Archive for the ‘Events’ Category

WorkCycles Oktoberfietsfeest 2008: Photo journal

Tuesday, October 7th, 2008

Despite absolutely horrible weather WorkCycles Oktoberfietsfeest 2008 was a huge success! Thankfully we were able to stay warm and dry in our giant, new shop on the Lijnbaansgracht in the cozy Jordaan historic district. Friends, colleagues, family and neighbors braved the elements to heartily showed their support and hunger. Please forgive me if I can’t remember half your names – its tough being a host!

Childhood friend, photographer and cyclist Jonathan Barkey of Brooklyn, New York took all of gorgeous photos you see here. Thanks Jon!

I’ll comment on most of the photos, beginning from above left:

My parents, Leonard & Betsey Cutler show off a couple new WorkCycles Fr8 bikes… so new they’re not even on our website yet. Henry shows off the latest WorkCycles “H.C. Clothing” to Sean Valerio of Museum Tickets fame. Mmmm, WorkCycles bikes! A cool English dude with accent straight out of “Snatch” checkin’ out the bikes and girls. A last minute rain shelter for the BBQ with Anne Kirchenmann, vegetarian grill virtuoso at work. Wieger from De Redding bakfietsen with Eric Loques of WorkCycles in front of the Great Wall of Panniers. Checkin’ out some (no longer) top secret WorkCycles prototypes. Willem & Dominik of Gitaarduo belting out the tunes. They’ve expanded well beyond bicycle themed songs and brought friends along to do original pieces. MacBike‘s new amphibious, submersible bakfiets. They’ll be using a fleet of these to lead underwater canal tours of Amsterdam. Its a little known fact that much of the most interesting history of Amsterdam is to be found under the murky canal water! Frank of BuroFrank and Stella brought their new prototype mini-bakfiets.

Here are some of the most notable personalities, at least those whose names I can remember:

Henry of WorkCycles compliments Rick of Segijn en van Wees on their beautiful bikes with attitude. Stella checkin’ out 8 week old Pascal who’s checkin’ her out too. Wesley Hemelrijk with artist Simsa Cho. More about him later. Marc of Amsterdamize fame, Bruno of Museum Tickets and Chopperdome Rhalf. Chris and Richard, a couple of the brains behind WorkCycles. Anne, veggie meat griller supreme with Milou and Natasja. Ronald Onderwater of the other famous submersible bike with Johan of Azor Bike. David Lee of De Woordensmederij. Eric Loques of WorkCycles with another sketchy English character. Me showing off Pascal Yo. Heng Sie and Aki, Ingeborg & Martijn Samsom, Marlies & friend. Eric Schuijt, world famous bicycle traveler and owner of nearby Vakantiefietser with photographer Martin van Welzen who makes the lovely photos for our site (the good ones that is – I take the amateurish ones). Henry and dad Leonard with Jan Rijkeboer, owner of Azor Bike.

Nope, I’m not even going to try remembering the names of the kids. Its clear they had a fine time though. A pair of De Redding bakfietsen (also to rent for parties!) made handy jungle-gyms. We grilled up lots of “pannekoeken” (dutch pancakes). Balloons were inflated, exploded, folded, tied, drawn on and fought with. A Xootr made a handy time-trial vehicle as the kids challenged each other to do the fastest lap through the crowd of tipsy adults. Two boxes of street chalk were reduced to mere powder – Note Jonah’s foot “drawing” technique. The kids won prizes in the lottery, here a big box that promises “300 games”.


And without further ado, the moment you’ve all been waiting for: The Oktoberfietsfeest Lottery (Raffle). The inside joke is of course that everybody wins, but you do have to put a ballot in the box (teaching good voting habits to the youngsters) and you do have to be here for the drawing. Take off for the next party or to visit your dying mother in the hospital… your loss, sucker!

We gave away tons of WorkCycles hoodie sweatshirts, T-shirts (new) and work/cook aprons (also new). These are all in stock and available to purchase as well. Lots of other schwag including Vredestein baseball caps to Schwalbe courier bags, LED blinking pedals and Axa SL7 locks (don’t actually try to USE these!) was also given away.

