A year or so ago Oscar Mulder of My Dutch Bike in San Francisco commented that he’d periodically heard from his family that his great grandfather had a bicycle shop in Amsterdam and was the “inventor of the bakfiets”. Perhaps this was never a particularly notable factoid until Oscar and his wife Soraya began a shop dedicated to supplying bakfietsen and other Dutch bikes last year.

Needless to say I’m always skeptical about anybody who’s supposedly the inventor of anything as straightforward as a bicycle with a box. But also being fascinated by the history of such things, and bikes in particular, I was also very curious to learn more. Was he known for developing a particular style of transport bike, or a special bakfiets for a particular purpose much as Maarten van Andel is much more recently the “spiritual godfather” of the 2-wheeled family bakfiets? Such stories often get twisted, misunderstood and mistranslated as they get passed through generations and languages so such an explanation seemed fairly plausible.

I forgot about the incident until Oscar sent me a note with a number of scans of photos he’d received from his mother (who still lives in Holland). None of the photos are dated but a little archive research as well as some technical features of the bikes seems to puts most of them in the 1910-1915 range. Making the task a little easier is the fact that the shop was in the Jordaan district just a few blocks from both my home and WorkCycles Lijnbaansgracht location where my office is. Much of the Jordaan looks much like it did 100 or actually even 250 years ago… aside from the cars (yes, even here there are some, though mostly just parked), some rather tasteless new buildings from the 1960’s and 70’s, and a few of the bigger canals that were filled in.

Concerning the photos and archive info we first see that great grandpa did indeed have a bike shop at Rozengracht 49 (and maybe also 40 though that’s disputable). It was called “Bergreijer” which is a play on words. Bergmeijer was the family name but “rij” is the first person form of “ride” or “drive” and “berg” also happens to mean “mountain” so in a punny sort of way it means “mountain rider”. The Dutch, incidentally, have a thing for funny names. Even when other countries were busy with dead-serious names and advertising the Dutch were naming companies with puns and other humorous approaches. It’s a history that goes back at least to when Napoleon became ruler of the region in 1810 and forced everybody to take on a family name which wasn’t at all universal at that time. Either out of spite for their ruler or figuring the names would disappear along with the ruler many people cose silly names. I actually know people who’s names directly translate to “Fountain pen”, “Short knees” and “Born naked”… seven generations later. Napoleon’s bones must be laughing in his grave.

This week Herbert Kuner of the excellent rijwiel.net website sent a couple emails to Oscar chock full of additional information. Kuner found a Bergreijer advertisement in a 1919 trade magazine listing also a separate factory at Laurierstraat 134-142. This is around the corner from the Rozengracht 49 and presumably the factory location was just for production since I don’t think the Laurierstraat was ever a street for retail shops. There are still a number of light industrial outfits there, for example our offset printing firm a few doors down from where Bergreijer stood. This location is also not listed in the 1915 phone book, which inexplicably we both found digitized on the Internet.

Another picture, though shows yet another bike shop called J. Cruiming right next to Bergreijer in the Rozengracht. Cruiming apparently also called themselves a bicycle factory and in fact a sign notes that their shop was not open to the public. This combination of retailer and fabricator is not so strange; many bike shops in this period made their own frames and other parts. I was able to find the same buildings in Google Street View. The two buildings in the right of the photo are essentially unchanged but the facades of numbers 49 (Bergreijer) and 51 (Cruimer) have unfortunately been changed.

The photos include a number of bikes, most of them fairly standard models for this period. Inside the shop are two rows of bikes, many of them with rod-operated rim brakes and none with lights fitted. A carbide lamp fitted to the bracket at the top of the headset was the standard nighttime solution then though none are visible here. Barely visible in the lower right corner seems to be a child sized bike.

There’s a gentleman in uniform, I’m guessing police though I suppose it could also be military or some other official function in which case he was very happy that the Netherlands remained neutral in WWI. His bike has a front fender that ends behind the fork crown as was the practice then. It’s a fixed gear since I see no sign of either hand brakes or even a reaction arm for a coaster brake. The chainring is a work of art and we can see it since none of the bikes in the photos have any kind of chain covers. Apparently the enclosed chain case became a defining feature of the Dutch bike later on.

