I may find myself in Portland next summer and if that works out, I’ll come test drive a Bak. The Burley + 20 year old Schwinn is gettin it done so we’ll see how the winter goes.

Eric, thanks for the tip on the tires. I also saw a review for some Nokian studded tires over at Icebike.org as well as directions for making them myself (sounds like fun). This gives me lots to think about.

I also know there are different types of chains/wires available. I wonder if any of you has any experience with these. It doesn’t snow enough here to warrant leaving studded tires on my bike all season and I don’t have an extra set of wheels. It would be cool to be able to add and remove traction as needed (especially if I get caught at work in snow with my regular tires).

Bruce, congratulations. I’m moving back toward auto independence myself. It’s a distant memory now but I can imagine how you feel. And I’m with you on the helmet issue.

It took me a long time to finally let go of my car, but I’m so glad I did.

Mark

My main reason for coming here is to let everyone know that I finally did it. I got rid of my car. I’m now car-free. No more taxes, no more insurance, no more gassing up. I feel wonderful.

I’ve had a bad spill on frost. It was surprising because it happened really fast. The ground got up and smacked me. I wasn’t wearing gloves, and I didn’t want to scratch my hands, so…

After that I got Hakkapeliitta A10 studded tyres and can recommend them. They give me immense control even on slush-covered ice. But they turn my bike into a tank, so I seldom use them, and just try to be careful instead.

Plowed and sanded surfaces make it a lot easier to ride through the winter, even with ordinary tyres. No salt please!

Since Workcycles carries the/a Christiania, it might not be too hard to get Dutchbikes to import them too. Yes, people might pull a Three Bears- “this bike is too small, this trike is too big… ah, this bike is just right.” I assume that even though you carry both the short and long bakfiets, you sell more of the long. Possibly people are looking for even more carrying capacity?

It seems to me that stocking even a single trike would help customers quickly narrow down on a purchase, as opposed to vacillating between a bike they’ve test ridden and a trike that they’ve only heard of. They can figure out how they want to make the tradeoff between capacity, stability, maneuverability, weight, etc., literally by the seat of their pants.

Who knows, you might even sell some of the trikes- the Christianias are among the better ones out there (don’t know about the Azors).

The other norning I was on my way to work without her and I hit this bike/pedestrian bridge a little too hot. The bike went into a front wheel skid on the frosty surface and then went out from under me. Neither I nor the bike was hurt but if she’d been on it, it would have freaked me right out.

Of course I could have avoided this accident by paying closer attention or choosing the near by but differently surfaced bridge that doesn’t frost as easily. I’m a reasonably skilled rider and I haven’t dropped a bike in years but here it happened and what if it happened with her on it, you know?

A trike seems to offer an advantage in such situations but I can imagine that tipping one over would be very unpleasant. Maybe the low COG of the Bakfiets with its shorter distance to fall compares favorably. I’d be interested to hear from anyone with direct experience of both.

Todd: I saw a story about Bakfietsen on Carectomy today and it had a link to your site. Very Cool. And yesterday we were at a large LBS looking at Trek “comfort” bikes for my wife. The guys in the shop were sufficiently interested in this mysterious idea of useful bikes that I got them to visit your site and Xtracycle’s and Riding the Spine. That was fun. This all just might catch on!

jeff