But the grand prize everybody was gunning for was the custom WorkCycles bike, complete with orange tires and matching graphics. Artist Simsa Cho was the lucky man of the day and I can’t think of a more suitable owner for such an extroverted bike.

Thanks everybody for your support and patronage! It was a pleasure being your hosts and we look forward to seeing you soon.

Missed the party? You’re still welcome to visit our new shop any time. You can find directions to WorkCycles Lijnbaansgracht here. We’re open for business both at the new location and at the original WorkCycles in the Veemarkt in Zeeburg.

Here you can see what the WorkCycles Lijnbaansgracht space looked like when we began construction this March.

WorkCycles Oktoberfietsfeest: Sunday 5 October

Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008

Its already time for the fifth annual, world-famous WorkCycles Oktoberfietsfeest (“october bike + beer + bratwurst party”). The tasty food, plentiful drink, balloon animal making, generous lottery/raffle, child friendliness, and general relaxed/no-pressure atmosphere will all be present as usual. This time, however, we’ll enjoy the comfort of our huge new Lijnbaansgracht shop in the cozy Jordaan neighborhood and some exciting new, bike related “activities”.

The party can be either in- or outdoors so weather is irrelevant.

Consider this our new Jordaan shop’s “official opening” as well. Just in case you’re wondering the original, jam-packed WorkCycles Veemarkt location will remain open.

While we’re at it we’ll also introduce the new line of “H.C. Clothing”, the source for all your hoodie and t-shirt needs. NOT!

BREAKING NEWS: Grand prize in this year’s lottery will be a brand-new WorkCycles bike! Runner ups will get WorkCycles hoodies, t-shirts, aprons and many other “special” gifts.

Check out the report from last years Oktoberfietsfeest here.

FAQ…

What: Party with BBQ, food and drinks

When: 5 October, from 15.00 until we kick you out

Where: WorkCycles Jordaan, Lijnbaansgracht 32B, at Goudbloemstraat (near Westerstraat)

Who: You, friends, colleagues, family, kids, neighbors, martian WorkCycles fans etc.

Why: Celebrating another successful year of business and growing (up). Thanking our customers and colleagues for their support. Because we can!

See you soon!

Groeten,
Henry & the WorkCycles crew

Eurobike 2008: Things you won’t find elsewhere

Thursday, September 11th, 2008

Last week we took the night train down to Friedrichshafen, near the Swiss border and famous for just one thing: Zeppelins. Though zeppelins are cool WorkCycles doesn’t have much to do with them. No, we went for the Eurobike 2008 expo, some 17 or so zeppelin hangers full of bike industry geeks and bike porn… or at least its bike porn if you get excited by millions of molded carbon fiber racing bikes, full suspension mountain bikes in more shades of use categories that I can shake a stick at (freeslide, 49’er, XTC, downhell, northwhore, mud…), and dozens of bike brands with cookie cutter bikes at every €50 “price point”. I guess after 30 years in and out of the bike industry it has ceased to knock my socks off.

Now we go to the bike expos looking for very specific, mundane things such as:

  • a quality leather saddle without pretentiousness and a price to match
  • hub brakes that can stop a bakfiets, live outdoors and fit a good gear hub
  • an electric assist system suitable for heavy-duty utility bikes
  • to see whether anybody else cares about city/utility bikes
  • And to shake some familiar hands, meet a few new people, and see what the ridiculous new products of of the year are. More about that later.

    Every other cycling site and magazine will show you the same competition bred, carbon fiber, disk-brake, metal matrix unobtanium, chinese made but european labelled bling-bling so I’ll focus here on some off the beaten path gems and non-gems. Enjoy and flame away if I’ve trashed your baby and gotten your panties in a bunch!


    The most memorable thing I saw at Eurobike 2008 was the flatland freestyle BMX show – or whatever they call it. This was an informal affair with a DJ and a handful of riders in the outdoor area between the expo halls. I don’t think these guys were “pros” or anything or at least there wasn’t much obvious sponsorship going on. But they were awesome. What a demonstration of balance and creativity! Thanks, you made my day in an otherwise boring event!


    We arrived a little bit too early so we had to mill about before being allowed to view all the bike goodness inside. Near the entrance was a display of award winning “designs” or something like that. I confess to not reading the signs.

