I had to read this article several times to understand exactly what was going on and what was confusing me. Namely a piece in the Belgian newspaper “Nieuwsblad” (means… “Newspaper) proclaims the bakfiets as the safest type of bike for carrying kids, safer thus than bike trailers or child seats on conventional bikes. Now that’s no great surprise for me and not a finding I have any reason to argue. I carry my own two precious ones in a bakfiets and further earn my salary making and selling them. Workcycles has thousands of bakfietsen on the roads and thus far, knock wood, we’re not aware of any notable injuries. Then again we’ve also sold thousands of conventional type bikes, many of them equipped to carry kids and ridden daily, and I’m not aware of any notable injuries there either. So that’s not a terribly conclusive comparison; It just suggests that carrying kids on bikes is a very safe thing to do.

The Nieuwsblad article refers to a recent test by the German Automobile Club (ADAC). So I searched the ADAC site (geez it’s handy to be able to understand a few languages!) as source but nowhere could I find any mention of a bakfiets, never mind a test comparing the safety of kids carried by bakfiets with anything. I did however find an ADAC test comparing child carrier trailers with child seats on conventional bikes. In this study ADAC compared one top-tested trailer (Burley Cub) against one top-tested rear child seat (Römer, model not specified). Nieuwsblad reported that they simply rammed each rig into a stationary object at 25km/hr but on the ADAC site they show each rig being rammed from the side by a VW Golf and report that the head-on collision was also tested. That covers a broader range of high-danger crash scenarios than Nieuwsblad 25km/hr head-on bike T-bone. Not surprisingly, the trailer tended to remain on two wheels while the much higher mounted child seat on regular bike was consistently knocked over.

Just for background info our German neighbors LOVE testing products and they relish putting a big “Zeer Gut” or “Gut” in red letters on advertisements and products. They’re also renowned for their rigorous testing methods. The bike tests run by German cycling magazines absolutely put to shame the fluff published by the US bikey press. The Dutch bike rags fall somewhere in between but they still bore me to death.

But how then did Nieuwsblad conclude from a test comparing trailer and rear child seat that a bakfiets is the safest?Good question! Well it seems that Roel De Cleen of the Belgian Fietsersbond (Cyclists’ Union) just made that part up. I don’t mean to imply that it’s an unreasonable conclusion. It is actually a very logical extrapolation… but it’s just not supported by the data cited in the article. Moral of the story: Be critical when reading test results, especially when not reading the original source.

Happy New Year everybody!

I hope I’ll have more time to write in 2012 since 2011 was rather sparse.

In promoting cycling for transportation worldwide most of the discussion and action tends to focus on getting adults on bikes, particularly for that very American concept of “commuting” a considerable distance from home to work. Here in the Netherlands cycling for transportation just means generally getting around by bicycle. It’s mostly short distances since people tend to live much closer to work or school. Few would consider cycling greater distances unless it’s just for fun; Urbanites would instead take a train and country folk would most likely drive.

Here cyclists are mostly created from birth, both by example and by teaching kids to ride bikes at a very young age. Below is our story of our son P1 who now at the tender age of 2 1/2 is quite comfortable on a real pedal bike without “training wheels”. With a sample of one it’s certainly not scientifically proven but friends and customers have also had success with the same methods. So without further ado, here’s a timeline of P1′s development as a cyclist (so far). Please note that not all of the pictures show P1 at the age the activity actually begun:

1. One month: Riding as passenger in the bakfiets

It’s debatable whether feeling the motions of cycling from a very early age contribute toward one’s inclination toward cycling, or their development of balance months later. But P1 visibly enjoyed riding in the bike, watching the sights and sky go by. As young as four or five months old we were taking him on longer cycling trips, for example along the Amstel river as in the photo above. The bike is our very popular Cargobike Long.

2. Eight months: Riding as passenger up front on normal bike

We normally state nine months as the time to begin carrying a child in the front seat. P1 was already highly mobile and had been sitting securely for quite some time at eight months so we started a little earlier. Again it’s debatable how much this relatively passive activity contributes to the later development of cycling skills but my educated guess is that riding in the front seat of a parent’s bike is so much like cycling that there must be some learning involved. Kids are like sponges for knowledge and skills and here they’re seeing and feeling the world from exactly the same perspective as the cyclist; the dynamics of cycling, the sights of the city, the interactions with other road users. They even learn how to use the bike’s controls; P1 began pulling on the brake levers, twisting the shifter and ringing the bell within a year or so. Sometimes it’s terribly cute but other times it’s a little annoying to have a signal turn green only to find yourself in the bike’s heaviest gear with a little hand pulling the front brake lever as hard as possible.

3. Always: Generally having a lot of freedom

It seems that the Dutch or at least Amsterdammers give their kids a lot of freedom to play and explore. We often travel with our kids and elsewhere people are amazed or shocked to see a little one crawling around while we rest along a hiking trail, climbing big kid’s structures at a playground, or pushing a little shopping cart though the supermarket. Are they well behaved and playing safely because we’ve allowed them the freedom to learn, or are we just lucky to have a couple well behaved kids? Perhaps mostly the latter but really I cannot say. It is clear though that the local kids are given more space than kids elsewhere, and spend much less time strapped into strollers and the back seats of cars. To my untrained eye these 2-5 year olds seem more physically mature, at least with respect to the activities we see such as riding bikes and kick scooters, and climbing in playgrounds.

4. 12 months: Riding a baby bakfiets

I bought this tiny, antique, wooden bakfiets two years ago on Queen’s Day for €5.00. Since then my son and countless other kids have enjoyed it. P1 began riding it about when he began walking thus about a year old. It’s really tiny and maneuverable and that makes a big difference; Kids have to feel comfortable with these “toys”. I really believe that the ergonomics influence their experience and learning curve considerably. The lesson: Get little vehicles that fit and work properly and that are light enough for the child to have fun with. If necessary tinker a little to lower a seat so so your child get her feet on the ground, or shorten a handlebar because the manufacturer didn’t bother to do so. Most of the little bikes and trikes our kids use have been modified in some simple ways.

After a few months P1 would tear around the bikes at Workcycles Jordaan shop on the little bakfiets, skidding the rear wheel or intentionally flipping it, giggling as he rolled across the floor. Probably once or twice he hurt himself enough to cry but I honestly cannot remember it.

