Bakfiets en Meer » kruisframe

Happy Cranksgiving

henry — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 10:03:45 +0000

Thanks to Paul Steely White of the almighty Transportation Alternatives in New York, and Freeman Transport makers of custom bikes and some tasty and tasteful accessories such as this great T-shirt:

Speaking of T-shirts… WorkCycles has them too, along with a fresh supply of hoodies and also handy shop/kitchen aprons. The silkscreen detail of the WorkCycles kruisframe bike is quite amazing on these. As always, supplies are limited to act fast to get one!

- Hoodie: €35
- T-shirt: €15
- Apron: €20

Here’s artist Kyoko modeling the hoodie sweatshirt with the family Brompton. The design is essentially the same on the T-shirts and aprons. Both hoodies and T-shirts are heavyweights of great quality. The aprons are quite long and have pockets.

Contact WorkCycles for more info.

WorkCycles Uitverkoop (Sale)!

henry — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 19:48:10 +0000

[Show as slideshow]

Nu is je kans om een super mooie en degelijke WorkCycles stadsfiets met 20% korting te kopen. Wij hebben nog wat fietsen met iets oudere specificaties (2007-2008 modellen) en het is gewoon tijd om ze uit onze winkels te krijgen. Er is, trouwens, helemaal niks mis mee meet deze fietsen. Ze verschillen alleen maar in enkele details van onze nieuwste uitvoeringen: bijvoorbeeld mischien een andere velgtype, een gewone dynamo of 7 versnellingen IPV 8 versnellingen.

We hebben een redelijk breed assortiment van modellen, frame types en maten beschikbaar o.a. omafiets, opafiets, kruisframe heren (pastoorfiets) en dames, transport dubbele stang en abdij (een andere type kruisframe). De meeste fietsen zijn martzwart maar eer zijn ook enkele in hoogglans.

De uitverkoop loopt totdat de oude fietsen op zijn of 31 december 2008. Nu staan deze fietsen in beide winkels maar we gaan ze allemaal naar de Lijnbaansgracht winkel verhuizen.

Bel of gewoon langskomen om een fiets uit te zoeken:

WorkCycles Lijnbaansgracht: (0)20 522 6000

WorkCycles Veemarkt: (0)20 689 7879

Stadsfietsen op WorkCycles’ website

And now in English for our foreign friends…
Now is your chance to purchase a beautiful, tough WorkCycles city/utility bike with a 20% discount. We still have some bikes with older specifications (2007-2008 models) and its simply time to get them out of our stores. There is, incidentally, absolutely nothing wrong with these bikes. They differ only in certain details from our latest bicycles: for example maybe another rim type, a standard dynamo or 7 speeds instead of 8 speeds.

We have a reasonably broad range of models, frame types and sizes available including the oma, opa, kruisframe men’s (pastoor or cross-frame) and ladies, transport double-tube and abbey (another type of cross-frame). Most of these bikes are matte black though a few are gloss black.

The sale runs until the old model bikes are gone or 31 December 2008. The bikes are currently divided between the two shops but we’ll move them all to the Lijnbaansgracht shop.

Call or just stop by to find a bike for you:

WorkCycles Lijnbaansgracht: +31 (0)20 522 6000

WorkCycles Veemarkt: +31 (0)20 689 7879

City bikes on WorkCycles’ website

Simplex Bicycles in Indonesia

henry — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 00:12:13 +0000

I can’t read Indonesian so I can only hypothesize about this site about pre-WWII Simplex bicycles in Indonesia. Simplex was an Amsterdam bike maker that made some of the best bikes of this period. That’s significant considering that the Dutch bikes of this era were probably the best city bicycles ever built. Seventy years later here are still quite a few of them on the streets of Amsterdam… and apparently also in Indonesia.