    At least three of the bikes displayed here featured a new toothed belt drive system by Gates called “Carbon Drive”. See? Even the belts have carbon in them, though its probably just carbon black in the rubber… which was incidentally a big selling point over at the Continental Tires stand last year, even though its as ordinary as dirt in the woods. Its like advertising “iron enhanced steel” or “new, water with Hydrogen atoms!”. I guess when there’s nothing new under the sun you just have to make something up.

    In any case the toothed belt drive is back for another try on bikes as it ought to be. In contrast to previous belt drive systems for bikes this one looks very robust and is adaptable to various types of bikes. The main challenges are:

  • price – retail for a belt and front and rear sprockets is around €200
  • special frame required
  • availability in only limited combinations and lengths
  • questions about bearing life with tightly tensioned belt installed
  • In larger scale production the price and availability should be improved so we’ll keep our eyes open for these.


    Nick Lobnitz of Carry Freedom trailer fame was showing off prototypes of his new “Paper Bike”. No its not actually made of paper, or even bamboo though Nick has done that before. There is however carbon black in the tires.

    The Paper Bike is a clean looking and practical utility bike aimed primarily at bike rental and share systems. The frame loops around the drivetrain effectively protecting it from damage and weather. Simultaneously the resulting surface(s) offer copious space for branding and/or personalization.


    Pathetically enough the images above show every new load carrying bike I could find amongst the 17 halls at Eurobike. At least there’s one cool piece among them. Clockwise beginning in the upper left:

    Upper left and middle:
    Larry vs. Harry (a.k.a. Hans and Lars) of Copenhagen showed off their new Bullitt transport bicycle. Its sort of a Long John on high tech steriods, half aluminium urban racing bike and half I don’t know what. The Bullitt is kitted out with high-zoot parts such as a Shimano Alfine drivetrain and hydraulic disk brakes. The rider’s position is aggressively sporty, there’s no chain guard or lights and the concessions to daily use are minimal. It’s dangerously, uncompromisingly cool. I’ve no idea who’ll buy them but I do want one for myself! We’re curious enough to put a couple in the showrooms at WorkCycles.

    Richard and I each rode the Bullitt a couple times with and without loads. It’s as stiff as a log and the seating position wasn’t as extreme as it looked ( at least not for this ape-armed ex-racer who already has his city bike handlebars lower than the saddle). What wasn’t so convincing was the steering geometry. We both ride long-wheelbase transport bikes regularly and we each noted that the Bullitt is notably less stable and secure handling than the Bakfiets Cargobike or Fietsfabriek 995. The bike still needs some front end geometry tweaking and we hope that Harry and Larry are listening.

    Upper right:
    Bernds in Germany showed a couple prototypes of this Bakfiets Cargobike like child transporter. We weren’t sure whether to take it seriously as the box was just hastily made from plywood and the steering linkage wasn’t even functional; the front wheel could only be turned a few degrees in one direction.

    Lower left:
    A Dutch-Israeli firm called Taga displayed this multifunctional child carrier that can be converted between tricycle and stroller. Unlike the similar sounding TrioBike (which I’ve previously maligned for various reasons – see here and here) and Zigo, the Taga approaches its tasks very differently: “Continuity” is the operative word for the Taga, meaning that no parts of the bike/stroller need to be left behind. The entire machine converts (rather ambitiously I’ll add) between the two basic modes. The stroller mode was particularly slick.

    Richard and I rode the Taga (in trike mode obviously) and at least at slow speeds around the exhibit halls it felt unfamiliar but handled well. It remains to be seen how it’ll feel at higher speeds and under the more varied conditions of the real world roads. The conversion mechanism appeared straightforward and solid. The people I talked to mentioned a number of other issues that are being worked on and all in all it appears a very professional outfit.

    Lower middle:
    Oh, gimme a break people!