5. 18 months: Riding a Micro Mini scooter

P1′s first experience in riding a wheeled vehicle requiring balance was with the Micro Mini Scooter. The box says ages three and up but that must just be to please the lawyers of the firm’s American distributor. Even much younger kids love riding these little kick scooters. At a year and a half P1 made his first tentative steps around the shop (with the handlebar at about eye level) and gradually developed his skills on it. A few months later he would speed through the store, surfing through the parked bikes. What’s great about the Micro Mini is that it’s a three wheeler with the behavior of a two wheeler. At rest it stands up so a child can easily begin pushing around on it. But it steers by leaning with very natural dynamics so to really ride it one must develop the same balance skills as cycling. It also folds up to carry in a bike basket or backpack and weighs approximately nothing.

6. 25 months: Riding a balance bike

Once P1 was comfortable on the kick scooter I figured he could also ride a balance bike. He wanted to try it but even the smallest model (the Micro G Bike) was too tall for him at 18-19 months. I made the mistake of encouraging him to try anyway but then he fell off several times, got frustrated and refused to go near it for the following half year. Even lowering it my installing smaller wheels and dressing it up as a motorcycle (like many little boys he’s fascinated with motorcycles) didn’t help:

Then one day at about 25 months old he just stepped over the G-Bike and pushed off. Already having months of experience on both the little bakfiets and the kick scooter it was only a few minutes before he was gliding through the shop this time.

P1 became inseparable from his balance bike which has been really handy for mom and dad. He rides it to the store, to the park, and the whole day alongside us as we go about our business in the city. Rarely do we need to carry him. He’s much faster on the bike than Kyoko walking with P2 in the stroller or on our backs so he stops and rides up and down steps or practices other tricks while mom catches up. We’ve even dropped him into the local skate/BMX bike bowl to copy the tricks he sees the big kids doing.

7. 32 months: Riding a real bike without pedals (without training wheels)
He only did this for a few hours and I didn’t think to take a picture. To ease the transition from balance bike to bigger and heavier “real” bike I removed the pedals and let P1 ride around for an afternoon. He knew exactly what was going on and was totally psyched to ride his “real BMX bike”. Not only did this help P1 get used to the bike, it also gave me an opportunity to adjust the handlebars and saddle for him. Even at their lowest adjustments both saddle and handlebar were too high. I shortened the seat post and cut a couple centimeters off the top of the seat tube to lower the saddle. The handlebar was far too high so I fashioned an adapter to clamp it at the crossbar instead of at the normal spot. I would have just replaced the handlebar with a lower one but this stem has strange dimensions.

Note that this bike never had nor will have “training wheels”. That’s because training wheels actually hinder the process of learning to ride a bike.

A little about the bike itself:
I did quite a bit of research into the available kid’s bikes with 12″ wheels before buying. Almost of the bikes in this size are really awful; badly “designed”, crudely made and shockingly heavy with terrible bearings, covered in tasteless graphics. In fact the only decent 12″ bike I found was this Specialized Hot Rock 12. It has an aluminium frame, rims and handlebar, good quality tires and fairly tasteful graphics. By no means is it perfect. The cheap, steel cranks are much too wide forcing P1 to pedal like a duck (if a duck could pedal, that is) and the handlebar and stem are too tall and have nonstandard dimensions. It weighs 7kg without the training wheels which we never used. That seems light for us but really isn’t light for a 12kg rider. For comparison sake his Micro G-Bike weighs just 2kg.

8. 32 months: Riding a real bike

A few days later we brought the “real BMX bike” to the Vondelpark, this time with the pedals installed. P1 wasn’t so happy about this development so first we flipped the bike upside down and made a game of “pedal”… “brake”… “pedal”… “brake”. That was fun so then we did the same with him on the bike, me supporting the bike from the saddle while he pedaled and braked his way around the park. I gradually held the bike more and more lightly and after a few minutes he continued pedaling (and balancing) alone. After all P1 had long since developed the skills to ride the bike.

The following weekend P1 did a few laps around the big Westerpark and really became more relaxed on his bike. Though kids learn to ride young here it’s still rather strange to see such a small child riding a bike. Thus P1 gets an incredible number of stares, “awwww look, how cute”s, and “How did you do that? My child is four and still can’t ride a two-wheeler.”s

So now P1 can ride a bike but actually he still prefers his balance bike. Each day when we head out together I ask him which bike he wants and he always chooses the G-Bike. Why? Because it’s smaller and lighter and more fun. P1 can toss it around, try doing wheelies, carry it up steps, fall off it painlessly. That little bike is to him what a BMX or trials bike is to a big kid. And I’m very happy about that; I’ve had the proud papa moments of seeing my 2 year old ride a real bike yet we can still go about the city with his much lighter and easier to carry (in the basket of my own bike for example) balance bike.

I wish you the same success making your own little ones into happy cyclists!

I’ll admit to finding the current worldwide rage for “fixies” rather amusing but then again I was stripping my friends’ and colleagues’ bikes down to minimalist, fixed-wheel, rat bikes fifteen years ago. So I do understand the aesthetic and beauty of simplicity. And I raced on the track for years and still “train” (for what goal I forget) weekly at the indoor Amsterdam Velodrome during the winter.

Besides I’d much rather see a million pretentious or wanna-be fixed-gear bikes than a million horrid, generic, silver hybrids with suspension forks… even last year’s ugly hybrids dressed up this year as considerably cuter “city bikes” with too short, plastic fenders, cosmetic racks and painted some apparently politically correct color like “sand” or teal green. Indeed if that’s the bike industry’s idea of a utilitarian bike I’d rather just ride a flat black, 20 year old steel Bianchi road bike stripped down to one gear and one brake… which in fact was my daily ride for a decade in California. I still have that bike but now it’s an extra bike since we live on the fourth floor, it’s not built for outdoor life and it’s also not a particularly practical way to carry little kids.

But I digress. Though Workcycles’ focus is heavy duty city and transport bicycles our workshops repair and modify all types of bikes. Even fixed gear bikes sometimes, and not just giant Dutch cargo trikes which also happen to have fixed wheels. We weren’t voted “Best Bike Shops in Amsterdam” (out of about 250) for nothin’. This particular fixed-gear modification I found to be interesting in a very typically Dutch (i.e. practical) way.

