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

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

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

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

Bert Meerstadt – director NS (Dutch rail system)

Ivo Opstelten – mayor of Rotterdam

Loek Hermans – president MKB-Nederland (cycling in photo)

Hugo Metsers – actor

Henk Ramautar – president Vitesse football team

Wubbo Ockels – professor

Ewout Genemans – actor

Erik van der Hoff – TV presenter

Annelieke Bouwers – actrice

Lodewijk Hoekstra – TV presenter

Eric Bouwman – actor

Lone van Roosendaal – actrice

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

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008 at 22:04 and is filed under Bicycles and Art / Fiets and Kunst, Cargo trikes / Bakfietsen, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.