    Lower right:
    The most serious recent entry into the transport bicycle market is the Accell Group with their Accell Pro division. Accell is the owner of such brands as Batavus, Sparta, Winora, Hercules, Koga Miyata, Redline and Lapierre. They sell approximately 950,000 bicycles per year with a turnover of just under €500 million. Accell will focus on Postal Delivery (taking over where the recently imploded Biria left off), Cargo, Rental and Corporate bicycles. I guess Accell must have been jealous of WorkCycles’ success in this area.

    body buddy streetstepper.jpg

    And the winner of the “I can’t believe anybody would be so stupid as to invest so much R&D and promotion into such a worthless concept as this” award goes to the Body Buddy. Not only did these people have huge stand with dozens of these things, they had also an entire team of pretty girls merrily stepping their way around the expo halls in impossibly short bodybuddytm yellow miniskirts.

    From the bodybuddy website the following prose:

    “The greatest ideas, the ideas that rewrite history, almost always come from people who originate from rural areas…”

    “nevertheless, the “bodybuddy” will change today’s streetscape quite a bit”

    “Why work out on the spot when it is possible to convert this energy into movement?”

    What a novel idea, converting human energy into movement! Yes, let’s invent a crazy machine that does this and then introduce it at the world’s biggest bicycle expo! Brilliant.

    Graffiti Research Lab: LASER Tag Trike

    Wednesday, August 20th, 2008

    laser graffiti bicycle in Barcelona

    This cargo trike in Barcelona is equipped with rather sophisticated electronics is used to draw giant “graffiti” with light on buildings. See a video of the graffiti bike in action here.

    More photos of their laser graffiti can be found here on Flicker.

    The Dutch are doing “L.A.S.E.R. Tag” too, though in a reversal of roles… from a Hymer camper van.

    Wanna get in on the action? Here you can find LASER Tag how-to information and source code.

    Verbouwing WorkCycles Toekomstige Jordaan Vestiging

    Friday, May 9th, 2008

    We zijn nu al een paar weken bezig mee met de verbouwing van het nieuwe WorkCycles (transport-) fietsenwinkel en werkplaats op de hoek van de Lijnbaansgracht en de Goudbloemstraat in de Jordaan buurt van Amsterdam. Er is nog veel te doen maar het ziet er ten minst nu wel belovend uit. Alleen maar enkele weken geleden was het zeer grof, donker en depremerend. Niemand kond geloven dat we van plan waren om een speciale fietswinkel hier te zetten.

    workcycles-jordaan-werkplaats.jpg workcycle-workshop-goudbloemstraat.jpg bakfietswinkel-showroom.jpg
    cargobike-in-workcycles-verbouwing.jpg transportfiets-winkel-amsterdam-jordaan.jpg work-cycles-jordaan-kantoor.jpg

    Nu zijn de houten planken vervangen door ramen en mooie nieuwe dubbeldeuren met grote ruiten: veel breder dan grote ouderwetse bakfietsen. We hebben ook tonnen slechte gips verwijderd (en enorme wolken stof gemaakt) om de warme rode bakstenen te zien. Wat een verbetering! Een WC met ruimte voor een babytafel staat klaar – heel handig als je moederfietsen en bakfietsen voor kindervervoer verkoopt. Veel van de slechtste muren en de plafond zijn nu bekleed. Het basis werk aan het pand schiet dus op. Nog een paar weken totdat alles mooi geschilderd staat.

    Daarna hebben we nog en heleboel werk met electra, licht en IT bekabeling en daarna onze werkplaats, kantoor, loods en verkoop showroom inrichten. Onze plan is om genoeg klaar te hebben om WorkCycles Jordaan begin Juli te openen. Dan kunnen we doorgaan met inrichting en aanpassingen terwijl de winkel al open is. We verwachten niet dat klanten onmiddelijk naar binnen gaan stormen.

    Het is heel leuk dat bewoners uit de buurt regelmatig langskomen om te leren wat het grote pand gaat worden. Ze zijn bijzonder nieuwsgierig omdat het leeg stond en steeds lelijker werd voor enkele jaar nadat de Dirck III drankwinkel vertrok. Totnutoe is iedereen wel enthousiast dat WorkCycles hier gaat zitten, of tenminst blij dat iets hier gaat zitten.

    Maar wat we een klein beetje vervelend vinden is dat iemand blijkbaar had gehoord over een fietsenwinkel die bakfietsen verkoopt en dat in “Fietsfabriek” vertaald. Nou even voor de duidelijkheid: Beide WorkCycles en Fietsfabriek ontwikkelen en verkopen bakfietsen, transportfietsen en stevige stadsfietsen, maar ze zijn twee verschillende, helemaal onafhankelijke bedrijven. Er is, trouwens, ook geen ruzie tussen deze twee bakfiets leverancier collega’s.