“Dave” visits us periodically for parts and service, almost always with dog in tow. Last week he came in with a broken chain as a result of his dog’s leash getting caught between chain and chainring. Bummer. We discussed the repair and Dave asked whether it would be possible to move the drivetrain over to the left side of the bike since his dog runs on the right side. He’d get more “fred marks” on his left leg but he and dog would be safer. I looked the bike over. It had a proper fixed-gear hub with a reverse thread lockring and a symmetrical bottom bracket axle so sure, it should work just fine assuming he’s not going to be cranking away like a track sprinter. It did turn out that the bottom bracket was trashed and had to be replaced with something shorter than what we normally use on city bikes but we found a perfect fit in my personal collection of random parts. A few hours later Dave was back on the road with a strange looking but more practical bike. I find it a down to earth example in the current rarified a-fixie-nado atmosphere of NJS track parts, collectors item keirin frames, precious colorway coordination curation and stupid wheel combinations.

Thanks for the use of your photo Dave.

There are few things more fun than cycling with your kids, especially when they’re in front of you so you can talk as you ride. A baby giggles, gurgles and squeals at all of the sights and probably the dynamics of cycling as well. With a toddler the communication is obviously more intellectually stimulating. P1 (2.5 yrs old): “Papa, papa… Taxi, blue Land Rover jeep winch, two motorcycle! Thaaaat’s funny. No helmet racing bicycle! Playground! Slide. Go to plaaaayyyyy ground!!! Plaaaaaayyyyy ground!!!!” Still, nowhere is P1 more motivated to articulate complete concepts than on the bike. I expect the same will be true for P2, except probably with girl topics instead of our current mini gearhead talk.

Both P1 and P2 began riding in the Cargobike at about a month old (in a Maxi Cosi secured in the box) and then moved to sitting on the bench at about nine months old. P1 absolutely loved watching the world go by from the Maxi-Cosi and even at just a few months old was happy (or sleeping) for rides up to a couple hours long. P2 on the other hand, just didn’t like riding until she could sit up. Of course she still went in the bike almost daily for errands, to the daycare, to friends etc but we didn’t even bother to try a longer ride with her. It was clear it would just be too frustrating.

P2 (10mo old) began to enjoy cycling about a month ago when she began to sit either in the child seat behind the handlebars of our Fr8, or on the bench of the Cargobike. She sits in the same support seat we used for P1 (the shell of a Bobike Mini), mounted on the right side of the bench. Now, she’s clearly enjoying herself, smiling, squealing and waving her arms as we ride. It’s also a lot more convenient not having to bring the Maxi-Cosi along and it’s freed up lots of room in the box for other stuff: P1′s tiny bicycle, picnic gear, or perhaps everything the family needs for a few days on the road.

With P2 now enjoying the ride and the spring weather appearing it’s time to get back to the long bike rides through the countryside we so enjoy. Last year we did a number of quite long rides with P1, even bike touring a hilly area of France with him between my arms. But having two kids makes everything more complicated so first a little mini-tour to refine what we need to bring along, figure out how far we can ride and how much we have to stop and just plain old see whether it’s still fun. So last weekend I escaped my usual Saturday shop duties for a weekend family bike tour.

We figured 50km to be a reasonable distance and there are fortunately interesting routes and destinations in practically every direction. The weather in these parts is notoriously fickle at this time of year so going much further would be akin to asking the gods for a day of force 5 headwinds blowing a steady rain into our faces for the return trip. A bakfiets is probably only marginally more aerodynamic than a barn door and it doesn’t fit in the train for a shortcut home so we played it safe. Lage Vuursche, a village in the “Utrechtse Heuvelrug” (a wooded area with some small hills in the middle of the Netherlands) was chosen as destination, a hotel reservation for Saturday night made and the bikes checked over thoroughly. I would ride the Cargobike with the two kids and most of our stuff. Kyoko would ride our Fr8 city bike with just the snacks (lots of them!) in the bin on the front carrier. Coincidentally I found a clean sheet of eggcrate foam just big enough to line the floor of the bakfiets box. A little trimming and it fit perfectly. P1 was on hand to test our “instant bed” and approved… immediately taking a nap in the box.

The gods smiled upon our plans and blessed us with a beautiful Saturday and a forecast of a rainy but warm Sunday. I can live with that. A nice big breakfast, comfy clothes on, everybody smeared with the first sunscreen of the year and off we began our little adventure. With a warm day ahead we didn’t want the bakfiets canopy greenhousing the kids so I wrapped it up with a small tie-down strap and stowed it under the bench. Not bringing a rain canopy in the beginning April would be very dumb! Loading up the bikes I couldn’t help but note the sheer volume of stuff we were bringing: We filled the bakfiets box and the bin on the Fr8. In retrospect I shouldn’t have been surprised; It was mostly just clothes, raingear and other light, soft items just loosely packed in bags instead of being tightly stuffed into panniers. We brought a small sleeping bag along for possible picnics, to wrap the kids in if it got cold or for napping in the bak. And anyway we are packing for a family of four, mostly in one bike.

It wasn’t long before the first stop was necessary: An unhappy P2 turned out to be a hat that’d flopped over her eyes. P1 wanted his sunglasses, which he mostly wears pushed back on top of his head.

Riding with little ones you just have to accept and enjoy LOTS of stops. First major stop was for a snack and playtime along the Waver river. Here we also had a lovely talk with an older couple heading the other direction on their own weekend tour. Yes, bike touring is very popular in the Netherlands, particularly amongst those of the “empty nest” age group.

Scrutinize this picture carefully; It’s the only one with me in it. A great thing about this area is that we can ride almost endlessly on such paths. We’re only about 10km from Amsterdam but you wouldn’t know it from the scene.

An hour or so later it was lunch (and play) time. We stopped at a great little cafe along a river in the village of Baambrugge. P1 enjoyed until it dawned on him that we wouldn’t be going canoeing like those who glided past: “Caaaaanooooooo!! Caaaaanooooooo riiiiide!!!!” and so he screamed, writhing and kicking while I secured him in the bakfiets again. This is the main reason the bakfiets has harnesses, more so than protection in the unlikely case of a crash. Of course he calmed down again after a few minutes but continues to ask about going canoeing. I’m stalling by telling him he needs to first learn to swim.

Another hour or two further (I don’t keep track of such things nor do we have computers on any of our bikes) we escaped the paved world entirely, riding on smooth dirt paths through a nature preserve. Here P1 points out the obvious to us.

Probably already six hours “on the road” at this point the kids are looking pretty fried. No more hamming it up for the camera.

And a little while later they’re both lights out. P2 can rest her head against the clothes we’ve stuffed behind her head but P1 is doing the nodding thing, waking himself up. We rearrange some baggage, make a little nest with the sleeping bag and plop him in there. We’re less than 10km from Lage Vuursche, entirely on these perfect dirt paths so the danger factor is exceedingly low.

