Comments on: San Francisco Bay area bakfietsen?

By: Lisa

Lisa — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 04:37:15 +0000

Would love to purchase one soon…. Please keep me posted with Next Delivery Heading in to the SF/San Jose Area. I have seen this lovely lady in San Jose ride her children to school every morning (rain or shine) and I Love It… I am a Babysitter that needs this for the 4 kids I watch. (Under the age of 5.) Please keep me posted… Thank You.

By: Maineblog

Maineblog — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 20:39:12 +0000

Come Visit Maine…

Information on Vacationing in Maine…

By: Clever Cycles » Blog Archive » My relaxing weekend down south or a truck, bikes, trains, a plane, and iPhone

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 20:25:55 +0000

[...] weekend we loaded up a 22” truck full of bikes and delivered them free of charge to their owners in the San Francisco area. It went [...]

By: Clever Cycles » Blog Archive » California bakfiets invasion imminent

Clever Cycles » Blog Archive » California bakfiets invasion imminent — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 01:40:20 +0000

[...] own north-south aid package, the San Francisco Bakfiets shuttle is finally coming together with free delivery scheduled 19-20 January. The truck is pretty full [...]

By: Bruce Alan Wilson

Bruce Alan Wilson — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 23:35:45 +0000

Heather, if you are looking for a trike, I’ve heard good things about Human Powered Machines’ model. I’ve never ridden one myself, though, so don’t take me as an authority. http://www.catoregon.org

By: Todd (admin)

Todd (admin) — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 21:39:52 +0000

Andy, that short cockpit is characteristic of pretty much all Dutch utility bikes. It’s a big part of the comfort, I think, in most every context but hard climbing. I’d advise against lengthening the stem extension to avoid having the bars get fouled in the weather tent and again for the sake of passengers’ head clearance. Instead, contrive to move the saddle rearward: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cleverchimp/1429704016/

By: Andy B from Jersey

Andy B from Jersey — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 07:01:44 +0000

Yeah it was a Van Andel CargoBike Long two-wheeler just like what you guys carry and I was warned about the bikes steering characteristics before I tried it out. I was also told the reason for its “oversteer” (that term means something totally different to me but I know where you’re coming from) was to aid in maneuvering the bike just like you said. The incident I described above came near the end of my ride but I had few problems adjusting till that point and no problems after. Must say that it was very easy to recover from and I never felt like I was gonna’ lay the bike over. The wide handlebars must help.

My only other concern was that the cockpit seemed really cramped between the saddle and the bars. I not particularly tall (5’7″) especially when compared to the Dutch but the bars were in my gut. The owner at Trophy complained about the same thing and was looking to put another stem on the bike for that exact reason. The stock one is really short.

I must say to everyone else however that the bike was really fun to ride and really wasn’t hard at all. Trophy Bikes is in University City section of Philly with U Penn and there are some modest but long grades. However these were nothing that the 8-speed Shimano hub couldn’t handle with ease and while maintaining a respectable amount of speed all in street cloths.

Finally I do want to say Thanks to Todd and the rest of the Clever gang for introducing these bikes to America along with the guys at the Dutch Bicycle Company. I’ve heard of them before you guys started importing them but I don’t think I would have had the chance to try one out and possibly purchase one if you didn’t start the buzz about them.

Peace,

Andy B

By: Todd (admin)

Todd (admin) — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 04:33:04 +0000

Andy, just to get clear, are we talking about the exactly the same bike, the Bakfiets.nl “CargoBike” with Van Andel headbadge? Because there are of course many superficially similar bikes, and of all the ones I’ve tried the Van Andel one’s handling is far superior. Either way, the effect you describe isn’t unheard of among people new to the bike, especially on the very first few low-speed U-turns. I’ve seen lots and lots of people try it out, and I’d say that about 2% find it seriously weird/hard, about 1/3 oversteer it and/or wobble a bit the first couple blocks as you describe, and the rest seem like they’ve been riding it daily for years. The 1/3 tend to graduate to the effortless class in a matter of minutes, literally. There seems no correlation between the amount of biking experience one has and how quickly one will adapt to a bakfiets. If anything, people who ride only one bike or one narrow genre of bike a lot have a harder time than people who throw a leg occasionally over lots of very different bikes. Ride only one sort of bike for a long time and the ruts in your biking brain can get really deep.

The steering is set up deliberately with oversteer (the wheel turns faster than the bars) and with very low geometric trail. The oversteer may be in part to prevent the bars from needing to turn so far that the ends would whack your passengers’ heads. The low trail part is easiest to appreciate when you have a big load and are trying to maneuver at very low speeds: you don’t want the load amplifying any flop. But it does take some people a little while to get completely comfortable with. The Brompton by the way has also got super low trail which is why it handles front-mount luggage so nicely and why you can turn it on a pavement square. And why some describe it as “squirrelly” and it’s hard to ride no hands.

By: Andy B from Jersey

Andy B from Jersey — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 03:34:54 +0000

Rode the Bak at Trophy Bikes without a load for about 1/2 an hour in Philly this afternoon. Got lots of stares and stopped for one guy who just really wanted to check it out. Pretty easy to ride but I really didn’t like that the steering gets a little aggressive towards max lock. It wanted to “jack-knife” near lock and the bars nearly got ripped out of my hands but was able to recover real quick. Now Trophy is one of the best shops in Philly and my Brompton I got from them was set up flawlessly and has required ZERO adjustments since. I’m just wondering if this somewhat aggressive steering characteristic is typical of the Bak’s or perhaps since Trophy Bikes is totally new to the Baks and the one I test rode is there first ever, that maybe they got the steering linkage set up slightly wrong. Anyone got any answers or do Baks behave like this when unloaded??

Otherwise it was really cool and easy. It felt like I was steering a 18 wheeler from the rear axles.

By: Perry Joiner

Perry Joiner — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 02:48:37 +0000

Oops I made a mistake. My blog is at http://www.thecommuterhub.com.