Here’s a rather dashing fellow looking ready for the start of the next Portland Tweed Ride or other costume themed bicycle gathering. I’m guessing he’s physically challenged since his stylish tricycle is hand driven through a very simple pair of levers that also serve to steer the machine. It looks like it would ride fine in a fairly straight line but sharp turns could be difficult, especially for somebody who’s partially paralyzed… or maybe that’s not really the purpose of this trike. There aren’t many streets this wide bordering large rivers in Amsterdam so I’ll venture a guess that this photo was taken on the west side of the Amstel river.

***Correction: A sharp-eyed, bike loving friend of Herb Kuner in Amsterdam points out that the above and below pictures look like they were taken along the Nassaukade. Silly me! That’s right around the corner from my home and I didn’t recognize it. Of course it is about 100 years later, but still… This morning I looked more carefully while riding Pascal to his daycare center and sure enough I found a spot where the trees (aside from being much thicker) and buildings match the above photo.

This is our first bakfiets of the bunch, and it’s a remarkably ornate one. Check out that laquered box, the beautiful ironwork that seems to support both the loooong leaf springs and the handlebar, and the carbide lamps missing from the bikes in the shop above. The bike almost looks like more of a showpiece than a utility vehicle but who knows what its function was: selling cakes or household goods perhaps? Whatever it carried wasn’t heavy given the light-duty leaf springs. Though this is a very old bakfiets I’ve seen many pictures of similarly old bakfietsen from England and the Netherlands. Nope, this is not the bakfiets Mr. Bergmeijer invented.

Now, THESE last two are the bikes in question. They’re vaguely “Long John” type bikes from at least 20 years before anybody called them “Long John”. Actually they differ from Long Johns and all of the more modern variations in that the frame also runs above the load carrier along with the steering mechanism. On Long Johns, van Andel’s Bakfiets.nl Cargobike and the legions of bicycles these two have inspired the front wheel is steered via a rod linkage below the load carrier. The two photos show two different versions o the Bergreijer transportfiets. The photo with the delivery boy is probably an earlier model or prototype with no steering linkage; the handlebar has simply been extended back to reach the rider. The other bike with “G. Goes, Hemonystraat 18″ (an address in Amsterdam) has a longer box and is steered via a rather complex system of bevel gears on a shaft. They seem to have gone from the simplest system possible to the most complicated… or maybe the other way around. The bike is clearly marked “Bergreijer” and “Model D” along the top tube.

I have seen a few other bikes that looked like these. One of them I almost purchased a few years ago but the owner decided not to sell it after all. This bike with its much more robust construction and dynamo lighting is much more recent, possibly from the 1930’s. The owner told me it was a Maxwell, a very well regarded Amsterdam builder of transport bikes, quite a few of whose big trikes still can still be on the streets. Another very similar (but still different) bike is displayed at a bike repair shop near Amsterdam Central Station.

Looking more recent than the Bergreijer bikes but older than these two are these slick-looking Veeno’s shown on rijwiel.net. It is worth noting that ALL of the bikes described here are older than the 1938 I’ve seen proposed as the beginning of the Danish Long Johns, though I imagine somebody, somewhere in Denmark was also experimenting with long wheelbase transport bikes before then. This repeating of history and reinventing of wheels I discussed earlier in “What’s really new in the bicycle world?”.

So did the Bergmeijer brothers invent this type of bike? It’s possible and their “Long Johns” are the oldest I’ve seen yet. However I’m only a dabbler in antique bikes and this was a time of incredible innovation and experimentation with bicycles (and cars, motorcycles and trucks too). There were several thousand little bike companies throughout the country so quite likely somebody else was also working on such bikes as well. Some day somebody else’s grandmother might pull a few worn photos of even older examples from a shoe box. For now though, I think it’s safe to say we’re at least approaching the beginnings of the Long John type bike.

Does anybody have any more good clues to help fill in the puzzle?

Speaking of houses on bikes I’d forgotten about this fantastic camper bike from Kevin Cyr:

UPDATE: Jason Moore in the first comment below reminds me of another bicycle camper/motorhome, this one traveled with and lived in full-time by Brian Campbell. His bike, which has gone through several iterations is ingenious. Brian’s situation though isn’t one to be envied; I’m under the impression he doesn’t live in his bicycle entirely by choice. You can read about Brian on Bike Portland, and also the sites of many others who’ve met Brian during his travels. Photos by Jonathan Maus of Bike Portland.