    Typical WorkCycles als de nieuwe winkel klaar staat gaan we een feest vieren voor alle onze klanten, vrienden en collega’s. Nog geen datum – midden Juli als we ongelofelijk geluk hebben… anders laat September/begin Oktober voor onze jaarlijks Oktoberfietsfeest.

    Power to the Pedal Design Competition

    Monday, February 18th, 2008

    576071_83946082_small_thumb_57.jpg

    Design 21, the “Social design network” is organizing “Power to the Pedal” a design competition for accessories or add-ons for existing bicycles to make them more practical, handy and safer for primary transport. In Design 21’s own words:

    This competition calls for a biking accessory or add-on for existing bikes that would improve the bicycling experience and encourage more people to make biking their primary means of transport – more convenient, more enjoyable, safer and more integrated into daily lifestyles – whether it’s for commuting, working, shopping, transporting, leisure or all of the above. In your description, you should define the user scenario and design problem that your design attempts to solve.

    Amongst the judges are Wendy Brawer of Green Map System and Jens Martin Skibsted of Biomega (amongst other firms).

    Attention students and aspiring young creatives: there’s money to be won here…

  • 1st prize $5000
  • 2nd prize $3000
  • 3rd prize $1500
  • Most popular prize $500
  • And before you spend the next ten weeks inventing and designing here’s a hint from somebody (me) who runs a firm that designs and produces practical bicycles and accessories for transportation cycling:

    Check out the practical bikes and accessories of the places where normal people already cycle for daily transport: The Netherlands, Denmark, China, India, Indonesia… In Holland, for example, you’ll already find accessories to carry just about everything by bike.

  • babies in a Maxi-Cosi
  • multiple children
  • baby buggies
  • groceries
  • briefcases
  • backpacks
  • newspapers
  • mail
  • shopping
  • tennis racquets
  • dogs
  • maps
  • musical instruments
  • Good luck!

    A shiny day for Workcycles Oktoberfietsfeest

    Thursday, October 11th, 2007

    workcycles oktoberfietsfeest inside

    What can I say? Bummer if you missed it. The fourth annual Workcycles Oktoberfietsfeest* was a great success, with considerable help from the absolutely perfect weather. Global warming has its benefits!

    oktoberfietsfeest workcycles bakfiets Anne BBQ workcycles workcycles party kids in the trash collection trike

    We had a levitation contest, handily won by a young van Eeckhoutte who managed to stay afloat for three minutes 7 seconds before being knocked to the ground by an out of control bakfiets.

    Vegetarian Anne (wo)manned the BBQ, serving up many, many kilos of very non-vegetarian bratwurst, merguez sausages and pannekoeken for the little ones to make a mess of.

    There was much chatting and hobnobbing, perhaps even a few business cards exchanged hands. The bakfiets captains of industry plotted away in their endless quest for world domination.

    Kids who misbehaved were immediately packed into the RC240 trash-collection bakfietsen for punishment laps.

    workcycles henry balloons workcycles oktoberfest bbq band workcycles bakfiets feest stoepkrijt workcycles feest

    Henry generally ignored the adult guests, preferring to entertain the kids with his highly developed balloon folding techniques; Orange turtles, black flowers, red poodles and pink pussycats were all produced and promptly destroyed by the kids.

    The Gitaarduo band played with a number of guest artists. Amongst others they played: Queen’s “I like to ride my bicycle”, Kraftwerk’s “Tour de France”, Pink Floyd’s “Bike” and the theme song to the film “The Bicycle Thief”.

    Once Henry tired of the balloon tricks the kids were left to decorate the street with chalk and ride bikes in heavy traffic.

    workcycles transportfiets feest workcycles transportfiets proefrittren workcycles conference bike at oktober fest

    Even the seven person Conference Bike showed up with Eric Staller, Sietske Tjallingii and a variety of eminent guests.