The mostly elderly guests at our rather posh hotel didn’t seem to know what to make of this bike riding family with two free-range tikes. I think we scared them away from this patio. Interestingly, even in the Netherlands, even in an area extremely popular amongst cyclists… there was no bike rack at all at the hotel and we seemed to be the only guests who’d arrived by bike. Lacking any more obvious option we just parked the bikes on the patio and nobody complained.

Sunday morning was cooler, foggy and wet but not really raining; perfect cycling weather in my book. Still it was cool enough to better have the kids out of the wind so the canopy went up, and stayed up the whole day. In case you’re wondering the black tape on the canopy window covers a couple little holes caused by the two times the bike was tossed over into the canal by the wind.

The website for Lage Vuusche mentions the Castle Drakensteyn. Not reading the description carefully I promised P1 that we’d visit the castle this morning. But despite Drakensteyn being just a few hundred meters from our hotel there was not a sign to be found anywhere, never mind an entrance for visitors. There’s just a big, imposing fence and lots of high-tech security gear surrounding the grounds. I asked a woman working at the hotel and she replied “Which castle? There are many castles in Holland… Oh sorry, I’m not from around here.” A couple of local women outside were more helpful. They informed me, clearly amused by my question, that Drakensteyn is the summer home of Queen Beatrix. It was further just refurbished and will soon become the permanent residence of (soon to be king and queen) Alexander and Maxima. None of my Dutch colleagues or friends seemed to know this either so I don’t feel like such an idiot. (And according to Frits below, this isn’t even correct.)

Anyhow the promise of a castle visit remained and the ladies told me of another castle, called “Groeneveld” less than 10km through the woods. They were sure you could visit. It was in the opposite direction from home but a promise is a promise and it seemed a worthy destination as well. So off we headed for Kasteel Groeneveld. It was a beautiful ride and only took about half an hour. Upon arriving the kids were of course…

…asleep. With the canopy up they sleep better because the corner of the canopy works perfectly to nestle their heads into. Unless we lived in a desert or tropical climate I couldn’t fathom not having this canopy.

So we did actually go to a castle (thus fulfilling the promise!) but the kids unfortunately slept through it. It’s probably just as well since this castle was also “closed”, with no signs of opening times or anything. At least we could get up close and I got to take a nice photo.

Oh, in case you’re wondering what bike Kyoko was riding here she is, snacking in front of the castle. It’s just my current daily ride: a Fr8 with a random collection of parts I’ve been testing. It’s now a three speed with drum brakes front and rear. A Nu Vinci infinitely variable hub and the latest Shimano roller brakes will be installed soon for their long term test. The bin on the front carrier is cut away because there’s usually a child seat behind the handlebars and bin (fixed to frame) would otherwise interfere with the footrests (that turn with the handlebar). A couple strips of duct tape keep the bags from falling out the back this weekend. Nope, you don’t need a special bike to go touring and I know lots of folks here who’ve done far more ambitious rides on far more basic bikes.

When the kids woke up a while later it was play, snack and coffee time again. Here P1 demonstrates why a rock-solid parking stand (and strong spokes) are important. He climbs up, sits on the rack and insists we ride like this just like he sees the big kids and adults do all the time. No, not yet kid – certainly not on a bike without any foot/skirt guards over the rear wheel.

About halfway home (different route, even more nature reserves) we encountered an odd obstacle for the Netherlands. This gate was locked with a padlock. Usually these are just secured with a latch since (I assumed) they’re to prevent large animals from passing through. A standard size bike can be squeezed through the chicane with a little maneuvering but not a 2.5 meter long 40+ kg bakfiets. Fortunately a very sweet older couple helped us lift the bakfiets over the gate (without the kids inside!). The gate at the other side of this area just had a latch as usual.

The ride through this nature reserve (first image above in this post) was worth the little hassle though. It’s a very beautiful marshland. The rest of the ride home was equally scenic and peaceful: a warm lunch at a village cafe, a good playground to let the kids work off some steam and dinner at a favorite restaurant in Ouderkerk aan de Amstel. Finally we rode home with full tummies as it was getting dark and quite cold. The sleeping bag came out again to cover up the kids who of course fell asleep for the last leg.

It was a great trip and many handy lessons were learned for future editions. But the basic format of touring from home with the kids in the bakfiets and Kyoko on a simple city bike works perfectly. The distance of 50-60km seems about right. Much further would just take too long with all the stops required. Hopefully we can choose a new direction and get out for such a ride each month or so while it’s warm.

Workcycles rider Matt Ransford sent this photo from Hong Kong. He added that there aren’t many bikes to be seen in Hong Kong but those you see look like they’ve been around for a long time and they all have rod operated brakes. Thanks for passing that along Matt!

I seem to recall Hong Kong being David Byrne’s pick for World’s Worst Cycling City.

This delivery bike, with its big basket type front carrier affixed to the frame is just like old English delivery bikes. This, of course, was way back when it was still commonplace for tradespeople and delivery boys in the UK to move their goods about by bicycle. This connection is no great surprise given that Hong Kong was a British colony until recently.

An English Gundle Model U trade bike. Photo by Sprocket316 on Flickr.

This colonial (work)bike connection is actually rather consistent, if limited to the colonizing countries that exported bikes and cycling: England and the Netherlands. Perhaps there are other examples (Italian style bikes in Libya? French “porteur” bikes in Tunisia?) but I’m not familiar with them.

In India all of the city bikes and delivery bikes follow the styles of English bikes from about the 1950′s. There are apparently many classic Dutch bikes in Indonesia that can hardly even be found in the Netherlands anymore. I wrote about beautiful, old Dutch bikes in Indonesia here. In Indonesian rickshaws the driver sits in back and passengers sit up front over the two wheeled axle, just like a traditional Dutch bakfiets.

Indonesian rickshaws by Elrentaplats on Flickr.

Current production Workcycles heavy-duty bakfiets. Photo by me.

How Indian and Chinese rickshaws and cargo tricycles ended up with the passengers or load in the rear is unclear to me, since English carrier tricycles usually also had their loads up front and riders behind.. Perhaps they began by modifying standard bicycles, in which case it’s somewhat easier to add a two wheeled rear end than front end. Alternatively maybe these places already had a tradition of foot powered rickshaws so the obvious progression was to put a bicycle in front. Does anybody have some insights here?

Rickshaw loaded up with lots of some sort of container, I assume empty. Photo by Luren J. on Flickr.