So why would there be so many old Dutch bikes in Indonesia? Simple: Because it was a Dutch colony until the 1945 to 1950 Indonesian war of independence. It seems pretty unlikely that all those pre-war Dutch bikes were imported after the war so I’ll assume they were initially brought there by the pre-war Dutch colonists. Regardless of the history its still strange for an Amsterdammer to see all those lovely old Simplex bikes with palm trees in the background and the details described in a text I can’t understand. Well at least I can understand many of the technical terms because they seem to have adopted the Dutch words for many bicycle parts. A couple examples:

priesterrijwiel = priest’s bicycle or cross-frame, since the lower top tube allowed riding in a frock.

kruiseframe = same as above

rem tromol cycloïde = Simplex’s drum brake hub with special “Cycloïde” bearings

lampu = headlamp

Historical trivia:

The cross-frame (“kruisframe” in Dutch) WorkCycles uses is based on a Simplex design you can see on the Indonesian site.

Simplex began in 1887 in Utrecht but moved to Amsterdam in 1896. Their factory was situated on the Overtoom, in the Oud West neighborhood where I live. Our home was built the same year. This was then a new neighborhood in Amsterdam, just past the Jordaan. The Jordaan is now a highly desirable neighborhood of charming old houses, canals and stylish boutiques. Back then it was a mixture of industry, shipping and working class housing.

In 1952 Simplex merged with Locomotief, another of my favorite old bicycle makes. Locomotief also made lovely bikes such as their ladies cross-frame which the WorkCycles Kruisframe step-through is based on.

The 60′s were tough years for the Dutch bicycle industry. After a number of fusions and changes Simplex and Locomotief were taken over by Gazelle who from then on just used the names for cheaper “B-quality” bikes.

WorkCycles Hoodies!

henry — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 02:15:21 +0000

Whether you’re a proud WorkCycles rider, an aspiring Workcycles owner saving her pennies, or just think its cool to wear a hoodie sweatshirt with a custom WorkCycles Kruisframe transport bike stylishly displayed on the front we’ve got just the thing for you. Its the official WorkCycles hoodie, as displayed here by celebrity artist Kyoko Inatome.

The gritty details:

The sweatshirts are great quality; nice and thick. 80% cotton/20% polyester so they don’t stretch and shrink all over the place.

The bike is very subtlely silkscreened in warm gray onto the black background, giving it an almost eerie 3D effect. The silkscreen detail is amazing – even the tiny logo on the bike’s front fork is clearly readable (for somebody with their head practically on your chest). The back has a discrete WorkCycles text. The wearer is assured to get lots of compliments.

They come in black, black or black so they save you time while dressing, never seem to get dirty and match any of our bicycles. Actually they match almost all bikes… even hipster fixies. Unfortunately they don’t match hybrids or triathlon bikes.

NEWSFLASH! WorkCycles kruisframe sweatshirts are now also available in dark blue and olive green. So if you’re either too hip or not hip enough for black you can also go for one of the “new blacks”.

Sizes: S -> XXL. The sizing is a little strange: a medium is a perfectly normal medium, but all sizes larger and smaller seem to change less than you’d rightfully expect. A large is thus a sort of M/L while a small is an S/M. Thus if you’re solid L we recommend the XL… etc.

They cost €30 each, not including delivery. We’re happy to send them anywhere. Just call or email WorkCycles to purchase:
info@workcycles.com
+31 (0)20 689 7879

Nieuwe transportfiets met kruisframe

henry — Sun, 20 May 2007 11:03:33 +0000

Het lijkt alsof ik wat geïnspireerd werd door die mooie Germaan transportfiets met kruisframe in een andere post – zie hem hier. Maar nee, eigenlijk bouwt WorkCycles regelmatig degelijke semi-transportfietsen op basis van een stevige kruisframe. Deze frames worden in België met de hand gesoldeerd met lugs en dikke buizen.

De fiets in deze afbeeldingen is een “special” voor een Amsterdamse kunstgallerie en schoenwinkel (een bizondere combinatie maar echt waar) die “Le KunstWinkel” heet. Als ze maar een website had zou ik een link moeten plaatsen.

Tenzij dat deze fiets leuk is en moderne onderdelen heeft is zeker geen nep-ding. Alles behalve mischien de open-kettingscherm (gewoon om het te proberen) is echt bedoeld voor het zware werk.