But then I begin to google camper bikes further and find that a whole new world has opened to me: bicyclists not content to merely travel by bicycle but who also insist upon sleeping in or on their bicycle. Take these Midget Bicycle Campers from Australia for example:

And then there’s this one by Paul Welkins, as seen on the Design Boom site:

Check out Welkin’s site for an amazing array of self-built, efficient vehicles and other random stuff.

Even the sober “doe maar normaal” Dutch are at it. Check out “Met een bakfiets op vakantie“.

And a family from Zeeland (as in the original Zeeland that New Zealand is the new version of in the same way that New York is the new version of Amsterdam… or something like that) who used to ride their old bakfiets as a camper, kids riding alongside on their own little bikes.

A few years ago there was an Italian firm called “Tasso Italia” that offered (though probably didn’t ever sell) a copy of the Main Street Pedicabs trike with a pop-out camper tent on the bed but they seem to have disappeared into the ether.

Of course that’s all good fun but we shouldn’t ignore the countless rickshaw drivers in Indonesia, India and elsewhere who sleep in their bikes out of necessity and not for kicks. It’s about as easy to forget as the fact that a great number (a majority even?) of transportation cyclists in the US are neither “cycle chic” nor “cycling enthusiast”. In fact they’re people who cannot drive; they’ve either lost their licenses or are too poor to own a car, and their accident statistics are so appalling that they skew US bicycling safety stats markedly toward the danger direction.

North American cyclists are busy envying the Dutch love and use of bicycles for transportation but is everything so rosy in the Netherlands? Jonathan Maus of Bike Portland recently posted an piece about Loek Hesemans, the Senior Policy Officer at the Netherlands’ Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport. Hesemans recently visited Portland, OR and Vancouver, BC with the goals of learning how policymakers there promote and plan for bike use, and examining the role bike culture plays (or doesn’t) in increasing ridership.

For our Dutch and Danish readers “bike culture” seems to be when people who ride bikes identify as “cyclists” (or even better specific types of cyclists), hanging out together, writing about bikes/cycling, custom-building and taking pictures of their rides, and generally being “into” bikes and cycling. Ironically “bike culture” is a phenomenon of a place where few people cycle. In a place like the Netherlands where most people cycle, the machine and activity are generally regarded with the same degree of interest and reverence as washing machines. Either Cycleliciousness or Copenhagen Cycle Chic had a nice piece on cycling culture from a Danish perspective. I just can’t find it right now.

Here is a good summary of Heseman’s research in Pricetags.

Hesemans observations largely seem very insightful and some of the photos and examples are priceless. However there is one key “statistic” mentioned that doesn’t seem correct. According to Maus, “Hesemans estimates that country-wide, the number of people that ride is less than 30% — and he says, due to several factors, those numbers are trending downward.” There are some elements of truth here, but I don’t buy it entirely.

I’m not going to provide thorough statistics to back up my statements but what I’ve read and seen paints a different picture:

So I’d guesstimate that amongst Dutch old and fit enough to ride bicycles, perhaps 50-70% do so with some regularity.

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.

Before I go further here, let me clarify my position:
I have ridden and looked very carefully at the TrioBike. In fact, considering the miniscule number that have been sold I am probably one of the few people who have actually seen, touched and ridden it. My fellow colleagues at Workcycles have also ridden the TrioBike and share my opinion.

At Workcycles we sell workbikes and load-carrying bikes of all kinds, the largest number of which are used for child transport. That means that we talk with and share the experiences of thousands of families who transport their kids and groceries by bicycle. We don’t build the bikes ourselves but we do assemble them, modify them for kids of various age combinations, repair them and rent them. Our most popular and family-pleasing child-transport bicycle is the Bakfiets.nl Cargobike. We’ve sold around 1000 Cargobikes already.

Workcycles does not make any bicycle that competes with the TrioBike, and we do business with Amazing Wheels, the Dutch TrioBike importer. We could sell TrioBikes if we chose to, though probably not after anybody associated with the company reads the following assessment. Realistically though, my one personal blog post will only be lost in the flood of positive reviews and awards.

More importantly, I’m writing this post not to denigrate the well-intentioned but poorly executed TrioBike, but to lambast all the lame-asses (lame-assessers?) who evaluate products they’ve never seen, never mind tried or owned. Most of these “internet reviewers” and design award panelists clearly have no involvement in and know nothing about the field they judge. I happen to know this and other egregious examples in the bicycle world, but I assume its also the case in other fields as well. It frustrates me so I’m writing about it.