Chinese cargo trike, today as family vehicle. Photo by Tom Resink of Workcycles.

The other day Tom called me from our Veemarkt shop to ask about paying the import duty for a mysterious package. It was a tube marked from “The Bird Machine” and clearly addressed to Workcycles. I also knew nothing about it so I asked Tom to have the TNT hold it until we could figure out what it was. A quick search found the website of, no great surprise… The Bird Machine. And right there on the home page was the above poster (called “Portable”) of a bakfiets with a tree in the bak. OK, we might not know anything about it but it’s clearly intended for us, and it’s most probably not a letter bomb or anthrax from a Bullitt or Metrofiet owner still angry about Josh’s Guest Post or some of the 154 following comments.

Anyhow, with the tube now in our possession we opened it up and found indeed a half dozen beautifully hand printed posters as seen above. One’s going up in my office, another in the Veemarkt shop and I’m not sure where the others will go. It would seem rather wrong to sell what’s basically a gift so probably they’ll get through-gifted, perhaps as lottery prizes in our famous annual Oktoberfietsfeest (which we sadly just didn’t have time for in 2010). So if you want a “Portable” you’ll just have to come to our party and cross your fingers for good luck, or go to The Bird Machine’s website and pay twenty buck for one. In the meantime, thank you very much Bird Machine for your cool posters!

Do you also have something cool and Workcycles related you’d like to see featured on this illustrious blog? Well, then by all means send us some of them for free! Please, though, low-ball the stated value so we don’t go broke paying the import duties on the flood of incoming goods!

And why on earth did Bird Machine send us these posters? My guess is that it’s a recognition of the image that inspired the design, or at least provided the basic template. See my photo below:

Oh what a better world it would be if everybody were so honest and forthright about the things that inspire them. Here though is a classic example of how NOT to do it. Supposed do-gooder company Baisikeli in Copenhagen purchased a number of Workcycles Fr8′s, promising to distribute them in Scandinavia. Several months later, with no explanation or discussion they stopped ordering bikes. A few months further we found that Baisikeli was representing our Fr8 as their own design. To add insult to injury they began producing a (very crudely made) copy of our pride and joy. The unique geometry, structural elements and essential features of their copy are all directly lifted from the Fr8 to the millimeter. About a dozen mostly cosmetic elements were changed to dodge intellectual property protections, and indeed they’ll probably be successful in this regard.

Baisikeli’s copy of the Workcycles Fr8 bike.

A real Workcycles Fr8 in action.

It’s frustrating but also unfortunately just something to be accepted about doing business. Do something well and others will be inspired. That inspiration can be taken in many directions, most of them perfectly ethical. The Bird Machine included a little “apology to bakfiets-en-meer” (and to CETMA Cargo as well) but it was totally unnecessary. For the record I think it’s just great that a silly photo I took prompted him (I think it’s a “him” based on their bio) to create a poster loosely based on it. Similarly I’m frequently inspired by technical and aesthetic elements I see in other products, occasionally but usually not bikes. The monotube frame of the Fr8 probably has its roots in the 1960′s Moulton suspension bikes; I wasn’t thinking of that bike when I drew the first Fr8 plans, but I certainly knew of and admired it. The connection only occurred to me while unpacking the Series 1 Moulton I bought last year. On the other hand the Adaptive Seat Tube geometry (seat tube angle and top tube length follow median biomechanical ideals) is purely my own conception. Without a shadow of a doubt others have considered it, probably sketched it, maybe even made such a bike… but in my 30+ years around the bike industry I’ve never seen or heard of it before.

Workcycles Adaptive Seat Tube automatically follows the biomechanical needs of a wide range of rider sizes.

We’ve come to expect that good ideas and products will be copied, sometimes quite effectively and sometimes laughably. Amongst soulless corporations it seems to be standard practice. But Baisikeli’s entire business model (or perhaps just their marketing?) is centered around ethical practices. The bikes (the Fr8 copy they call “Chimoio” that is) are apparently leased to companies for three years with the pitch that they’ll be sent to Africa afterwards. But how can one trust a firm that claims to be philanthropic with one hand while ripping off their colleagues with the other hand?

Meanwhile Mike Flanigan of A.N.T. in the US took the honest, and perhaps more practical route. He simply licenses the use of the Adaptive Seat Tube in some of his beautifully crafted bikes. Mind you, I’m realistic about the monetary value of such an innovation to other bike companies; If we ask too much others will simply alter it enough to evade its protection, confusing people in the process. So we essentially keep the costs low enough to make it a no-brainer: For a modest sum we can share knowledge and perhaps enjoy some marketing symbiosis, or we can save a few euros and fight about it. The same would have been true for Baisikeli, perhaps even more so given their supposed philanthropic goals… but they never asked.

A.N.T.’s very pretty and handy Basket Bike with Workcycles Adaptive Seat Tube

One last thought: The Bakfiets Cargobike with skinny tree above was apparently inspired by a considerably more robust project we’d done a couple years earlier:

Kids Lodge golf cart kiddy bus train. Photo from Algemene Dagblad.

All is not perfect in the land of bicycles, tulips, cheese and more bicycles. In the middle of hyper bicycle friendly Netherlands sits Houten which was actually planned and built as the ideal bicycling town. Amongst probably many other honors Houten was as recently as 2008 awarded the prize of Best Bicycling City. In Houten auto traffic is directed all the way around the city on a ring road with limited access to the interior city. Bicyclists, on the other hand, enjoy a network of wide bike paths throughout the town.

Meanwhile “Kids Lodge” after school daycare center in Houten has introduced a novel concept: They bought ten old golf carts to ferry the kids from their elementary schools to the daycare. Behind the golf carts they’re towing trailers, also loaded with kids. Their explanation: It takes too long to drive the kids all the way around the city in buses so instead they ride directly through the city on the bike paths with their golf cart trains. Why not use special bikes such as the KDV Workcycles sells to dozens of other daycare centers in the Netherlands? “We’d rather cycle but that’s not possible with so many kids. Too dangerous.” Dangerous? We’ve hundreds of KDV’s in daily service throughout the country and have yet to hear of even a blister or pinched finger. Too many kids? The KDV carries eight kids, about as many as each golf cart plus trailer rig. Maybe “We got a great deal on the decommissioned golf carts. ” and “We’re too lazy to pedal.” are more likely explanations?


Kids being silly in a KDV in Delft, NL. Photo by me.

