaps they are less
important for shorter, urban trips, and also could either be stolen, or
would create another chore to carry the removable parts inside all the
time.

2. “Key Management”. The AXA Defender lock seems like it is somewhat
common there. If I attach the key for it to my keychain, I have to
leave the whole keychain attached to the bike when it is unlocked, and
my foot hits the keys that way. Are there common ways people avoid
this, and still keep track of their AXA Defender keys?

Unrelated, you may be interested in the stories and photos I recently
created about my new bakfiets. You can access that content through my
homepage below.

Thanks!

http://mark.stosberg.com/

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