    *”Oktoberfietsfeest” translates approximately to “Traditional, Bavarian inspired, beer soaked, sausage devouring, autumnal bicycle party”. We take full credit for inventing it and imitators will be mercilessly and endlessly ridiculed for their lack of creativity.

    Strike-back: Workers occupy German bike factory

    Monday, September 24th, 2007

    Forgive me if I get some of the details of this wrong, but its an interesting story regardless…

    strike back

    In Nordhausen, Germany, 135 workers at Bike Systems GmbH have been cooperating with the anarcho-syndicalist union FAU (Freie Arbeiterinnen- und Arbeiter-Union – Free Workers-Union) to occupy their factory in a sort of reverse strike. The factory, formerly owned by Biria AG, stopped production in June and filed for bankrupcy in August. However the Bike Systems staff have been keeping the factory physically occupied in three shifts in the hopes of preventing the dismantling and sale of the factory. They’re gathering orders for “Strike Bikes” via their website, aiming to produce at least 2000 bikes in October. Incidentally they’re decent looking bikes and quite inexpensive.

    The odds are rather stacked against the formerly employed by Bike Systems GmbH but still actually working there staff members: The factory was already run-down and more recently most of the equipment was stripped out following the bankruptcy process.

    As far as I can follow its indeed a story of take-over exploitation. The Bike Systems factory in the south of the Harz Mountains in former East Germany was previously owned and operated by Biria AG. In late 2005 a majority stake in Biria was bought by Lone Star Funds of Dallas, Texas USA. Most of you are already familiar with how great Texans are at helping people in other countries. Anyhow Lone Star “restructured” Biria and sold it (or parts of it) to rival bicycle manufacturer MIFA. The Bike Systems factory is apparently now unneeded by MIFA.

    Complicating matters further Biria AG must now repay 5,2 million euros in goverment subsidies they’re no longer entitled to. Despite it being clearly noted in each press piece I’m unclear about exactly what this means:

    A. New Biria owner MIFA must pay the 5,2 million
    B. Another part of Biria, not owned by MIFA must pay the 5,2 million
    C. Does this somehow affect the continuation of the Bike Systems factory?

    For more info check out: www.strike-bike.de (in English, German, Spanish and Dutch).

    WorkCycles Oktoberfietsfeest* 2007

    Monday, September 17th, 2007

    Sunday 7 October

    Once again its time for WorkCycles‘ world famous, fourth annual OKTOBERFIETSFEEST*! Join us in celebrating another successful and exciting year of existence.

    As always we’ll have:
    – KLM pilots Jan & Anne cooking up a storm on the BBQ
    – Too much beer and wine
    – Guitar Duo Willem & Dominic live, performing every bicycle tune they know
    – Child friendly atmosphere with the baby-bakfiets with BBQ smells)
    – No promotion, no sales talk, no new product launches etc. This is for FUN, not business!

    And new for 2007:
    – Prizes. Yes, stuff for FREE! WorkCycles is not known for giving stuff away so here’s a rare opportunity.
    (categories are secret but we recommend bringing your coolest, most creative workbikes or anything else that will impress the jaded jury panel)

    – Yet more fresh, new bicycle songs by Willem & Dominic

    – An October date…
    (Dress not to impress, but to stay warm. We’ll move indoors if it rains.)

    When: Sunday 7 October 2007, from 13:00 till dark or until we feel like quitting
    Where: WorkCycles world headquarters, Veemarkt 150 Amsterdam
    Who: friends, customers, colleagues, fans, spouse(s), kids…
    What to bring: Cool bikes, gifts, flowers, a shrubbery… no, nothing unless you want to.

    Hope to see you there.

    *”Oktoberfietsfeest” translates approximately to “Traditional, Bavarian inspired, beer soaked, sausage devouring, autumnal bicycle party”. We take full credit for inventing it and imitators will be mercilessly and endlessly ridiculed for their lack of creativity.

    Need help finding us? You can find a map and directions to WorkCycles here.

    Some photos from previous Oktoberfietsfeesten below…

    workcycles bakfiets feest 2006 musiek en herrie bakfiets 2006 workcycles party with conference bike
    monark long john bij workcycles feest long john transportfiets meisje

    bakfiets feest workcycles bakfietsfeest workcycles 2004