Now, in all fairness, I suppose the golf cart trains are at least more eco friendly than driving the kids around in buses but c’mon folks… you’re in Houten of all places! Houten is a whopping 4km from edge to edge and Kids Lodge is approximately in the middle of it. You can’t ride a flat loop of a couple kilometers to pick up the kids?

What’s ruffling some feathers though is that they’re driving these golf cart kiddy trains on the bike paths. Not surprisingly the Fietsersbond (Dutch cyclists’ union) isn’t happy with Kids Lodge’s creativity. See this article in the Algemene Dagblad for the story in Dutch. Perhaps you’re thinking that it’s strange that these motorized vehicles much bigger than bikes would even be allowed on the bike paths. But actually Dutch “fietspaden” (bike paths and lanes) are not exclusively for the use of bicyclists. Also allowed are vehicles legally classified as “snorfietsen” (in principle slow, motor-assisted bicycles limited to 25km/hr), as well as several types of small vehicles for disabled and elderly people. At least that was the original intention when the laws were created. It seems that nobody could imagine that anybody but an old lady would wan to ride a moped without a helmet and be able to ride and park it anywhere.

Recently this loophole in the law has been exploited, primarily by the scooter manufacturers who make supposed reduced speed models that are registered as “snorfietsen” and may be ridden without helmets on the bike paths. They’re called “snorscooters” Unlike the snorfietsen the laws are based on these are much bigger and have no (even vestigial) pedals. In fact, aside from a little, blue registration plate they’re indistinguishable from the normal, fast scooters that are driven on the roads. Once in the hands of their new (mostly young) owner the speed limiter is quickly removed and the motor often hot-rodded to increase the maximum speed to several times the legal limit. The police, apparently preoccupied with evicting squatters and harassing various ethnic groups, don’t enforce either the speed limits on the bike paths or the specifications of scooters. As a result snorscooters have exploded in popularity and generic, franchise-looking scooter stores are popping up throughout the city.

Yet another speeding scooter. Image by Flickr user “Aardewerk”.

At least in Amsterdam these “snorscooters” have come to be almost unanimously hated by bicyclists… so much so that it’s drowned out the occasional badmouthing of bohemian/yuppie/self-righteous/name your stereotype bakfiets moms. Not only are scooters noisy and polluting (most still have two-stroke engines), many of their riders behave amazingly badly. Practically every cyclist will complain about the incessant horn tooting and close calls of scooter riders weaving their way through bicycle traffic. Many, including myself, have numerous stories of actually getting cut off, screamed at or bumped off the road by scooter riders. I’ve actually had this happen while riding my baby and toddler to the daycare center.

Women who ride bicycles are cooler anyway. Photo by Flickr user “Mishari Alreshaid”.

Recent research by the Fietsersbond demonstrated that 94% of the snorfietsen on Amsterdam bike paths are exceeding the 25km/hr speed limit. Amazingly the AVERAGE speed of snorfietsen on the bike paths was 37km/hr, 50% higher than the legal speed limit. Snorscooters with their little, blue plates were measured at almost 60km/hr. Now that’s a little strange for a vehicle governed to 25km/hr in a city with no hills. My own seat of the pants feeling is that it doesn’t seem far from what I see daily.

There are so many complaints that a debate is currently raging about what vehicles should be allowed to ride on the bike paths here. The cyclist’s collective perspective is clear: Kill the “snorfiets” category or at least redefine it so that it’s really only for motorized vehicles that can’t go faster than 25km/hr. I heartily agree. I doubt many cyclists have an issue with elderly folks in their electric scootmobiles or the few tiny “Canta” cars that putt-putt and park wherever their owners wish to point them. Scooter riders, though, must put helmets on and go back to the road where they belong!

And if Kids Lodge insists upon transporting kids with their ridiculous golf car trains, please have them at least do so on the roads so that they slow some motorists down instead of making a farce of the bicycle lanes.

The coastal climate keeps it from snowing in Amsterdam as much as you’d figure for a place quite far north and with a reputation for considerable rainfall. Some winters it hardly snows at all while some winters it begins in November and snows regularly until spring. Still it almost never snows more than perhaps ten centimeters and then it usually warms up a couple days later, making a slushy, dirty mess and gradually disappearing.

This winter, however, it’s already snowed more in November and the first half of December than we usually see all year. No matter; we have our bikes to get around and today’s snowfall was just what I needed to remember that. This morning I had a plan to train at the Velodrome with my friend Toon. Yes, I still do that sort of thing and no, there is no conflict between being a cyclist for both transportation and fun/fitness. The Amsterdam Velodrome is great way to stay fit when it’s like this outside. It’s just warm enough to wear shorts and even in a snowstorm there are 30 or 40 riders in a training session paceline.


Here’s a picture I coincidentally found of Toon at the Velodrome. See? Nice and warm and dry and fast; sure beats sitting on a stationary trainer at home.

The only challenge today was that I had my track bike at home, not in the storage at the velodrome. Carrying a bike while riding a bike is no big deal; usually I do it with the bakfiets. The front wheel comes off and I strap the handlebar against the back of the box. The rear wheel stands on the front edge of the box and a pair of straps hold the whole rig upright. Looks a little funny but it works like a charm. You might be thinking “Why doesn’t he just ride with the track bike rolling alongside like most normal folks would do?” Or alternatively “Why doesn’t he just ride that darn track bike like the entire world population of skinny-jeans with U-lock wearing, butt-crack showing hipsters. And there is a reason: At a wooden velodrome it’s not allowed to ride on tires that have ever been ridden outside. They can pick up debris that would damage the track surface.

Anyhow Kyoko needed the bakfiets to bring the kids to the daycare this morning and for reasons to mundane to explain our Fr8 city bike was at the shop. That left me with my Brompton folding bike, which actually sucks in snow much less than you’d expect. It is sketchy handling on the slippery, squishy stuff but it’s also very low to the ground making it really easy to do the one foot “outrigger” or tripod thing. So for lack of a better option I set the saddle a few cm lower than usual, tossed the track bike on my right shoulder and set off through about 10cm of unplowed snow holding the Brompton’s handlebar with my left hand. Comfortable it was not but neither was it dangerous; I just had a few kilometers to ride, almost entirely on separated bike paths. I didn’t fall until I tried to dismount at Toon’s house. Then I discovered that the neighborhood road I’d been cycling on was as slippery as a greased pig and fell immediately on my butt with two bikes on top of me. So much for grace.

I did consider the other transport options this morning:

Car: Well, we don’t have one of our own. I could probably have borrowed a friend’s car but it’s parked about half as far away as I had to ride anyway. In any case auto traffic around the city was a mess. The few snowplows they have here were running way behind the heavy snowfall and cars were stuck everywhere.

Tram: There’s a tram that runs between our two houses, with just another few minutes walk on his end. Problem is that the trams and buses were all getting stuck behind the floundering cars and trucks. One of my Workcycles colleagues spent half the afternoon trying to cross the city by tram and finally ended up walking most of it out of frustration. The trams that are running smoothly are jam packed so I also wouldn’t have made any friends carrying a bike frame and a pair of wheels.

Taxi:That would be convenient aside from sitting in traffic while watching the meter tick away at the alarmingly fast Amsterdam taxi rate. Oh, yes, I’d still have to disassemble and reassemble the bike to fit it in the trunk. Basically we only take taxis in Amsterdam when headed to deliver a baby or return home with that baby. Four times thus.

Walking: The distance was just too far for a reasonable walk. It would have taken well over an hour.

This evening after work I rode the Cargobike (bakfiets) to the daycare to pick the kids up. By then quite a bit more snow had fallen and it was either packed down into ice on the car roads or half packed and half sliced up into zig-zag tracks on the bike paths. The bakfiets is actually quite good in such crappy cycling conditions. Though the front wheel is lightly loaded and slides fairly easily the low center of gravity and long wheelbase make for very forgiving handling. Kyoko and I both prefer it to our city bikes when it’s slippery. When it’s as slippery as it was this evening falling is more an inevitability than a bad scenario. Falling with the children under a tough canopy in the wooden box of the bakfiets is annoying for you but probably just funny for your kids. Falling with kid(s) on child seats on a regular bike will result in at least one snowy, screaming kid.

I did drop the bakfiets once this evening; After successfully navigating the paths, roads and sidewalks (hey, whatever works when it looks like this out) to our home I once again today fell on my butt after dismounting at my destination. Two year old Pascal’s response while on his side under the canopy? “Bakfiets Boom! Bakfiets Boom!”

This is a slightly updated repost: Winter is upon us somewhat early this year and this is highly relevant info for anybody who cycles through the winter, especially if your bike is stored outdoors.

By far the most common problem that the cyclist encounters with winter cycling is the brake or gear cables freezing. This is generally the result of water condensing or dripping into the cable housing and then freezing, effectively bonding the inner cable to the housing. It only takes a tiny bit of water to do this but we fortunately have a solution. Read below for an explanation.
………………………………………………………………………………

We arrived at work yesterday figuring that the sub-zero cold, wind and snow would keep most of the customers away, leaving us with time to work on some projects. The highest priority is reconfiguring our workshop after building a massive, floor-anchored, steel frame to hang our electric bike lifts from. It’s a great improvement but not entirely our own initiative. The lifts, you see, were bolted into the 150 or 200 year old wooden beams of our ceiling… and thus the floor of the neighbors upstairs. Though the lifts are nearly new and operate very quietly they do make some vibration. Standing on the concrete (over sand) floor we never noticed this vibration but it drove the lady upstairs crazy. Actually she’s complained very vocally and angrily about a lot of things, apparently calling and writing every possible authority on a regular basis. Most of her complaints have nothing to do with our activities (there’s another bike workshop next door and several apartments have been renovated), but the vibration was a legitimate issue according to the various city inspectors who visited to investigate.

So the city ordered the building owner (a social housing corporation that manages tens of thousands of properties) to fix the vibration problem. It was decided that the only solution was to totally isolate the lifts from the floor beams, and the only practical way to do that was to build a steel frame all the way to the floor. We’re very fortunate and thankful that they took care of the job and paid for it. But it still requires an investment of several days of our labor to refit the lifts and lights. We took the opportunity to make them fully adjustable on both X and Y axis as well as angle, and now we’re adding more lights. I don’t think a workshop can ever have enough light.

Comments one year later: Apparently the frame has solved the vibration problem since we haven’t heard a peep from our upstairs neighbor. Meanwhile the mechanics are very happy to have been able to adjust the lifts to exactly the location and angle where they can most efficiently and comfortably work.

For those of you who build and repair (heavy) city and transport bikes: Such lifts are absolutely the only way to work. These bikes are much too heavy and unwieldy to manually heft into the workstands used in most bike shops outside the Netherlands. Those are intended for lighter, recreational bikes. The lifts are also highly flexible; You can lift only the front or rear, or perhaps one side of a big three wheeler. When working on something other than bikes you can simply raise the hooks above head height and then you’ve lots of free floor space – often really handy in a shop that builds and repairs wooden boxes.

Anyhow, this is all we were thinking about yesterday morning so I got busy with the scaffold, drills, plugs, screws and wiring to hang the fluorescent boxes on our ancient ceiling. And then the first snowy Cargobike and customer came in:

Customer: “My bike is almost impossible to ride. It’s really slow, and I think the brake lever might be broken.”

Mechanic: “I’m pretty sure your cables are frozen.”

Customer: “But I think there’s also something wrong with the brake.”

Mechanic: “The brakes are probably fine but they’re being locked by the frozen cables.”

Customer: “Oh wait, now it seems to be fine.”

Mechanic: “Sure, your bike is indoors so the cable just thawed, releasing the brake. It’ll freeze again a few moments after going outside. If you can wait 15 minutes I’ll fix it.

While working on this bike another snowy bike came in with the same problem, and so it went the whole day. Alexis and I pulled and flushed the cables of at least 15 bikes yesterday. The problem is that Amsterdam bikes live outdoors, rain or shine. Tiny amounts of water drip and condense into the cable housings. On good quality bikes the cables are stainless steel and the housings are lined with polyethelene or another low friction plastic so the water doesn’t make much difference… until the thermometer goes below the freezing point. Then the cable freezes inside the housing. Usually it creates enough friction that pulling hard on the brake lever will overcome the friction, actuating the brake but the brake’s return spring cannot pull it back… thus locked brakes.

So here’s what you do to fix (or prevent) a frozen cable:

1. Let it thaw.

2. Remove the crimped end cap and make sure the end of the cable isn’t unwound or damaged. If it is either rewind, shorten or replace the cable as necessary.

3. Remove any kinks in the cable so that it can easily be pulled and reinserted through the housing.

4. Pull the cable out.

5. Seal the nozzle of a compressed air pistol against the upper end of the housing and blow everything possible out of the housing.

6. Seal the dispenser straw of a suitable light oil against the brake lever end of the housing. It might be necessary to pull the housing cap to do this. We use a generic multipurpose oil with teflon but just about any light oil should work fine. Don’t use “dry” type lubricant because it won’t displace the water for long.

7. Spray the oil into the housing until it begins coming out the other end.

5.5 Oops. Put a rag at the brake end of the housing to catch the oil coming out at great velocity.

8-9-10. Thread the cable back into the housing, readjust the brake and crimp a new end on.

This fix is valid for any brake (or gear) cable but I’m basically assuming the bike has roller brakes here. Drum brakes can pull their own freezing tricks and rim brakes simply aren’t suitable for storing outdoors and riding in snow country. Now the techies can ask me why I didn’t write anything about disk brakes.

This experience also demonstrates something about Amsterdam cyclists: Not only do they store their bikes on the street, they also ride in ALL conditions including snow. Of course they do; How else would they get to work, take the kids to school, do the groceries and visit their friends?

Speaking of snow, here’s a sneak peek at our surprising new development: The WorkCycles Child Transport Sled. We’re strong proponents of the K.I.S.S. philosophy (Keep It Simple Stupid) and our Sled meets the K.I.S.S. criteria beautifully: It needs no wheels, tires, bearings, towing linkage or even harnesses. Just shove the kid in and go! It’s versatile too: You can pull it while walking, tie the patented “S.T.R.A.P.” (Singular Tied/Releasable Attaching Piece-of-plastic-webbing) to your bike or even have your dog(s) or oxen pull it from a yoke. When there’s no snow it can be attached to the front carrier of your bike as a convenient transport bin.

In testing the WorkCycles sled we also learned that Amsterdammers not only ride their bikes all year round in all conditions, they can also make really big snowballs.

The Sinterklaas “Intocht” (arrival parade) needs no introduction for the locals who began chasing Sinterklaas and his many “Zwarte Pieten”along the Amstel river and through the streets of Amsterdam as toddlers. It goes approximately as follows:

Sinterklaas is the Dutch equivalent of Santa Claus. While they’re both apparently Saint Nicholas only Sint’s white beard bears any resemblance to the fat “Ho Ho Ho!” fellow in the red snowsuit who flies his reindeer driven sleigh from the North Pole. Sinterklaas is tall, skinny, serious and righteous. He comes not from the north, but by ship from Spain. Sint himself is not actually Spanish; he’s Turkish. I suppose it’s all really a lot less weird than flying a reindeer powered sleigh from the North Pole.


Sinterklaas on his white horse


Santa Claus in his reindeer-powered flying sleigh

While Santa Claus has some elves to help him out Sint has an entire army of Zwarte Pieten (Black Petes). The Pieten do the heavy lifting as well as the “naughty or nice” judging of the children. Naughty children get their gifts replaced by coal and truly heinous kids are stuffed into a sack and brought back to Spain. I’ve never been clear on just what despicable crimes a child must commit to be sentenced to a holiday in Spain but I assume it must be worse than struggling to avoid having their teeth brushed or head-butting their baby sister.

Pascal didn’t get stuffed into a sack and brought to Spain but he did get a bunch of pepernoten dumped on his head by a mischievous Piet.

Depending on who’s telling the story in what era Zwarte Piet has variously been depicted as a shackled devil, a chimney sweep, a Moor colorfully dressed as a renaissance era page, or a Moor colorfully dressed as a renaissance era page whose face is blacked from descending many chimneys. The first explanation has been abandoned since it doesn’t sound nice to modern children and the rest each have their modern adherents. In the modern tradition Zwarte Piet, or rather an entire battalion of Zwarte Pieten, have been played by men and women in blackface which provokes a surprisingly little bit of controversy for it’s being potentially racist (depending on which version of the story you want to believe).

Only confusing an already convoluted story: A Moorish Piet probably wouldn’t even be black since what the Europeans referred to as “Moors” were mostly Berbers and Arabs from northern Africa. As a resident of a city with a considerable population with roots in this region I can assure you that they’re usually not particularly dark skinned. But heck, Shakespeare also portrayed Othello as black in so who am I to argue? Not that any of this is terribly relevant aside from showing how confused traditions can get.

Racist or controversial or not this is an enormously popular celebration, as witnessed by some half million happy fans lining the streets of Amsterdam in the rain (remember: We’re not made of sugar.) cheering the arrival of Sinterklaas and 670 Zwarte Pieten. Interestingly I spotted what seemed to be a handful of black Zwarte Pieten, also in blackface of course.

Each year Sint and the Pieten load up a ship full of “pepernoten” (little cookies like ginger snaps) and stuff in Spain and sail for Holland. Their exact route is unclear but they do end up sailing up the Amstel, which is odd considering that this is inland from Amsterdam. Perhaps they’ve chosen another inland route to pick up carrots for the horses or something.

Zwarte Piet with a nice big carrot for the horses.

Once they reach the Amstel thousands of families with kids on bikes and in bakfietsen ride along the banks cheering Sint and the Pieten onward. The ship lands by the Scheepvaartsmuseum (the shipping museum) in the center of Amsterdam and Zwarte Pieten and Sint parade through the streets in all manner of Dutch vehicles and conveyances.

Inline skate Piet with balance bike Pascal.

Sinterklaas rides his white horse while the various Pieten show their preferences for Workcycles transport bikes, but also inline skates, unicycles, fire engines and in an unfortunate development this year: scooters. Yuck, we don’t like scooters, but we’ll discuss the problem of scooters on the bike paths another day.

Degenerate Pieten on scooters

Meanwhile we’re doing our best to keep our own kids from going down the gateway drug, slippery slope of scooterdom, beginning of course by cycling daily with them from about a month old.

A couple young bakfiets passengers

It could eventually backfire but thus far it seems to be working; Pascal is absolutely crazy about his teeny bike, insisting on riding it everywhere we go. He calls it his “Beanits bicycle” (BMX bicycle). Not only are we getting a kick out of watching him ride we’re also not complaining about no longer having to carry him around, nor about him coming home exhausted from a day of “cycling” all over the city, ready for a nap.

At such a young age (two) kids learn such motor skills amazingly quickly. After just a couple weeks on the bike Pascal figured out he could push off and ride with his feet in the air. Two weeks later he’s maneuvering along busy sidewalks, up and down Amsterdam’s cobblestoned bridges and “jumping” off steps and curbs. Obviously we don’t let him get too far since a two year old’s judgement must be pretty close to nil but he’s been very well behaved so far… which partially explains why he didn’t get shipped to Spain last week.

His first Halloween costume? The great Eddy Merckx of course!