The Trio Bike case is one of absurd optimism and lack of realistic criticism, but absurd and inaccurate internet reviewing often works in the negative sense as well. I’d be a rich man if I had 5 cents for every know-it-all who comments about the dangers of each and every format of child carrying bicycle on the market. “If the kids sit in front they’ll get run over”. “If the kids sit in back they’ll get run over”. If the kids sit in the middle they’ll get run over”. “If the kids don’t wear helmets the parents are reckless murderers”. “If the parents don’t wear helmets the kids will be left to starve as orphans”. Front child seats behind the handlebar have been referred to as “suicide seats”. “Wooden boxes will make deadly splinters”. “Kids will freeze their tongues on aluminium boxes”. “Two-wheelers are unstable”. “Three-wheelers are unstable”. Its all BS, folks. The fact is that these comments are almost entirely just opinions with no basis in facts or experience. The reality simply suggests that cycling is quite safe, especially when compared to the statistically evidenced mess of carnage known as automobile driving.

On to the TrioBike itself…
For those still reading yet not familiar with the TrioBike its a simple concept: A very attractive, modern-designer bakfiets made so that the front child carrier section can be decoupled from the bicycle frame behind. The bike can be ridden without the child carrier, and the child carrier can be pushed without the bicycle. Thus its referred to as “Trio” for the three modes. Its a worthy idea though multifunctional products always come with compromises. Unfortunately bicycles have little room for design error so that seemingly small compromises can have enormous influence on the function of the bicycle.

I do not know exactly who is behind the TrioBike but I can add much more information than is to be found in the many internet reviews:

- TrioBike is an actual firm in Copenhagen, Denmark

- The TrioBike was designed by ID firm designAgenda in Hellerup, Denmark. Just to note: All bicycles developed by ID firms seem to be miserable failures. I can name numerous other examples so please write if you know an example to the contrary.

- My industry sources tell me that the TrioBike is made (extremely cheaply) by a huge firm in China, shipped to Poland where they’re assembled and then forwarded to regional distributors.

The Trio Bike does look very stylish and was introduced with lots of fanfare and publicity. Since then its received many a glowing internet review by those who’ve never ridden it, and probably never even carried children on a bicycle for that matter. That’s partially because it is effectively “vapor-ware”: There are a few out there, but very few and most are still sitting in the shop of the poor sucker who listened to the distributor salesman without trying it for himself. Note how difficult it is to find a picture of a Trio-Bike actually in use, as opposed to in an advertising photo supplied by the manufacturer.

TrioBikes are mostly to be found in webshops that specialize in design furniture and the likes. The performance demands of a bicycle, especially one that will carry your precious little ones, are simply higher than most furniture.

Here’s my best attempt at an unbiased review of the TrioBike, approximately in reverse order of importance:

- The construction quality and finish work is excellent – chinese bent, machined and welded aluminium, smoothly formed plastic box in a sandwich construction and so forth. Its pretty, looks high quality and in this regard it is light years ahead of many of its competitors.

- The TrioBike is quite sporty and made with parts suitable for recreational single bikes… but this trike is big and would generally have to be stored outdoors. The aluminium frame and special plastic box will probably be fine but the rest is certainly not up to that task – all those chromed nuts and bolts, steel brake disks, exposed chain, and connection system will rust, making your lovely modern design bike very unattractive.

- The trike to stroller conversion mechanism is too technical for most people to use. At the extreme risk of sounding sexist, few women will be able or willing to deal with it. (family bikes are mostly ridden by women, as evidenced by the images in their site and literature) Add a little wear and tear and corrosion and it’ll be convertible only when absolutely necessary. In the real world the TrioBike will simply become a three-wheeled child carrier bicycle (bakfiets).

- It has a men’s style frame, available in a single frame size. This is simply inconvenient for a city vehicle and few women are willing to ride a bike with a men’s style frame. Perhaps its different in other countries. Regardless of the stand-over height, this bike has the bent-over sitting position of a racing bike – unsuitable for city riding. The stem is an “Ahead” type, thus not adjustable in height. The saddle so narrow and hard that it’d be suitable on a racing bike.

- There are no mudguards, no chain covering, jacket guards, lock, or lights. OK, I exaggerate: there are some little LED lights in the handlebar and recent examples seem to have short, aftermarket plastic fenders.

- There are no steps or other means for kids to climb into the box. Its just a slippery looking, round plastic form. Are mom and dad supposed to heft the kids into the bin or is this a sort of athletic challenge for the kids? How will the sleek plastic box look with the resulting foot streaks and prints?

- The front wheels of the TrioBike are set far back in the front child carrier section and the side walls are high, sloping toward the front. This means that kids will climb in from the front. However the bike behind is very light, meaning that the trike tips under the weight of the kids, lifting the rear wheel into the air and consequently letting it swing around the steering axis and then fall with considerable momentum to wherever gravity takes it. That could be… onto mom’s white trousers (remember: no chain cover), into traffic, off the edge of the canal, or into a parked Mercedes. Just to note the Nihola and Winther Kangaroo also have this tipping problem, though at least the Nihola remains straight with its tail in the air since it is linkage steered.

- Now here’s the best part: The TrioBike rides terribly. The steering is so stiff that it can barely be maneuvered while not moving. At even moderate speeds the steering is so awkward and twitchy that its a truly scary experience. There’s always the feeling that a bump or quick maneuver could toss the whole rig over. Even if one could master it it would never be even remotely pleasant. Riding a bicycle should be a wonderful, natural feeling experience, not one to “get used to”.

How one could design such a thing and bring it to market is absolutely baffling to me. The basic concept is excellent but then the product development process went completely wrong. Many basic design factors reduce the suitability of the Trio-Bike to hardly anybody. It was supposed to be a convenient mommy bike but who is it for now? Even if it were just a lovely and cool bike for just a niche market that’d be OK too. After all that’s the case with most of the highly specialized bikes the recreational bicycle industry offers. But the killer is that the TrioBike is just unpleasant riding and inconvenient to use in practically every way.

So why does it nonetheless garner so much praise? Do people simply WANT it to be true? Do some regard all new things as good things? Are people so gullible as to believe the far-fetched claims of manufacturers without a critical eye? Why not a healthy mix of optimism and criticism?

At the same time the TrioBike doesn’t sell, and great working child carrying bikes such as the Bakfiets Cargobike sell very well. Apparently and thankfully there’s a considerable gulf between the internet know-it-all reviewers and the actual buyer/user. It still annoys me though. Flame away…

This probably not really news for those in Portland, Oregon since it seems the entire city has been anticipating the opening of Portland, Oregon USA’s first retailer totally dedicated to bicycles for daily, practical use. That means at least bomb-proof WorkCycles-Azor Dutch Bikes, the ridiculously popular and charismatic Bakfiets Cargobike and the unmatchable Brompton folding bikes. Various other makes from Holland and the USA will fill in the line-up of bikes for commuting, carrying children, doing groceries and all the other things we in Amsterdam regard as nothing special to do on a bicycle.

But such bicycles and attitudes are still very special in the US, and the folks at Clever are amongst those leading the charge to change that situation as fast as possible. My experience as supplier from the other side of the pond is that Clever has what it takes to do more than their share to popularize practical cycling in Oregon. Unlike others who’ve produced a handful of load-carrying bikes, Todd, Dean and their colleagues are professional, technically proficient and thorough.

So pay them a visit and find out just how satisfying and fun it can be to pedal around with ten times as much weight as any glossy cycling magazine will tell you is acceptable.

Clever Cycles

Kids and cargo: This bike can haul it all

Thursday, May 17 2007
By Anne Lauf

When Marko Muellner rides his new bike to the grocery store or his daughter’s school, crowds gather around to ask questions: ” Is it hard to maneuver?” “Is it heavy?” “Do the kids like it?” And invariably, “Where can I get one?”

Muellner is one of the first cyclists in Portland to own a Bakfiets (Dutch for “box bike”), a Dutch cargo bike made for hauling kids and groceries.

Unlike the delivery bicycles popular in the United States in the first half of the 20th century, with boxes mounted upfront, Bakfiets bikes are designed with the lightweight marine plywood box in the middle for easier handling and better stability.

continued here…

Here are links to the relevant companies:
Clever Cycles, Bakfiets Cargobike dealer in Portland
WorkCycles, cooperates in Bakfiets Cargobike development and handles exports
Bakfiets.nl, maker of the Cargobike

The article has no photos of the Bakfiets Cargobike so I’ve added a couple here: